Gundam Seed Shadow
by Hcps123
Summary: After a failed assassination attempt, Cagalli finds herself in a strange new world where the only way home is through the mysterious Gundam Fights. Cagalli will have to work with new allies and battle dangerous enemies on her way to the top. Post GSD.
1. Word from the author

Episodes 2 through 59 are written in script format, at some point I might go back and rewrite them into novel format but until then I ask that you bear with it. Here is a key for the script format

KEY

Name: Character taking

Name (Character's thoughts audience hears but other characters do not)

**Bold Text is action or description sequence**

I write anywhere between six thousand words to ten thousand words per episode and I try to write new episodes every two weeks.

If you are still reading this then I thank you. There are a couple of things I like to point out before you begin to read this story. First I like to say that all forms of constructive criticism welcome. For explain don't just say "I think your story suck", yea that's not very helpful. Say something like "I think you need more action scenes", "I think your grammar sucks", "I think your character interaction needs work". Those kinds of criticisms are welcome, but if you think my story is fine the way it is then please recommend it to your friends also feel free to tell me, hearing only the negative about my work tends to get depressing.

I know that it made seem like a long shot but I would like to see this script turn into an actual anime or manga; I mean how many times have you heard that some guy on youtube got offer a job in a movie, so it could happen if the right people read this and like it. However in order for the right people to read it I need your help. If you're on a Gundam chat site then tell people about this story, spread it throughout the web until it becomes the biggest thing to talk about, and if you don't think it's good enough to be an anime or manga then tell me what it needs in order to become good enough.

This brings me to my second point, please feel free to send me plot, weapons, Gundam, characters, or any other ideas you have. For instance I suck at coming up with names as you will see, so please for the love of god help me out and send me some name ideas. Now with that being said I don't want people to think that just because they send me ideas I'm going to put it in their right away, I will only put ideas in the story that I agree with, when I do borrow an Idea I will put the user name of the person who gave me it.

This brings me to my third point; don't bother to send my ideas for adding Kira or Athrun to the story. This story contains only one recurring character and that is Cagalli. I have chosen to have Cagalli be the only recurring character for two reasons. One is I have felt that Kira and Athrun characters have evolved and mature to the point where I could add no more to them without screwing them up, with that being said I felt that Cagalli's character was under play in Gundam Seed Destiny (understandable since the writer had a lot of new characters to deal with) and has much more room to evolve and mature. The second reason is that the other characters such as Shinn I feel I could not successfully copy their personality or portray them due to lack of scenes or complexity of the character. Which is why all the other characters will be completely new and original.

This brings me to my final point, for all the Athrun and Cagalli fans I like to make in clear that I have not decided who Cagalli will end up with at the end of my series. I do not agree with the idea that Cagalli and Athrun got back together again after Gundam Seed Destiny. If that where the case we would have scene Athrun with Cagalli instead of Meyrin in Gundam seed final Plus, however I also do not think Athrun is with Meyrin. I agree with the idea that Arthrun thinks of Meyrin more as a sister then a lover but that does not mean he is back with Cagalli, the only reason someone would bring their sister to that kind of event would be if they don't have a lover at the moment. Which is why I think that Cagalli and Athrun are at the "let's see other people" stage of their relationship. Which is why at the beginning of my series Athrun is at the Plants acting as an ambassador for Orb, and helping to finish the final details of the Peace treaty with the Plants and Orb. I think he and Cagalli agreed they needed time to think about where their relationship is heading and that this would be the more realistic then if they just got back together again.

That is all I have to say so thank you to those that read this and let's begin the story.


	2. Episode 1 The End

Episode 1

From the dawn of time there were stars lighting the way in the cold dark sea of space, almost as if to give humans a tiny hope in finding a way in this often confusing and uncertain world. The sun shines the brightest; illuminating the hourglass structures which represent humanity's newest achievements.

Sadly though war has slowed the gears of space progress for all, it has been no more than two months since the official signing of the peace treaty ending the Second Bloody Valentine War and most are simply content to float where they are.

Still others reached for the stars, to go beyond the beyond, for surely there must be something more out there, something yet to be seen. You would be right, dream seekers, the universe is great and humans have yet to see all of the wonders it holds but be warned for where there is light there shall forever be darkness.

There are just as many nightmares as dreams yet to be discovered but if you can brave and accept the darkness you may find more then the hell you expected. But enough of tales of moral high ground and adventures yet to come, let us turn to the present blue and green planet in which all originated from.

#########

_Location: Unknown._

Five soldiers marched down the hallway. Dressed in proud blue and white, they manage to match steps, despite the abnormally high pace in which they ran. The all carried two handed automatic weapons in hand; ready to fire at a moment's notice.

They were not afraid although perhaps they should have been. They believed to have all of the advantages. They knew this mansion; they had been assigned to protect like the back of their hand, thanks to their lieutenant drilling them nonstop. They carried in their hand the latest automatic rift from Morgenroete, the 27 Mockingbird.

They could feel each other's strength now as they marched towards the enemy. They were ready to face this threat to Orb together and fight for what is right. They believed they could handle anything. They rounded the corner and stopped, something was horribly wrong. They were in a hallway painted baby blue, lined with elaborate paintings. They stood in classic battle formation, two in the front, two in the middle and one watching the rear.

Were they had expected to see the same ocean blue carpet with gold trimming instead lay the sentry that had been detaining the intruder. His blood still flowed freely from his corpse dying the peace in an ugly red and it pained them all to not have known his name. Still he was a comrade, a fellow soldier for this country in which they all loved; they would not let his killer escape justice.

Yet to their slight surprise the killer seem to have no intention of escaping. It was clear that the other figure in the room was the killer; it was not just his odd choice of clothes that lead the soldiers to this conclusion. The figure wore a dark grayish black cloak with wolf's trimming and a hood drawn, hiding any features of his face. The sleeves of his cloak were evidently three sizes too large from the way they hung loosely from his arm, but it was his blades which drew their attention.

The hooded being made no attempt to hide them, even the right blade soaked in blood. To the soldiers he might as well have hung a sign that said "I killed this man here." Yet they hesitated for a fraction of a second, although they didn't notice anything before suddenly the room seemed to feel cold as if it had started snowing but that was impossible during this season.

Shaking the feeling Mitch, their undeniable leader stepped forward, although they all had their guns pointed at this odd intruder Mitch raised his a little higher. Not enough to affect his aim but enough to let this guy know he was in their sights. He could have started shooting but Mitch had believed the man had not shown any hostilely towards them other than the obvious killing of a comrade. A live prisoner would give them more intel then a dead one and it was not his style to just kill in cold blood. Besides it was 5 armed soldiers against one guy with a knife in a cloak.

"Raise your hand sl-"

Mitch's first mistake was assuming the weapon the hooded figured carried was a type of knife, a crossed between a butcher's knife and some kind of medieval short sword. Mitch's second and last mistake was assuming that his coordinator reflexes would allow him to fire faster than the intruder could throw his weapon.

The intruder had moved faster than not only his reflexes but his eyes as well. The weapon was in the intruder's hand one heartbeat and materialized in Mitch's face the next. Now we can see clearly the thick chain that attaches to the blade, we can hear the slight click of the mechanism under the figures sleeves.

Things were not as they appeared. Lucos the man beside Mitch made the third mistake, he should have fired the moment he sensed movement but instead he twisted his head to face his deceased friend taking his eyes off his enemy. A very human mistake many would be guilty of, but not the nightmare that they face. The phantom takes advantage of this distraction and moves without hesitation or fear.

While his chain blade is very threatening, it is his speed that is his greatest weapon. Before any have time to process Mitch's death, he's already behind Lucos appearing from thin air in a similar fashion to his blade's appearance. In one fluid motion he retracts his right hand blade back to his hand while simultaneously slicing off Lucos's head with his left hand blade.

Not wasting a breath, the grim reaper turned to face the remaining three who through some miracle managed to take a single step back. But this step back was the group's final mistake; if they had stayed in formation the monster would have had to deal with the two guards in the middle first then the rear guard, but in this new arc formation all three were exposed with no shielding or protection.

Demonstrating absolute mastery of his weapons, the phantom whipped out both of his chain swords at once, he manipulated both blades with a slight movement of his arm which transfers to the chain connecting the blade to him, the right hand blade cuts off the heads of the soldiers, while the left hand blade cut off the hands decreasing the chances of dead men trigger fingers.

With a thud all of the bodies fell at the same time, spraying the walls with red turning peace into war. The figure hung back for a moment, not to admire his own work although he supposed some would have been happy to have killed five armed men in less than a minute, he stood back so the blood would not get on his cloak. To him there was no joy, no sense of accomplishment from his kills, he had done the calculations in his mind and it was the most likely outcome.

His cloak was one of the few things he had any emotion for. Most of his coworkers assumed he was emotionless but that was incorrect. All human beings had emotions on some level including himself, it's just that almost nothing inspired within him an emotional reaction. Even these corpses that litter the ground did nothing to stir within him feelings.

The blood subsided and the figure began to carefully walk on the remaining blue of the carpet as if walking on the peace so many worked so hard and died for. He heard them before he had even finished killing the first batched of soldiers. Even on the carpet their boots thudded, followed by the clang of the guns on what he knew to be battle armor. To anyone else the sound would have just alerted them to the movement but to those who received his level of training and had his natural gifts, the sounds revealed so much more.

For example he could tell there were six soldiers fast approaching, each carrying the latest Orb automatic rifle but more importantly they wore the standard Orb battle armor.

The first of the six began to round the corner in classic military fashion; the lead hugged the wall then quickly stuck his head around to check for opposition while another member covered her. The darkness charged the soldiers moving at blurring speeds. Just as he expected the lead tried to readjust her aim before firing, she had underestimated his speed.

Like an arctic breeze the figure was upon her before she even had a chance to pull the trigger. Not wishing to sacrifice any of his speed, he leapt to and kicked off the wall on his right positioning himself directly in-front of the six soldiers. He corkscrews in mid-air, releasing his blades as he did so becoming a living propeller from planes of old.

Landing lightly on the other side of his foes, if you consider rats or insects foes, he retracts his blades back to his hands with a bone chilling cracking sound. As for the six soldiers, they quite literary fell apart behind him decorating his path of travel clearly. The armor did nothing for them that their clothes weren't already doing against his blades. They were crafted solely for him, the blade sharpened to a molecular level combined with his skill allowed him to even slice steel as easily as butter.

He inferred the rest of the soldiers in the building would now be wearing the same armor. As silent as a winter's night, he walks the halls seeing no point in hurrying. As the hooded figure does so, he pulls out some type of device. The device is metal in construction and shaped in a one foot square with a simple red button on the side but other than that there were no visible signs of what it could be.

Pushing the red button the figure places the square against the wall, immediately we hear a single beat followed by duth as the rectangle magnetically locks onto the wall. Doing this in one fluid motion, the figure never misses a step. He comes to a split in the hallway where he turns left to find another unit of soldiers.

This time the soldiers open fire without hesitation. Pulling back the cloak he pivots on his right foot and rotates back to the previous hallway hugging the wall for cover. He pulls out a sphere now, no more than three inches in diameter and hitting the top lightly rolls it down the left hallway. Although the soldiers had never seen this brand before they all knew what it was.

"GRENADE!"

He heard the shouting and the scuffle of feet as they desperately struggle to get back, not that it did much good in this hallway with no cover. He knew his aim to be true as the blast sounded and rang in the hallway, flames scorched the walls and burned the carpet, but the walls being made from mostly steel had a plaster coating and the carpet was made from a flame resistant material causing the fire to quickly burn out.

Coming off the wall and rounding the corner, the figure was not surprised to find that his calculations had been right. His aim had been true landing the JQ-12 grenade directly in the center of the group, judging by their remains that now decorated the hallways. The JQ-12 was something he knew the Orb soldiers had never seen before because it was technology that Orb and even the PLANTs had yet to acquire.

The JQ-12 was a small lightweight grenade that was easy to throw, like a baseball yet the chemical reaction produced a high powered flame like explosion, but what the grenade had in power, it sacrificed in blast radius, five to ten feet. Still that was all that was needed for someone of his skill.

The dark figure expected the sprinkler system to go off from the bomb as he walked down the hallway, instead though the lights began to flicker on and off. _The programming of the mansion's systems has been corrupted causing the smoke detectors to send the activation signal to the lights instead of the sprinklers_, he thought as he walked down the hallway alert for his next opponent.

Most likely a side effect to his sabotage of the complex's defense systems. The price people pay for running everything through a computer. Still it had been a miscalculation, he hadn't calculated on the secondary systems being compromised but still he felt nothing from that. Despite what some believed he was still human, he occasionally makes minor miscalculations, all humans did, all he needed to do was recalculate the data with the new information.

The hooded figure was about to turn a corner when bullets flew out at him. Stopping mid-step the hooded figure once more rotated on his left foot hugging the wall again for cover. This time though the hall made a U turn and his opposition hugged the opposite side of the wall for cover.

On a whim the dark phantom pulls out another grenade and throws it against the back wall, ricocheting it towards the target.

"SHI-" The soldier cried in fear just as the blast went off consuming him in a flaming inferno. After the fire died down he took off once more his work nowhere near finish.

######

_Location: Command center in mansion._

The green haired middle aged woman knew she was in deep shit as she tried to pace the floors of the control center. The control center was an average looking conference room with multiple computers and people manning them spread throughout. It was designed to hold about ten people yet Jess knew that twenty-four were in there now which of course made her pacing difficult, adding to her irritation.

"Someone tell me SOMETHING! How much longer till we get the cameras back up, what's the situation with the lock down, and what about the radios?!" All forms of communication were down which was why so many people were in the control center at once. Everyone had to report to her directly and receive verbal instructions for assignments and while she could send out patrols, in a combat situation like this instant communication would be essential to coordinate her troops against the attackers.

"It's useless lieutenant whoever sabotaged our computers knew what they were doing, the cameras are fried, you can forget about ever getting them back. As for the controls to the bunker, we'll eventually be able to restore them but it's going to take time and until then we're stuck in here." One of the computer techs told her as he turned in his chair and shook his head in defeat. Jess knew she should know his name, a lieutenant should know everyone who served in her unit at least by name, at least that's what Jess believed. Then again Jess wasn't even used to being called lieutenant yet.

Her promotion last week had come as a complete shock, not just because she didn't think she was lieutenant material but because she hadn't taken any of the tests or even filled out the request for the promotion and its paperwork. One day at work the letter just came stating, well ordering actually, that she was to be promoted to the rank of lieutenant and would be reassigned.

In hindsight it shouldn't have been that surprising. The day before one of her friends, Hiraze who had also survived the war was promoted without notice, and he had only joined the military shortly before the second Bloody Valentine War! Two wars in such short time had taken its toll on the Orb military.

A lot of the higher commands had been wiped out and the government was struggling to fill the very large gaps. One way was to chuck out new recruits from boot camp at higher than normal positions and second was to order if needed, veterans of the wars to higher positions.

Jess should have known that surviving both wars with only some blast scarring on her face would have instantly given her a promotion whether she wanted one or not. And that's how she ended up here body guarding the party, showing off this new "mobile suit proof" mansion bunker, with the majority of her new unit being fresh out of boot camp. "What about my damn radios?!"

She asked a young technician in the corner named Robby, who was working on the radios now with equipment that she couldn't even begin to understand.

"It looks like someone tampered with another radio and fired a frequency back at us on an extremely high TMz, shortening our systems."

Jessed rubbed her temples annoyed. From what she could understand someone by messing with one radio shut down them all. _Damn it why didn't I contact HQ when the cell phones suddenly stopped working or when we lost contact with the teams outside_? She thought bitterly to herself. The mansion bunker was still a prototype and hadn't yet been connected to the main military grid, so unless a major explosion happens there was little chance of help coming unless HQ was contacted.

She had been too relaxed, too trusting in this peace to have expected an attack and that had made her sloppy. When all the cell phones lost signal at the same time, she had been concerned but since none of the patrols outside had reported anything and their radios still worked she let it pass as some kind of satellite interference.

Jess's worst mistake though was not contacting HQ the moment she had lost contact with the outside teams; Jess was still a team leader in mind. She was used to only having to watch out for herself and her team; used to doing assignments alone and to the best of her abilities until a superior office came in and told her she needed help, but now she was the superior officer and had to make the call whether or not the teams needed assistance. _This is exactly why I shouldn't have been made a lieutenant! _She screamed in her mind.

"Can you fix it?!" Robby flinched intimidated by her strong tone, making Jess instantly regret taking out her own self annoyance at this younger soldier.

"YES Ma'am! I won't be able to restore long range communications for a while but short range communications should be up and running in a few minutes"

_Finally some good news_, she thought with relief. With this she'll be able to at least communicate with her people inside the mansion, coordinate them against the enemy, and once the messengers from the teams she had sent out start returning; she'll have intel on the enemy. Hopefully she'll get a good estimate on numbers, firepower and maybe even origin.

Jess stopped right in her tracks, her orange eyes opened wide in surprise by the man who stood before her. Hiraze, one of her few living friends, who Jess had sent out with the other teams, stood in the doorway to the control center but that was not what disturbed Jess. His uniform, the proud blue and white of Orb was drench in the horrible red, red that Jess had spent much time with after both wars trying to erase from her memory. She could see no visible wounds on Hiraze's body, although he did look much whiter clearly in deep shock by something and considering Hiraze had lived through the Second Bloody Valentine War Jess shuddered to think what could make him look so scared. But as the highest ranking officer in the control center it was her duty to know what was going on despite how unpleasant it is.

"By the Goddess of Haumea what the hell happen to you Hiraze?" Jess was not the only one who had noticed Hiraze entering the command center; he had the attention of everyone.

"We're getting slaughtered out their lieutenant, Charlie's and Yulnks's teams are gone and they're not the only ones. Bodies are covering the floor in every direction and it's only our people I'm seeing, I can't find a single enemy corpse anywhere!" Hiraze knew he was losing it, he was trying to fight it for the sake of the new soldiers looking to him for guidance but the cold hands of the unknown enemy had gripped his heart in fear. It wasn't the sight of the corpses that brought on this fear; he had seen much the same during the war. It was the fact that all of the corpses belonged to Orb soldiers that scared him; he knew that a lot of the soldiers were new recruits, but come on!

With the number of bodies, there should have at least been one enemy corpse, this had gone beyond any battlefield experience he had ever had. Jess was also beginning to feel the situation spiraling further and further out of her control and she once again tried to pace. She had to regain control of this situation for the sake of her men, for the sake of Orb's leaders who had placed their safety in her hands! "Get short range communications up NOW! The moment you do tell all remaining forces that we are under attack and to gather in the grand hallway outside the ballroom that will be our final line of defense, we absolutely cannot let our leaders be-" Jess gets cut off mid-sentence by the sickening sound of metal slicing through flesh. If it had been a gunshot she would have already grabbed her gun and opened fire at its source but because the sound was foreign her mind didn't process it as fast. Slowly turning around as the back of her spine tingled; Jess looked back at Hiraze as did the rest of the troops in the command center.

A towering hooded figure was behind Hiraze, his face as well as most of his physical features was masked by the cloak he wore. A flash of light shone in Jess's eyes drawing her gaze to the blade covered in innocent's blood, which was the source of the noise, sticking out from Hiraze's chest. Hiraze had just enough time left in this realm to look down upon the mortal wound before the life fled his body.

With a flick of his wrist the demonic man threw Hiraze's body off his blade and away from himself not wanting the jet stream of blood splashing on his grayish black cloak. Jess being the most battle hardened was the first to get over the shock of the surprise enemy and the death of a friend. Reaching for her automatic rifle at her side, Jess drew her weapon and pulled the trigger. "BASTARD!" She screamed.

While Jess knew she should have had two hands on her rifle, from this distance she figured she could allow her aim to be slightly off from the recoil, _speed was better than aim in this situation _she thought to herself as she tried to unload her clip in the enemy. What Jess hadn't counted on was the enemy being faster than herself. Sidestepping the already poorly aimed bullets, the figure released the snake which was his blade.

Jess never saw the blade or the attack itself, she was standing up with her rifle in her right hand and went to move her left hand to grip it. She hadn't even been aware she was missing any limbs until her left hand grabbed air were the rifle should have been. That's when she realized that both her right arm and leg were missing, both having been severed in the blink of an eye. Blood poured from the wounds like a leak from the gas tank that was her strength. Almost immediately she felt the strength in her remaining leg begin to weaken and combined with the fact that she was now off balance Jess began to fall backwards. "Fu-" Jess mumbled weakly as the darkness overtook her and the veteran of two wars finally met her end.

The remaining troops jump into action by their commanding officer's death and fumbled for their weapons. None of them had been fully prepared; they had expected to see the enemy coming if an attack came to the command center. Instead like a quiet fog the enemy had just appeared without so much of a breeze of air for warning until he claimed his first victim.

He would not show them mercy or give them a chance to collect themselves. With a flick of his wrist and a hiss of the chain, the cloaked man beheaded five people who had been situated at computer terminals. Without breaking momentum the gray darkness retracted his blades back to his hands as he charged those standing as they were about to aim their drawn guns at him.

He quickly stabs the closest one in the chest directly followed by him ducking down from the gun fire. Squatting he begins to rotate in a circle once more becoming the propeller from hell serving several legs left and right, disabling the soldiers. While this goes on, Robby alone forsakes his gun and scrambles to reassemble the radio to fulfill his dead commander's final orders.

When the radio is assembled a light blinks on indicating to Robby that the short term communications signal was working once more. "We are UNDER ATTACK! I repeat we are UNDER ATTACK; all personnel are to report to the grand hallway outside the ballroom!"

No one surrenders to death, they all charge despite their fear, determined to carry out their duty to the end. Robby's call brings the attention of the hooded figure as he's parrying a rifle aimed as his head with his right hand blade. The bullets fly harmlessly three inches to the left of his head as the figure launches its left hand blade at the radioman. Robby felt the cold steel pierce his body. Looking down Robby had just enough time to see the red metal making an odd contrast with the white of his uniform before it just as quickly disappeared. Robby in shock placed his hand over his wound in a half-hearted attempt to stop the bleeding but the red liquid poured anyway and it wasn't long before his hands turned white. Robby falls flat to the ground as his strength fails him.

"Come in command, these are the guards in the ballroom, how many assailants are we facing? I repeat how many assailants are we are facing?!" Silent, like in Antarctica after a winter snow storm, not a soul remained standing against the grim reaper. The radio had crackled to life but it was too late as far as the figure was concerned, without the command center to properly direct the remaining soldiers, the short range radios being back meant nothing. Ignoring it, he walks calmly and coldly out of the room.

Robby still lived, he was dying he knew that, but the life had not completely left his body yet. Upon hearing the radio crackle to life Robby lifted his weary head and began to drag himself over to the radio. Once there, Robby hit the button and spoke his last words performing his duty till the very end. "It's…..It's….a monster." Robby's head collapsed to the ground as his hand slipped and death had taken yet another soldier tonight. It was going to be a very long night.

#########

_Location: Ballroom of mansion. Time: 21 bloody minutes later_

A ballroom, a place of joy and celebration of happy times, the white walls have been decorated with gold artistic designs. Orb's emblem has been engraved onto the floor tiles, while brilliant elaborate gold chandeliers lit up the room illuminating everything whether we want to see or not.

A massacre of epic proportion took place here, fresh crimson red drips down the walls, slowly towards the pool on the floor. Bodies lay everywhere but something is horribly wrong, these aren't the bodies of soldiers or even people that could defend themselves. They're civilians, mercilessly killed in cold blood and in the center of this carnage stands the dark figure in grayish black. He cared little for the bodies of which he stood upon. He had taken no pleasure from killing them, yet he had no remorse either. They were witnesses, they had to be killed yet even if he had the choice to not kill them the figure could not promise he wouldn't have killed them anyway. He saw no reason to spare them, but that was beside the point.

He calculated a high probability of everyone in the mansion being slain by himself, other than his final target. Of course there was always the chance he missed someone, one of the less brave that hid in a small space somewhere, but he would address that later. Right now all that mattered was his actual target cowering before him.

This person was the reason why he broke in and killed everyone who got in his way, it was the person he was told to kill. Yet despite himself he couldn't help but feel disappointed. He had fought soldiers before but something was different about these Orb soldiers. The determination they showed in the face of their fear, their unwavering desire to protect those in this room. It was expected for a couple of soldiers to show these traits but for every single soldier in this building? They had all come and charged him despite their comrade's death, he had not witnessed a single one lose their nerve and run. This act of bravery began to stir something within him, emotions.

He had felt something, a building of excitement. He had begun to look forward to meeting his target, to feel something from their battle that reminded him he was alive yet there she cowered. Those emotions turned to disappointment that he knew would soon leave him again.

"How…disappointing. Your soldiers fought heroically, pass the point of what one would consider duty. Some had even tried getting up to continue fighting me after I had severed their leg. As their leader I was expecting something…_more_. Yet there you cower, soaked in the blood of your people shaking like a little girl who wet her pants. Is this truly how you wish to meet death? Have you no dignity, have you no pride?" He shook his head and sighed as he felt his disappointment begin to leave him like all of the other emotions. "I just don't see why soldiers as excellent as they were, would follow you."

He prepares to throw his blade for the final kill of the night, when to his surprise his target Cagalli Yula Athha stood up. The girl was still shaking from fear and was unsteady on her feet yet she faced him. "Why?" A simple question out of many, but then again he supposed it was the only one worth asking at this time and place.

"To kill you," he replies coldly after a moment then charges her with blinding speed, his blade sinking into her chest.

#######

_Location: Orb's parliament building. Time: 28 hours and 23 minutes before the massacre._

"No, No, NO! Orb is not a nation of arms dealers!" Cagalli screams as she slams her hand down upon the table. In hindsight she realizes this might not be the best gesture to display during a meeting of Orb's new parliament but she couldn't help it. The idea of selling weapons to another nation especially after the Logos incident infuriated her and besides she needed to show dominance to these people. One of the reasons Yuna was able to fool her so well was because she never stood up against him in meetings like this. She had trusted his judgment and was afraid to look foolish or stupid in front of the other senior members of the government. Not that she had to worry about that anymore; most of the senior members of parliament had been killed along with Unato during the attempted Zaft invasion. She took a moment to look around the meeting room, a simple room painted light yellow with a large long brown table in the center with built in computers at each seat, a blue carpet and bullet proof windows overlooking the courtyard. Cagalli realized that only four people were original members of parliament before both wars, and not counting herself only two more survived the second war.

"Cagalli all we are saying is that the Equatorial Union is making us a reasonable offer and we should not be so quick to turn them down. We should at least take some time and discuss this." Cagalli knew who had spoken against her without even turning around. Adam a newly elected official, he had worked in the military before becoming an elected official but he still held himself with the silent pride of all soldiers. His face was cleanly shaved and his head was bald.

Cagalli turned to face her opposition who choose to remain sitting despite Cagalli herself standing. Adam was at the opposite end of the table from where Cagalli was sitting as if in direct challenge to her. "I don't see what there is to talk about Adam. An arm's dealer is one who sells weapons to other people for money which is exactly what you're suggesting we do." The statement was childish Cagalli knew that, but she also knew the feint was her best move at this point. Adam maybe a newly elected official but he knew Orb's constitution and laws better than anyone which he had demonstrated on several occasions. If Cagalli let this become a battle of laws she had no doubt Adam would defeat her.

"I wasn't referring to the definition of an arm's dealer as the topic of our discussion as you well know," Adam replied glaring at her with his brownish green eyes. How he hated this pestering blond amateur. "We can all understand your reluctance to the offer, the idea of selling our mobile suits and weapons for money does leave a bitter taste in one's mouth but let us not forget that we are dealing with a NATION not some terrorist group that wants to blow people up, if we can't trust our fellow nations to carry weapons then how is this peace treaty ever supposed to work?" Adam could feel the silent nods of approval from those around him as he opened his hands in a gesture of a question. What he said made sense and already he knew he had eased the doubt from several of the members of parliament. If the blonde wanted this to become a battle of ideas so be it, he hadn't spent months and hundreds of dollars on public speaking classes for nothing.

"You speak of trusting our fellow nations but how are our fellow nations going to trust us if they see Orb selling weapons to their neighbors, especially after the Logos witch hunt?" Cagalli liked Adam. Adam hated her she knew that, even now she could feel his angry gaze trying to burn holes in her face. Adam had made it very clear from day one that he did not like Cagalli; he made no attempt to hide it. Cagalli could trust her mistrust of Adam and that's why she liked him. Although she would never tell anyone this Yuna's betrayal had shaken her. She knew Yuna since they were kids for God's sake, she had grown up with the man! It's true that she didn't love Yuna at least not like she loves Athrun but that didn't mean she didn't trust him and respect his opinion. Even after Kira had saved her and opened her eyes to the truth about the Alliance, she had refused to believe that Yuna had purposely betrayed and used her. She believed that Yuna was trying to protect Orb and just like her made the wrong choice for the right reasons.

It wasn't until the battle of Dardanelles that Cagalli began to doubt Yuna, but she stubbornly pushed it down believing Yuna didn't have a choice but to fire on her with the EA behind him, plus he still believed what he was doing was right. No it wasn't until Operation Fury that Cagalli had to face the truth, Yuna didn't care about Orb, he was a spoiled brat who only cared about himself. With Yuna's true nature at last revealed to her, the true extent of his betrayal and manipulation dance before her eyes, but the worst part was that she never saw it coming. Cagalli ordered his arrest, she had planned on privately questioning him, to find out when he first stopped caring about Orb, to find out why he did what he did but most of all she wanted to know what he truly thought about her.

Yuna didn't love her either, the marriage was just an ends to a means in his book but did that mean he cared nothing for her, or worse did he think of her as no more than a child incapable of doing her job? Yet before she could ask these questions he had died, like her father. Now Cagalli was stuck, how could she possibly trust her judgment on people after that?

"You do have a point on that, the Logos witch hunt caused much paranoia but it's not as if we plan to continue doing this. It's a one-time transaction and to be quite frank most other nations aren't facing a rapidly deteriorating financial situation, which could have been avoided if we had chosen to spend our money more wisely." Adam briefly smiled as he saw the child flinch; it had been Cagalli's idea to send relief money and aid to nations that had suffered greatly from the war like Berlin. Unfortunately, Cagalli was not an accountant and had seriously underestimated the impact that "loaning" the money would have on Orb's economy.

The damages made by ZAFT were only sixty percent repaired, the military only at thirty percent strength, and the economy was in a depression with everyone leaving Orb after the attempted invasion, the government did not have the money to loan to other nations.

Of course Adam had raised all these points when Cagalli had presented the idea but she had swayed the younger newer politicians to her idealistic way of thinking, claiming that there were others that needed the money right now more and that they would be able to get by. Only now did younger politicians and possibly Cagalli herself realize he had been right. This is why this deal was even being heard in the first place, if they didn't need the money so badly the other politicians would have instantly agreed with Cagalli and burned the paper. In a way Cagalli herself had open the door to this questioning of morals by trying to be overly nice.

"Should we not have helped our fellow nations in their time of need?" Cagalli knew her "Lend A Hand" deal had been unpopular by the more senior officials, except Adam who had outright called it "a naive idiots dream." Another example of why she liked Adam, if he had a problem with one of her ideas you bet to hell he was going to bring it up and say it straight to her face. Not like the older officials who tried to sweet talk "sense" into her before and after the official meetings. They had all started off in much of the same way with "oh your father would be so proud" but that always instantly raised her guard. Unato would always start like that before he talked her into something and she would absolutely not allow herself to be manipulated AGAIN! Then again looking back on some of the conversations, they might have just been honestly trying to find out how she was doing but she just couldn't be sure! So not trusting the older staff she had talked all of the newly elected officials except for Adam into voting for the deal. Even now Cagalli felt the deal had been the right move, while it may have put them in a little bit of a financial strain it was more important they show the other Earth nations that despite the treaty and following dealings with the PLANTs, Orb would always be there for those who lived on Earth as well.

"We are also in a time NEED! Thanks to Morgenroete Inc. our mobile suit supplies have been fully restocked but because of the losses from the war we're short on pilots and lack the funds for recruiting and training new ones! _How could this nitwit not see that her "Lend A Hand" deal had been a bad idea! _Thought Adam, no it was his own fault in the first place for believing a child could see her own errors, besides this was not a debate about whether or not her "Lend A Hand" deal was bad, but if Orb should sell weapons to other nations. He had laid the ground work; he could still feel the resentment the older generation had for Cagalli for going around their backs and getting the younger generation to vote for the deal. The younger generation had thought Cagalli being their senior in politics knew what she was doing, only now did they realize what a bad idea the deal had been with the wells of money drying up and them forced to make cutbacks. The people were not happy with these cutbacks, they wanted to know why the elected officials they had put in official had voted for such a horrible idea. At first the younger generation tried to pass the blame to Cagalli but they quickly realized that people would not blame their heroine, who had saved Orb from the monster which was Yuna Roma Seiran despite the fact that it was her idea. The masses were so stupid sometimes.

The deal was a mistake that the younger politicians were paying for, while the girl got off scot-free, in one deal Cagalli had gained the resentment of all of parliament. By subtly reminding everyone of this deal while at the same time showing the logic of agreeing to the new deal, Adam was discrediting Cagalli and increasing his own value with one stone. Plus he enjoyed stabbing at her obvious guilt that she carried for the deaths of Orb soldiers in the second war, it was her fault.

Cagalli finches at the mention of the casualties of the second war, but she wasn't going to be defeated that easily. "So what, we should just give up our PRINCIPLES! We are in a time of peace for God's sake the last thing we should be doing is selling weapons and another thing don't you wonder where the Equatorial Union got the money to buy our mobile suits, and why the sudden interest in buying mobile suits at all?"

Cagalli looked around the room for support, some of the younger politicians looked at her and smiled, nodding their heads but Cagalli couldn't tell if their smile was genuine or not. Yuna had often smiled like that at her in the meetings when she was arguing her point, at the time Cagalli felt encouraged by this and continued to make her point but now she realized that depending on the meeting Yuna was trying to make her look stupid and foolish so that everyone would go to him. She should have realized that sooner, how many times had he turned around and changed his opinion in the middle of a debate and then convinced her to swing the other way so that he looked like the lion tamer and she had fallen for it hook line and sinker. No she couldn't trust the smiles of the younger staff; they look too much like Yuna.

"They probably got tired of being pushed around by other nations, which will happen to us if we wait too long to get our military strength back up!" Although Adam outwardly did not appear worried he knew that it wasn't a good idea to head in that direction.

"But what about the money?" Cagalli insisted.

_She's being overly stubborn today_, Adam thought silently annoyed. He spread his arms wide in an uncaring gesture. "Who cares where the money came from as long as it isn't counterfeit?"

Cagalli may have liked Adam but that doesn't mean he didn't bug the hell out of her. She had heard enough and it was time she made that clear to everyone. "I care and this deal is not going to happen!" She looked around for support to this proclamation; while she knew Adam was convinced that this was the way to go, the other members of parliament were more inclined to her disgust. To Cagalli's surprise she only saw looks of outrage and anger directed at her, although many were quick to try and hide it when they saw her looking.

_The fool_, Adam thought as he saw the look of confusion on Cagalli's face. _She doesn't even realize that by proclaiming such a thing she offended the rest of parliament, making them feel as if their opinion didn't matter to her or this government. _Of course Adam knew that Cagalli didn't mean it that way, she was trying to rally people like a battle cry unfortunately for the little girl no one else seem to perceive it like this and he sure as hell wasn't going to point it out. "If I recall correctly you can't decide that by yourself. Now I propose we talk about it a little more and then tomorrow we take a vote on it." And boom suddenly he was the hero. Already Adam could feel the nodding of approval to the idea of a discussion, he still needed to talk them into agreeing with him but they appreciated him making a point to say they mattered.

Cagalli too saw the nods of approval but where Adam knew they weren't yet sold to the deal, Cagalli mistakes their nods of approval as nods of acceptance. _What the hell is going on_, she thought looking left then right at the faces. _How could they agree to this? How could they not realize the mistake their making?! _Cagalli had talked to several of them before the meeting and each had assured her there was no way they would accept this deal so what…unless they had been lying to her!

It was the only explanation that made sense; the only way Cagalli could have lost this much support for her argument was if she had never had it at all. They had lied to her, tricked her by giving her the answer she wanted to hear! Just like Unato and Yuna, they were trying to manipulate her! Cagalli began to break into cold sweats, her pupils had dilated wide; her confidence was shaken. She was losing it; the faces of parliament were beginning to look like Unatos and Yunas. She couldn't trust them any of them but she knew her judgment was compromised, she couldn't trust her mistrust of them except for Adam. She had to get out of here, before they could tell how shaken she was, how badly her confidence was collapsing. But she couldn't just leave without saying anything, she had to show them that she was the dominate one, that she wasn't one to be messed with. "You can talk all you want but I won't change my mind and anyone who supports this deal is not only betraying Orb's beliefs but themselves as well." With that Orb's chief Representative leaves the room leaving a stunned parliament.

Cagalli knew she had acted like a child as she entered the underground parking lot of the parliament building, but it couldn't be helped. She had begun to lose it, bad, well she had been working a twelve hour shift for a month straight now. Yes that was it, she was overworked, she needed a day off. _Tomorrow after a full day's rest I'll feel better_. Cagalli thought to herself as she began scanning the cars in the parking lot looking for her limousine. She quickly spotted it and began walking towards it. As she got closer Cagalli could see Matheul, her driver leaning in the driver's seat with his hat over his eyes taking a nap. Tired and annoyed at herself, Cagalli taps on the window awakening the driver. Startled the black haired man jumps in his seat, his hat flying off his head as he widely looks around to get his bearings. Cagalli takes this opportunity to enter the backseat, upon seeing his boss through his rear mirror our friendly driver panics thinking he's screwed up bad.

"Sweet mother of god, I am so sorry Ms. Cagalli I wasn't expecting you for another eight hours and-" On another day Cagalli might have joked a little at Matheul's expense, they often engaged in that sort of actively to and from work, it helped relieve her stress but today she just wasn't feeling it.

"Relax Matheul I took an unexpected day off." Matheul having been Cagalli's driver for years picked up the subtle hint that she didn't want to talk about it and respected her wishes. He'd just have to talk to the other drivers later to find out what happened, people would be amazed at how much information and gossip you could learn by working as part of the help. He started the car and took a small smile of satisfaction from the way the engine purred like a new born kitten; he had tuned it himself the other day.

"So, Ms. Cagalli where would you like to go on your day off?" Matheul asked her as he pulled out of the underground parking lot.

Sighing and still depressed about her behavior Cagalli slumps back into her seat and replies. "Just take me home." The kind purple eyed driver nods his head in understanding and begins to steer towards that direction. Cagalli begins to mindlessly watch the scenery pass by until they come to a red light. She spots a group of teens about her age walking on the sidewalk, they're talking and laughing and overall just having a good time. _It must be nice to have just a regular group of friends to hang out with, I bet they're going to the movies, _Cagalli thought silently. Cagalli couldn't remember the last time she went to a movie theater, or any public relaxation place not counting the hot springs on the Archangel which did nothing to ease her stress during that hellish war. The light changed and they disappeared as her limousine rounded a corner.

_Time: 20 hours and 34 minutes until massacre._

The rest of the journey to her house remained uneventful, and Cagalli walked into her house with Matheul close behind. Merna, Cagalli's ever faithful nanny was in the middle of dusting a flower pot when they walked in. Surprised Merna squeaks "Ms. Cagalli I-"

"I have the day off so I'll be in the study if anybody needs me," Cagalli says too embarrassed by her behavior to explain and quickly walks away.

Merna sees right through Cagalli's act and turns to her source of gossip, Matheul. "Did something happen at the meeting?"

"I'm not exactly sure what happen today but from what I've been hearing the Equatorial Union wants to purchase weapons from Orb which Cagalli of course opposes but this new politician Adam strongly supports the deal and he's gaining favor."

Forever wise, Merna raises and eyebrow at Matheul suspicious of the depth of his information. "That's some very detailed information you collected Matheul."

Matheul just shrugs uncaringly as he takes off his coat. "I wouldn't say collected as much as heard, everyone likes gossip even me but these new members of parliament are just awful at confidential. The older guys know to keep their mouths shut about any specific details that go on in the meeting, although that doesn't stop them from gossiping about the relationships they notice but from what I've heard the new guys have open phone chats in the backseat of the limo about the deals and stuff not to mention they just leave their notes and stuff everywhere. It's a spy's paradise."

Merna contemplates this out loud for a moment. "I guess it's a sign of the times, but still something should be done, this is a major security issue."

Matheul nods his own head in agreement. "You're right, I'd go to one of the military directors; they'll scold the newbies real good about keeping everything under wraps."

Merna smiles fox like "What a great idea, I'm glad you volunteered Matheul." Shocked the driver looks at the elder woman and is about to protest when her hard brown eyes shot him down.

Sighing in defeat he exclaims. "Fine." With that done Merna turns back to her main concern, the young woman who she helped raise.

"Oh I hope Ms. Cagalli will be alright, at times like this I wished that Mr. Athrun were still here. Even before she became Chief Representative Ms. Cagalli never had many friends especially around her own age which is why I was so delighted when she met Ms. Lacus, Mr. Kira and Mr. Athrun. They were huge pillars of support which she could rely on for advice in tough times such as this."

Matheul raises an eyebrow confused. "Why can't she just talk with them over the phone?"

Merna glances at the simple minded man "Of course not, for starters Mr. Kira and Ms. Lacus are with the PLANTs now so mentioning anything going on in the meetings is against the law."

"But it was against the law before and she still did it?"

Merna sighs as she struggles to explain this to Matheul. "That was different, while it's true that it's frowned upon to talk about the meetings it's not heavily enforced, especially when you're talking to family, but it's a completely different situation when the people you're talking to are leaders of nations that fought against yours in the war. I know for a fact that the day after it was publicly announced that Kira and Lacus would be joining the PLANTs Supreme Council, the new military directors came here and told Cagalli that if she leaked any information regarding what was discussed during the meetings to Kira or Lacus not only would they take away her position as Chief Representative of the Orb Union but they would also arrest her for treason."

"Can they do that?"

"It's rare but it has happened before, if all of the military directors agree they can temporarily suspend her authority, then parliament takes a vote that will decided if it's permanent or not." After thinking about if for a moment Matheul begins slowly, trying not to offend her.

"Well ZAFT did almost destroy Orb less than half a year ago so it makes sense that the military would be stricter on any security risks."

It fails, Merna's small brown angry eyes suddenly remind Matheul of an enraged mother bear and he quickly backtracks to save himself. "I mean those BASTARDS, how dare they!"

While Merna and Matheul continue to talk, Cagalli enters her study. The warm brown colors of the room brought forth warmness to Cagalli's saddened sprit. She had often come into this room at the annoyance of her father to play; the memory of his strong unyielding figure working hard was forever burned into her mind. If he still lived she had no doubt he would be able to show the other members of parliament that the deal with the Equatorial Union was a bad idea. She quickly pushed the thought out of her mind, her father wasn't alive anymore; there was no one here but herself to watch out for Orb so she would have to deal with it. Cagalli took the seat behind the desk and began to tap her fingers as she thought about what to do. Cagalli was very organized and prompt with her work so there was nothing that needed to be done in that direction. For a moment Cagalli was tempted to call Lacus or Kira but the idea was quickly shot down. For starters they wouldn't be home; unlike herself they'd still be at work now, second even if she could talk to them she couldn't talk about what was really on her mind, how to convince the rest of parliament to vote against the deal with the Equatorial Union.

When the princess had first joined Orb's government she had been easily overwhelmed and lost but Lacus and Kira had helped her through it. Whenever she had a problem they had a solution, but now they had their own problems to deal with. Cagalli could sense it, the growing rift between herself and what little family she had left. When they had first left for the PLANTs Cagalli had called them three times a day but as Kira and Lacus began to get adjusted to their new jobs and they began to take on more and more responsibilities, the calls had become less frequent as work consumed most of everyone's time and even when they did talk they had nothing to talk about, just as Cagalli had been restricted from talking about the Orb government from them, she suspected they too were restricted from talking about the PLANTs to her other than general topics. Their conversations were growing shorter and shorter as their topics began to run dry.

Now Cagalli could barely manage a twenty minute conversation with either one of them three times a week. Then there was Athrun…when he had chosen to stay in Orb it filled her with so much happiness that she thought she would burst but just being close by didn't fix all of their problems like magic. Their relationship was in that ugly grey area between broken and steady, before they could…no before they were ready to talk about it, the recommendation for Athrun to be put on the peace treaty team came. It made perfect sense to Cagalli, while major issues in the peace treaty between ZAFT and Orb had been solved, there were still many details that needed to be amended or mentioned and who better to represent Orb's interest then Athrun Zala. Athrun was a major war hero for the PLANTs and would still be respected greatly despite having deserted not to mention no one knew how the PLANT's government worked better than Athrun.

Athrun at first considered turning it down, not that Cagalli was even sure that was possible, he didn't want to leave Cagalli by herself in Orb and he didn't want to leave the relationship as it was. But just like herself, Athrun wasn't ready to face the problems in their relationship either, and Cagalli knew for a fact that this assignment would help Athrun's career in Orb's military.

Cagalli suspected that many soldiers would be weary of Athrun because he was from ZAFT and so bringing back a peace treaty satisfactory to the military would help him earn the soldiers trust. Cagalli had no doubt that Athrun would accomplish the task but it was still a long assignment, six to eight months, estimated and Athrun didn't feel comfortable leaving Cagalli alone for that long of a period of time. Cagalli though didn't want to be one of those girlfriends that held their boyfriends back, which had been one of their problems, so Cagalli talked Athrun into going. As for their relationship…they both agreed not to talk to each other, except for emergencies, so that when he returned they would have a better perspective on their relationship and be able to judge where to go next. So Athrun joined Kira and Lacus in space.

Cagalli would be lying though if she said it wasn't hard. She had already had to stop herself from calling him several times and just getting down on her hands and knees and begging him to take her back. But Cagalli was determined not to guilt Athrun back into this relationship, she would win him back and her first step was to prove to Athrun that she was capable of running Orb without his or anyone's help and if Athrun came back and decided not to continue this relationship then she would just have to grow up and deal with it! _Don't even think that! _Cagalli commanded her mind to cease this line of thinking; it was only causing her more stress. Instead Cagalli distracted herself with a book she had yet to read. Cagalli began at the beginning but by the time Merna came down to get her for dinner she had finished the entire book. The young leader wished she could have said her evening was better, but eating dinner alone at a dining table designed to hold up to eight people only depressed her yet again and ending her day flipping between late night channels on her TV in her bedroom only added to the depression. Some days just suck.

########

_Location: Outside Parliament building. Time: 12 hours and 42 minutes until the massacre._

Adam was pissed! The meeting was over and all of the politicians were leaving. The cold air hits Adam's shaven face, sending a slight chill through him; the soldier suspected it was after midnight although he wasn't in the mood to check. Everything had started off perfectly; the brat had behaved just as he thought she would. Every move he made, every blunder she made brought him one step closer to convincing the rest of parliament to vote yes to the deal but then that nitwit left! Even Adam had not expected her to act so childishly, at first Adam just assumed it was part of her behavior that was overlooked by the rest of the politicians like so many of her other traits. That had been his greatest mistake, Adam quickly found out that Cagalli was not one to just up and leave in the middle of a meeting and after thinking about it Adam had to agree that it wasn't the brat's style. By doing such an unexpected thing the other members of parliament began to worry about her and feel guilty about their actions. _The idiot has no skill whatsoever when it came to politics but I swear she has the luck of the devil on her side._ It had taken everything Adam had to stop them from dismissing the deal right then and there. God these people were so stupid, they refused to see the dumb blond for what she really was, a little girl trying to run a country. No matter how many blunders or mistakes she made they just simply refused to see her in anything but the most appealing light.

Adam entered his black limousine; unlike the other politicians Adam had customized his limo with the latest bullet proof and blast resistant technology. He had also sound proofed his limo, reinforcing the wall between the backseat and the driver. The retired military officer never understood why anyone would want a window in the wall between the passenger seat and the driver's seat. It was a tactical weakness, and a potential information leak. Adam didn't even know his driver's name and that was how he wanted it. He gave all of his commands to his driver through a built in intercom not that it was needed today, by this point the driver knew to take him straight home after work. As the limousine began to move, the lights dimmed as a screen came down from the ceiling. It was a warning sign Adam had setup so that he would never be surprised by Mr. Green's sudden appearance. Mr. Green was obviously not his real name but some stupid code name he must have gotten from an old spy movie, there were only two communications networks on which Mr. Green contacted him. One was in his limo the other at his house, Adam needed to be very careful when he dealt with Mr. Green. The screen blinks on to reveal Mr. Green, as was his usual custom Mr. Green had turned off all the lights within whatever place he had set up his communications network, thusly shrouding his entire appearance in darkness. Sure his general outline was still visible but making out any details was impossible other than his green eyes.

Adam had only ever met Mr. Green in person once, the day Mr. Green had come to offer him the deal but even then Mr. Green was careful to keep to the darkness of broken street lamps. Mr. Green liked to keep his secrets. "Hello Adam."

"Mr. Green what a pleasant surprise."

"Let's cut the pleasantries, how is the deal progressing?"

Adam was a spy for Mr. Green, however he did not work for Mr. Green. Mr. Green and Adam had made an agreement, Mr. Green would use his resources and fund Adam's rising political power and in return Adam would inform Mr. Green about whatever information he desired and at times such as this passed certain deals….or at least try,

"I can't get it passed." Adam suspected Mr. Green was somehow involved with the Equatorial Union's government but at this point in time he simply didn't have enough resources to investigate Mr. Green's organization further. No for now he needed Mr. Green's power to rise to the top of Orb's government and once he got there he would deal with Mr. Green in a befitting manner. Some might consider him a traitor but Adam didn't see it like that, to him the Orb government had become corrupt and was leading the nation to ruins. Adam might sell his soul to the devil but he did so to save Orb from the blond one who was leading Orb to sure destruction.

"What do you mean you can't get it through?" Mr. Green thought he did well to suppress and hide his rage but Adam was not stupid and could probably still detect the trace amounts that slipped out. Not for a moment did he doubt Adam, he was quickly becoming very skilled at politics and Mr. Green knew that he would have done all he could to get the deal passed. Adam was not foolish enough to go against Mr. Green, yet.

"Cagalli strongly opposes the deal and none of the other members of Orb's parliament are going to go against her."

Mr. Green gritted his teeth with growing rage but the conspirator calmed himself. Anger was not going to get him anything, he needed to think rationally. Suddenly an idea hit him, an idea that he had dismissed as being immature and rash before but now seemed just right. He began to talk slowly, trying to work the problem out loud. "What if Cagalli were no longer there then could you get the deal passed?"

Mr. Green saw Adam's muddy green eyes open wide in surprise and could have sworn he saw Adam's heart skip a beat. It was not surprising although he didn't know the exact reasons for why Adam hated Cagalli with every fiber of his being. "What do you mean if Cagalli were no longer there?"

It was unlike Adam to ask such a question in a demanding tone of voice, but Mr. Green understood why. This was probably his deepest desire coming true and Adam wanted to be sure he wasn't being played. Still that didn't mean Mr. Green would show any more of his hand then he already had, Adam might be an ally now but tomorrow he could just as easily decide to be an enemy. "That is not your concern, just answer the question!" Mr. Green only raised his voice slightly but he made sure his tone was swift enough to let the spy know not to challenge him again. Adam only hesitated a second after that before replying.

"Yes without Cagalli I'm positive I can talk the others into agreeing."

"I see; I'll get back to you."

Flipping a switch the mastermind cuts Adam off in mid-sentence. "Wait-" With his computer turned off Mr. Green is left in total darkness, the room he is in appears spacious but with only the tiny moonlight coming in from the windows it is impossible to make out any details. Suddenly Mr. Green heavily annoyed snaps. "If you're going to spy on me Mr. Blue could you please try to be quieter, your breathing is distracting."

From the darkness we spot grayish blue eyes as a figure moves closer to the tiny specks of moonlight. He stops though before any of his features become visible other than his frame. "As always your hearing is excellent Mr. Green, I apologize for the interruption I just came to see how you were doing."

Mr. Green eyes his supposed ally not fooled for a second. Mr. Blue may also be one of the masterminds behind the grand plan but that didn't mean he wouldn't throw Mr. Green under the bus to better his own position or worse attempt to do Mr. Green's job better than him. "Cut the crap Blue, Orb is my territory shouldn't you be trying to accomplish your own tasks with South America?"

Mr. Blue held up his hands open palm, in a gesture of peace. "Whoa, Whoa, Whoa Green, take it easy I wasn't trying to show you up or anything." He lied. "I'm ahead of schedule in South America so I figured I'd look around and make sure everyone else was doing fine but I can see that Orb's little angel is giving you a hard time, what do you plan on doing?"

Mr. Green debated several courses of action. He could call the guards and have Mr. Blue removed but that would blow both their covers, he could take on Mr. Blue himself but that was forbidden by a power above him. Finally he decided to humor Mr. Blue; there was nothing else he could do at this moment. "I haven't decided anything other than Cagalli Yula Athha can no longer be allowed to stay as Orb's Chief Representative."

"True, she has been a pain in the grand plan since the beginning, normally we would work around her but that is impossible here. The deal is a milestone for the grand plan, it must be passed."

"Yes but she's managed to root herself down pretty damn good. The other Orb leaders aren't going to push her out for two reasons, one the people love her; she's their golden little angel. The second is her good relationship with the PLANTs, if they kick her out they risk ending that relationship, and they won't risk jeopardizing that under any circumstance."

Mr. Blue finishes the train of thought. "And military pressure won't work either, what with her brother and boyfriend being the pilots of the Freedom and the Justice."

Mr. Green pounders for a moment then decides on a course of action. "That just leaves one option left."

"Oh, which is?"

"We have to eliminate her."

Mr. Blue takes this in and then goes on as if that was a normal suggestion. "That would certainly save us a lot of trouble or expose the grand plan before it even truly begins. It's a risk but since you decided to do this I can recommend a couple of good assassins."

Mr. Green is not fooled by the offer to help, even if Mr. Blue was being sincere he had already decided who he was going to hire. "Thank you Blue but that won't be necessary, there's an organization I want to test out."

This raises Mr. Blue's interest, a new player in the game and Mr. Green thought they were capable of running with the big dogs. Mr. Green began rummaging through his desk while Mr. Blue inquired. "Oh a new shadow organization huh, is it me or has a lot more of them begun to appear lately now that LOGOS and Durandal have been eliminated?"

"LOGOS and Durandal were the two biggest powers in the underworld after the end of first war. They pushed out a lot of small criminal organizations that got in their way and in a twisted way kept peace in the darkness while the light fought each other. With them gone a lot of power hungry individuals are rising up, trying to fill the empty void, not that any of them could."

Mr. Green finally finds what he's looking for, an ancient floppy disk. He had to have his computer customized to play it; a process that had taken months, although that was what originally lead him to his high opinion of this mysterious organization. Anyone could come up with a code or password protected device but to use archaic technology in itself for security was both clever and creative. "However I feel this new organization is more like us."

"You mean existing before LOGOS and Durandal?"

"Yes, those two not only blocked small organizations from being created but by being so big and flashy they helped hide those intelligent like ourselves who chose to hide in the shadows and wait."

Mr. Green puts the device in his computer as Mr. Blue registers this new information. "So what else do you know about them?" Mr. Blue asks in order to get a better understanding of this new player.

"Not much, they contacted me by hacking into my video chat and disconnecting the other callers. They're no armatures, the level of intelligence gathered by them rivals our own but they didn't have all of the answers. They requested information on a subject that I personally oversaw but no documentation of it remained which is why they needed me. I gave them what they wanted and in returned I asked for a single favor."

When Mr. Green doesn't go on Mr. Blue prompts. "Which was?"

Mr. Green smiles fox like as he replies. "I haven't asked them yet, the rule we agreed to was that the favor could be asked at any time as long as I didn't pry into any more details about them."

The floppy disk finally finishes loading as a video chat window opens up covering the entire screen. A hooded cloaked figure on the monitor stares back at us, judging by the similar cloak this person belongs to the same organization as the hooded man who would be responsible for killing many innocent people but unlike the wolf's fur this cloak is covered in medals of some unknown origin. The frame of this hooded person is also different, smaller and more feminine.

"Hello Mr. Green….and Mr. Blue."

A chill runs down Mr. Blue's spine, _how the hell did she know my code name and she stated it with no hesitation at all like the answer was right there in front of her!_

One's identity was their very weakness and the organization Mr. Blue belonged to went to extreme lengths to keep such secrets, LOGOS's destruction only highlighted the reality of what happens to shadow organizations when revealed to the light. Durandal thought he could be the one exception to the rule, that he could use the light to his advantage and while that may have worked for a time in the end it too led to his destruction.

"Ms. 3 I see your information network is as powerful as ever." Mr. Green replied casually, Ms. 3 had ambushed him before by showing off the depth of her knowledge of their organization, he would not allow her knowledge to shake him twice. Although he knew little about her own organization judging by her indifference towards him and his agenda he rationalized that she cared little for their grand plan or simply did not know of it. Either way Mr. Green saw no point in provoking a sleeping lion.

"What is it you want Mr. Green, I assumed that it is about the one favor we owe you."

_Straight to the point hmm, _Mr. Green thought silently then decided such games would only tire both of their patience and followed her lead. "I want you to kill someone."

Ms. 3 eyed the little man before her, looking for his hidden motive. "Are you sure you want to waste this one favor on something that you are more than capable of doing yourself?"

"The target is definitely worth your time, Cagalli Yula Athha." The moment Mr. Green said her name Ms. 3 understood everything; this was a test, Mr. Green wanted to see how powerful her organization was.

"Cagalli Yula Athha, yes a high profile target with serious repercussions for anyone caught. Very well we shall take the job, within two days we will contact you and show you the body for confirmation of the kill"

"Then I will wait to hear from you."

The monitor Ms. 3 was looking at goes black as she leans back in her chair, _so Mr. Green wants to see what we can do, fine I'll show him our overwhelming power. _Ms. 3 gets up and begins walking down an empty corridor; she's on a solid metal ship of some kind, strangely though there's no rocketing motion.

Ms. 3 comes to her destination, a single metal door which she opens to reveal a small metal room containing only one bed and therein lays the cloaked figure with wolf's fur trimming we saw in the beginning, the one who would soon kill countless innocent people.

"Mr. 4 get up, there's a job for you to do."

Mr. 4…the name or designation he went by now, but such things meant nothing to him. He had held two names before this one, one was his original name, the name he had when he still had emotions. The second was the name his trainers gave to him before he killed them. The third and current name was given to him by the organization, not that he understood why. He could have just as easily been called Man and still not care. "What is it?"

Mr. 4 didn't really care what it was, he asked based on an impulse that had survived the training almost like his body was trying to force himself to feel by repeating phrases that had once brought emotion to him. It never worked. Ms. 3 dropped a folder on his chest, with a picture of Cagalli on the cover. "An assassination, your target is Cagalli Yula Athha. She will be at the coordinates given to you at the time specified. You are to kill her and leave no witnesses."

Mr. 4 sat up and quickly began to skim the contents of the folder, some of the other members of the organization might have been annoyed that Ms. 3 just assumed he was not busy, but he cared little for her treatment of him. She was not his friend and he felt nothing for her, she simply gave him missions and he completed them and in truth he had been sitting looking up at the ceiling for five hours twenty-three minutes and four seconds before Ms. 3 came in. While that did not bother him, and he could have gone on longer looking at the ceiling he supposed it was by definition doing nothing. "Isn't this at the new safe bunker, the one that's supposed to protect the people inside in case of an attack by mobile suits?"

"Yes, which is why you won't be using your Gundam."

Now that was new, Mr. 4 almost always had to use his Gundam to complete the missions; it was exceedingly rare for him not to use it. "It's been a while since I went Gundamless, I assume I have permission to kill everyone within the area?" Mr. 4 always asked that now; a little over three years back, Mr. 4 had been given a covert assassination mission. He was supposed to make his target's death look accidental and as always been given permission to kill any witnesses. His target lived on Junius Seven and on a whim Mr. 4 stole one of the Alliances mobile armors that had been about to attack the PLANTs and equipped it with one of the nukes he had found while killing the entire crew. He then did the next logical thing, he fired the nuke at Junius Seven destroying the space colony. In his opinion it had been a successful mission, by destroying the entire colony he had killed his target unquestionably, before the war evacuation protocols were lacked, most people didn't think it was possible for a space colony to be destroyed by a single weapon and the blitz attack only helped the chances of not a single person making it to an evacuation pod in time.

As far as anyone was concerned, the attack was a massacre aimed at all of coordinators, not a single individual and that was basically what an accidental death was supposed accomplish. Everyone blamed the Earth Alliance and the Earth Alliance in turn blamed Azrael since he had put the "nuke" ship out there in the first place, what no one knew was that the nukes where there just for show at least that was what the data Mr. 4 had taken from the ship had told him.

Azrael had sent the ship out as a bluff to scare the PLANTs into agreeing to the Earth Alliances terms but the ship had never been given orders to actually use any of them nor were they going to according to their personal logs, none of them felt comfortable killing that many civilians in cold blood even if they were coordinators. Azrael of course had told the Earth Alliance he had never meant for nukes to be actually used and that it must have been the crew's own decision but everyone had thought he was full of shit.

Lucky for him before they asked any more questions the PLANTs dropped the N-Jammers which ended all further investigation into the incident. Like Mr. 4 had thought a successful mission but when he return to base Ms. 3 was waiting pissed, apparently he had caused war not that Mr. 4 cared but Ms. 3 did. War was trouble; it meant their organization would be a lot more restricted with its movements with everyone on high alert. While they could work around the higher level of security, it was annoying, or at least that was what Ms. 3 told him. Next came an hour and thirty two minute debate on the difference between killing everyone in the area and killing witnesses. Mr. 4 saw no difference but Ms. 3 had been insistent that there was so now he asked every time.

"You can kill anyone within the area of the mansion." Mr. 4 nodded his head already forming a battle plan from the data. He looked to the clock in the hallway and quickly calculated how long it would take him to get to Orb.

"I better get going; after all we wouldn't want Ms. Athha to miss her appointment with the grim reaper." Another joke which he knew if he had said during the time before the training it would have brought forth the emotion of amusement, but once again it failed.

########

_Location: Orb's new prototype mobile suit proof bunker. Time: 1 hour and 36 minutes until massacre._

Cagalli was in hell. She had been forced to attend this stupid political party showing off the new mobile suit proof "bunker". First off she highly doubted that it was mobile suit proof, she had seen firsthand what mobile suits were capable of. Second and the most annoying of all was this place looked nothing like a bunker; it was a mansion even bigger than her own. The ballroom she was currently standing in was evident of that, the ballroom looked good enough with Orb's emblem covering the floor and gold decorations on the wall, there was also many tables set up as well as a buffet. The food did little to help her mood, this party was a complete waste of her time.

She should be preparing for the vote against the weapons selling deal later that night, she had come up with several speeches to talk the other members of parliament out of it but she still wanted to go over them but no instead she was force to come here. The party was Morgenroete's idea, the theory was because of the tragedy of the wars, many of Orb's current leaders and influencers were new and it was felt that a party with everyone together would help everyone get to know one another, easing stress and overall improving work efficiency.

The truth though was that Morgenroete was trying to ease people's fear of them being a "LOGOS" type business by showing off their new defense system, they were trying to say "Look we can make things besides weapons." A few people saw through the act and didn't bother attending the party like Adam or Ms. Sahaku head of one of the noble families and a few others.

Cagalli envied them now, how she wished she didn't have to be here but no it was the duty of Orb's Chief Representative to attend almost every single one of these parties to show support for Morgenroete and Orb's hardworking people. No the party she could tolerate for Orb but what she absolutely hated with all her might was this stupid outfit Merna had forced her to wear. Cagalli had just wanted to go in her standard Orb parliament outfit or her military uniform but Merna had insisted that she dress up, a lot of the people at this party were so new that they had never met Cagalli in person before so it was important that she make a good first impression so Merna prepared her outfit; a lavish blue and green ankle high dress with two inch heels, black eyeliner and rose red lipstick. Orb's Chief Representative felt ridiculous, she hated heels, she hated dresses and she hated makeup! If it wasn't for the fact that Merna look so happy when she had finish putting on this clown outfit, she would have turned around and refused to wear it but Merna had work hard putting the outfit together so Cagalli gritted her teeth and bore with it for her nanny. Of course this had all been planned out weeks in advance so it's not like Cagalli was blind sighted, she knew what was coming.

As the young leader forced herself to mingle with the crowd she spotted the designer of this bunker…Carl she thought although she wasn't a hundred percent sure that was his name. Having nothing better to do she joins the crowd surrounding him as he boast about his great invention.

"That's right with just a flick of a button this bunker will seal up tight. I can't discuss the details for obvious reasons but to give you an overview once activated all windows and doors will be sealed. The doors are made out of the same metal armor as the walls of the building while thick platting of the armor will lower down covering the windows. Simply put there is no possible way to get into this building once activated, as for the metal armor the building is made out of, it's a two part layer, the outer armor absorbs beam energy so beam rifles and sabers as well as positron cannons will all be absorbed into the armor and transferred to the power grid while the inner armor is made from an incredible dense metal that stops all physical attacks such as explosions, bullets, swords and missiles. In short when active this bunker becomes mobile suit proof."

Carl gets several laughs from the pun, one of female politicians asks playfully. "But Carl surely you're not saying that this bunker can withstand a mobile suit attack indefinitely?"

"That is true but if I had to take a guess I'll estimated it would take a week for a regular sized force putting constant physical attacks on the bunker to break through the inner armor but you have to remember this bunker isn't supposed to last forever. It's designed for the civilians of Orb so they have a safe haven to go to during an attack involving mobile suits; God knows how we could have used this place during the last war."

At the mention of the last war Cagalli's mood turns even darker, she already didn't want to be here. "Can you tell me how much longer until you show us this indestructible bunker?"

Carl span around to spot the rude person who had spoken, he immediately identified Cagalli as the source. He knew who Cagalli was and how much power she had, but Carl had just spent a year working his ass off designing this bunker which was no easy feat and now that it was almost completed he deserved his time in the spotlight and he wasn't about to take any shit from anyone.

"Why, do you have some urgent business to attend to?"

"As a matter of fact I do."

Cagalli and Carl begin to glare at each other intensely, but before the situation can escalate further a bystander cuts in. "So um did you choose today on purpose or was it a coincidence?" Carl breaks his glare from the girl for moment looking at the bystander trying to figure out what he's talking about, then it hits him

"Oh no that was just a coincidence although I suppose you can consider it divine fate if you want."

"What are guys talking about?" the fiery blond demands as she looks back and forth between the two.

"Oh you don't know?" Carl asks mockingly but before Cagalli can reply another bystander interrupts.

"She's probably just forgotten; I'm sure if we talk about it she'll remember."

Carl nods his head in agreement. "Yes you're most likely right, very well then I shall be the one to tell her." Carl says this in a grand voice as if he's doing Cagalli a huge favor, which annoys the crap out of Cagalli.

"You see about one thousand years before the start of the Cosmic Era, when there were still fossil fuels, a scientist by the name of Issaic predicted that eventually we would need a new power source but instead of waiting around and saying, 'Oh by the time that happens I'll be dead so it will be someone else's problem', like so many other scientists of the day he decided to build his own source of power. He called this new source of power the S-generator."

Cagalli's amber eyes open wide as she starts to remember something. _Wait a minute I think one of my private tutors talked about this before, how did the rest go? _Frustration quickly grips Orb's young leader as she struggles to remember.

"From what little we know about this source of power is that it was a type of fusion reactor, to simplify, using a chemical reaction it made a miniature sun which is where it got its name Sun Generator or S-generator for short. It didn't get much recognition though until he had it power a whole city," continued Carl.

"That doesn't sound like a big deal?" Cagalli replied

"It is when the power source was the size of a baseball, well not counting the equipment it took to make it into usable energy but still for that time period it was unbelievable. Many governments wanted to buy his blueprints for his S-generator right there and then but in true scientist fashion he moved on. Instead he promised his backers that he would make something even grander, a space ship capable of holding a million people and being able to travel at one hundred and eighty miles per second and those that didn't laugh right in his face fully believed in Issaic's genius and funded him with everything they had. He built that massive ship with technology far ahead of its time that he himself had designed, like it's engine the S-generator, the graviton g-force canceller, Odin's eye and flex the long range scanners combined with a program to alter the ships course around any objects like meteors or planets just to name a few. Issaic was truly the genius of all geniuses, it took him twenty years to build that ship but when he finished it, it shocked the world. The ship was proven capable of supporting one million people for an extended period of time unfortunately it didn't quite live up to his speed hopes, it could only travel at about ninety miles per second, still impressive though. With the ship completed and a crew of one million picked from billions of volunteers, Issaic launched the largest ship to date in space. The plan was for them to test drive it to Mars and then back as proof to all of his backers that the ship was gold."

Memory finally dawns on Cagalli but it isn't a nice memory; it's the memory of a tragedy. "But something went wrong, just as they were rounding Mars the ship exploded killing everyone."

"The explosion's size was estimated to be about as big as Australia, it's unimaginable the amount of lives it would have taken if it went off on Earth, so naturally all the governments banned any further research into the S-generator, not that you could copy it anyway because Issaic was so secretive about his work."

Everyone in the group takes a minute to reflect on such a sad moment in history, but Carl looks at them all strangely for a second. "You know it's not known for sure that they died, after all there were no traces left of them when a satellite was sent out to investigate."

Everyone looks at him surprised by this insane idea. "The reason for that is because by the time the satellite got there the pieces of the ship had probably floated away." One bystander calls out.

Cagalli adds. "That or it was completely incinerated by the explosion." Carl looks hard at Cagalli for a moment then starts to walk away shaking his head and calling over his shoulder. "Yeah, you're most likely right, what was I thinking? I must be out of it from working too many hours straight on this bunker." With Carl gone the rest of the group disbands wandering off to mingle somewhere else. _What did he mean by most likely?_ Cagalli pushes the irreverent thought from her mind and glanced at her watched. Then upon seeing the time the bored girl sighs and goes back to mingling.

######

_Location: In the woods surrounding the prototype bunker. Time: 33 minutes until massacre._

The assassin under the cover of the setting sun flipped the switch on the cell phone jammer; the jammer itself was small about the size of ironically a cell phone. He placed the jammer on top of a tree, out of sight and reach of anyone not looking. Mr. 4 also carried three more with him as well as a signal checker designed to inform him immediately if the jammer stopped working. He had already scouted the area; the mansion was located outside the city deep within the forest. The trees directly surrounding the mansion had been cut down allowing for a twenty-three yard clearing around the mansion. There were fifteen patrol teams each consisting of five soldiers, a high number for such a small area but understandable considering how many of Orb's leaders were attending this party.

Mr. 4 had a rough estimate of where each team was located based on where he had spotted them and their patrol routes. The patrol routes, security codes, blueprints of the mansion and recorders on each of the soldiers assigned to the mansion had all been included in the intelligence folder Ms. 3 had given him. The teams were all located within the forest; apparently the person in charge had felt confident in the armor the mansion was made out of.

There was only one entrance into the mansion and all windows had been made from a bullet proof and blast resistant glass, from the notes he had read there was a debate about putting an underground exit into the design, but the designer had insisted that such a thing would only be a weakness. The designer's reasoning was that if the enemy found out about this route they could get in with almost little to no resistance since the bunkers were being designed for the general population not the military and besides what good can going outside do when a mobile suit battle was going on?

Mr. 4 knew he would be going through the front entrance considering that was the only way in; he did not possess an explosive that was powerful enough to break the mansions armor from the outside. First thing was to eliminate the teams patrolling the grounds, from the intel he knew that each one of them was an experienced war veteran team. The military was taking no chances and while they didn't have enough veterans to fill all of the positions they made sure that the first line of defense, the patrol teams and the last line of defense the guards in the ballroom where all experienced soldiers.

Still that meant little to Mr. 4, others might have felt nervous, excited, or something but Mr. 4 felt nothing. He had fought many experienced combatants before and they would be no different. The grim reaper moved quickly, he knew he had a time limit; he had to kill all of the teams before command did its routine call in. The patrol teams never had a chance, Mr. 4 used his cloak and darkness of the forest to his advantage, and he would be right on top of a team before they even noticed him.

The lucky teams were killed in an instant, his chain blade danced in the air as it sliced their throats preventing them from crying out warnings. Mr. 4 missed his time limit, he had managed to kill all of the teams with relative ease but he had been hoping to disable the last set of communications within the area, the soldier's radios, before command did their call in. He accepted the situation for what it was and recalculated his plan accordingly; the only thing that changed was that he had to fight an additional team of soldiers who would undoubtedly come to investigate. Mr. 4 began to play around with one of the radios while he waited for the investigation team to show up. Mr. 4's plan to defeat this device was simple, after messing around with the radio he would send a frequency back to the command radio at a much higher TMz then it would be expecting, in short blowing a fuse and with the command radio down all the others would be useless.

After Mr. 4 completed his work he saw the red signal light go out indicating that their last communications network was down. Just in time too since the investigation team had reached his location but his eyesight was better than that of coordinators and death spotted them long before they saw death. With a couple of flicks and yanks of his wrist the team was destroyed. He gets up and begins to move quickly, it wouldn't be long until they realize their radios were down. He comes out of the forest into the clearing and heads towards the entrance, lights come from the windows and deck but they aren't powerful enough to make the entire area visible especially against someone wearing all black. It created a twilight that Mr. 4 passed through unnoticed, when he was within twenty feet of the main entrance's staircase the guards finally spotted him.

The soldiers moved fast and all at once, they had been on guard since they lost contact with the patrol teams. There were four in total, the first two began to climb down to face him, the third only took a single step down and went for his radio not yet aware of its uselessness, the final one moved up a step and placed a hand on his gun. "Don't take another stethug" Those were his last words as a short sword drops from Mr. 4's sleeves. He reaches the bottom step at the same time the guards do and slashes in one fluid motion, the neck of the guard talking. He then takes a step and with his other hand cuts off the head of the other guard.

Without breaking stride he throws both swords, nailing the remaining two guards in the face at the same time. He pulls his swords out of the guard's faces and brings them back to his hands and then after shaking the lose blood off his blades flips them back into his sleeves. His sleeves were very large and his mastery over his blades perfect, he would not stain his own cloak. All of the bodies collapsed at the same time, raining the crimson blood on the stone steps creating a waterfall from Hell. Moving quickly and avoiding the red rain, Mr. 4 enters the mansion. The moment he steps foot into the mansion he feels the machine eyes of security cameras locking onto him. He moves fast though not running, they had already seen him and even if they didn't have radios they could still verbally communicate, they were most likely at this moment sending people to intersect him. The hallways were wide allowing for three average sized people to walk them side by side. He reached his destination without problem, a precise spot on a wall within the compound. He cut a square out of the wall by making four cuts with his ultra-sharp blade that to the naked eye appeared to be one cut. Behind the wall was a circuit board similar to a computer only there was also many wires sticking out. He quickly pulled out one of his many devices that had been prepared beforehand and began setting it up.

"DON'T MOVE!"

He had heard the soldier's footsteps a mile away but ignored it so he could finish setting up his device. Since it was a single soldier chances are command didn't send him, probably a messenger sent by his team to verbally contact command while they remained at their post. It had been nothing but bad luck for all for him to have stumbled on Mr. 4. Rather than fight though Mr. 4 chose to humor him and stop moving.

"Good, now turn around slowly and no sudden moves unless you want to look like swiss cheese," the guard said in a lower voice. Mr. 4 raising his hands in a gestured of defeat turns around slowly and stands up. "Ok so you can listen but can you speak? I don't know who the hell you are but you're in a lot of trouble so you best cooperate. Start by telling me your name and what you're doing here?"

"My name is unimportant and meaningless; I have come here to kill one of your leaders."

The soldier suppresses a sarcastic laugh as he replies, "HA so you're one of those crazy war veterans we've been hearing about. What were you doing to the wall just now?"

"I was setting up a device known as the Alien."

If the soldier thought Mr. 4 was crazy before, he thought that Mr. 4 was a complete nut job now, suppressing laugher but still keeping his automatic rifle aimed at Mr. 4 he asks, "And what is an "Alien"?"

"A hacking device that enters a system's mainframe and overrides all security codes and locks everyone out but me."

"Then shouldn't you have tried to plug that thing into the command center, that's where the controls for this bunker are?"

"Not necessary, a series of circuits cross at this point, by hooking up to them I'm able to backdoor my way into the system."

This nut job's calm confidence was beginning to get on the soldiers nerves. "Ok smartass then why would you tell me any of this?"

"Several reasons, if I were to kill you right now, command would see it and therefore have a better understanding of my abilities. They would also send all of their teams at me." The soldier stares at Mr. 4, angry by the confidence he displays but suddenly a loud beeping tone starts going off.

"What the hell is that noise," he demands to know as he begins to franticly look around. The beeping noise continues to grow and become more frequent.

"The other reason, it takes a few minutes for Alien to work so I had to distract you, I couldn't risk you getting a shot off and hitting it." A cold fear begins to grip the soldier's heart as he begins to realize that this guy might not be as crazy as he seemed.

"Lock down mode is engaged, I repeat lock down mode is engaged please step away from the windows," shouts a pre-programmed voice from the loud speakers, further startling the soldier.

"What the hell is going on?!"

"Alien has hacked into your system and activated the lock down, as we speak metal plates of special armor have slammed in front of all the windows of this building and the door to the only exit has been slammed shut and locked.

While Mr. 4 talked he noted that the security cameras had dropped slightly, deactivated indicating that Alien had wormed its way into the security systems and disabled them.

"Enough-" Too fast, Mr. 4 bridged the gap between himself and the soldier in an instant. The soldier didn't even have the time to process the movement let alone pull the trigger on his gun. Only the pupils in his eyes have time to widen as Mr. 4's cold blade pierces his still beating heart. With the cameras down there was no longer any need to keep this man alive, no one would be able to see the extent of his skill until it was too late. Death pulled his blade out and took a quick sidestep evading the blood that had shot out like a shotgun. The body crumbles to the ground as blood oozes out of the very visible wound, the figure no longer needed to keep his blades hidden so he left them out. He heard the sounds of marching, as he had expected the command center had sent out a team to intersect him, probably before this unlucky individual had crossed his path.

_#######_

_Mitch and his team appear around a corner and start hurrying towards Mr. 4, we have come full circle. Time: 0 minutes until massacre._

_########_

_Location: Ballroom Time: While Mr. 4 is killing everyone else._

They were under attack; every instinct in Sig's being was screaming this in his ear as he stood by Jeff, the only soldier assigned the ballroom guard with a mechanic engineering degree in communication devices. At the moment Jeff was trying to figure out why their radios weren't working but Sig had little hope for Jeff to figure it out, it had been years since Jeff had actually used his degree

"Major Sig, Chief Representative Athha is demanding to speak to you." Another of Sig's soldiers informed him, Sig sighed. The jamming of communications and activation of the lock down pretty much told him that they were under attack but he still had no physical proof of this, as far fetch as it seem to him this could all be a technical hiccup. That didn't stop Sig from sending a messenger to the command center for instructions while quietly informing the high ranked military personal attending the party his suspicions and slipping them some side arms.

They had all agreed that moving the civilians was premature not to mention dangerous, if they were under attack, they could be walking right in the middle of enemy fire. "Tell Ms. Athha to kiss my ass." Unfortunately being the babysitter to a party full of Orb's most influential people meant that everyone wanted to know what was going on which is why Sig was in effect, hiding over here.

The last thing he wanted was to be forced to hear every single party goer with no combat experiences two cents on the matter. He had already consulted with the people who KNEW what they were doing and not just trying to force control over a situation where they had none. He assigned some of his men to watch the front door and the rest to act like a shield, blocking the crowd by force if necessary, from getting to him. He would deal with the repercussions later assuming he kept himself and everyone else alive.

"Are those the exact words you want me to use Sir?" His subordinate asked with a raised eyebrow. Unlike most of the military, Sig wasn't a Cagalli fan boy, while it was true that the Chief Representative lead the military during times of war they were still technically in a time of peace which meant the directors had final say with military matters and besides in his opinion Cagalli wasn't that much better then Yuna when it came to military matters. Many people would argue this point by saying Cagalli had saved Orb during the ZAFT invasions but Sig had BEEN at the ZAFT invasion and saw FIRST HAND what happened. It was not Cagalli that had saved them; it had been the remnants of the Takemikazuchi forces and the Clyne faction that had saved Orb. While she had given the Takemikazuchi forces orders the orders themselves were not impressive. Sig was confident that Yuna, if he had been right in the head at the time, would have given the same orders if their positions had been reversed.

It was thanks to the Takemikazuchi's skills as mobile suit pilots that had saved them and even though Sig had never personally piloted a mobile suit, even he could tell Cagalli sucked at piloting one. She had been hit multiple times and if it wasn't for that new model mobile suit she had been piloting she would have been shot down in minutes. As for the rest of the war, well she just agreed to whatever Lacus Clyne had suggested so in Sig's opinion it was not Cagalli that saved Orb and the stopped the war but Lacus. So he cared about Cagalli's opinion about as much as all the other none combatants, still since she did have the most authority in the room he couldn't just curse her out. "It was the guild lines you would use to explain to Ms. Athha that I'm currently engaged in other matters at the moment but rest assured the situation is under control."

Before his subordinate could question him, the radio Jeff had been playing with, burst to life. "We are UNDER ATTACK! I repeat we are UNDER ATTACK; all personnel are to report to the grand hallway outside the ballroom!" Gunfire and screaming can be heard over the voice, everyone goes silent upon hearing the all too familiar sounds of battle which they had hoped to never hear again. Sig a soldier to his end wasted no time and grabbed the radio.

"Come in, these are the guards in the ballroom how many assailants are we facing? I repeat how many assailants are we facing?!" Silence, not just from the people in the ballroom but from the radio as well, Sig felt a chill run down his spine as he realized the battle must be over. _Who won? _A question that ran not just through his head, but everyone's, a question that was soon answered.

"It's…it's…a monster," came the dying breath of the soldier on the other end. It took a full minute for everyone to process this; they could hear no signs of battle anywhere, no gunfire, no explosions, no shouting, nothing to indicate they were in any danger. Still the way the dying man had said a monster was attacking unnerved many of the non-military party goers and they began to move aggressively towards the doors out of the ballroom demanding to leave.

"Hey that's where the monster is just in case anyone forgot." The effect was immediate, the aggressors eased up, no longer quite so eager to head in that direction, just what Sig had hoped for. It's not like Sig wanted to keep them here it's just even if they did leave the ballroom there was no way out of the mansion itself, Carl the designer had reluctantly told him this when pressed. At first he had suspected that Carl was a spy, how else could the enemy have knowledge of this complex plus Carl had been reluctant to share the fact that there was no way out but as Sig talked more with Carl he realized the man was just an egotistic asshole that didn't want to admit his design had a flaw in it. He had mentioned several times that the lock down wasn't designed to be activated while the enemy was still inside…_OBVIOUSLY, _Sig had screamed in his mind while biting his tongue! Talking to that asshole was the exact reason why Sig avoided contact with the rest of the party goers.

"Now everyone calm down, there are three hundred armed Orb soldiers in this building here for the sole purposed of protecting you. I promise you have nothing to fear so long as you listen to us and keep away from the doors." That final blow helped relieve the fear many of the guests were feeling, and with them calming down Sig was able to move them to the back of the ballroom while he ordered the rest of his men to flip all the tables over to make a barricade against the door. The door to the ballroom would give them an advantage; the enemy could only enter two at a time which would make them easy to mow down with his twenty-five men. Still the enemy would definitely come in firing and that's why they needed the tables for cover. Not that the tables would do them any good if the enemy decided to just grenade the hell out of them, in which case they're all screwed but at least they go out guns blazing.

#######

_Location: Corridors leading to the ballroom._

He was feeling something. It had started slowly, he wasn't even fully aware of it until just recently; Mr. 4 was experiencing some kind of emotion. It had been so long since he experienced any feelings that he had forgotten what they felt like, even now he was unsure of which emotion he was feeling. He tried forcing his mind to remember the time before his training, when things still made him feel as he walked down the hallways painted red by his blade. He allowed his mind to wander because he had already massacred most of the soldiers in the building; he had killed two hundred and twelve soldiers leaving another eighty-eight soldiers alive somewhere within this complex as well as the forty-three party guests. Besides he was confident that his reflexes would give him plenty of time to react to someone stumbling upon him. Now which emotion was he feeling, Regret? No, not regret or any of the sad emotions like remorse, joy maybe? Not quite, killing in itself gave him no pleasure. Excitement, YES that was it! He was feeling excited, something about these soldiers was different from normal. He had fought many soldiers before from many different militaries but these were different, they emitted some kind of force of will he could not understand, yet he felt that each battle he fought in was getting progressively harder. Not hard enough that he had to use anything but ten percent of his abilities but still a building of climax.

He found himself wondering more about this Cagalli person. What kind of leader was she to lead these fine soldiers, the profile the intel had built wasn't flattering to say the least. It said that Cagalli with all respects was a below average leader, her success was mainly thanks to her public image and riding on the victories created by her brother and Lacus Clyne, but for the first time Mr. 4 began to doubt the profile. How could soldiers like these follow a worthless leader, it made no sense? She must be powerful; the profile must be missing something. Mr. 4 wasn't expecting her to be physically strong but power came in all sorts of shapes, she could be the smartest, most creative, most determined. She could even be the bravest yet the profile made a point of stating that due to Yuna's manipulation Cagalli had suffered a significant confidence decrease, Yuna did this most likely to be better able to control Cagalli. It also stated that in the absence of Kira, Athrun and Lacus, while going up against a strong opponent Cagalli would lose all confidence and cower in fear but that couldn't be right, what kind of leader couldn't walk on their own two feet?

Mr. 4 was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't notice the five dozen soldiers standing in the grand hallway just outside the ballroom until he turned the corner. Almost immediately the ones in the front line open fired on him while the ones behind threw grenades. Mr. 4 switching mentally to battle mode calculated the trajectory of the bullets from the angle of the guns within a heartbeat, impossible to many but the first thing they did to Mr. 4 during his training was making him calculate bullet trajectory from the angle of the guns. It took him several years and countless hours dedicated to training but he reached a point where doing it was now second nature to him like catching a thrown ball. The front line pulled the trigger early before checking their aim, none of the bullets would hit him yet, but already he could see them moving their guns to adjust. The bullets passed by him harmless as the grenades fell at his feet. Mr. 4 waited a moment then began to move backwards as the grenades exploded, he moved back into the corridor and pivoted on his left foot to hug the left corner.

The grenades weren't that powerful, mostly smoke meant to disorientated attackers so the blast wave died out as it hit the back wall. The soldiers stopped firing so they didn't waste their bullets as they waited for the smoke to clear. Mr. 4 took advantage of the smoke, going head first into it then stopping in the middle. He whipped his chain out causing a gust of wind to dispense the smoke more rapidly revealing himself to the soldiers. Distracted by the explosion they hadn't seen Mr. 4 move back and duck behind a corner in the hallway; to them it appeared as if Mr. 4 just stood there and taken the explosion with little to no effect on himself. Given the time to think, many of the soldiers would have reached the right conclusion about how Mr. 4 survived the explosion and bullets but it was that first second Mr. 4 was looking for. That one second where fear beat logic and he took full advantage of it, he moved faster than a coordinator at Olympic speeds charging straight at them while he threw a grenade at the far left and right sides of the formation. He threw his serpent blades at the front line cutting a path right down the middle while his grenades went off ripping apart many of the soldiers. He pulled his blades back to himself as he entered melee combat, his speed made him an incredibly hard target to lock onto and the soldiers weren't experienced enough to try taking a shot while their comrades were so close. He unleashed a series of kicks aimed at the chest that broke ribs and crushed internal organs while he hacked away with his blade numbly, moving around the clumsy rifles, stabbing into chests and slicing off heads.

Occasionally he released his blades to slice off his enemy's feet making them immobile. There were also soldiers bold enough to try firing on him while their comrades were still so close but they learned their lesson the hard way as Mr. 4 flipped the closest soldier around and pushed him or her in front of the bullets making him or her a human shield. No, only those closest to Mr. 4 chanced firing while angling their gun down decreasing the chances of them hitting a comrade but the truth was that their guns were too big and awkward for the fast melee battle Mr. 4 was forcing this to be and they lacked the experience to successfully pull out combat knives in the middle of battle.

He continue to throw grenades at the soldiers furthest away causing chaos as the ones closest to him try to back off to switch weapons or have more room to aim while the ones furthest away pulled in trying not to get hit by the explosion. Their overall lack of combat experience was showing as Mr. 4 was easily turning their overwhelming numbers against them, their formations were breaking apart and they were quickly becoming more uncoordinated in their attacks, running into each other at times. Mr. 4 made sure to keep himself smack dab in the middle of their troops so they couldn't all fire at him at once or use their grenades.

All the while Mr. 4 was growing in anticipation of his final fight against Cagalli. Despite all logic and reasoning he allowed himself to believe that perhaps Cagalli would match his power and he would have to use one hundred percent to win. Meanwhile in the ballroom, Sig's team waited and prayed that the other teams would hold off this unknown attacker. All military trained fighters crouched behind the tables made cover with fire arms in hand and pointed at the door. They could once again hear the sounds of battle, screaming of the wounded, gunfire, and explosions. Then all at once silence. To go from so much sound to no sound was a little unnerving to many of the soldiers as they shifted uncomfortably in their spots and waited to see who won. A bead of sweat begins to run down the back of their neck, as the seconds feel like years.

BOOM, all at once the doors explode in a burning blaze fireball, the intense flames scorched the ground and set the tables on fire while the shockwave sends everyone flying including the tables. Burning pieces of wood fall all over the ballroom while the guests begin to scream, the guns are knocked out of the soldiers hands while they struggle to come around and in the mist of all this chaos Mr. 4 burst through the smoke. It had been as he had planned, he calculated the odds of them waiting in ambush, which had been high so he placed several of his bombs on the door intending to stun them.

The soldiers having regained their sense of surroundings, reached to pull out their side arms, with the flick of his wrist and the release of his chain in his right hand Mr. 4 slashed twelve of them, opening several arteries on all of them. The remaining soldiers jumped to their feet and reached for their side arm, with the flick of his wrist and the release of his chain in his left hand Mr. 4 decapitates twelve of them. That just leaves one single military officer left in the whole complex. A young cadet fresh out of boot camp alone was able to get up and pull out his side arm and aim it at this creature of darkness.

His entire body trembles with unimaginable fear but in true Orb spirit he doesn't run away or back down, he opens fire on what he fears. Mr. 4 easily sidesteps the bullets and reaches the kid in a moment; he thrusts his right hand blade into the soldier's heart lifting him off the ground. The body spasms for a second then stops moving, forever. Mr. 4 tosses the body away so the blood doesn't splatter on his cloak then eyes the stunned civilians. They're in shock witnessing one man take out twenty- five armed soldiers in less than a minute with ease, this is quickly fixed when Mr. 4 throws his chain straight into the face of one of the guests, making it all too clear that death isn't showing mercy or taking prisoners. Realizing this many of the guest scream as they all begin running in a mad panic trying to find an exit out of this room with this monster, but Mr. 4 had already calculated this behavior and placed himself directly in the path towards the only door out of this room. He remained standing in that one spot, manipulating his blade chains with the skill installed within thanks to the training. The chains rattled and the blades appeared to dance in the air to the screams of the people as they cut off heads, limbs and entire torsos. Mr. 4 moved at the same pace he had all night, not counting that one battle outside the ballroom, but to the guests he might as well have been a turtle reaper. Slowly killing them and reaping their souls.

Cagalli witnessed all of this from the back right hand corner of the room. She had originally wanted to go up front with the soldiers to fight but Sig the person in charge had forbidden it claiming that if she so much as gotten a scratch under his protection his bosses would have his head. She had humored the major and planned on coming to aid them once the battle had started but then she saw it. The figure dressed all in black had come in and killed them all before she could even blink an eye let alone move to help. Cagalli had thought she knew war, she thought she had seen the worst mankind could offer but she was wrong. This scene playing out before her was the worst thing she had ever seen, something straight from hell. Mobile suits fighting each other were nothing like this, seeing a faceless machine losing an arm or blow up meant little unless she knew the pilot beforehand but seeing beheadings, seeing limbs chopped off as blood gushed and sprayed everywhere. Hearing the horror filled screaming as people shouted out and begged for mercy or prayed to God to save them, she could smell the burning pieces of table and chairs still scattered around the ballroom and flesh as people ran into them. Only now did she realize she knew so little about ground warfare, even in desert dawn Kisaka had shielded her from battles such as this, oh how she wished he was here and not working at the military headquarters right now. The young woman wanted to look away, she wanted to shield her eyes but the fear was too much it froze her in place as the images burned into her mind. She could see the growing dark red pool slowly flow towards her until it touched her hand, startled by the still warm liquid she pulled her hand away but this distraction caused her to miss a beheaded body fall right on top of her. Blood still gushed out from the neck and rained down on her head, hair and face; Cagalli wanted to scream, puke, and do something but her mind was frozen, overwhelmed by the fear and then it was over.

Other than the crackling of burning wood, there was silence as the figure stood facing her. Mr. 4 was disappointed, he had let his emotions go to his head and influence his judgment, Cagalli had behaved exactly like the profile stated she would, without Kira, Athrun or Lacus to help face her fears she would cower. Still it was disappointing, which was not the emotion Mr. 4 wished to feel. Disappointment did not last long and already he could feel it slipping. "How…disappointing. Your soldiers fought heroically, passed the point of what one would consider duty. Some had even tried getting up to continue fighting me after I had severed their legs. As their leader I was expecting something…more from you. Yet there you cower, soaked in the blood of your people shaking like a little girl who wet her pants. Is this truly how you wish to meet death? Have you no dignity, have you no pride?"

He shook his head and sighed as he felt his disappointment begin to leave him like all of the other emotions. "I just don't see why soldiers as excellent as they were would follow you." Mr. 4 sighed and prepared to throw his blade finishing the job when to his surprise Cagalli Yula Athha stood up.

"Why?"

A simple question out of many but then again he supposed it was the only one worth asking at this time and place. "To kill you." He replies coldly after a moment then charges her with blinding speed, his blade sinking into her chest. She flinched slightly as the cold blade pierce her chest; the figure pulled it back allowing her blood to pour out. In a matter of heartbeats Cagalli could feel her strength failing, her vision began to darken; she stumbled, trying to keep herself standing but failed. Cagalli fell to the floor and to the greatest irony she thought, on top of one of the burning pieces of wood. For everything she had done to help the world the last thing she would feel from it was the flames scorching her chest and burning her flesh, she really was in hell.

The profile had been slightly wrong at least, it was not expected for her to get up and actually talk to him, then again he had influenced it by talking to her first so it proved nothing. Mr. 4 kicked his target's body over; her chest was slightly aflame due to her falling on one of the burning pieces of table. The flame was burning her clothes and flesh, Mr. 4 quickly beat it out with a couple of hits from a severed hand nearby. He had been given orders to keep as much of Cagalli's body intact as possible, an unusual request but he supposed it was because Ms. 3 wanted to show off to their client but he cared little for that. With the fire out he stood up and double checked the body to make sure Ms. 3 would not complain.

The fire had been contained to the chest and had only burned through some of the flesh in areas where the dress had burned away quickly; in his opinion the mission was a success. He picked up the body and threw it over his shoulder and walked out of the ballroom and back towards Alien. He deactivated the lock down and then commenced a system meltdown that would make gathering any data such as security footage useless. With that done he walked out of the mansion the same way he had come in and once he was far enough away he activated the high grade chemical explosives he had planted while massacring the soldiers outside the ballroom.

The mansion blew in a burning ball of yellow light, promising no DNA or forensic evidence would be found linking back to him. "When in doubt blow it up," was something his trainer used to say. The bunker was not designed to be attacked from the inside out and besides with the lock down mode turned off the bunker lost almost half of its resistance to explosions.

########

_Location: Mr. 4's transportation vessel._

Mr. 4 stood next to a metal table in some kind of twisted medical room, the fallen princess laid on the table, almost like a display for the monitor which sat in front of her. The monitor blinked on revealing their client, Mr. Green. Upon seeing Cagalli his eyes widened in shock, he didn't actually think they could do it so quickly. "Is this Cagalli Yula Athha the girl you wanted killed?"

Ms. 3 normally did this kind of thing but she had ordered Mr.4 to contact Mr. Green the moment he had the body on the ship. Mr. Green regains his composure and replies evenly. "Yes, or a girl who looks exactly like her." Meer Cambell had proven that people weren't always who they appeared to be.

Mr. 4 goes over to the body, takes her finger and puts it on a finger print scanner, then pulls on her hair to show that it is attached to her head and cuts a lock off. He puts the lock of hair in a device attached to the wall and turns it on, the device starts humming. "The finger print, and DNA, is being sent to your computer to confirm for yourself that this is the real Cagalli Yula Athha."

"I see, well if everything checks out I will look forward to working with you again."

"You will not, you did us a favor and we have just repaid it, our relationship is over goodbye."

Mr. 4 hits a switch cutting off Mr. Green before he can protest. Just then a new person comes into the room clapping, he too wears a cloak with hood up but his is decorated with bones that don't appear to be fake. "HAHAHAHAHHA oh that was just great, did you see that look on his face?"

The new person countered Mr. 4's emotionless manner with a cruel twisted sense of humor, a comedian of death . "No nor do I care Mr. 6," Mr. 4 highly doubted Mr. 6 had been assigned to any mission near him, for some reason Mr. 6 liked to follow him around commenting on the way he accomplished his missions.

"So why didn't you just use poison to kill everyone in the mansion then walk in and take the body and then blow everyone sky high, I mean I like melee because I get to see them scream and squirm which is so FUNNY but you don't care about that stuff."

Mr. 4 shrugs his shoulders and said simply, "Because I wanted to." While Mr. 4 didn't feel emotion he still got impulses and instincts, like favoring his chain blades to guns in battle, there was no logical reason for it he just had an impulse that told him to go melee and he listen to it.

"HAHAHHAHAHA because I wanted to, listen to this guy." Suddenly Mr. 6 stops laughing; something was wrong, very wrong. "Did you see that hand twitch," Mr. 6 asked Mr. 4 as he walks over to Cagalli's hand and begins feeling for a pulse.

"Don't be stupid I stabbed her in the heart, she can't be alive." Mr. 6 looks up at Mr. 4 now very serious.

"Then how come I have a pulse?"

"WHAT!" Another emotion shot through Mr. 4, outrage, anger and pride. Not since his battle with 1 did Mr. 4 ever feel so many emotions at once. He walks over to Mr. 6 and grabs Cagalli's hand from him, checking for a pulse himself, Mr. 6 meanwhile goes to examine the wound on her chest. Mr. 4 slowly starts to shake his head as he too gets a faint pulse, Cagalli still lived, "I don't understand."

"It looks like you missed her heart by a millimeter."

Mr. 4 snaps back clearly angry,** "**Even if I did miss she should have bled out, I stabbed her over eight hours ago!" Mr. 6 walks over to a computer and sits down while Mr. 4 goes to examine the wound.

"Her wound's been cauterized but if it makes you feel any better it still counts as a kill since the wound is infected. She's still going to die it's just taking longer than you intended."

_Cauterized, when the hell did she…..WAIT when she fell on that burning piece of wood! Damn it I didn't think at the time to check the wound to make sure it was still open, she must have the freaking devil's luck. _Mr. 4 had had enough, this was not a simple small miscalculation that he could pass off as being human; this was a large mistake, a screw up that he would not allow to exist any further. "I made a mistake, which I'm about to fix."

Mr. 4 raises his blade not caring about the slow death but wishing to end this blunder as quickly as possible when Mr. 6 cuts in. "You didn't make a mistake, she dodged your attack." Mr. 4 stops dead in his tracks and turns to look at Mr. 6; it was one thing after the other.

"That's about as likely as me making a mistake twice in a row." Mr. 6 gets out of the chair and gestures to the computer.

"Look for yourself; I copied the security footage before you blew up the bunker."

We see the footage; it's being shown frame by frame. We see Mr. 4 move, on the third frame is Mr. 4's short sword touching Cagalli's chest. On the fourth frame we see Cagalli move by a fraction before he actually penetrates her. They play it again as Mr. 4 takes this in, in silence. _The FLINCH_, at the time he hadn't thought anything about it since it wasn't uncommon for people to flinch just before he struck them but now when he did a mental rewind of the scene in his mind he realized that it wasn't a flinch at all but a subconscious dodge.

"There's no way she did that on purpose." A subconscious dodge on that level had meaning, it showed instincts and potential, both of the hooded figures thought so to themselves.

"It makes some sense, after all her brother is the pilot of the Freedom." There had been no hint whatsoever that Cagalli might possess this kind of potential so Mr. 6 was trying to come up with a logical reason for something that had come out of midair.

Mr. 4 on the other hand was not about to accept some half ass explanation. "He's also the ultimate coordinator; it's not even a stretch to say they don't have a single gene in common."

"Soooo what do you want to do, we could put her into a training program and if she survives add her to our ranks." Mr. 6 suggested, it wasn't his mission so he had no say in the final matter. Mr. 4 studies Cagalli for a moment and thought. None of their intel which was the best in the galaxy had suggested Cagalli might be capable of becoming as powerful as Mr. 4 yet that dodge suggested otherwise.

Potential like that was rare but it was something the organization sought for desperately but if he was to base his decision off the intel then it was just a fluke, dumb luck if you will. Then again this was not the first time the intelligence was wrong about her, it had said she would face death like a coward yet she had stood up and spoke to him, it had said she was incapable of a dodge like that yet she pulled it off. She still should have died yet she lives thanks to devil's luck. The profile was not correct; it was missing something, something that no one could see, a factor that no one knew about it. Still Mr. 4 was no fool, he could see her frail untrained body and knew that the training would kill her, she simply didn't have the physical requirements to survive it and besides he wasn't fully convinced the profile was missing something important. She needed to be tested, to see if she had potential or the luck of the devil.

"We'll heal her wounds and then place her in Slyer. If she can stay alive for a month in that poor excuse of a prison; that will prove that she has some skill, and that the dodge wasn't a fluke. Then we'll erase her memories and start training her."

Mr. 6 looks at Mr. 4 slightly surprised and asks, "Isn't Slyer on Sora?"

"Your point?"

Mr. 6 looks at him for a moment then smiles. "This is going to be interesting."


	3. Episode 2 The Beginning P1

Episode 2

**The episode opens up showing the first rays of sunlight pierce the edge of the horizon as the sun wakes up for the day, yellowish brown sand stretches out endlessly as the camera focuses on a single complex within miles. It's obviously a prison, from the wall with 4 guard towers covered with barbed wire to the main 3 story building with bared windows, the place just screams prison. An interesting fact to note would be that the wall and main building appear to be made out of a red clay substance.**

**The camera cuts inside the prison, we see a prison guard walking down a corridor lined with cells. He doesn't look like a standard prison guard with his green combat jacket, blue jeans and combat boots. What looks to be a HK 53 submachine gun hangs casually down at his side. He stops in the middle of the corridor and grabbing his submachine opens fire directly above himself at the ceiling.**

Prison Guard A: Wake up you stupid pieces of crap, it's time to work!

**The bullets sink into the red clay substance the ceiling is made from. All of the cell doors electronically open allowing the convicts to get out, almost immediately after the doors open inmates start rushing out and that's when we notice something odd.**

**The clothes are an obvious hint, with grey tattered rags that look like they were made from potato sacks. No real prison would force its inmates to wear such dehumanizing clothing, but the less obvious hint is their eyes. Most don't look like cold hearted killers or even petty crocks; they just seem broken.**

**The prison guard with his brown crew cut hair continues screaming at the prisoners to get up; his mud-green eyes look warped with bloodlust like a predator waiting for its prey to slip up.**

**The camera cuts into one of the cells. As expected it's a simple, one room with no windows and one light bulb hanging down. The cell only has 3 things in it, a wooden bunk bed, a toilet and a sink with a mirror. The guy in the top bunk stretches and yawns as if waking up to gunfire and insults was an everyday occurrence.**

**He hops off the top bunk allowing us to get a better look at him, he's about 6 feet tall with brown shoulder length unkempt hair. He's skinny but considering we've yet to see a fat prisoner that might be normal. His light blue eyes are full of watchful intelligence; some can consider him a glow stick in this prison of broken lights.**

**This one of the few unbroken men walks over to the sink and splashes some water on his face trying to wipe the sleep off his eyes. He shakes his head dry and then exits the cell. The corridor has become crowded with other prisoners as they all walk in one direction somewhere.**

**Light blue eyes looking left and right, keeping an eye on the other prisoners as well as the other prison guards the man tries to not stick out by copying his fellow inmates with slumped shoulders and downcast eyes, but the prison guard still spots him and with a malicious smile falls back behind the weaker prisoner. The feeling of a football player picking on the weak geek should be coming off the image in waves.**

**Thinking he's being sneaky and clever prison guard A kicks the prisoner's legs out from under him however the camera did pick up on the prisoner's light blue eyes looking back several times at the guard knowing full well what's coming but choosing to do nothing. The prisoner crashes to the ground while the guard stands over him chuckling evilly.**

Prison Guard A: You better watch where you're going there Kenny, I wouldn't want to get your filth on my nice boots!

**The guard savors his appetizer of entertainment, getting a nice laugh for a moment while "Kenny" wisely chooses not to respond. With his moment of fun over, prison guard A turns around and begins walking away when a thought enters his mind.**

Prison Guard A: Everyone stop!

**All the prisoners stop in place surprised by this unusual command and turn to look at the bully, prison guard A. Spotting the one mistake that will lead to his meal of the day, he turns around slowly to look at Kenny who by this point has gotten back up. His mud-green eyes dance cruelly anticipating the response to his next question.**

Prison Guard A: Where is your friend Kenny?

**The effect is instant; Kenny looks up at the guard his light blue eyes open wide. His head snaps around as he quickly scans the faces of the other inmates. Not seeing his friend among them he turns back to face the threatening bully with a gun and begins to talk fast while thinking faster.**

Kenny: He must be up ahead.

**With purposeful slow shakes of his head the evil smile never leaving the guard's face.**

Prison Guard A: No, I've been standing in this hallway the whole time and I haven't seen him.

**Kenny tries to think of something else but nothing comes to mind, seeing this prison guard A makes his move.**

Prison Guard A: Sooo that must mean he's still in bed.

**Kenny's eyes light up in horror.**

Kenny: No, he's up, I'm sure he's up. You must have missed him.

**Kenny instantly regrets his poor choice of words, infuriated the predator forgets about his old prey and jumps on the one who dares to challenge him. Slamming the butt of his gun into Kenny's face causing the loyal friend to once more collapse to the ground, only this time the prison guard isn't satisfied with that. Like most bullies who've been challenged, he reinserts his dominance by utterly destroying the opposition by violent, in this case kicking, means.**

Prison Guard A: How dare filth like you claim I made a mistake! In this prison we guards are perfect in every single way! The price of saying we made a mistake is DEATH!

**Curling up into a ball Kenny protects his face and chest as best he can while playing possum. A new voice emerges out of nowhere.**

Unknown: What's the matter does the truth hurt that much Jeff?

**The prison guard (Jeff) stops kicking Kenny and turns to look at the source of the second challenger. It's probably a safe bet that this is Kenny's friend considering he's coming from the same cell as Kenny; unlike Kenny though he's shorter, standing at about 5 foot 4 inches. His black hair is cut short as a playful smile dances across his face, looking up he notices the bullet holes in the ceiling and scowls.**

Kenny's friend: I know that the warden gives you an unlimited supply of bullets and all but do you have to shoot them up into the ceiling every morning, you do know we're the ones who have to fix it right?

**If Kenny's spirit is described as a glow stick struggling to be concealed in this waste land of broken lights, then his friend is a spotlight openly challenging those who would try to break him. We can see this not just in his bright green eyes which shine like an electric current is running through them but in the way he asks the rhetorical question knowing full well that Jeff doesn't care about the extra work he gives the convicts nor will he stop.**

**Ignoring the previous comment Jeff's mud-green eyes glare at the man with a mixture of annoyance and coldness while the other prisoners watch the scene unfold like a baseball game.**

Jeff: Well, well, well, the star of the hour has appeared. Tell me Shadow did you forget the rule that says all inmates must be out of their cell in1 minute after the prison guard yells work, or you will be shot?

**With that the murderer raises his gun and points it at "Shadow" judging from his happy expression this is probably one of his most favorite things to do, but like a conman trying to use his ultimate weapon, the silver tongue Shadow talks just before Jeff pulls the trigger.**

Shadow: I didn't forget, but the actor in me likes to make a grand entrance.

**Shadow's taunt succeeded in making the bully want to smack him in the face instead of simply just shooting him, which Jeff does with the butt of his gun. Shadow like Kenny crumbles to the floor and proceeds to get into a similar defensive position when Jeff's boots start impaling themselves upon him, only this time Jeff's kicks seem a lot harder than they were on Kenny.**

Jeff: You arrogant son of a bitch.

**The prison guard takes his gun and points it at Shadow's face. There's blood coming from Shadow's lip, but the defiant look in his eyes is still there.**

Jeff: Tell me why I shouldn't kill you right now.

**Shadow talks still with a hint of humor in his voice.**

Shadow: Well for starters; who would you beat the crap out of when you're having a bad day? That and wouldn't you miss our escape plans?

**For one moment Jeff seems to play around with the idea of finishing this brat off right now, but orders as well as the prospect of a more horrible fate awaiting this worm, steer him away from this idea, so instead he settles for just kicking Shadow one last time in the chest.**

Jeff: You know in a way you'd be better off with me shooting you right here and now because the warden is a lot more sadistic then me, he's been known to have broken inmates to the point where they're begging us guards to end them and lucky you have caught his eye. Each time one of your escape plans fail it only reinforces the idea that escape from here is impossible with the other prisoners.

**The evil smile is back again as Jeff regains his cool.**

Jeff: In fact you help the warden discourage so many prison escapes that he left us with clear orders not to shoot you unless you were in clear violation of a rule; the warden doesn't want anyone to mess with his entertainment.

**After the prison guard gets a good distance from them Kenny goes over to see how his friend is.**

Kenny: You ok Shadow?

**Kenny asks with concern upon seeing Shadow clutching his ribs.**

Shadow: Yea, That bastard's kicks didn't hurt at all!

**Shadow gets up as he shouts this out loud, but not loud enough to be heard by someone else. The 2 trouble makers start walking with the other inmates down the hallway and down a flight of stairs.**

Shadow: An evil jerk like him will probably fall off a cliff.

**Kenny laughs**

Kenny: hahahha, yea like we're really that lucky, but still Shadow that's unlike you to take such a risk on a day when we're going to try one of our escape plans.

**With his light blue eyes scanning left then right the taller man leans in close to his partner as he lowers his voice when he says escape plan. They enter a cafeteria and stand in line, it's important to note that even though they're talking, they're keeping an inconspicuous close eye on the servers.**

Kenny: Weren't you the one who told me that when you have an escape plan it's important to _not _draw attention to yourself the day you're going to execute the plan?

**As they get up to the front of the line a rather mean looking server glares up at them then in what's supposed to be a sneaky fashion slips some drugs into their meal but the convicts aren't stupid and clearly see the act, however they act as if nothing happened as they start to walk away with their food trays in hand. Shadow sighs**

Shadow: I guess we're going without food today.

**Without another word the duo dump their food into a trash can.**

Shadow: You know, I know the warden is just playing with us since he can like kill us any time he wants or simply withhold our food but still the drugging thing is getting kind of annoying, this is the third time this week he's done it.

**A fight begins to break out between 2 other inmates. The prison guards begin to walk over but not to stop the fight but rather to place bets on the winner sickeningly similar to a dog fight. Shadow and Kenny taking advantage of the distraction walk on over to the fighting inmates' abandoned food trays and grab them. They go to one of the semi-full table, sit down and continue talking.**

Kenny: Don't try to change the subject.

**Fidgeting in his seat with eyes cast down Shadow looks uncomfortable.**

Kenny: Seriously what's going on?

**Leaning forward Kenny presses again. Shadow debates whether or not to answer for a few moments then decides.**

Shadow: I had a weird dream.

**Blinking in surprise Kenny leans back and asks**

Kenny: You had a weird dream?

**Shadow rolls his eyes annoyed.**

Shadow: I just said that.

**Kenny and Shadow have started eating.**

Kenny: Sorry, but what was this dream about?

**Shadow shakes his head.**

Shadow: I can't remember exactly it's kind of fuzzy now. I do know that it involved a fire angel though.

**Kenny looks disbelieving.**

Kenny: A fire angel, are you sure it wasn't a demon?

**Shadow looks at his friend annoyed by the disbelief.**

Shadow: Yes I'm sure!

**Kenny still doesn't believe him.**

Kenny: How?

**Shadow gets a dreamily look in his green electric eyes.**

Shadow: Because she was beautiful.

**Finally starting to pick up interest Kenny asks**

Kenny: Oh, what did she look like?

**Shadow turns away embarrassed.**

Shadow: I can't remember.

**Kenny looks at Shadow as if he's nuts.**

Kenny: You can't remember; than how do you know she was beautiful?

**Shadow replies with supreme confidence.**

Shadow: Because I remember thinking to myself, God she's beautiful.

**Kenny still looks at Shadow as if he's nuts.**

Kenny: You've been in here too long, you need to get laid.

**Shadow looks at him crossly.**

Shadow: ha, ha, ha, very funny. Last time I tell you about my dreams.

**Kenny shrugs.**

Kenny: Well what do you want me to say?

**Kenny starts using his spooky voice**

Kenny: Maybe it's a premonition of a woman you're going to meet in the future.

**The scene ends with Shadow starting to laugh for real this time.**

Shadow: hahahahah, yeah right.

**The next scene opens up with flashbacks of Mr. 4 killing the people in the ball room; we see this from Cagalli's perceptive. We hear Cagalli scream, and as she screams she wakes bolt right up in a bed breathing heavily.**

**Someone has cleaned off the blood from her face along with the makeup. The nightmare has left its mark, with sweat soaking the young adult's face as well as her golden hair. Cagalli still has on the now dried blood dipped dress but in her dazed dream state that barely registers. As Cagalli begins to calm down she wipes the sweat off her forehead.**

Cagalli (Nightmare, it's a nightmare, it's just a nightmare, calm down, get a hold of yourself, it was just a night….)

**As her dream daze begins to fade, Cagalli's reasoning abilities begin to start up, allowing the princess to become aware of her surroundings. The room is small with just a bed and bared window. It takes Cagalli all of 3 seconds to realize she has no idea where she is. Her heart rate spikes as fear fueled adrenalin pumps in her system.**

**Cagalli jumps out of bed as her fight or flight response kicks in. She begins to frantically look around as she desperately tries to make sense of her scattered thoughts. Screaming her head off Cagalli shouts**

Cagalli: What, where, where am I, help, someone HELP me, Kira, Athrun, HELP!

**Amber eyes shaking with unimaginable terror Cagalli may have woken from her dream daze but the fear remains and only intensifies with the unknown. The shouting does succeed in getting attention as the door slams open to reveal a not so friendly murderer.**

Jeff: Shut up!

**Cagalli still panicking now has someone to direct it at.**

Cagalli: Who are you, where am I, what's going on?

**Being an alpha male and having grown used to getting his own way without much question Jeff doesn't like the demanding tone Cagalli gives him or the way she openly ignores him, so in a true bully chest pounding fashion he lifts up his gun and opens fire on the ceiling…again. Jeff smiles cruelly drinking in Cagalli's fear as the broken ruler jumps back afraid.**

Jeff: Now listen here girly, the warden says he's going to talk to you personally so you're going to follow me and remain silent or else.

**The jerk talks slowly and coldly as if believing the old stupid saying that blonds are idiots and then begins to walk out of the room. Cagalli only hesitates a second before following him. We next cut to see a door open and Cagalli being pushed in.**

Cagalli: Wait a minute!

**The door gets slammed and locked in her face, for a moment the old stubborn and prideful Cagalli is back as her amber eyes glare at the door trying to burn it down by pure willpower.**

Warden: Sorry for my prison guard's rudeness but that can only be expected out of someone who works with scum all day long.

**Just like that the old Cagalli is gone swallowed again by her more practical and political side we saw through GSD. Spinning around Cagalli has evidently calmed down from her panic attack and getting a good look at the room spots the source of the voice.**

**It's easy to tell that this room belongs to the Warden. It's huge with white carpeting, silver chandeliers lights. On one wall there's a bunch of book cases full of thick novels, on another there are two grand windows overlooking the courtyard below. The combination of sunlight and the light from the chandeliers illuminates the room brightly.**

**In-between the 2 windows is a solid oak desk and sitting on a big matching brown arm chair behind the desk is the warden. The warden is a big guy, a bodybuilder, his black hair with yellow highlights is brushed back behind his head and his black mustache looks too neat to be real. His hazel eyes hold the same cruelty as the prison guards but there's also the hint of cunning, a man well educated.**

Cagalli: Who are you?

**Determined not to be made a fool again *cough Yuna cough* Cagalli starts off strong and demanding. Like Jeff the warden is used to people showing him immediate respect and generally backing away from him in fear so his hazel eyes flash a little by this little girl's attitude but unlike Jeff the warden has self-control and contains his anger.**

Warden: Excuse me but you're in no position to making demands, after all you are in my prison.

**Taking a step back the politician loses her aggressive edge by this surprise fact and blinks.**

Cagalli: Prison?

**In a sadistically mocking way the man with a God complex replies**

Warden: Yes, that's right this is Slyer.

**Cagalli shakes her head.**

Cagalli: Slyer? I never heard of such a prison.

Warden: Nor would you have. You see a while back a bunch of rich and powerful people got together and decided they needed a place where they could put people of annoyance to them, a place where they didn't have to worry about when they will get out, a place where they didn't have to worry about lawyers or the court system, a place where the people who bothered them would just disappear, and never return.

**The cruelness of the situation hits the fallen princess like a brick as she finally begins to understand what is going on here.**

Cagalli: Are you saying this prison holds nothing but innocent people?

**The warden gives a short laugh.**

Warden: HA, Innocent hardly, they have committed the greatest of all offences. They tried to go against someone more powerful than themselves.

**The sadist's cruel smile spreads across his face as Cagalli glares at him.**

Cagalli: You're a monster!

**Cagalli's comment doesn't bother the warden, in fact it amuses him.**

Warden: Why am I the monster? This prison would still have existed if I had turned down the position only I would have nothing to show for it.

**Cagalli's spits out, barely containing her anger**

Cagalli: So money's a good enough reason to hurt innocent people.

**Now the warden gets up showing his height, a good head and a half taller than Cagalli. His cruel smile never leaves his face, as a twisted light shines in his hazel eyes.**

Warden: No, but power is.

**Cagalli doesn't get it.**

Cagalli: Power?

**Gesturing around the room the Warden explains**

Warden: Take this office for example; this furniture is some of the finest money can buy. However that dulls in comparison to the power to control the fate of every individual here. If I wanted to, I could kill all of them now, and no one would blink an eye, that's true power!

**Cagalli looks at him like he's a madman.**

Cagalli: Not only are you heartless but you're also crazy!

**For the first time the warden's hazel eyes harden on Cagalli, his sudden stare causes her to take a step back.**

Warden: It's not wise to insult the one who controls your fate.

**Cagalli looks at him startled.**

Cagalli: Fate, are you saying I'm a prisoner here?

**The sadist once again mocks her.**

Warden: Oh, so you finally realize it then, I must say that took you quite a while.

**The pride of Orb still resides in Cagalli, ignorance is bliss.**

Cagalli: Who do you think you are, do you know who I am?

**Enjoying his little twisted game to cause his new blond prisoner as much pain as possible the warden answers without hesitation.**

Warden: You're Cagalli Yula Athha the once Chief Representative of Orb and the current fallen princess of Orb.

**Cagalli is taken by surprise with the way this black haired man with yellow highlights so uncaringly admits to kidnapping such an important political figure but she's even more surprised by his terminology.**

Cagalli: What do you mean by the once?

**The warden shrugs his shoulders appearing to be uncaring while he stabs at her with his psychological blade.**

Warden: I believe that would be the most fitting term to describe someone who has been declared dead by their people and is no longer in their own country.

**Cagalli is shocked and a little hurt to find this out. The warden gains the upper hand in their verbal battle. Looking down at the floor she says**

Cagalli: I've been declared dead.

Warden: Well what did you expect, after that explosion?

**Looking up the dead girl standing looks even more confused.**

Cagalli: Explosion?

**The warden pretends to remember something as he takes his second stab with his psychological blade.**

Warden: Oh, that's right you were unconscious, well to cut a long story short after he dragged your body out, he blew up the building so that the other bodies were completely unrecognizable.

**The sadist talks about it like it's a joke which infuriates the guilt ridden ex-leader.**

Cagalli: You bastard!

**She lunges at the Warden who sends her flying with a quick kick to the chest.**

Warden: What are you getting mad at me for, I wasn't even there? If you want to be mad at anyone be mad at yourself.

**Cagalli is on her knees, she's holding her chest where the warden kicked her. She looks up at the warden angrily**

Cagalli: What do you mean?

Warden: Well you were there why didn't you try to do anything?

**Cagalli freezes. She tries to respond**

Cagalli: I...I….I

Warden: You what? Ahh, was the little princess too scared?

**He does the baby talk voice, Cagalli is not taking this well.**

Cagalli: Shut up.

**She looks to the floor ashamed.**

Warden: But wait that didn't stop your loyal soldiers from trying to stop him, even though they probably saw how scary he was first hand.

**Her anger is growing.**

Cagalli: Shut up!

Warden: Let me guess, instead of taking charge of your soldiers and leading them against your enemy like any competent leader would you sat there hoping that your brother Kira or maybe Athrun would come out of nowhere and save you again. Then when you realized that they weren't going to come you panicked, and abandoned your people to hide in a small dark corner shivering in fear.

**Cagalli snaps and charges again in anger.**

Cagalli: I said SHUT UP!

**With one hand the warden grabs Cagalli's head and throws her at the wall. She hits the wall hard and falls to the ground. Tears have formed in her amber eyes from the pain and guilt.**

Warden: You claim that too much power will only bring conflict, but it seems to me that you don't have any power at all. At least not any you gained yourself.

**Cagalli still in too much pain to move snaps back at him**

Cagalli: Oh yea?

**The warden clearly enjoying himself finishes off his psychological attack bathing himself in her pain.**

Warden: Yes, you never earned any of your power, it was given to you. Your position as the Chief Representative was given to you from your father.

**Cagalli is slowly regaining mobility.**

Cagalli: Are you saying I haven't earned my position?

**The warden snaps**

Warden: Yes that's exactly what I'm saying! Why don't you face it, you don't have the experience to be in long term politics, I mean you were pretty good with the war time issues, but with the everyday issues you suck! From what I know most of the other politician's think of you as annoyance at best, none of them think of you as the wise leader they can count on for guidance, they think of you as an obstacle!

**Cagalli's pride is offended.**

Cagalli: If they don't like me so much why don't they make me resign?

**The warden holds up two fingers.**

Warden: Two reasons, one, it's because of your brother's girlfriend, if they force your resignation they're afraid that their good relationship with the PLANTs will end. Two, your brother and ex-boyfriend are two of the greatest Gundam pilots on Earth. They're scared of you, or more like they're scared of the retaliation those two might do for you. So you can see for yourself that your only power is to call your dogs to aid you but guess what? They wouldn't be able to find you here.

**Cagalli has fully recovered and stands up. Her rational mind has returned as she attempts to shoot the warden full of holes with her amber eyes.**

Cagalli: Oh and why not?

**The warden's smile widens, he's been waiting for this.**

Warden: Because you're not on Earth.

**Cagalli looks at him anticlimactically.**

Cagalli: So I'm on a space station colony.

**This time the psychological knife is going in slowly inch by painful inch.**

Warden: You're not in the same solar system as Earth.

**As if she hadn't heard him correctly Cagalli asks**

Cagalli: What?

Warden: You heard me, you're on a planet but it's not Earth or near Earth for that matter.

**Looking at the egotistic man like this is another one of his mind games Cagalli rolls her eyes and replies**

Cagalli: Right.

**Savoring this moment of ignorant bliss the warden smiles.**

Warden: I know it's hard to believe so let me start at the beginning. I'll assume you know about the crew of the Lost Ones.

**Cagalli not sure where this is headed goes along with him.**

Cagalli: You mean the people who died in the ship powered by the S-generator, one of the greatest tragedies in human history.

**The warden nods his head.**

Warden: Yes, that's right only they didn't die.

**Cagalli looks at him as if he's nuts.**

Cagalli: What are you talking about of course they died, it's not like a million people can just disappear.

**The first time Cagalli mouthed off to him the warden ignored her but that won't fly a second time.**

Warden: Unless you want me to kill you, shut up and let me finish!

**His cold hazel eyes and metallic voice, shuts Cagalli up. Once the warden is sure Cagalli will not interrupt him again, he begins talking in a cruel humorous voice.**

Warden: Now that that's settled where was I, ah yes I remember. You see what happen was that the S-generator started producing massive amounts of power, too much more for the ship to hold, so in desperation they put all of the excess power into the engines. The ship then rocketed forward at God like speeds, and then when it passed Pluto's orbit it ran straight into a wormhole. Talk about bad luck right, but somehow they made it to the other side mostly unharmed and crashed on a planet that's almost exactly like Earth. That's where we are now.

**He opens his arms wide.**

Warden: Welcome to Sora!

**Cagalli just looks at him.**

Cagalli: You expect me to believe that crap?

**The warden is still smiling but it appears he's grown bored.**

Warden: I don't care what you believe but besides from me no one else in this prison knows anything about the current Earth governments, and if you start going around saying you're from a country called Orb on Earth they're going to think you're crazy. Now I've grown bored with you, you have 5 minutes to go change into the prison uniform, so get going.

**The warden gestures towards the door as Jeff comes back into the room. Cagalli remains where she is.**

Cagalli: What if I refuse?

**The warden looks back up at Cagalli; the cold look is back in his hazel eyes.**

Warden: Oh, well let me put it to you like this, out of pity I'm letting you have the option of changing by yourself. If you refuse then I'll let my guard here change your clothes by force.

**The way Jeff smiles at Cagalli makes her realizes she's better off doing what they say. She glares at the warden, then grabs the clothes from the misogynist (one who disrespects and or hates women) and enters the changing room. We see her take her dress off, sorry for the people who thought they were getting a show but she's still wearing a bra, and underwear and that's when she notices a long scar on her chest were Mr. 4 stabbed her.**

**She touches it, and we get a flashback of Mr. 4 killing people. The memory causes her to flinch as her hands start to shake in uncontrollable terror.**

Cagalli (Get a grip Cagalli this isn't time to be worrying about that now, I have to get out of this mess first then back to Orb.)

**Cagalli's shoulder length blond hair flaps around as she shakes her head, as if trying to remind her to get a haircut. The scene ends with the warden calling in.**

Warden: 2 minutes.

**The next scene opens up in the cafeteria with Cagalli in her new prison uniform being pushed into it. Cagalli's grey uniform is identical to the ones Kenny and Shadow wear. Cagalli looking around at her new surroundings not knowing what else to do walks on over to the food line.**

**As the stranger in a strange land waits in line, she takes another look around and notices the female and male inmates choosing to sit on opposite sides of the lunchroom.**

Cagalli (I wonder why the cafeteria is divided down the middle between guys and girls?)

**Cagalli doesn't get long to ponder about this because no sooner does she receive her food, she's surrounded by a bunch of female inmates. The leader, a dark skinned tall woman steps up to face the new meat.**

Cagalli: Can I help you?

**Cagalli asks nervously looking for a gap in the circle, the newbie doesn't want trouble.**

Female Inmate: Yeah you see, you're new here so I just wanted to let you know that I am in charge of the women inmates in this prison. And one of the rules is that the new women must give their food over to me.

Cagalli: What rule?

**Cagalli replies defiantly. The female inmate not liking her smart-alecky response punches the newbie in face sending her to floor hard as the food tray spatters to the ground.**

Female Inmate: The rule of the strongest. Where are you from anyway?

**She asks not really caring. Cagalli rubs her injured cheek.**

Cagalli: Orb.

**The top dog rolls her eyes annoyed.**

Female Inmate: Listen I used to be a reporter, so you can stop lying to me.

**Startled the blond hair girl responds**

Cagalli: I'm not, I'm from Orb!

**An old tick from her old life as a reporter the female inmate doesn't like being lied to.**

Female Inmate: Look there's no such country on Sora.

**Her words cause an instant freeze effect on the nonbeliever, before when the warden told her that stuff about being on another planet not for one second did Cagalli buy any of it, but now doubt begins to sneak into her mind along with terror of the possibilities of the truth.**

Cagalli: What are you talking about we're on Earth!

**The ex-reporter good at spotting liars finally recognizes that this chick believes in what she's saying. This startles her along with the rest of her crew.**

Female Inmate: No, we're on Sora.

**She talks slowly as if to a handicap who doesn't quite understand what's going on. This crazy talk only grows Cagalli's rising doubt and panic.**

Cagalli: What, did the warden put you up to this? Pretending we're on some other planet?

**Cagalli looks around, as if she expects one of them to confess. The female inmate looks at Cagalli with pity and then starts to walk away shaking her head while talking to the rest of her crew.**

Female Inmate: It's not right to take food from a crazy person.

**This is the worst possible respond the venerable girl could have received; it sends her panic into overdrive causing her to shout at the top of her lungs.**

Cagalli: Come on there's got to be someone here who's not in that lunatics pocket, come on someone tell me we're not on some made up planet!

**The inmates look up when she starts yelling, then when they realizes what it's about they ignore her, some of them look at her with pity. Cagalli looks around waiting for an answer that never comes however taking deep breaths the politician rationalizes the situation.**

Cagalli (Calm down, this is a prison so of course they're not going to go against the warden who can make their life into a living hell, that's it, of course that's it)

**Our favorite goon Jeff walks in about to shout something when he finally gets the opportunity to do something he's wanted to do all day. He spots a male and female inmate all the way in the back close to where Cagalli is. They're just talking or more like flirting but the panther stares at them hungrily waiting for that one slip up he knows they're going to make.**

**It finally happens in the form of the male inmate putting his hand on the female prisoner's shoulder, pouncing Jeff raises his gun, aims and opens fire on them with no warning. Shadow sees the assault coming and quickly pulls Kenny out of the way, a couple of the other prisoners manage to get out of the way too but the original targets aren't so lucky.**

**Blood spatters as bullets impale themselves in both the male and female figures who stand mere feet away from Cagalli. The coldness and gore causes Cagalli to reflectively scream but the other inmates have already gone numb to such things.**

**The bodies fall to the ground as the screaming finally stops and all eyes turn to the murderer waiting for the explanation which is sure to come.**

Jeff: Intimacy between male and female scum is strictly forbidden and punishable by death, now enough gawking it's time for you filth to get your exercise so line up and prepare to board the prison bus.

**The inmates line up and walk outside; Cagalli in shock follows them. They start boarding buses; Cagalli gets on the same bus as Shadow and Kenny. The buses start driving off into the desert and then split up. The camera cuts into one of the buses, at the front of the bus is Cagalli she turns to ask an inmate next to her a question.**

Cagalli: Where are they taking us?

Male Inmate: Somewhere in the desert to dig holes.

**Cagalli looks at him not sure if he's just messing with her.**

Cagalli: Why?

**The Male inmate sighs; he has a defeated look in his eye.**

Male inmate: Too keep us tired so we don't have the energy to think. Thinking inmates leads to trouble with the guards.

**We go past the male inmate's head to the back of the bus. Kenny is sitting next to the window; Shadow is sitting next to him. They're both leaning to the seat next to theirs; the guy sitting in that seat is a big tall dark skin man.**

Shadow: So how many inmates have you got Max?

**Shadow is excited but he's keeping his voice down.**

Max: All of them except the new girl.

**Max says matter of fact. Shadow looks confused.**

Shadow: New girl?

**Kenny and Max look at Shadow not believing their ears.**

Kenny: You know the crazy girl that was shouting crap this morning.

**Shadow shrugs unconcerned.**

Shadow: Oh, I must have missed it.

**Max shakes his head.**

Max: Man, what could you have been thinking about to miss that?

**Kenny rolls his eyes.**

Kenny: Oh, don't tell me that you were thinking about that stupid dream again.

**Shadow eyes Kenny clearly not liking his tone.**

Max: What dream?

**Kenny sighs.**

Kenny: It's a long story

**Shadow is irritated and cuts him off.**

Shadow: That has nothing to do with our plan!

**Max shrugs his shoulders.**

Max: As long as you don't crack on me, I don't care.

**Shadow annoyed replies**

Shadow: I'm fine; just make sure no one drops the ball.

**Kenny looks worried.**

Kenny: What about the crazy girl?

**Shadow is unconcerned.**

Shadow: Forget about her, once the plan starts she'll just stay out of the way. Then she can come with us if she wants.

**The co-conspirators nod their heads in agreement. The bus comes to a stop right near the edge of a cliff. They've seem to have entered a section of the desert where the ground is hard and there's no sand, there's still no sign of life or plants. The inmates and prison guards exit the bus, there are 20 inmates and 7 prison guards with machine guns.**

**The prison guards hand out shovels as the bus leaves. The inmates pick places and start digging. Shadow and Kenny are farthest away from the cliff, Cagalli is the closest. Cagalli confused looks around and sees everyone else digging, so still not really getting it she decides to just follow everyone else and starts digging too.**

**We cut forward in time to some point after midday; we can see that all of the inmates have a nice hole coming along, except for non-muscular politician who is sweating heavily, and breathing hard already exhausted.**

**The sun's bright yellow rays are beating down hard today and even the prison guards are starting to feel the effects, as they shuffle around uncomfortably on their feet and allow their heavy guns to hang by their sides. The murderer Jeff is eyeing Cagalli and not in the good way.**

**The bus comes into the field of vision and the prison guards upon seeing it show signs of relief and begin to walk towards it. The inmates begin to get out of their holes to follow. Jeff sees Cagalli hasn't notice the bus, or movement of the other inmates. He looks around and sees no one watching so he walks over to her.**

Jeff: So how does the sun feel on your pretty smooth skin?

**Cagalli startled turns to look at him. When she sees it's the rude guard from earlier she glares at him.**

Cagalli: What do you care?

**Jeff smirks then looking around quickly, puts his gun down and takes off his coat. Cagalli sensing something off gets out of the hole**.

Cagalli: What are you doing?

**She asks suspicious, Jeff still smirking walks towards her. Cagalli in turn starts stepping back towards the cliff.**

Jeff: I have decided to let scum like you have the honor of servicing me.

**Cagalli puts two and two together and her eyes open wide as she continues to back up.**

Cagalli: You, you, you can't, you'll never get away with this!

**The rapist laughs a little.**

Jeff: HAHHAHA, Please like you're the first, in this prison scum like you will do what we prison guards tell you to do.

**With that Jeff lunges at Cagalli, causing Cagalli to scream. We turn to see the bus pull up and stop, the prison guards are in the front, the inmates are behind them. If one takes a closer look you can see the inmates are in a strategic pattern behind the prison guards.**

**They look tired, some of them have been doing this for years, with all of beatings, the abuse, the lack of good food, watching their friends getting killed, it's enough to wear out the very soul, which is what the warden wanted all along; tired and defeated prisoners.**

**However what the warden didn't expect is that tiredness can reach a new level, a level in which they become so tired that enough is enough, it's time to make a stand and holding the shovels in positions of attack it's clear that today is that day.**

**At the sound of Cagalli's scream they attack as one. One freedom fighter grabs the gun of one of the prison guards and points it up to the guard's head, and pulls the trigger, blowing off the torturer's head in a matter of seconds. The second guard gets hit on the head with a shovel by a woman knocking him to the ground; another inmate grabs the gun then shoots the prison guard.**

**The other prison guards get taken out in a similar fashion. 6 of the other bigger inmates rush behind the bus and begin to lift it off the ground moments before the driver hits the gas causing the wheels to spin pointlessly in the air. Shadow and Kenny have grabbed the shovels and begun placing them underneath the bus so that the convicts don't have to keep holding it up.**

**We cut back to Cagalli; she's struggling with Jeff on the ground, as they begin to roll dangerously close to the edge of the cliff. He has her almost pinned down when he hears gun fire, and turns his head to look. Cagalli takes that moment to do one last desperate flip and sends them both flying off the cliff.**

**Almost by reflex or an instinct buried deep inside, Cagalli reaches out and grabs the side of the cliff with one hand. Jeff on the other hand isn't so lucky as the world loses one bad guy. Cagalli grabs the side of the cliff with her other hand but years of her desk job as a politician and general lack of physical training have made her physically incapable of pulling herself up, so instead she starts screaming her head off.**

Cagalli: HELP, HELP, HELP, SOMEONE HELP ME!

**We cut back to the bus, the prison guards are all down their bloody corpses have been thrown into the very holes they forced their victims to dig. The bus driver is hitting on the gas pedal but because of the shovels keeping the back tires off the ground the bus is not going anywhere.**

**The inmates have all gathered at the bus's door which has a computer lock. There's an air of excitement in the crowd that hasn't been felt by some for decades, but there's also a sense of urgency since they know that they're trying to beat the clock. Kenny pushes his way through the crowd.**

Kenny: Move, move it, get out of my way.

**He gets to the door then pulls something small out of his pocket; it looks almost like a calculator only it has both letters and numbers on its small keypad. He connects it to the lock and begins typing away. A second later the lock clicks open and Kenny shouts**

Kenny: Got it!

**Shadow pulls Kenny out of the way as the door opens and the bus driver fires his gun. One of the renewed hopers will never have his dream come true as the bullets kill him instantly. The other inmates with the prison guards' guns open fire on the bus driver filling him with bullets. When it's clear that he's down Max takes charge.**

Max: Alright everyone on the bus!

**The inmates start getting on the bus; some of them go and knock down the shovels holding the back of the bus up, and that's when Shadow hears Cagalli's screams. He looks around and sees the hands holding onto the side of the cliff; he stops moving. The other inmates have knocked down the shovels holding the bus up and have entered the bus. Max notices that Shadow isn't getting on the bus and shouts at him**

Max: Come on Shadow, what are you waiting for get on the bus, we have to go now?

**Shadow is looking back and forth between Cagalli and the bus, between a freedom he's fought so hard to achieve, which he's failed so many times before of reaching and an instinct that tells him to ignore all common sense of self-preservation to help that remaining stranger. Max is growing nervous and impatient as he senses his own freedom slipping away so he gives Shadow an ultimatum.**

Max: Because this is your plan Shadow, I'll give you five seconds to get your ass on this bus before we leave you here! FIVE, FOUR, THREE

**In that one agonizing moment Shadow makes his choice, like ripping out a staple from his flash Shadow shouts out**

Shadow: DAMN IT!

**Then takes off towards the person literary on the edge. The camera moves to look down on the weary girl who has grown too tired to yell anymore.**

Cagalli (No one's coming, ha looks like the warden was right, without Kira and Athrun I can't even save myself.)

**Cagalli's hands slip; time slows down as we see her hands begin to sink into the dark void when out of the darkness a new hand reaches out and grabs the falling sprit's right hand.**

Shadow: Got you!

**Shadow having chosen his path shows no hesitation and throws caution to the wind as he slides his upper body right over the edge of the cliff; despite the kid's seemingly heroic efforts Shadow is no muscleman, in fact he isn't that much stronger than Cagalli.**

**It doesn't take long for Cagalli's body to start to drag Shadow over the side of the cliff but with stubborn determination the dreamer slams his other hand into the ground digging his nails into the dirt to slow down the fall; beads of sweat have already formed on his brow as he struggles with the weight. The one who had given up is completely taken by surprise.**

Cagalli: Who are you?

Shadow: Not really the best time for questions!

**Shadow shouts out, he's slowly being forced over the cliff. His face is getting even redder as he struggles with the weight. Cagalli notices this.**

Cagalli (He can't lift my weight, he's going to die because of me)

**The guilt ridden girl starts having flashbacks on her conversation with the warden and at that moment the crushing guilt becomes too much for her to bear.**

Cagalli: Just drop me.

**Shadow startled looks down at the girl.**

Cagalli: It's okay, I'm worthless; I can't do a single thing without someone helping me, and I don't want you to die trying to save me.

**Something happens, a connection of feelings and understanding for a moment seems to pass through Shadow, awakening in him a fury that even the worst torturers could not arise.**

Shadow: Stop acting so HIGH AND MIGHTY, I'm not saving you because of YOU, I'm saving you because I want to, so if you don't want to help then shut up and let me concentrate! I am going to save you, regardless if you want me to or not.

**Cagalli eyes open wide, for a moment she sees Kira instead of Shadow**.

Shadow: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

**The fury gives Shadow strength, he digs his fingers even deeper into the ground finally stopping his forward movement. The adrenalin in Shadow's body begins to kick in. The veins in his arms bulge as he slowly but surely begins to lift Cagalli up over the side of the cliff and in one great effort, to the princess's surprise flings her back onto the cliff.**

**Cagalli lands on her side hard, but considering she was ready to die just a moment ago the hard landing goes unnoticed, as she slowly gets up once again not believing reality. Shadow quickly pulls his upper body back up on solid ground before he falls.**

**Sitting down, they both struggle to catch their breath, finally Shadow looks over at the person he just rescued and receives a great surprise.**

Shadow: You're a girl!

**Unbelievable, Cagalli is God knows how many miles away from Orb on some foreign country and yet she still manages to run into one more moron incapable of telling apart gender, naturally the offended GIRL is just a tad bit peeved off.**

Cagalli: YES, I'M A GIRL, what is with guys and not being able to tell what gender people are!

**Shadow says bluntly**

Shadow: You're awfully heavy for a girl.

**Steam starts coming out of the blonde's head as her pot of anger begins to boil even fiercer.**

Cagalli: WHAT KIND OF JERK CALLS A WOMAN FAT?

**Cagalli looks ready to punch the insensitive moron when Kenny butts in.**

Kenny: Sorry to interrupt but Shadow mind introducing me to the woman that cost us are one and only successful escape plan.

**Shadow and Cagalli look up to see Kenny standing there, the bus is gone. Cagalli looks to Shadow then Kenny confused.**

Cagalli: Escape plan? Where is everyone?

**The loyal friend replies angrily**

Kenny: If you're talking about the inmates, they left already and if you're talking about the prison guards their bodies are over there.

**The tall figures waves at the holes were the corpses were thrown.**

Shadow: But you stayed, why?

**Kenny looks away from Shadow scratching his cheek.**

Kenny: Yea, well I was trying to get them to wait but they weren't having it, and well, I'm not cold hearted enough to screw over my only friend in this hell hole.

**In typical male fashion Shadow tries to pass this off as no big deal but he can't hide the glowing smile on his face. The mood however is soured by the building dust clouds in the distance. The camera zooms in to reveal several Jeeps coming full speed in the direction of Shadow and the others but the ever stubborn warrior refuses to let this ruin his day.**

Shadow: Well I say we got 5 minutes for introductions so let's do this quickly.

**Kenny also seeing the Jeeps goes and shakes Cagalli's hand.**

Kenny: I'm Kenny Cyes.

**Cagalli has had a long day; the tired girl has reached the point where it's like 'to hell with it' and just surrenders to the flow.**

Cagalli: Nice to meet you Kenny, I'm Cagalli Yula Athha.

**Shadow jumps up, waves his hand and takes a bow as he says**

Shadow: I am the great, the magnificent, the fantastic Shadow Zoomarey.

**Kenny rolls his eyes doing the whole "I don't know him thing" while Cagalli just stares at the moron wondering if he has some kind of mental issue. The Jeeps come to a stop no more than 4 meters away, immediately prison guards in full battle gear jump out with automatic weapons raised at the 3 young adults.**

**But it's not until the warden himself comes out dressed in full battle gear that Shadow and Kenny realize how much deep shit they're in. The warden with long fast strides begins to march over to where they are, his hazel eyes screaming for blood.**

**Shadow takes a step forward in front of the others, Kenny is on his right, Cagalli is to his left. He starts talking fast and low.**

Shadow: Whatever you do, when they start hitting you don't block or try fighting back, that'll only make it more fun for them. Let me do all of the talking.

Kenny: You have a plan?

Shadow: Working on it.

**When the bull is about a meter in front of them, Shadow steps forward with a cheerful smile on his face says**

Shadow: Hey, warden how's it-

**The warden is a torturer first and a killer second so his instincts tell him to not shoot Shadow right there and now but inflict physical damage on him to make him suffer; with the butt of his gun the warden slaps Shadow across the face.**

**Shadow crumbles to the ground but it doesn't end there, as the warden begins to vent his anger out on Shadow's body kicking it as hard as he can. The other minions not liking their positions challenged by anyone start doing the same to Kenny and Cagalli.**

Warden: You, wise ass, do you think you can get away with messing with me?

**Never before has the warden felt so humiliated, but after beating the source of his anger some more he regains his composure. He picks up Shadow by the head.**

Warden: The only real question is why you didn't escape too?

Warden (It doesn't make any sense, this kid's been trying to break out my prison since day one, but up until now he's always failed because of my brilliance so why, why when God finally takes pity on him and cuts him a lucky break does he not take it?)

**Cagalli still getting kicked and a little nervous looks to this complete stranger scared what he might tell this obvious madman but Shadow is no rat. With a bloody nose and a cut lip he gives the warden a mischievous smile.**

Shadow: I guess I just wasn't satisfied with leaving like that.

**This time the warden punches the little brat in the face with his own fist, since physical pain isn't working the warden decides to try for a little fear factor.**

Warden: Give me one good reason for not pulling the trigger and ending your life right now.

**The goons stop beating Cagalli and Kenny to watch this important moment unfold. It's too late for Cagalli and Kenny to do anything now; they can only lay on the ground hoping Shadow knows what he's doing. Shadow looks into the warden's heartless hazel eyes and says with only a glint of humor**

Shadow: I can't since it's probably the best move you can make, pretty soon everyone's going to know that the inescapable prison Slyer was beaten by Shadow Zoomarey and if you don't kill me then it's only going to add to your humiliation when I escape in a completely different way.

Warden (This little punk thinks a miracle is going to happen to him twice. No I know what he's trying to do, he wants me to kill him now to get it over with quickly, well it's not going to work. No I have a special little torture room where I slowly kill those who humiliate me.)

**Having reached a decision the warden punches Shadow once more in the face. He's almost drooling imagining the pain he's going to inflict on Shadow.**

Warden: Cocky bastard aren't you, you were lucky this time but people only get that kind of luck once, I'm going to put you in an isolation cell till you get so hungry you'll lick my shoes clean or eat one of your friends there. Then after that I'm going to bring you down to my special room; you see I prefer mental torture over physical but for you I think I'll make an exception.

**He points at Cagalli and Kenny.**

Warden: Bring them back to Slyer and put them in the isolation cell.

**He shouts to one of the prison guards.**

Prison Guards: Yes Sir!

**The episode ends with the prison guards dragging them away.**


	4. Episode 3 The Beginning P2

Episode 3

**The episode opens up with our heroes being thrown into a solid room made out of the same red clay like substance as the rest of the building. The room only has one wooden bed and toilet in it. The warden standing at the only entrance has a wicked gleam in his hazel eyes.**

Warden: Try breaking out of here wise ass.

**With that he slams the door close; the door is made of solid steel.**

Shadow: What, no dinner?

**Shadow says jokingly while he feels up his jaw. Kenny begins to examine his own ribs checking to make sure nothing is broken.**

Kenny: Yeah, we just cost the warden his perfect record of never allowing any of his inmates to escape so I'm sure he'd just be delighted to give us dinner. How are your injuries?

**Shadow takes a moment to feel his jaw and then spits out blood. We can see that his lip is cut but the blood has stopped bleeding.**

Shadow: My jaw hurts like a SOB from being nailed by the warden's gun then fist, plus I'm sure my chest is all black and blue from the beating but I don't think he broke any ribs this time around. On the bright side he missed my eyes this time, so no black eye for me.

**Our optimistic friend says cheerfully. Kenny smiles at his black haired friend's sunny disposition then flinches as he feels a damaged rib.**

Kenny: Lucky you, argh I'm pretty sure I fractured one of my ribs not to mention my arms and legs were kicked on a lot, heh it's a good thing the warden doesn't allow himself to break his prisoner's limbs.

Shadow: Yea the warden wouldn't want his free laborers unable to work, what with repairing all the bullet holes his stupid goons make, cleaning the buses and we can't forget about digging the holes.

**The 2 friends continue talking while they finish checking out their injuries, throughout this whole conversation Cagalli has kept quiet, mainly because of the pain. The guys get beat up on a regular bases so they're used to the pain and able to function through it but Orb's fallen princess is no street fighter.**

Cagalli (Arghhhh it hurts so much God give me a mobile suit battle over this any day. Damn I don't think I've been in real fight since Desert Dawn and even then I never had to fight someone bare handed…well not counting Athrun.)

**A small warm smile lights up the young woman's face as she remembers her first meeting with her lover but the pain in her sides quickly crashes her back down to reality and a moan slips from her mouth finally drawing the attention of the duo.**

Shadow: Holy crap you look like shit.

**In truth Cagalli probably received no more damage than they did but because of the length of time it's been since the blondes' received any serious physical damage Cagalli nor her body can take the pain well. Sweat is washing her face while her arms tightly clutch her chest as if they're afraid her ribs will fall off. Kenny glares at Shadow.**

Kenny: Don't be an ass Shadow.

**The computer hacker helps the injured woman onto the wooden bed, first it was the guy in black, then it was the warden, and last it was the rapist who fell off the cliff. Cagalli has had it with looking weak in front of people. Determine to appear strong she replies to Shadow's earlier comment**

Cagalli: Look who's talking!

**Unfortunately because Cagalli had to wait for the pain to subside before she could groan out a reply she doesn't come off as strong as she'd hoped.**

Shadow: Wow talk about a delayed reaction.

**Amber eyes begin trying to punch that smirk off Shadow's face but it doesn't appear to be working. Kenny begins to examine our heroine.**

Kenny: Looks like Shadow's not the only one who lucked out today, you'll be bruise and sore for a while but that's about it. I'll bandage it up though just to be on the safe side.

**The more mature gentleman gives Cagalli a reassuring smile which she responds to appreciatively.**

Cagalli: Thank you Kenny you're such a gentleman.

**Cagalli glares at Shadow while saying this. Shadow just rolls his bright green electric eyes and calls his friend over.**

Shadow: Kenny come over here and let's show Ca, what's your name again?

Cagalli: CAGALLI!

**The former leader of a nation is clearly not a person used to being forgotten.**

Shadow: Really?

**Growing even angrier our heroine snaps back**

Cagalli: YES! And what about you, what kind of name is Shadow Zoomarey, what's your real name?

**Shadow replies a little offended**

Shadow: First of all Shadow Zoomarey is an awesome name, Second it's the only name I go by.

**This relationship isn't off to a good start, maybe it's their opposing personalities or something but whatever it is, it's causing the tension in the small spaced room to soar sky-high. Kenny's light blue eyes nervously dart back and forth between the 2 desperately struggling to break the feud.**

Kenny: So um yea, I better bandage your wounds Cagalli!

**The mediator shouts having finally come up with a good excuse to get in-between the 2 opposing forces. Kenny dives under the bed while Cagalli finally breaks her glare from Shadow.**

Cagalli: How, I doubt the warden is going to give us even a first aid kit.

Shadow: HA you underestimate us.

**Exclaims the proud warrior as he walks over to the metal door, sits down, and then proceeds to pull out a small piece of the clay wall revealing a peephole.**

Shadow: We're clear Kenny.

**Cagalli finally gives in to her curiosity and looks under the bed. Kenny feels the seemingly flawless wall clearly looking for something.**

Cagalli: What are you guys doing?

**Kenny finally finds what he's looking for, slowly and delicately he slides his ring fingers along some kind of edge in the wall breaking away the clay that was hiding it. With the removal of the clay we can now clearly see a box outline within the wall.**

**Kenny digs his fingers in the small gap and pulls out a cube of clay.**

Kenny: We're getting our stuff out.

**The camera moves over Kenny's shoulder to reveal, a pile of sticks, a lighter, and a first aid kit. When he pulls the stuff out we see a cage with a bunch of rats and lizards, there's a rat hole behind the cage. He throws the first aid kit to Cagalli.**

Kenny: There should be some bandages and a cream for the bruises in there.

**Cagalli catches the first aid kit; suddenly she begins to feel overwhelmed by the sheer amount of illogical things happening.**

Cagalli: How did you get this stuff? How did you manage to put a secret compartment in this isolation cell, and if this is an isolation cell why did we all get put into it together and how did we end up in the one with your secret compartment!

**Everyone deals with stress in their own ways, understanding the logic in a chaotic situation happens to be Cagalli's way of dealing with stress. Kenny holds up his hands slowing the girl down before she catches on fire.**

Kenny: One question at a time, one question at a time Cagalli.

**Shadow glancing over his shoulder smirks.**

Shadow: Yea try to save your breakdown for a different day.

**Turning her fierce amber eyes on the dark figure Cagalli lashes out.**

Cagalli: I am not having a breakdown it's just the absurdity of everything is driving me nuts!

**To avoid another fight the smartest or at least most level headed of our heroes begins answering the questions.**

Kenny: This prison wasn't designed to hold this many prisoners and only has about 5 isolation cells so the warden puts inmates in the same isolation cell. You see this one time after he starved 2 inmates for 6 days without food they snapped and went all animal on each other, and not the mating kind, the "I'm hungry I'm going to each you" kind.

**Cagalli applying the cream on her bruises passes the bandages over to Kenny so he can wrap up his ribs.**

Kenny: The sick bastard enjoyed it so much he does it all the time now to see if he can get anyone else to do it. We get put in these isolation cells a lot, 73 percent more often than our actual prison cells so it only made sense to have our stuff in here, plus we didn't have anything better to do, so me and Shadow dug out the hole in the wall underneath the bed.

**Shadow adds something Kenny forget.**

Shadow: Don't forget about our 7th escape attempt which involved digging out of here, we discovered rat tunnels, which also had lizards in them, too bad our tunnel set off ground sensors in the building getting us busted. On the bright side we now had a source of food other than from the warden.

**Kenny reminds Shadow that it wasn't that easy.**

Kenny: And to think it only cost us 400 credits to bribe a prison guard into giving us the information on where the rat tunnels were plus another isolation cell incident and a day to dig the tunnel and then set up the trap to catch the rats and the occasional lizard.

Cagalli: So you have a secret compartment in every isolation cell?

Kenny: Yup, whenever we got put into a new isolation cell we had to dig anyway to get to the rat tunnels and then once we had food we had nothing better to do; as for the rest of our stuff we got it from trading with other inmates or stealing during one of our escape attempts.

**With great pride our black haired hero boasts**

Shadow: We stole that first aid kit you're using right there during our 27th escape attempt.

**Kenny having finished wrapping his ribs in bandages gathers the sticks and begins to start a fire which quickly alarms our heroine.**

Cagalli: Whoa hold it! You do know that lighting a fire in an enclosed space will suffocate us all right?

**Cagalli didn't mean it in an insulting way but that's still how Shadow took it.**

Shadow: Oh relax the prison has air ducts, which takes the smoke away and in turn blows in fresh air. We have done this before.

**Making a gesture to the upper right hand back corner of the room Cagalli notices the 2 ducts; it's understandable why she missed it the first time since they blend in with the wall perfectly and are no more than a foot long.**

**Kenny has started a fire, and after killing the rats and lizards puts them on sticks and then over the fire.**

Kenny: Dinner should be ready in a little bit.

**Cagalli looks over to where Kenny has "Dinner" going.**

Cagalli: Dinner?

**She doesn't sound too thrilled.**

Kenny: You heard what the warden said; they're not going to give us anything to eat, so unless you want to starve you'll eat this.

**Shadow smirks at her**

Shadow: Sorry this isn't up to your standard princess.

**The physically out of shape woman tired from being forced to do hard manual labor in the sun for half a day, and being beaten up, misses the sarcasm, and asks in surprise with a hint of hope**

Cagalli: How did you know I was a princess?

**Shadow meant the "princess" comment as an insult or at the least to be annoying so naturally the 2 failed escapers are surprised to hear of this.**

Kenny: Wait, you're a real princess?

**Judging from Kenny's neutral voice, political prisoners including royalty aren't uncommon in Slyer, of course so are conmen/conwomen. The more trusting friend though tries to pass this along as part of his master plan.**

Shadow: I knew it.

**Not fooled for a moment Kenny rolls his eyes.**

Kenny: You did not. So what country are you from?

**Cagalli answers eagerly thinking she's finally found someone that will stand up to the warden's terror and give her the answer she so desperately wants to hear.**

Cagalli: Orb.

**Shadow takes about 30 seconds to try to place the name with anything in his memory and when he comes up with nothing he shrugs his shoulders and replies uncaringly**

Shadow: Never heard of it.

**This of course pisses the once proud ruler of Orb off; Cagalli has also finished applying the cream to her bruises.**

Cagalli: Orb is one of the most powerful nations on Earth, how could you not have heard of it?

**Shadow shrugs his shoulders and replies casually.**

Shadow: I don't care much about politics.

**It's not clear if Shadow missed the "Earth" comment or ignored it but either way he doesn't respond to it unlike Kenny who begins to eye what he thinks is a nut job with pity.**

Kenny (Poor girl's cracked, thinking she's a princess on Earth, good thing Shadow's too stupid to pick up on it, though I wonder how she knew about Orb? I had to hack into a top secret government information code just to find a list of current governments on Earth.)

**Shadow eyeing the food eagerly says**

Shadow: Dinner should be ready!

**He walks over to the fire and grabs a rat, and starts eating. Kenny joins him and picks a lizard. Cagalli looks disgusted.**

Cagalli: ick, are you really eating that?

**She can barely watch. Shadow nods his head savoring the taste.**

Shadow: Tastes like chicken.

**Cagalli hesitates until her stomach growls. She blushes as Shadow and Kenny look at her.**

Cagalli: Can you pass me the lizard.

**She says reluctantly. Kenny passes her the lizard she takes it, looks at it, smells it, and then slowly takes a bite, then spits it back out**.

Cagalli: Yuck, how can you eat this stuff?

**Shadow and Kenny start laughing.**

Shadow: HAHAHAHAHAHA, Sorry princess but we've gotten to the point where we're too hungry to even taste.

**They continue to laugh and then Cagalli starts laughing too. They calm down then eat in silence for a moment.**

Cagalli: Sorry for costing you your freedom.

**Shadow and Kenny look up surprised.**

Cagalli: If it hadn't been for me you guys would have been long gone.

**She says while looking at the ground. Shadow smiles**

Shadow: Don't worry about it; I never wanted to leave like that anyway.

**Kenny looks at Shadow slightly annoyed.**

Kenny: Speak for yourself, out of 47 escape plans that's the only one that worked so yeah I am still a little ticked off.

**Cagalli is surprised.**

Cagalli: Wait, you've tried 47 escape plans?

**Shadow replies proudly**

Shadow: Yep.

**Kenny sighs**

Kenny: After the 10th plan the warden started taking this as a personal challenge, so he ordered the prison guards not to kill us until we broke.

**Shadow adds with pride**

Shadow: Which we never did.

**He looks at Cagalli expecting praise.**

Shadow: Impressive right?

Cagalli: It's impressive that you're still in such high spirits after 47 failures.

**Kenny is offended.**

Kenny: 46 failures ok, the last one worked, we just didn't get away.

**Shadow gets a faraway look in his eyes as he begins to think of something.**

Shadow: Speaking of escape plans-

**However his tired friend cuts him off.**

Kenny: Already Shadow, I mean come on we haven't even been in the isolation cell for a day and you already want to come up with a new escape plan.

**Shadow shakes his head.**

Shadow: No, revisiting an old plan. I think we have everything we need to carry out escape plan 0.

**Kenny appearing to have heard this before rolls his eyes.**

Kenny: Not this again.

**Cagalli curious asks**

Cagalli: What's escape plan 0?

**Kenny sighs; it looks like they had this conversation many times before.**

Kenny: It's the first escape plan that we ever came up with.

**Shadow begins explaining excitedly**

Shadow: The plan itself is pretty straight forward; we just have to steal the warden's basic model Gundam.

**Cagalli's not sure what he meant by "basic model" Gundam**.

Cagalli: Gundam, you mean mobile suit right?

Shadow: Unm, yea, but that's kind of an old term for it.

**Cagalli does not like Shadow saying she speaks like an old lady and is about to comment on it when a new thought hits her mind.**

Cagalli: Hold on, are you trying to tell me that the warden has his own personal mobile suit in this prison where inmates can get a hold of it?

**Naturally Cagalli looks at Shadow skeptically to which Shadow responds with sarcasm.**

Shadow: Oh sure the warden parks his Gundam right outside in the courtyard and sometimes he even leaves his keys in there.

**And so begins another glare off between the 2 strong willed people but never fear, for Kenny is here to explain**

Kenny: I know it's hard to believe Cagalli but you got to remember, the warden and the prison guards live here too. That's the bad thing about running a prison miles away from any civilization and it's not like the thing is out in open or easy to get to.

Kenny: Its 3 floors below the prison level of the building with 5 doors with all different security codes standing in-between anyone who tries to get there that isn't supposed to, plus you don't want to forget the prison guards with guns and itchy trigger fingers patrolling the hallways, not to mention the security cameras scattered throughout the building. Which is why we've never been able to pull it off.

**Shadow goes to argue.**

Shadow: But we can do it now. Thanks to all of our escape attempts, we know this prison like the back of our hands and we also know all of the patrol routes thanks to the fact the guards are lazy and rarely ever change their patrol route so by combining these 2 things we can map a path that will lead us straight to the Gundam without running across a single guard.

**Cagalli cuts in by asking**

Cagalli: What about the security cameras?

**Waving this off Shadow replies**

Shadow: They've been down since last month after Kenny put a virus in their software, heh the Warden's tech people haven't been able to fix it yet, good thing they don't know Kenny's the one who put it on there.

Shadow: As for the security codes, we know 2 of them already thanks to Max's spies and the other 2 you can crack.

**Becoming irritated now Kenny says**

Kenny: That still leaves the last door, which must be scanned with a pass card of a level 5 prison guard that changes every day.

**Grinning Shadow pulls from his pocket a card.**

Shadow: You mean something like this?

**Kenny's light blue eyes opens wide he grabs the card from Shadow's hand.**

Kenny: Where did you get this?

**Shadow boasting says**

Shadow: I stole it off one of the prison guards we killed. So what do you say?

**Kenny hesitates.**

Kenny: We've never tried to do two escape plans in the same day before, and I'm pretty sure the Warden isn't going to let us off lightly if we get caught again, not to mention the prison guards are most likely on high alert because of our early escape plan, so the risk is nearly triple.

**Shadow still with his smile and voice full of humor says**

Shadow: Don't tell me you're scared Kenny; after all I can't stay here I have a dream to fulfill.

**Cagalli who had remained silent asks a question**

Cagalli: Dream?

**Shadow smile widens and he gets a sparkle in his eye.**

Shadow: That's right, in life one should have a goal or dream they want to fulfill, that will keep them strong in any circumstance. My dream is to become the world's greatest Gundam fighter!

**Shadow shouts his last sentence out loud. Cagalli has never heard anything like this before and is too stunned for words. Shadow turns to Kenny.**

Shadow: So what do you say buddy?

**Kenny looks up his face full of determination.**

Kenny: I too have my own goal to accomplish and there are people counting on me to accomplish it, so I can't waste any more time here.

**They both nod their head in agreement then turn to face Cagalli.**

Shadow: And what about you princess, want to come with us?

**Kenny quickly adds in a serious voice**

Kenny: It's going to be very dangerous, and we probably won't come back alive if we fail.

Shadow: We won't hold it against you if you're too scared to go.

**The way Shadow says this is almost like a challenge; the words "too scared" trigger another flashback of the warden telling Cagalli she hid in a corner because she was too scared to move. The flashback causes Cagalli to tighten her fist in anger.**

Cagalli (Never again!)

Cagalli: I'll go.

**Holding out his hand in friendship the green electric eyed warrior forms and alliance with the amber eyed pacifist.**

Shadow: I guess that means we're a team now.

Cagalli: Just until we escape then I'm going back to my own country. Oh and don't call me princess.

**Shadow replies simply**

Shadow: Then don't act like a princess.

**It takes a moment for Cagalli to realize Shadow is saying she's spoiled. Offended she says**

Cagalli: I'm not spoiled!

**Shadow replies sarcastically**

Shadow: Of course you're not.

**Shadow and Cagalli start glaring at each other, until Kenny steps in-between them.**

Kenny: If we're going to do this we have to do it now!

**Shadow refocuses.**

Shadow: Right.

**Kenny takes off his left shoe and pulls out the bottom heel revealing another hidden compartment. He pulls out the lock picking device we saw in the previous episode as well as 4 identical tiny square items. He begins to explain aloud what he's doing for the benefit of Cagalli.**

Kenny: One good thing about the warden never giving us new shoes means we got a nice portable hiding spot for emergency stuff.

**The tech savvy friend goes to the door and begins placing the tiny squares on the hinges of the door.**

Kenny: These are micro-explosives I got from Roben's cell before they cleaned it out.

Shadow: Oh yea, Roben the one and only rival we had for breaking out of here, he was also one of the only actual criminals in this place. His last escape plan of blowing up holes in the wall all the way to the buses and hijacking one was pretty good to; too bad he blew himself up.

Kenny: I always told Roben he needed at least physics level of science before messing around with advance explosives.

.

**While they're talking Shadow and Kenny have flipped the wooden bed on its side and moved it as far away from the door as possible while still allowing room for people to duck behind.**

**Before Cagalli can question the logic of using bombs made by a bomb guy that blew himself up Kenny flips a switch and dives behind the bed as the timer counts down. Shadow and Cagalli quickly follow suit. The timer continues to beep faster and faster and then….nothing.**

Cagalli: Um are you sure these bombs even work?

**Shadow looks at her as if she's stupid.**

Shadow: And how would we be sure, it's not like me or Kenny know anything about bombs and we're not going to waste our 4 bombs by testing one

**Shadow gets cut off midsentence when the bombs suddenly explode. The explosion is huge, a lot bigger than the size of the bombs let on. The shockwave knocks the new team off their feet while at the same time ripping the solid metal door from the wall into an unlucky prison guard who came to see what the beeping noise was. He then gets slammed straight into the hallway wall.**

**Slowly getting up the 3 prisoners begin dusting themselves off.**

Shadow: Whoa, now I know how Roben screwed up; he made those bombs way to strong, it we had been closer we would have ended up just like that guard anyway let's go.

**With that Shadow and Kenny walk out of the room. Cagalli follows after them deep in thought.**

Cagalli (Yes, I can't waste my time here either because I have to get back to my country!)

**There's a determined look in her amber eyes. Shadow and Kenny are running down hallways and staircases, sometimes they back track, other times they hug a corner of a wall allowing patrol guards to pass.**

**The patrol guards radiate overconfidence, this is their house, they hold all the cards and guns, and that overconfidence makes them sloppy, easily missing the team they would have otherwise noticed if they had been doing their job correctly.**

**The blame doesn't lay completely with them though, the route Shadow and Kenny choose is confusing, overlapping and maze like; using detailed knowledge of the prison guards patrol routes the 3 are successful in avoiding all but 3 patrol units.**

**They already know the pass code of the first two doors they come across and then they come to a third door and stop.**

Shadow: Do your thing Kenny.

**The tech wizard steps forward and pulls his lock picking tool out of his pocket and connects it to the computer lock. His friend steps back to give him room. The untech savvy girl comes over to Shadow and starts asking him in a whisper**

Cagalli: What's he doing?

**Shadow replies quietly**

Shadow: He's hacking the lock.

**Cagalli is surprise.**

Cagalli: Hacking?

**Shadow nods his head and boasts for his friend.**

Shadow: That's right, Kenny is a genius computer programmer, and if you give him the right equipment he can hack anything.

**Cagalli already being able to tell that Shadow likes to exaggerate facts in his favor isn't sure if he's being completely honest.**

Cagalli: Really?

Shadow: Yea, why do you think he's in here? It's because he hacked into a super-secret file of a politician and found out things that made the politician pay someone to have him disappear.

**While they are talking Kenny disables the lock and opens the door.**

Kenny: Clear.

**They rush through the door. They go down a couple more hallways and flights of stairs, then they come to the forth door, Kenny quickly hacks this one too. This one opens up to a spiral staircase that leads down, they head down; at the end of the staircase is the last door.**

Kenny: Let's see if this card you stole works.

**Moment of truth time. Kenny swipes the card and nothing happens, he swipes it again.**

Kenny: Crap, they must have changed the pass code early.

**Feeling his freedom slipping away again Shadow asks desperately**

Shadow: Can you hack it?

**The hacker shakes his head sadly**

Kenny: It's a more advanced lock, I need a special type of tool to hack it, and I don't have it.

**They all stand there for a moment not ready to admit that the plan had failed, that they're screwed 3 ways to hell, that their only hope is gone, when the door opens and a prison guard walks out.**

Prison Guard B: I'm going to go take a smo-

**He stops midsentence as he sees them, nobody moves for a moment then as if someone hits a switch, they all start moving. The prison guard goes for his gun but Shadow punches him right in the face, at the same time Kenny grabs prison guard B's gun and opens fire first on the gun's owner, and then in the room he came out of.**

**The room is made of metal with a window taking up one side, there are three computer terminals and a guard at each one. The bullets spattered their guts all over the window's side wall. Fortunately though for the squeamish fans the bullets also shattered the window wall so we don't see the blood and gore for more than a second**

**Alarms start going off, as Shadow, Kenny, and Cagalli enter the control center of the launching bay. The tech expert goes straight to one of the computer and starts typing away, his fingers a blur.**

Shadow: See, everything worked out fine in the end.

**Shadow says this as if this was his plan all along which of course annoys Cagalli to the extreme.**

Cagalli: By fine, you mean how we almost got shot, and now all the alarms are going off!?

**Shadow shrugs his shoulders.**

Shadow: Could be worse.

**Cagalli not quite believing his positive attitude in the face of doom yells at him**

Cagalli: How!?

Shadow: We could not have this beautiful thing to look at.

**The moron's statement is so bizarre, so out of place in this moment of doomsday that Cagalli is caught completely off guard, on impulse she turns to see what Shadow's looking at. The camera slowly turns around and looks over Cagalli's shoulder through the shattered window and at the object of Shadow's desire.**

**It's a Gundam, a basic Gundam but a Gundam nonetheless. It's hard to see what Shadow finds so beautiful about this, it has no paint on it nor any weapons we can see, plus its overall size and armor thickness looks a little small, even the Strike with no striker packs looked more powerful than this thing.**

**It probably isn't a stretch to say that this Gundam looks the most bland out of any of the mobile suits we've seen in the Cosmic Era. To any other person including Cagalli this Gundam doesn't look like anything special, the opposite really.**

Cagalli (A Gundam? I've never seen that model before, but it looks too weak to be a new model. Maybe it's an earlier prototype from the original G-series mobile suits but in a real battle that thing looks like it would get shot down in minutes.)

**The battle veteran understandably has concerns about using such a weak mobile suit to escape especially if the enemy has current mobile suits. She turns to Shadow once again to voice her opinion when she stops dead in her tracks.**

**A look of absolute marvel shines in the escapee's electric green eyes, an angel might has well descend to Sora and appeared before him. The look is so sincere, so full of pure happiness that Cagalli can't resist double checking to make sure she didn't miss something.**

**Shadow begins to talk, more to himself then Cagalli.**

Shadow: I first saw him when I first came here, the bus I was riding on passed him as the wind blew the sheet hiding him off.

**While he's talking we have a flashback with Shadow on a bus looking bored while looking out a window at a truck pulling something covered by a huge sheet, suddenly the sheet gets blown off by the wind revealing the Gundam.**

Shadow: At that moment I knew this would be my Gundam, my partner.

**Cagalli is looking at the Gundam fanatic like he's nuts.**

Cagalli (What's with this guy? I never heard anyone describe a mobile suit as if it were another human being before.)

**Before she has time to question him Kenny calls out**

Kenny: Alright I hacked the launching bay, and activated the launching sequence.

**We hear shouting coming from the other side of the door. Shadow points to it as he says**

Shadow: Good thing, because from the sounds of things they're going to be here in less than 3 minutes.

**Kenny smiles.**

Kenny: Don't worry I've got that covered too.

**The door shuts close and the locks click back on.**

Kenny: I've reprogrammed the security code, so that should keep them busy for a little bit.

**Shadow smiles too.**

Shadow: Let's get going then.

**They exit through the door leading to the launching bay. They're running down the steps as Cagalli asks their pilot**

Cagalli: So what experience do you have with piloting a mobile suit?

**Like a pet peeve Shadow annoyed snaps**

Shadow: Look first of all it's called a Gundam, Gun-Dam; if you're going to talk about him can you at least call him by modern terminology!?

**They're on the platform now heading to the Gundam. We look up to see that the prison guards have reached the door. When they realize that their cards aren't working they start banging on the door. We go back to the others, Cagalli is slowing down out of breath.**

**Kenny begins working on the Gundam's cockpit lock while Shadow just stands there and stares up at his fellow green eyed partner.**

Shadow: I've waited a long time to finally meet you Gundam. From this day on you're going to be my Gundam and I'm going to be your pilot.

**The Gundam of course doesn't say anything back. Cagalli finally catching her breath ignores Shadow's statement and manages to spit out.**

Cagalli: Fine, Gundam, have you ever piloted one before?

**Shadow turns around and answers Cagalli**

Shadow: Nope, this will be my first time.

**Unbelievable, leave it to Shadow to come up with an escape plan using a Gundam even though he's never piloted one before. The insanity of this stuns Cagalli too much for words. A speaker inside the Gundam activates.**

Gundam: Opening hatch door.

**Right where the platform and the chest of the Gundam meet, we hear a hissing sound as a circle portion of the Gundam's chest sinks in, then opens in a circular motion, making a metal cling sound.**

**Shadow runs in first, Kenny follows, Cagalli taken by surprise by the opening, goes in last. The first thing we see in the cockpit is a lot of space, in the center, the floor is sunken down a foot, and it's also pretty dark, almost no light. Cagalli stands their once again in shock.**

Cagalli: W-What is this, where's the cockpit?

**Kenny has moved over to one of the walls and after finding a handle pulls it open to reveal a black pilot suit, he throws it at Shadow.**

Kenny: Look we don't have time to explain how a Gundam cockpit works, Shadow put that on, and yes that includes the helmet!

**Shadow sticks out his tongue at Kenny as he begins to put on the suit. Kenny runs to the other corner, gets on his knees and pulls out what can best be describe as a seat belt.**

Kenny: Cagalli get over here, the anti-gravity will only help the pilot, we got to buckle down or we're going to get thrown around like a baseball.

**The ex-princess still in shock talks herself down.**

Cagalli (relax this is just a new cockpit design, yeah, that's it, that's why this Gundam isn't armed it's just testing the new design, Shadow has never seen a real one before so he wouldn't know and Kenny must have hacked the information about it somewhere)

**Cagalli feeling better thanks to her delusion goes over to where Kenny is and takes another seat belt from the wall and buckles down. Shadow dressed now in his black pilot suit goes to the sunken-in floor and stands in the middle with his helmet in hand.**

Shadow: Begin Gundam activation system.

**The lights click on Cagalli buckled down is surprised.**

Cagalli (This thing is voice activated?)

Gundam: Activating S-generator

**The camera cuts into a metal room to show a crystal or something like it in the center. We see multi-colored liquids inside the crystal, suddenly a bolt of eclectically hits it creating a large boom, and then what can best be described as a mini sun appears. We cut back to Shadow.**

Gundam: Error, pilot not registered, must activate new pilot sequence.

**Shadow surprised turns to look at his source of information, Kenny who just shrugs his shoulders.**

Shadow: Ok, activate new pilot sequence.

Gundam: Activating new pilot sequence.

**A part of the floor lifts up and reveals a gauntlet.**

Gundam: Please pick up and place the Neon gauntlet on your arm.

**Shadow picks up the Neon gauntlet and puts it on his left arm. We see it tighten on his arm, as the screen on the Neon gauntlet lights up.**

Shadow: Ow.

**Shadow jumps in surprise.**

Gundam: Blood sample taken, analyzing, beginning body scan.

**A scanner pops out of the floor and completely scans his body. Kenny is getting nervous.**

Kenny: Can we hurry this up.

Gundam: Body scan complete, DNA lacks SG radiation, preparing for S-generator energy wave.

**Kenny turns white.**

Kenny: Oh, crap.

**He unbuckles his seat belt and opens a hatch on the floor of the Gundam cockpit.**

Kenny: We have to get out of here; it that wave hits us we're going to fry.

**Cagalli unbuckles her seat belt.**

Cagalli: What about Shadow?

Shadow: Don't worry about me I'll be fine.

**Kenny is already down the hatch. Cagalli hesitates looking at Shadow, and then the back wall of the cockpit opens up revealing the S-generator. The S-generator is huge, the size of a car. True to its name it looks like a mini sun, but it seems to be pulsing.**

**Then a strong light fills the cockpit, and everything goes white. The light dies down, Shadow is on his knee and Cagalli is on her stomach they're both breathing hard but seem ok. Kenny pops out of the hatch.**

Kenny: You guys ok?

Shadow: I'm fine, Cagalli?

**Cagalli doesn't say anything for a moment then groans**

Cagalli: Yes, I'm alright too.

Gundam: S-generator exposure complete, please enter pilot's name.

**Kenny helps Cagalli up then they head back to their seats, and buckle up. Shadow stands up.**

Shadow: Shadow Zoomarey.

Gundam: Name: Shadow Zoomarey, recorded. Please enter Gundam name.

**Shadow pauses for a moment to think about this, which causes the already uneasy Kenny to yell at him.**

Kenny: Would you just pick a name already. I'm pretty sure the door isn't going to hold much longer.

**Shadow snaps back**

Shadow: Hey, don't rush me this is a big decision to make that I'll have to live with for the rest of my life.

**We go back to the door and watch it explode. The prison guards rush in led by the warden.**

Warden: Now where are they?

**The warden looks angry. Prison guard C has gone over to a computer terminal.**

Prison Guard C: Sir, it seems that they activated the launching sequence.

**The warden starts yelling at him.**

Warden: Well don't just stand there, turn it off!

**Prison guard C is typing on the computer, nowhere near as fast as Kenny.**

Prison Guard C: We're trying sir, but it seems that they locked the codes in.

**The warden screams in frustration.**

Warden: WELL THEN GO AND TAKE THEM OUT BY FORCE!

**The prison guards start rushing towards the Gundam. We get back into the cockpit to see Shadow still pondering, and then his green eyes spark brightly like a current that just went on.**

Shadow: I've got it. Gundam from this moment on you shall be known as Nightwing.

Nightwing: Understood, Gundam Name Nightwing. New pilot sequence complete beginning launching sequence.

**We go back outside to see the prison guards on the platform. The speaker comes on as the locks holding the Gundam in place release, and the platform the Gundam is standing on begins to rise.**

Speaker: Launching sequence engaged.

Warden: What are you all doing, stop it; stop them!

**The warden is yelling at the prison guards but they are unable to do anything other than stop and stare at Nightwing. We go back inside Nightwing; Shadow has put his helmet on.**

Nightwing: Activating NS system.

**We see something being released on the floor; it looks like a black fog. It hits Shadow's feet; red lines start appearing on his suit. The camera is circling him showing the red lines climbing and spreading throughout his suit, until it gets to his helmet. The lines appear on the back of the head as the black fog gets absorb by the suit. Shadow was yelling and tensing in pain as this happen and Cagalli looks on transfixed. The lines disappear and Shadow stops yelling.**

Nightwing: Activating Zero-gravity.

**The floor where Shadow is standing starts to light up a little bit and a bubble type thing seems to form around Shadow, he gets lifted up into the air a few inches off the ground. We go back outside to see that Nightwing has entered the launching catapult. The floor makes a click as it locks in. The lights are all on and the arrows are pointing towards the now dark sky.**

Nightwing: All systems check, all systems ready to go on pilot's command.

**Shadow is breathing heavily, and then he straightens up and says in a loud voice**

Shadow: Alright Nightwing time for our first launch, Shadow Zoomarey in Nightwing launching!

**With that the catapult launches Nightwing into the night sky of the desert. Nightwing goes up pretty high, hangs for a moment than falls back to the ground. Nightwing lands on one leg, the leg slips out causing the Gundam to do a summersault landing on its back.**

**We go back in the cockpit to see Kenny and Cagalli screaming as they get flipped around. After Nightwing lands on its back hard they all take a moment to catch their breath. Kenny turns to Cagalli.**

Kenny: Aren't you glad you put the harness on now?

**Because of the anti-gravity bubble Shadow doesn't get thrown around, he's also laying on his back in what appears to be mid-air. Shadow sits up, which causes the Gundam to sit up, and begins rubbing his helmet.**

Shadow: Ow, that hurt.

**Cagalli snaps**

Cagalli: What did you expect with that crap you call piloting!

**The rookie pilot is offended.**

Shadow: Hey, this isn't as easy as it looks!

**Getting up slowly we can see that Shadow's helmet screen has lit up. The camera does a split screen to show Nightwing mimicking Shadow's action. Shadow looks at his hands and begins to rotate them in awe and amazement.**

Shadow: Wow, this is so weird.

**We see from his point of view that he's looking at his hands but because of the helmet screen he sees Nightwing's hands. He turns them around and then clenches them into a fist, he looks up and sees the desert, he looks around. We are flipping back and forth between him inside the cockpit and Nightwing. Kenny finally has had enough.**

Kenny: Alright already, can you start running please!

**Shadow answers as if he was just reminded to throw out the trash.**

Shadow: Oh right.

**Shadow begins to run. We see that because of the anti-gravity his feet aren't touching the floor, making it look like he's running in place. We cut to outside of the Gundam to see it running away from Slyer. Its arms are moving as if it's jogging. We go back inside to see Cagalli leaning over towards Kenny and asking**

Cagalli: How's he controlling the Gundam?

Kenny: Through the NS system.

**Cagalli doesn't understand.**

Cagalli: NS system?

Kenny: Neuron Synchronizer system.

**Seeing that Cagalli still doesn't understand the know-it-all explains**

Kenny: The NS system works by having billions of nanites attach themselves to the pilot's nervous system, making them feel the same thing their Gundam feels, at the same time it makes the Gundam mimic their movements. The screen on his helmet shows the pilot outside through the Gundam's eyes, and the anti-gravity bubble keeps him slightly off the ground so that he doesn't move around in the cockpit.

**Cagalli puts two and two together.**

Cagalli: And because of the NS system, he feels the ground under the Gundam's feet, so his body gets tricked into thinking it's on solid ground, so he moves normally even though he's in mid-air.

**Kenny nods his head impressed.**

Kenny: That's right.

**We cut to back outside; suddenly blaster fire comes out of nowhere hitting the sand mound in front of Nightwing. Nightwing dives to the side.**

Shadow: What the hell!? That was a beam rifle!

**Shadow yells, as Nightwing falls on one knee. We see another Gundam appear charging straight for Nightwing. This one looks just like Nightwing only it's been painted brown, and is holding a beam rifle. It's also moving a lot faster than Nightwing.**

**We can see the propulsion system coming out of its back and legs. It stops and points the beam rifle at Nightwing. We cut back to Shadow to see him tense himself preparing to dive right or left to avoid another shot from the beam rifle when we hear the warden's voice coming from the Gundam.**

Warden: I must say Shadow you've given me a lot of trouble but that all ends today.

**We cut back to the cockpit to see that Shadow is surprised.**

Shadow: The warden, damn where the hell is his voice coming from!?

**His eyes dart back and forth as if the warden would pop out any moment.**

Warden: From your helmet you moron, looks like you didn't know that Gundams automatically set up a communication link with all other Gundams within a mile radius.

**A video window of the warden opens up on Shadow's helmet screen. The warden is also wearing a pilot's suit, smiling his evil smile. Shadow jumps back with surprise, causing his Gundam to jump up and almost fall down. After swinging his arms he gets his Gundam back on balance. The warden is laughing.**

Warden: hahahahaha, when I said I'd like to see you break out of solitary confinement I didn't actually mean it but I guess I should thank you for pointing out my prison guards sloppiness to me. I knew they had gotten lazy and sloppy but I didn't realize the extent of the problem till you showed me.

Warden: I'll have to remember to kill them all when I get back and get new replacements. Since you showed me this flaw the least I can do for you is fight you without my beam rifle.

**With that statement he throws the beam rifle away. Shadow has regained his composure and charges intending to punch the warden as he yells**

Shadow: Don't you underestimate me!

**However his Gundam's movements are slow and awkward. The warden's Gundam easily moves to the side to avoid it and counter attacks with a punch of his own, unlike Shadow's this one is fast and accurate. It hits Nightwing right in the face; Shadow stunned takes a step back, trips on the uneven ground and falls down on his butt. The warden starts laughing again.**

Warden: hahahaha, I hate to break this to you, but you overestimate yourself.

**Nightwing gets up and charges, it throws two more punches, but the warden's Gundam using the propulsion system is easily able to avoid the attacks. Then the warden's Gundam goes on the offensive, his punches are a lot faster, and natural.**

**We cut back into the cockpit to see Shadow gritting his teeth in pain; we cut back outside to see the Nightwing trying to block or evade the blows but it's too slow and awkward when it moves in comparison to the warden's Gundam. The warden starts talking as he pounds away at Nightwing.**

Warden: Since I'm sure that I won't be able to get my Gundam back without it being damaged, I figure that I'll at least get to enjoy a nice Gundam fight, so I threw the beam rifle away because I wanted this fight to last as long as possible!

**With that he delivers an uppercut to Nightwing, sending it backwards, causing it to trip and fall flat on its back. Shadow is getting frustrated.**

Shadow: Damn it!

**Shadow says as he struggles to his knees, he's breathing heavily.**

Warden: What happen to your cocky attitude Shadow?

**Kenny and Cagalli screamed every time Nightwing gets thrown.**

Kenny: What are you doing Shadow, use the propulsion system, or the beam saber?

**Shadow frustrated snaps**

Shadow: If I knew how, I would have already, now shut up and let me concentrate!

**The warden smiles hearing the conversation.**

Warden (Fools, they have no idea that the NS system isn't something someone can get used to in a few minutes, it took me a month before I fully mastered the NS system, there's no way he can win this fight)

Shadow: Beam Saber activate!

**Shadow shouts out, nothing happens. We cut to the warden to see that he's looking at Shadow like he's a moron. We cut back to Nightwing's cockpit, to see Shadow standing there waiting for something to happen. When nothing happens he says**

Shadow: Well that didn't work.

Kenny: Of course it didn't work you moron!

**Kenny shouts at him panic in his voice. Shadow not liking being shouted at shouts back**

Shadow: I don't see you coming up with any ideas!

**The warden is getting annoyed.**

Warden: Not to interrupt but I'm about to kill you now so could you pay attention.

**Shadow turns to face the warden's Gundam just in time to get punched in the face. The warden's Gundam begins to pound on Nightwing again, and Shadow used to getting punched begins to think quickly.**

Shadow (Damn it, what am I doing wrong, why are my movements so slow and awkward compared to his, and how is he using the propulsion system, and to top it off I'm starting to get a pretty bad headache, damn it!)

**While he's thinking this Nightwing keeps trying to hit the warden but the warden is easily avoiding his punches and in turn punches Nightwing, but unlike Shadow all his punches are hitting Nightwing.**

**Despite all these punches Nightwing isn't really taking much damage, sure it's getting a little dented here or there but a Gundam's armor is a strong thing after all and the warden's punch isn't strong enough to do any real damage it's just the pain that's getting to Shadow.**

**The warden suddenly jumps up and delivers a flying kick to Nightwing's chest, sending it once again to the ground. The warden begins to talk like that of someone who's finished a workout.**

Warden: Well this was fun, but all good things must come to an end, so goodbye Shadow.

**With that the hilt of a beam saber comes out of a compartment in the right leg of the warden's Gundam. The warden's Gundam grabs and activates it in one swift motion.**

Warden: Was this what you were trying to do earlier?

**He asks in a mocking voice. The warden's Gundam jumps up into the air, its beam saber pointed down ready to stab Nightwing in the chest.**

**Shadow still on the ground seeing the attack coming, puts Nightwing's hands flat on the ground then pushes intending to slide away but the propulsion system on Nightwing's back suddenly turns on causing the Gundam to roll backwards and land with one knee still on the ground.**

**The warden's Gundam stabs the ground that Nightwing was just lying on. We cut inside to see the warden looking shocked.**

Warden (He used the propulsion system, that's impossible it took me a week before I accidently used it, that's right accidently, it was just a fluke there's no way he could have figured out the NS system in just this short amount of time!)

**He thinks this to himself and calms down. We cut to Nightwing's cockpit to see Shadow staring at his hands.**

Shadow (Just now for a moment I felt the propulsion system kick in. Felt, that's it! I have to stop thinking of myself as Shadow Zoomarey and start thinking of myself as Nightwing!)

**The warden starts talking to Shadow in his self-assured voice**

Warden: Why don't you give up Shadow and let death take you peacefully? After all there is no way you can win.

**Shadow responds back with a smile on his face, the type of smile someone makes when they see the winning move in front of them.**

Shadow: You're wrong warden, not only can I still win this battle but I'm going to, after all someday I'm going to be the world's greatest Gundam fighter!

**The warden's smile disappears clearly not liking Shadow's new found confidence. He charges at full speed, his saber prepared to make a downward strike as he shouts out**

Warden: Then prepare to die!

**Time seems to slow down as Shadow begins thinking to himself. We can hear his breathing slow and steady.**

Shadow (I am a Gundam, I AM A GUNDAM,**I AM NIGHTWING!)**

**His eye's opens wide (No, not seed mode) we look down to his left arm where the Neon gauntlet is. It's changing colors from a plain grey metallic color to midnight black and then the Neon gauntlet starts to slightly glow. We cut outside and see Nightwing's eyes flash bright green.**

**The propulsion system on Nightwing's back starts to fire up. The warden's Gundam stops right in front of it and begins its downward swing of its beam saber. Shadow steps quickly to the side out of the way and then counter attacks by punching the warden's Gundam right in the face.**

**This time his punch is fast and natural, Nightwing begins to pound on the warden's Gundam. The warden is too shocked to raise a defense.**

Warden (He's using the propulsion system and his movements are more natural, it's impossible he couldn't have mastered the NS system in this short amount of time.)

**Nightwing jumps up and suddenly the hilt of the beam saber comes out of its right leg compartment, and Nightwing quickly grabs it and turns it on as it comes down; slamming the saber into the warden's beam saber.**

**The warden's Gundam is forced back and thrown off balance. Nightwing charges and uses an upward beam slash cutting right through the warden's Gundam. There's a moment's pause as both of the Gundams are facing away from each other.**

**Then the top half of the warden's Gundam falls backwards, while the bottom half falls forward. Nightwing keeps standing still both hands on the beam saber, the saber is pointing up. We cut back into the cockpit to see Shadow breathing even heavier than before.**

**We go to see Cagalli and Kenny still tied down by the seat belt, they're breathing and sweating heavily too. Then suddenly the realization of his victory hits Shadow, he smiles and then starts laughing, a laughter full of joy and relief.**

Shadow: Hahahahaha, I did it, I won; I am the winner, WE DID IT NIGHTWING!

**He shouts in joy, he jumps up and punches the air. The jump causes Nightwing to jump too, startling Kenny and Cagalli.**

Kenny: Shadow, you won already, so can you refrain from doing any movements with the upper body?

**Shadow turns to face Kenny as he lifts up his helmet screen he's still laughing and with a bright smile on his face; his eyes have a light of pure joy in them.**

Shadow: Hahaha, sorry but I did it Kenny, I'm finally an official Gundam fighter, I'm finally on the path that will lead to my dream!

**Kenny and Cagalli just stare at him surprised by the nut job's statement, and then they burst into laughter.**

Kenny: Hahahahha, an official Gundam fighter.

Cagalli: Hahahhaha, on a path to my dreams, what kind of idiot says that after almost getting killed.

**Shadow's in too good of a mood to care.**

Shadow: Hahaha, you're lucky I'm in such a good mood, or else I'd kick your ass.

**After he says this, they all break into even more laughter. Close ups are made of each one of them. After a moment they calm down. Cagalli settles down first.**

Cagalli: So what now?

**Kenny thinks about this for a moment then says**

Kenny: Shadow start heading west, we should hit the closest city in a full day and night.

**Shadow puts his helmet screen back down.**

Shadow: Ok, let's head out to the next chapter in our lives!

**The rising warrior's words cause the fallen princess to ponder her own fate for a moment.**

Cagalli (To the next chapter of our lives huh, so be it.)

**The episode ends with Nightwing beginning to run west. The propulsion system is working so Nightwing's moving faster than it was at the beginning, but still slower than most Gundams.**


	5. Episode 4 Revelations and a Cowboy

Episode 4

**The episode opens up with Nightwing still in the middle of the desert running west. The sun is setting giving off the appearance of Nightwing having ran all day. We cut inside the cockpit to see Shadow doing the whole running in mid-air thing, sweat is pouring down the tired warrior's face as he struggles to keep his breath.**

**Kenny is standing by the left wall typing on a computer screen attached to the wall. Cagalli is still sitting down buckled up; she's dozing off when Kenny shouts**

Kenny: All done!

Shadow: Ah, thank God!

**Our tired hero exclaims with relief as he stops moving and lifts up his helmet screen. Cagalli jolts awake.**

Cagalli: Huh, what, done with what?

Shadow: Thanks for joining us princess.

**Shadow says playfully. Cagalli still sleepy snaps back**

Cagalli: Can it!

**Kenny eager to show off his work explains**

Kenny: I just finished installing an auto-pilot program into the Gundam.

Shadow: Nightwing, its name is Nightwing!

**Shadow tells Kenny annoyed. Kenny sighs**

Kenny: Fine, Nightwing, anyway Shadow needs rest too, so I entered in a program that will keep the Gun-

**Shadow stares hard at Kenny. Kenny quickly fixes his mistake.**

Kenny: I mean Nightwing running without Shadow staying hooked up to the NS system.

Cagalli: That's impressive.

**She says this with sincerely. Kenny enjoying the compliment replies**

Kenny: Thank you, it's nice to have someone appreciate my talents.

**He says this as he looks at his old friend gloating. Shadow just rolls it off.**

Shadow: yea, yea, have your moment of glory. Can I try this thing out?

**Kenny nods his head.**

Kenny: yea, go ahead.

**Shadow clears his throat then shouts**

Shadow: Nightwing disengage the NS system.

**Shadow is lightly put down onto the floor as the Zero-gravity bubble turns off we can see the red lines once again appear all over Shadow's body this time though they're retracting rather than spreading.**

**Shadow also isn't in pain as the black fog starts creeping out from his feet and heading towards which it came from. In heartbeats the black fog and red lines are once again gone, completely absorbed into the floor.**

Nightwing: NS system disengaged.

Shadow: Ok, Nightwing activate the auto-pilot program.

Nightwing: Activating auto-pilot.

**We cut outside to see Nightwing start moving again. The yellowish red flare of the sun has disappeared beyond the horizon as its sister the silver moon begins its shift at work. The camera cuts back inside Nightwing's cockpit to show a triumphant hero.**

Shadow: Ah ha, it works!

**Shadow says this as he takes his helmet off and walks over to where his companions are.**

Kenny: Of course it worked.

**The technician says with slight annoyance. Shadow and Kenny join Cagalli on the ground as the tired princess yawns.**

Cagalli: So, how much longer till we get to this city, and while we're at it, what's the name of the city and what country are we in?

Kenny: We'll get to the city within day break, as for the rest we have no idea.

**Cagalli is shocked.**

Cagalli: How could you have no idea?

**Shadow responds sarcastically**

Shadow: Oh yea, the warden told us where we were over tea.

**Cagalli blushes**

Cagalli: Ok, so the prison guards didn't tell you but couldn't you figure it out when they first took you to Slyer?

**Kenny shakes his head.**

Kenny: No, they made sure that all the inmates were unconscious when they came to the desert, like Shadow and me who woke up on the bus in the middle of the desert; some special inmates get to come to the jail itself unconscious and have the great honor of the warden personally greeting you.

Shadow: Like you princess.

**Shadow says playfully. Cagalli just glares at him as he then yawns**

Shadow: Well I don't know about you guys but I'm tired so wake me up when we get to the city.

**With that the tired Gundam pilot puts his helmet on ground within arm's reach and lays flat on his back as he closes his eyes. Kenny yawning follows Shadow's lead.**

Kenny: Shadow's right, we should rest.

**Kenny leans against the wall and closes his eyes, and last but not least our most tired hero Cagalli leans back against the wall as one of the longest days of her life finally comes to an end. Cagalli closes her eyes and begins to bask in the warmth of what she imagines is going to happen tomorrow.**

Cagalli: Yes, then tomorrow this nightmare will finally come to an end.

**For a moment no one says anything then Shadow displays one of his rare moments of wisdom as he says without moving.**

Shadow: That's funny; I was thinking that we needed the rest because in a way tomorrow is going to be the hardest day we have had yet.

**The ominous words cause the blonde to turn and face the Gundam fighter. She stares at him a moment looking for an answer to a question but the weariness from the long day is too much and sleep quickly overtakes her ending the scene.**

**The next scene opens up inside Nightwing's cockpit, all is peaceful and quiet as our newly freed heroes take a well-deserved sleep break. Which lasts all of 10 more seconds before we hear a loud *Boom* followed by the males getting thrown into the air and crashing to the ground. Cagalli still buckled down just hits her head on the wall.**

Cagalli: OW!

**Kenny rolling on the ground in pain groans **

Kenny: Shadow, stop the auto-pilot.

**Shadow is also groaning in pain.**

Shadow: Nightwing stop auto-pilot.

**We hear Nightwing stop moving as Shadow and Kenny get up slowly.**

Nightwing: Auto-pilot disengaged.

**Already over his pain the ever optimistic Shadow says**

Shadow: Well at least we didn't have to wake up to gun fire.

Kenny: I think I prefer that to being thrown three feet in the air.

**Kenny replies still annoyed about how he was awaken. Cagalli starts rubbing her head and then unbuckles her seat belt and gets up.**

Cagalli: Did we hit something?

**The hacker goes over to the wall and pulls down a computer screen, think laptop only attached to the wall. He begins typing away.**

Kenny: No idea, I'm trying to find out how far we traveled.

**Never a patient person Shadow walks to the exit.**

Shadow: Sure you could find that out by typing on your computer, or you could just look outside.

**With that he opens the door and steps into the light. Cagalli looks to Kenny empathic then follows Shadow into the light. Kenny annoyed says under his breath.**

Kenny: Smartass.

**Then he follows after them. The passage way between the cockpit and outside is small and narrow, designed for only one person to walk through. Shadow is first with Cagalli standing behind looking over his shoulder.**

**The camera is positioned directly in front of them staring straight at their faces; both are wide eyed and stunned. Despite Kenny's height he's simply too far away from the entrance to see anything, of course that doesn't stop him from jumping up and down to try and get a better look.**

Kenny: Well what do you see?

**Shadow gets over the shock then says**

Shadow: A forest.

**When he says this we zoom out to see Nightwing in a lushes green forest, unlike the solid never yielding caramel color of the sand in the desert the forest is a blast of different shades of green with brown tree trunks.**

**For Shadow who was imprisoned in that God forsaken place the change in color and scenery is almost blinding and even Cagalli is surprised by how drastic the scenery changed in one nights travel.**

**Nightwing stands amongst the oak trees matching their height. The Gundam already looks dirty no doubt from its first fight, in several places its armor is dented.**

Shadow: Well I must say this is a welcome if not expected sight.

**Cagalli stunned asks**

Cagalli: How far did we travel?

Shadow: Far enough.

**The young's warrior's excitement is growing as he points out the tops of skyscrapers, far off in the distance. The first signs of civilization he's seen since his time at Slyer. The camera skips forward a few minutes in time.**

**Nightwing is on one knee; its hand is held up half way between the ground and the opening to the cockpit acting as a step for the escapees to get down from. Kenny and Cagalli have already climbed down and are waiting for their 3rd musketeer by Nightwing's unkneed leg.**

**Shadow jumps down from Nightwing's hand to the ground and eagerly runs up to his friends to show them what he discovered.**

Shadow: Hey, guys check it out the Neon gauntlet on my arm; it changed colors.

**Holding up his Neon gauntlet for them to see, it appears that the midnight black color has become permanent. Kenny looks at it with curious interest.**

Kenny: huh, that's weird I wonder why it did that?

**Cagalli on the other hand couldn't care less about what she perceives as some kind of watch and asks out of politeness**

Cagalli: What's with that thing anyway?

**Never taking his eyes off it, the tech expert answers her question absent mindedly.**

Kenny: The Neon Gauntlet, to put it simply is a remote control for the Gundam. In case the pilot ever gets in a situation where he needs his Gundam but can't reach it he can call it towards him by hitting on a few buttons on the touch screen.

**He points to the screen on Shadow's arm.**

Kenny: It also emits a tracking beacon, so that the pilot's crew can find him, and last but not least it can be used as a communication device.

**Cagalli stares at the Neon Gauntlet as if seeing it for the first time.**

Cagalli (Wow, I guess they weren't just testing the new cockpit design but they were also testing that new remote. It makes sense, when one thinks about it; it's hard to believe that no one's come up with this before.)

Shadow: That still doesn't tell us why it changed colors to black.

**Kenny doesn't answer but just stares harder at the Neon Gauntlet as if the answer would suddenly appear. Shadow smiles and says jokingly**

Shadow: Could it be the all-knowing Kenny finally does not know something?

**Kenny seems to have great pride in his information gathering skills as shown when he turns around and begins walking away from Shadow growling.**

Kenny: Shut up, and come on we should make it to the city in an hour.

**Shadow seeing that he hurt Kenny's feelings chases after him.**

Shadow: Oh, come on Kenny it was just a joke.

**Cagalli follows after them.**

Cagalli: hey, wait up.

**The camera looks up and then does the tree top skip forward in time thing. We look down to see our 3 heroes still traveling along amongst the fallen leaves and branches. Shadow is in the lead with Kenny close behind but Cagalli once again reminded of her lack of physical exercise in the past couple of years has already grown incredibly tired and struggles to keep up with the others.**

**That's not to say that the walk hasn't left its mark on her 2 companions; all 3 of them are sweating and breathing heavily.**

Cagalli: Are we getting close?

Kenny: We should be there soon.

Cagalli: Well, how long is soon?

Shadow: He has no idea and before you ask neither do I.

**Shadow says this in his good humor way, making it apparent that the long walk under the hot sun has not affected his personality at all which of course irritates Cagalli.**

Cagalli: Then how do you know we're not going in the wrong direction?

Shadow: I don't.

**Our relaxed hero begins to hum while Cagalli slaps her forehead, but not having a better plan, has no choice but to follow. Shadow comes to a large dense hunter green hedge; he stops for a moment looking up at the 3 people taller than him hedge.**

**Then shrugging his shoulders goes right on through it, Kenny and Cagalli follow. The camera flips around to the other side as all 3 travelers pop out from the hedge. For the second time today they all freeze in their tracks then Shadow does another one of his wide smiles.**

Shadow: See it all worked out in the end.

**The camera zooms out and spins around to reveal a highway heading straight for the city only a couple more miles away. The camera once again skips forward in time; the city appears to be just like any other, buildings of all sizes are spread across the city like leaves in the fall with the skyscrapers being the most notable.**

**Clean fuel efficient cars fill the roads the further you get into the city you get, it's still early morning yet the sidewalks are lined with people choosing to walk to work rather than drive in early morning traffic. Our heroes having finally reached their destination walk down a sidewalk until they reach a crosswalk.**

Cagalli: Well this seems about a good of place as any to go are own separate ways.

**From the beginning they knew this was only a temporary alliance; a temporary team formed so that they could achieve a common goal and now with that goal complete it only makes sense for them to part and set out to follow their own dreams/responsibilities.**

**Still they went through a lot in the short amount of time together, and all 3 members feel the awkwardness of the moment as they just stand their staring, not knowing what to say. Shadow breaks the silence.**

Shadow: Well it was nice meeting you princess.

**He holds out his hand. Cagalli shakes it.**

Cagalli: It's Cagalli Shadow, and if you ever come to Orb feel free to contact me if you need anything.

**Kenny also shakes her hand.**

Kenny: It was nice working with someone who has some brains for once. God it gets tiring to be the only smart person on the team.

Shadow: Hey!

**Cagalli laughs.**

Cagalli: Thanks it was fun.

**They stand there for another awkward moment then Cagalli starts walking down the left road. Shadow calls after.**

Shadow: Hey Cagalli!

**Cagalli stops and looks back.**

Shadow: If you ever need help feel free to give us a call.

**Cagalli smiles.**

Cagalli: I will.

**With that Cagalli turns around and continues walking getting quickly lost in the crowd of people. Kenny and Shadow go right and also get lost within the crowd. The camera follows our male heroes.**

Kenny: So Shadow what do you want to do first as a free man.

**The free man smiles as he thinks about this already having an idea in mind.**

Shadow: Something every man does when he gets out of jail.

**The scene cuts to a dark diner where a waitress has put a huge burger and fries in front of Shadow. He attacks the food; to say the least it wasn't pleasant for anyone to look at. **

**His partner at least manages to use his manners when he's eating his burger. The table they're sitting at is close to the window, but the shades are all closed giving it the feel of night time.**

Kenny: Now Shadow don't get me wrong but when you said what every man does when he gets out of jail, I thought you meant something along the lines of getting laid.

**Shadow answers with a face full of fries.**

Shadow: Don't be stupid Kenny; everyone knows that you need at least some cash to hit on women.

**Kenny looks at him.**

Kenny: And how do you figure that?

**Shadow takes another huge bite of his burger.**

Shadow: Well you have to buy her drinks, its common manners that if you're going to have a girl sit there and listen to you make a fool out of yourself hitting on her, you have to at least buy her a drink and since we're flat broke I can't buy her a drink and so I can't hit on her.

**Kenny nods his head as he realizes that makes sense when a voice suddenly interrupts their conversation.**

Waitress: I'm sorry but did you just say that you have no money.

**Even though the elderly waitress says this politely her eyes have a hard gray glint in them, like a school teacher asking a student if he cheated on a test. Shadow in turn like a student caught cheating on a test does one of those fake smiles as he says**

Shadow: Um no.

**We cut outside to the door of the diner, a couple is about to open the door when it bursts open sending the man whirling backwards. The dine and dashers come running out of the diner at full speed pushing people out of their way left and right. The waitress comes out of the diner but only stands at the door and at the top of her voice yells**

Waitress: THIEVES, THIEVES, someone stop them!

**We cut back to Shadow and Kenny who are quickly gaining distance. Shadow starts yelling at Kenny.**

Shadow: Great Kenny thanks a lot; this is all your fault!

**Kenny not liking being yelled at shouts back**

Kenny: Hey, how is this my fault? You're the one that told the waitress we had no money!

**Shadow snaps back**

Shadow: Only because you asked me why I wasn't trying to pick up chicks!

**They've ran far enough to the point where they can't hear the voice of the waitress. They slow down to catch their breath. Shadow talks first already over his missed meal and planning on how to get another one.**

Shadow: Well anyway the great thing about a city is there are plenty of places to do a dine and dash.

**Kenny gives a short laugh at this then the thieves go off. The camera takes off in the air like superman and flies over the heads of the people in the city until it comes to our only honest and noble hero. Like a lost tourist Cagalli walks the streets looking at buildings trying to find any landmarks she can recognize.**

Cagalli (Damn I don't recognize this city at all. Where the heck am I? I guess I could ask someone, but I'd feel like an idiot.)

**The prideful heroine stops for a moment debating between remaining lost in this random city for a couple more hours as she struggles to find a free cell phone or at least her location or looking like a complete fool in front of someone.**

**In the end though, her tiredness beats out her pride as the once proud leader of Orb takes a breath and prepares to make a fool out of herself. Cagalli walks up to some random person waiting on the corner for a cab.**

Cagalli: Uh, excuse me sir.

**The person turns to look at her, he takes in the grey lose fitting clothes with mild interest.**

Person A: Yes

**The lost Earthling already beginning to feel like an idiot says**

Cagalli: Uh, you see I have a question that's going to sound really stupid but could you just humor me?

**The person now somewhat interest looks at his watch then says in a polite way**

Person: Sure good ahead.

Cagalli: Can you tell me what city we're in?

**Person A looks at her for a moment to decide if she's messing with him, but on seeing the honest look on her face he comes to a different conclusion.**

Person A: Hahahahaha, Let me guess you went to one wild party, kids these days.

**Cagalli decides to just go with it.**

Cagalli: Yes, something like that. So could you tell me?

**Person A laughs one more time than answers**

Person A: Why we're in Arianna.

**There it is again, that fear that sense of doubt, that just maybe…maybe.**

Cagalli (Arianna? I never heard of that City before. No calm down, Earth is a big place it only makes sense that I wouldn't know every single city on it.)

**Cagalli stomps on this doubt and throwing away her pride and feeling even stupider asks**

Cagalli: One more stupid question, what country are we in?

**Now person A looks at her with a little suspicion.**

Person A: Must have been some party, we're in Myrtus.

**Back again, the doubt has never been stronger, her rational mind struggles with conflicting logic as the waves of panic burst through her dam flooding the emotions with the cold waters of fear.**

**Cagalli gives a nervous laugh as she fights to regain control of her imagination gone wild. She begins to talk out loud, to the complete stranger but at the same time trying to convince herself.**

Cagalli: Hahaha, that's funny I've never heard of that country before, where is it located on Earth.

**The random guy freezes. He looks at the lost girl the way you would look at a crazy person. He talks slowly**

Person A: You mean Sora right?

**Cagalli now freezes and looks at him in horror. She begins talking to him louder now.**

Cagalli: No, I mean Earth, E. A. R. T. H. Earth, not some made up planet called Sora!

**With panic in full gear Cagalli screams the last part out loud for all to hear. The stranger a little afraid of what he thinks is a nut job begins to back up slowly and he's not alone, other people who were walking by at the time now stop and stare at Cagalli.**

**They slowly inch away also not wishing to find out if the crazy girl is dangerous or not. Feeling more alone, lost and scared then she's ever felt, Cagalli stands there breathing heavily as she looks around and sees the faces of the sane people and then the truth just hits her.**

Cagalli (I'm….I'm on Sora. The warden was telling the truth, I'm on another planet.)

**It can't be possible, it shouldn't be possible and yet no matter how farfetched it might sound it's the only explanation that's still standing. Cagalli's whole world crumbles as her mind crashes like a computer hard drive.**

**With her amber eyes wide open yet cloudy she begins to wander the streets aimlessly. The streets are full of people, laughter, shouting, talking, car horns, engines rumbling but it might have well as been empty for how little it effected Cagalli; perhaps this is why the Earthling didn't notice the change in surroundings.**

**We begin to see less and less of the business looking crowd and more of the thuggish looking people. The buildings begin to look older, cheaper, and less well made. We see sketchy characters in long trench coats making shady deals with obvious "under the influence people"; the elderly are pushing around shopping carts with all of their possessions.**

**While the poor wake up from their makeshift camp in the alleyways; almost everyone in the area looks dirty and unshaved, like they haven't seen a bathroom in weeks and to some level everyone seems dangerous. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to know you're in the bad part of town.**

**Unfortunately the shock of being on another planet is still too much for the Cagalli's mind to cope with making her unable to process anything. Going on basic instinct Cagalli enters a diner after all she hasn't eaten anything since the other day, but it seems that even lady luck is against the girl today.**

**Smoke like smog hangs heavily in the air clouding the field of vision. The shades have all been pulled down letting no light in except from the lamps hanging from the ceiling, all these factors combine seem to distort one's sense of time in this place. When Cagalli walks in we can immediately see this is a gang hangout.**

**Just from the lose ripped clothing, body language and the poorly hidden small caliber guns we can tell that the majority of the people in this diner are gang members. 3 of the gang members are playing pool. The only sign anyone has noticed Cagalli is the quick movement of the eyes.**

**With her hard drive still crashed Cagalli just takes a seat at the bar. It's hard to tell how much of her own movement's she's aware of. One of the gangsters playing pool looks up at this and begins walking over to her.**

Gangster A: Hey, bitch that's my seat.

**Cagalli is too lost in her own head to hear him. Gangster A mistakes her silence as an insult.**

Gangster A: Don't ignore me bitch!

**With a quick swipe of his feet gangster A sweeps out Cagalli's chair from under her causing the young girl to crash to the ground, but this actually is more helpful to Cagalli then hurtful since the small amount of pain acts as sort of a restart for Cagalli's brain.**

**Rolling over and rising to her knees for the first time Cagalli takes in her surroundings including gangster A and his poorly concealed small caliber gun hanging from his belt. Getting up slowly as to not startle or anger the tiger, the diplomat begins**

Cagalli: I don't want any trouble.

**Cagalli is slowly backing up away from gangster A but this has the opposite effect that she was hoping for. Gangster A upon realizing she's no throat smiles wickedly and decides to have some fun with her.**

Gangster A: Too late bitch, you see by sitting in my seat you offended me. I'll tell you what though; since I'm a nice guy I'll let you pay the penalty instead of just shooting you.

**Not wanting to be shot but sensing something off with the deal, the negotiator asks**

Cagalli: And how much do I have to pay?

**The gangster laughs.**

Gangster A: Hahahaha. No, you see you've got it wrong, it's not money I want, you see the price is something only a woman can give.

**When he sticks his thumb towards the back room Cagalli gets the idea; suddenly her amber eyes harden as we see the old Cagalli from GS back again for better or for worse.**

Cagalli: You can forget it, that seat was up at the bar and last I checked you don't own this bar.

**If the girl had just rolled her eyes and left he wouldn't have done anything other than shout out some more catcalls but by openly challenging him in front of his buddies who start saying "ohhhh you just got told." Pissed gangster A off; Cagalli turns to walk away but he quickly grabs her arm.**

Gangster A: You bitch, time someone taught you some manners.

**He then throws Cagalli into one of the oak tables, no one blinks an eye. He walks over to her and before the injured girl can get up he kicks her. The kick causes Cagalli to roll right into a wall. Cagalli grits her teeth stubbornly refusing to cry out in pain.**

**Gangster A is still pissed and would have continued to beat the crap out of Cagalli had a new voice not called out.**

Cowboy: That's enough there mate.

**Gangster A turns his head to where the voice came from, so does the camera. We see the figure sitting alone at the back of the diner in a booth. When you see this guy the first thing that should come to your mind is a Crocodile Dundee wannabe.**

**He's got a dark brown cowboy hat, the light brown cowboy vest, lose fitting worn down jeans, and cowboy boots. He has brown hair from what we can see coming out of his hat. His hat is pull slightly down covering his eyes but when he speaks he lifts his head up revealing those sharp dark blue eyes.**

**His tone of voice was soft spoken not shouting but the way he said it so firmly causes all the other gangsters to look up, he also has an Austrian accent. Gangster A still pissed about Cagalli insulting him turns toward this new guy.**

Gangster A: And what are you going to do about!

**Cagalli still on the ground holding her ribs where gangster A kicked her looks up and sees the cowboy get up from his booth and walk over to gangster A. We can see that he's also packing, but unlike gangster A his gun is in a holster and the way his hand casually goes down and unbuttons the strap holding it in place screams experience.**

**The other gangsters are watching with interest now. The bartender and waitresses have decided to leave the diner through the back door. He stands about a foot away from gangster A.**

Cowboy: A gentleman never raises his hand to a lady, and a gentleman does not stand by and watch a lady get hit!

**He says the last statement with his sharp eyes looking at the other gangsters. The other gangster had been watching the scene like some sort of sport, but the moment the cowboy says his statement their mood turns dark, clearly not liking him insulting them.**

Gangster A: I'll tell you what, if you leave right now, we might not kill you.

**He says this as he lifts his shirt revealing the gun in his pants; cowboy doesn't move but continues staring hard at gangster A. Seeing that he isn't backing down gangster A shrugs his shoulders and then says**

Gangster A: Alright it's your funeral.

**The moment he says this he goes for his gun, but the cowboy is a lot faster. He pulls out his own gun and fires one shot just as gangster A's hand grabs his gun. The bullet hits the shoulder of the hand on the gun.**

**Gangster A screams in pain as he turns around and falls to the ground, just as gangster A hits the ground the cowboy turns around and fires two more shots at the other gangsters going for their guns, both shots hit the shoulders of the intended target.**

**The other gangsters dive for cover while the cowboy runs over to Cagalli and picks her up with one hand, just as the gangsters start returning fire. The cowboy kicks a table over and puts Cagalli down behind it.**

Cowboy: Now just stay here Miss, it will just take me a few minutes to take care of these mates.

**The oak table is strong, thick and acts as a good shield against the gangster's small caliber guns but the cowboy isn't packing any more power than them. With the damsel in distress safe the Cowboy runs over to another table drawing their fire.**

**In motion he fires 3 more shots, one hits a gangster hiding in a booth in the leg, the other one hits a gangster looking up from a turn table in the shoulder, the third was aimed at one hiding in the bar but he ducks just in time causing one of the beer bottles to explode.**

**The cowboy now runs to the bar evading the gangsters bullets. Another gangster lifts his head from the bar to aim, but cowboy fires and hits him in the shoulder causing him to fall back and hit his head on a couple more beer bottles.**

**The moment his head lands on the beer bottles, the cowboy jumps over the bar and fires another shot at the gangster that had ducked before. This time it hits him in the leg as he was reloading his gun. When he gets hit he screams and his gun goes flying.**

**Cowboy takes the end of his own gun and knocks the gangster unconscious. He keeps his head down. The remaining gangsters are firing everything they have, all of the bottles are blowing up now, glass and beer rain down on the cowboy but he is unaffected by it.**

Cowboy: (Let's see now, that makes 8 bullets, so I got one left in the clip, and another clip of 9, so that means I've got 10 bullets left. That should be more than enough to take out the three remaining guys.)

**He nods his head and prepares to go on the offensive. The camera cuts to Cagalli she's still hiding behind the table. The gangsters aren't paying her any attention so needless to say they aren't shooting at her. She's lifting her head slightly over the table watching the fight with wide eyes when suddenly we hear a voice**

Gangster A: This is all your fault, bitch!

**Gangster A had gotten up and is holding his gun in his uninjured hand. The hand that was shot hangs limply by his side, and his gun is pointed at Cagalli. When he speaks Cagalli turns around and faces him, her eyes are open wide with fear. The cowboy jumps up and fire one shot when he notices gangster A.**

Cowboy: (Oh crap)

**His hand moves quickly to grab his last clip on his belt. The empty clip drops from the gun but he's too slow. He can see gangster A pulling the trigger.**

Cowboy: (I'm not going to make it.)

**Cagalli closes her eyes trying to prepare herself for the end when at the last moment a hand comes and grabs the end of the barrel forcing the gun to point straight up into the air. The gun goes off ripping right through the unknown's palm but other than his hand the bullet hits the roof harmlessly.**

**Gangster A looks on shocked by this third wild card completing the triad. Cagalli upon hearing the gunshot but feeling no pain nor finding herself in the afterlife slowly opens her eyes to reveal Shadow with his hand still on the gangster's gun. Shadow glares at gangster A intensely with his electric green eyes**

Gangster A: Who the f-

**He doesn't get to finish before Shadow punches him with his other hand so hard that gangster A is knocked out before he hits the ground. Cagalli just sits their amazed.**

Cagalli: Shadow?

**The light hearted hero turns to face her as his eyes go back to normal and his smile lights up his face.**

Shadow: Hello princess.

**The remaining gangsters perceive this new guy as a threat and quickly open fire on him but Shadow ducks down next to Cagalli his good mood unruined.**

Shadow: Well you seem to be having fun.

**Cagalli despite herself replies sarcastically**

Cagalli: Sure, who wouldn't have fun getting shot at?

**The cowboy runs across the room, once again dodging the bullets and ducks behind the same oak table. He asks in worry**

Cowboy: You alright Miss?

**Cagalli goes to reassure him.**

Cagalli: I'm fine.

Cowboy: This mate a friend of yours Miss?

**He points at Shadow who remains silent taking in the cowboy and the remaining gangsters.**

Cagalli: Sort of.

**Shadow turns around and in his grand voice says**

Shadow: I am the great, the wonderful, the fantastic, Shadow Zoomarey.

**As he says this he stands up a little, big mistake, a bullet comes flying over his head just barely missing him. He ducks down causing the cowboy to laugh.**

Cowboy: Hahahaha, well I give you this mate that's a nice introduction, I'm Nick Mu by the way.

**He holds out his hand. Shadow takes it and shakes it.**

Shadow: Nice to meet you Nick.

Nick: Same here mate.

**Cagalli not believing they're having this conversation shouts over the bullets**

Cagalli: Do you really think this is the best time to be having this conversation?

**Cagalli raising a good point causes Nick to refocuses.**

Nick: Right, do you mind if I take care of the rest mate?

**Shadow gestures with his uninjured hand.**

Shadow: Normally I would but since you were here first I'll let you finish it.

**Nick nods his head. The gunfire has stopped. He gets up slowly and looks around then walks very slowly towards the tables the gangsters are using as a shield. Shadow is looking over the table at Nick very intensely. Cagalli looks at Shadow unbelievingly.**

Cagalli: You're not just going to let him do this by himself are you? Those are 3 guys with guns.

**Shadow doesn't take his eyes off Nick and grins in an excited manner.**

Shadow: I want to see what this cowboy's got and besides I've got a feeling this is going to be over in a minute.

**Cagalli taken off guard by his overwhelming confidence turns her head and watches Nick too. Nick takes another slow step, one of the gangsters jumps up from behind the table, but before he can take a shot Nick shoots him in the shoulder.**

**Nick dives to one side the second the bullet leaves his gun, another gangster comes up from behind the table as the other gangster falls to the ground and fires at the spot where Nick was a moment ago. Nick rolls and is on one knee, he fires at the gangster as the gangster realizes Nick wasn't where he shot.**

**The bullet hits the guy in the side of his shoulder, he falls. Nick starts running while still keeping low to the ground; he goes around the table aiming for the last gangster. The last gangster looks at him in shock. Nick fires right into his shoulder finishing the fight in perfect victory.**

**The gunman stands up and walks quickly towards the door. He looks over to Shadow and Cagalli and gestures to the door with his head. We can hear the cries of the wounded but other than that it's silent. Shadow turns to Cagalli and says in his humorous voice**

Shadow: I think that's our sign to leave.

**Shadow grabs Cagalli by the arm and leads her to the door; they all exit at the same time. We cut outside to see Nick, Shadow, and Cagalli walking away from the diner at a quick pace but not too quick so that they don't draw much attention to themselves. Shadow has let go of Cagalli's arm. Kenny walks over to them. **

Kenny: So seeing as you're not dead, I'll assume you won, and who is this guy?

**He points at Nick.**

Nick: The names Nick Mu mate.

Kenny: Kenny Cyes.

**They shake hands, suddenly Cagalli snaps. Her fear of the unknown and just being so completely alone, away from anyone that she ever knew or cared about has boiled over and transforms into a red hot rage which she directs at Shadow.**

Cagalli: Why are you here did you follow me!

**It's not like he was expecting a big show of thanks but talk about being ungrateful. Shadow snaps back by reflex**

Shadow: Please, don't flatter yourself princess, me and Kenny were looking for a place to eat, so imagine our surprise when we open the door to a diner and see a warzone inside with you smack dab in the middle so sorry for trying to help you!

**If it were any other day Cagalli would have realized that she was in the wrong and apologize, but because of the realization that she's on Sora and almost getting killed again, has flipped all of her switches causing her to just lash out.**

**Cagalli and Shadow glare at each other intensely like animals trying to assert dominance or in the eyes of Kenny and Nick like morons being stupid.**

Nick: Come on mates this isn't the time to be fighting.

**The lonely girl turns her gaze to Nick and lashes out at him.**

Cagalli: And why are we the ones retreating, you shot them all, right?

**The cowboy unmoved by her anger matches her gaze and answers evenly**

Nick: I only hit them in non-lethal places, so they should be only stunned, if we had stayed there more people would have gotten back up and try to continue fighting. By leaving instead of pursuing us they'll head to the hospital and get their wounds looked at, like we should do.

**With knowing eyes the kind man looks at Shadow who embarrassed looks away.**

Nick: I saw the bullet pass through your hand, so it isn't life threatening but if you don't get that looked at right away you could lose the ability to move that hand.

**Hanging limply by his side Shadow had been trying to hid the wound. He may not be a gentleman like Nick but the stubborn warrior has his own pride. For the first time Cagalli notices the bloody hand and the small trail of red leading back to the diner.**

**The haze of rage lifts as the fallen princess calms down and realizes what a jerk she's being.**

Kenny: There's a hospital not too far from here that offers a free clinic, lets head there.

**They all nod in agreement. The camera cuts to the next scene, Cagalli and Kenny are sitting in a chair in a doctor's room. Nick is standing, leaning against the wall right next to the door. Shadow is sitting on the patient bed. A doctor has some kind of device over Shadow's injured hand.**

Doctor: Well that should be long enough.

**He takes the device off to reveal the hand completely healed. Shadow begins to flex it.**

Shadow: Thanks doc it's as good as new.

**He says excitedly, he puts his hand in a fist and punches the air. The doctor looks at his watch.**

Doctor: No problem, well I've got to get going, close the door on your way out.

**After the doctor leaves Kenny gets up and walks over to his old friend.**

Kenny: Well that's a relief.

**Guilt ridden our heroine gets up and begins to say slowly and nervously**

Cagalli: Listen Shadow, I want to say-

**Shadow interrupts her.**

Shadow: Don't worry about it princess, but I'll tell you what if you show some skin we'll call this even.

**He says this Jokingly. Cagalli blushes a little then yells at him.**

Cagalli: Not even in your dreams you pervert, I can't believe I was going to apologize.

**She folds her hands and turns her back on him as Kenny and Nick laugh, then Nick gets up from the wall and turns to go to the door as he says**

Nick: Well since you're all better now I'll be on my way mate.

Shadow: Hold on a second cowboy.

**Shadow says quickly. Nick stops and turns to look at him.**

Shadow: Listen Nick, I've seen your skills and I've got to say I'm impressed.

**Nick blushes at the compliment.**

Nick: Well thanks mate.

**Shadow goes on.**

Shadow: Look I'm starting a Gundam team, and I want you to join.

**Nick ponders this for a moment while Kenny rolls his eyes. Cagalli looks back and forth between the three not sure what they're talking about.**

Cagalli (Gundam team, what are they talking about?)

Kenny: Come on Shadow, we're not even in the city for a day before you start recruiting, besides I'm sure he's busy and has other-

**Nick interrupts him.**

Nick: I accept.

**Kenny shuts up and just stares at Nick not believing his ears. Shadow jumps up and high-fives his new teammate.**

Shadow: Alright, welcome to the team.

**Kenny still stunned asks**

Kenny: B-B-But why?

**Nick shrugs.**

Nick: Well you see mates I don't have any money left, and I've come from New Australia, so I don't know any mates here, so I figured why not.

Shadow: That's all the reason I need.

**He says laughing. Nick starts laughing then Kenny and last but not least Cagalli starts laughing too. We cut outside to see our 4 heroes exit the hospital and walk back onto the street. Shadow, Kenny, and Nick are walking in a line while Cagalli walks behind them still trying to get her head around the impossible.**

Cagalli: What's a Gundam team?

**It may not seem the most important question considering everything else she could asked but it's a place to start, however she might as well have asked an Earthling what is football or any other well-known sport. All 3 guys stop in their tracks and turn to stare at her unbelievingly.**

Kenny: You know the teams the Gundam fighters are on, that you have to be a part of to be recognized as an official Gundam fighter by the GFC.

**Like trying to explain the official rules of hockey to someone from the deep south, possibly from Africa. Kenny thinks Cagalli simply isn't a fan of the sport and doesn't understand the technical talk, but Cagalli is looking for the very basics.**

Cagalli: GFC?

**Even more shocked now Nick answers**

Nick: The Gundam Fighter Committee, the people who run the Gundam fights mate.

**Cagalli now getting frustrated by not knowing and looking like an idiot goes to say something else but Shadow cuts her off.**

Shadow: Kenny why don't you go with Nick and see if you can't find a Gundam manager, me and Cagalli are going to get some new clothes

**Kenny nods his head as the camera moves over them showing that Shadow, Cagalli, and Kenny's clothes not only looks weird but have blood and dirt on it.**

Kenny: Alright we'll meet outside the shopping mall, oh and can you pick me up a set of clothes too.

**Shadow nods his head.**

Shadow: Sure.

**Kenny and Nick go one way. Cagalli is about to say something else but Shadow grabs her and pulls her along.**

Cagalli: Wait a minute, I still have questions.

**She comes to a stop and looks hard at Shadow.**

Cagalli: And I'm not moving an inch until they're answered!

**Shadow stops and looks at her and then smiles one of his full of humor smiles.**

Shadow: Fine, but first answer my question. If you're a real princess then you should know all about the Gundam Fights, so how come you know nothing?

**Cagalli hesitate a moment then answers.**

Cagalli: You're going to think I'm crazy.

**Shadow rolls his eyes.**

Shadow: Listen I was in a prison full of nut jobs, so anything you say won't surprise me.

Cagalli: Ok

**She takes a deep breath.**

Cagalli: I'm from Orb, Orb is on Earth.

**Shadow looks at her for a moment his face impossible to read then he smiles and starts walking toward the shopping mall.**

Shadow: Ok.

**Cagalli not sure of what he means follows him.**

Cagalli: Ok as in I believe you, or Ok I think you're nuts?

**Shadow says uncaringly**

Shadow: Ok as in I don't care.

**Cagalli looks at Shadow confused. Seeing this Shadow explains**

Shadow: Look you act sane enough to understand your surroundings and that's all that matters to me, so if you believe you're from Orb on Earth good for you but I don't care.

**Cagalli is taken back but she's not about to argue with the only person who somewhat accepts/believes her.**

Cagalli: Well that's a weird way of thinking, so are you going to tell me what the whole thing with the Gundam fights is?

**Shadow nods his head.**

Shadow: Sure, First you need to know some of the history of Sora. About 100 years after the Crew of the Lost Ones dropped to Sora most of the land had been explored, and people had settled all over the planet, that's when different governments came and started fighting one another for territory and control of the land, pretty soon everybody was fighting.

**Cagalli has been taking this in as they walked to the shopping mall. This is all common knowledge for anyone who's been to a Sora school, like 4th grade history, so Shadow takes no interest in this part of the story.**

Cagalli: You mean like a World War?

Shadow: Yea, exactly like a World War, only this one lasted another 100 years before peace came. The governments still in power gathered together in a great meeting and decided on a system that would allow nations to observe one another's military strength without going to war, that system is the Gundam fights.

**Cagalli is a little confused.**

Cagalli: Wait the Crew of the Lost Ones, dropped to Sora over one thousand years ago, not even coordinators were around back then, so how did you guys have mobile suits.

**Shadow a little annoyed by the question answers.**

Shadow: Because we invented the Gundam's first, before Earth. The inventor of the first Gundam was Issaic, and the first Gundam pilot was Neon.

**Shadow's face takes the look of admiration. Cagalli notices but decides to ignore it and go on.**

Cagalli: Ok, go on.

**Shadow snaps back to focus, this time he eagerly describes how the fights work.**

Shadow: Right, so the way that the Gundam fights work is that every nation sends in a team of their best Gundam pilots and their best Gundams to compete in Gundam fights, their stats determine what rank they are.

**Cagalli doesn't understand.**

Cagalli: So wait how does that prevent war?

**Shadow thinks for a moment as they walk into the mall.**

Shadow: Well let's say nation A can send 3 Gundam teams into the Gundam fights while nation B can only send 1, that might mean that nation A has a larger military or more money than nation B and can send more teams in, but if the 3 team get rank C while nation B's one team gets rank B than it would seem that nation B's military may be better fighters than nation A.

**Understanding dawns on the once ruler's face.**

Cagalli: Unless nation B's Gundam team is the only one in their military on that level, or if they only put one team in to make themselves look small, wow I'm getting a headache just thinking about.

**Shadow laughs.**

Shadow: I think that was the point, they wanted to confuse the nations, so that they would be too unsure to a make a move against any other nation, but just in case they add a third variable to make it even harder to plan an attack on another nation.

**Cagalli looks at him curiously.**

Cagalli: Oh what's that?

**The Gundam pilot's smile gets even bigger and he sticks his thumb at himself as he says**

Shadow: Us, Gundam teams that declare themselves independent from any nation. In a time of war, some of them might decide to fight for money, for people they like, for their birth places, the possibilities are once again endless.

**As one who constantly seeks to find a way to eternal peace Cagalli can't help but admire this plan and the way it plays to human strengths and weaknesses.**

Cagalli: The plan is ingenious when you think about it, no leader of a nation would risk going to war without knowing such important information, but they wouldn't be able to find the information easily which will make them decide that it's better to wait in case of an attack instead of launching one. Hahahaha, it's ironic that the only way to prevent war is by fighting though.

**They both laugh, then they calm down. Cagalli stops for a moment and examines a fancy formal shirt on display in one of the mall store windows. Shadow starts watching her for a moment, thoughtful then asks**

Shadow: Hey, Cagalli how about you travel with us for a while.

**Cagalli stops and looks at him.**

Cagalli: What?

**Shadow shrugs and tries to pass if off as no big deal.**

Shadow: I'm just saying that if you're from Earth then you don't know anyone on Sora or anything about its customs, so you should travel with people who do. Just until you can find your way around without help, then you can do whatever you want.

**Cagalli thinks about this for a moment then answers.**

Cagalli: Yes, alright, thank you Shadow.

**She says sincerely. This is actually a touching moment which makes Shadow uncomfortable so he decides to ruin it with a joke.**

Shadow: Of course since we're traveling together you'll have to resist the urge to throw yourself at me, after all inter team dating never goes well.

**Cagalli bushes deep red and then yells at him.**

Cagalli: As if that would ever happen, pervert!

**The episode ends with Shadow stepping back acting scared as Cagalli yells this in his face.**


	6. Episode 5 Drake The Rejecter

Episode 5

**The episode opens up with Cagalli and Shadow looking at different clothes in the mall. Shadow has grabbed a pair of black jeans, and a black T-shirt that says "Coolest cat in town" followed ironically by a cartoon dog. Having chosen his outfit our wannabe Gundam fighter turns towards his companion. Cagalli is looking at the clothes not really liking anything. Shadow rolls his eyes at Cagalli's indecisiveness.**

Shadow: Would you just pick something already, honestly what is with women and clothes?

**Annoyed at the stereotype Cagalli replies back wittily**

Cagalli: Well sorry, but we women want to look good unlike _some _people.

**She says this with a coy smile on her face while eyeing her equally fashion challenged companion's clothes. Shadow puffs clearly offend.**

Shadow: First of all, only up tight snots judge people by what they wear...princess.

**Cagalli now offended marches right over to Shadow where is standing and gets into his face staring him down.**

Cagalli: Oh really? And what's the second and don't call me a princess!

**She asks challengingly. Shadow does not back down. He meets her amber eyes then smiles and says in his humorous voice**

Shadow: The second is that I look good in anything.

**The tension is instantly relieved as the annoyed Earthling rolls her eyes and grabs the first thing she sees, a red anime T-shirt and blue jeans.**

Cagalli: There happy, now let's go pay for it and leave.

**Waiting for this exact moment Shadow exclaims**

Shadow: We don't have to pay for these clothes.!

**Playing the cool cat, Shadow begins to walk over to the dressing room while his audience of one blinks in surprise.**

Cagalli: What? Why?

**Asks our suspicious heroine. Shadow steps into the dressing room and closes the door.**

Shadow: While you were busy looking at crappy clothes I talked to one of the clerks and they said that all of the items in this aisle were going to be thrown out anyway so we could have whatever we want for free.

**It takes Cagalli a moment to place the event then boom, back to angry we go**

Cagalli: I was looking at formal attire!

**Shadow with his voice slightly muffled replies through the door**

Shadow: That's what I said, crappy clothes.

**Cagalli isn't quite angry anymore, it's hard to describe but it's almost like she's entered some kind of debate.**

Cagalli: They were not, there's nothing wrong with professional clothing.

**The casual wearer is quick to point out a rebuttal as he exits the changing room in his new attire.**

Shadow: Oh except for the fact most of the time you can't get full body motion in them, they're normally uncomfortable and you always have to worry about ruining them because they always cost way more than normal clothing.

**But formal wearer is equally quick to respond as she steps into the changing room.**

Cagalli: People will treat us with more respect if we look serious and professional; if we go around dressing like little kids then they're going to treat us like little kids.

**Cagalli speaks from experience but Shadow also has a fine point.**

Shadow: I'm not saying we should go around dressing up like little kids but that doesn't mean I can't pick out clothes I like and that are comfortable to wear. I like jeans, and I like T-shirts, they give my almost full range of motion and I don't have to worry too much about ruining them since they're affordable.

**Sighing, Cagalli exits the changing room in her new clothes shaking her head and deciding to just leave it.**

Cagalli: We're not going to reach an agreement on this subject so let's just agree to disagree.

Shadow: Fine.

**Dressed and ready for action our heroes begin to exit the store while Cagalli for the first time notices that nobody is in this aisle.**

Cagalli (Strange, if these clothes are free I wonder why there's not a herd of people running over each other to grab them.?)

**Suspicion begins to dawn upon the girl as she eyes Shadow.**

Cagalli: So did the clerk say why these clothes are free?

**Cagalli was trying to catch Shadow in a lie but instead finds something else.**

Shadow: Huh, oh yea apparently these clothes were just schedule to be thrown away because their old. You see the clerk had accidently scanned the wrong item charging a customer way too much money and lady went all nuts and wanted to speak to his manager but using my awesome charm I talked her out of it. He was so thankful that he told me we can have whatever we want from this section without paying since it's all going to be thrown out or donated to charity at the end of the day. Since everything in this section is the same amount of money he paid for it already.

**Cagalli just stares at Shadow a moment trying to tell if his story is true.** T**he camera cuts to our other 2 heroes, the programmer Kenny and the cowboy Nick. They're outside the mall standing next to the large map sign. As cautions as ever Kenny paces back and forth exclaims**

Kenny: Where are they? We said that we would meet at the front of the mall, AN HOUR AGO, so where are they?

**Relaxed as ever Nick is leaning against a wall, his eyes are closed and his hat is pulled slightly down to shield his eyes from the sun.**

Nick: You need to chill mate, they'll be here when they'll be here, so just catch up on some Z's.

**Kenny goes to argue when Cagalli shouts**

Cagalli: Hey guys!

**She waves to grab their attention as both Shadow and herself swim through the crowd to get their friends. Shadow carries an extra set of clothes for Kenny. After the 2 groups combine Kenny snaps**

Kenny: What took you so long?

**Shadow points at Cagalli as he says**

Shadow: Sorry but someone took forever picking out clothes.

**Cagalli is offended and is about to argue when Shadow quickly adds**

Shadow: Oh, these are yours by the way.

**He hands Kenny a blue long-sleeved shirt with a polar-bear with sun glasses on it holding a coke, and a pair of jeans. Kenny looks at the shirt and looks at Shadow**

Kenny: Really?

**Growing annoyed by people constantly pointing out his lack of fashion sense, Shadow snaps**

Shadow: Well if you don't like then don't wear it!

**Cagalli smirks enjoying the fact that she's been proven right.**

Cagalli: Ha, told you, you had bad taste.

**Shadow glares at her, and is about to say something when Nick interrupts. Having gotten off his spot on the wall, he goes straight to business.**

Nick: We found something about the Gundam Manager.

**Confused Cagalli turns to her source of information Shadow.**

Cagalli: Gundam Manager?

**Shadow answers without hesitation.**

Shadow: A Gundam Manager manages the Gundam team. They arrange the fights; keep track of the finances, and the good ones give us tips on how to fight. They work for the GFC and report our progress to them.

**Kenny not wanting to be out done, adds**

Kenny: And having one is a requirement in order to be an official Gundam team.

**Cagalli takes this in as Shadow turns to Kenny and asks**

Shadow: So what did you find out?

Kenny: Well the good news is that there's a small GFC company in the area.

**The ex-politician's political powers tingle as she senses a butt**

Cagalli: What's the bad news?

**Chilled as an iceberg Nick adds casually**

Nick: Just that they got the record of most rejected Gundam team applications.

**Kenny nervously nods his head.**

Kenny: Yea, a 70 percent rejection rate which is a high number for any GFC office, from what I could dig up one of the managers who works there is a major jackass, he has a 100 percent rejection rate which means he has yet to sign off on a single Gundam team.

Shadow: What's his name?

**Shadow asks this innocently enough but there's an excited evil gleam in his electric green eyes. Luckily his cautious and nervous friend doesn't notice this and answers.**

Kenny: Diz Drake.

**Having accepted her current circumstance for now Cagalli just goes along with everyone else until she can figure out a way home.**

Cagalli: Well I guess we better hope we don't get him then.

**Using stats the hacker calms himself down.**

Kenny: There are currently 74 managers working in that GFC building so as long as we aren't stupid or unlucky we should be fine.

**Everyone nods their head satisfied with this outcome and move toward their new destination but Shadow hangs back for a moment reflecting.**

Shadow (Diz Drake hmmm this should be fun!)

**The camera cuts to inside and office building, cubicles take up 90 percent of the space on this floor of the building while the other 10 percent is for the walkways in-between the cubicles not counting the guest center at the end.**

**Shades of calming tan cover both the walls and the cubicles. The floor appears to be made up entirely of a brown carpet, each cubical looks identical on the outside; each one has a desk along with a computer. **

**Everyone we see is dressed in business wear and walks with purpose or panic. Some sit at their cubicles typing, others walk with their laptop cases or on their phone talking about business. The noise is a mixture of talking, clicks from laptop keys and phones ringing or being hung up.**

**We zoom in on one person sitting behind a desk typing away. Unlike his coworkers this person's desk is devoid of all intimate objects, no pictures, plants, posters, hell not even a sticker can be seen.**

**The individual seems to be in his early fifties, he's wearing a black suit and tie, his neatly combed hair is starting to gray. On his left eye is an eye patch with some kind of ancient runic symbol on it in red. Despite his age we can tell from his frame that he's still in decent shape.**

**Suddenly another guy appears, like the first he too appears to be in his early fifties but unlike the first he appears to have more of a rock star look going on, with a red button up shirt and almost shinning blue pants combined with his shoulder left brown hair. The only thing that doesn't fit this image is his glasses.**

Rocker: So Drake how's your day going?

**The rocker asks this as he sits on Drake's desk, forcing him to stop working and look up. Annoyed the less playful Drake orders**

Drake: Tim, get off my desk.

**The rocker (Tim) without moving from his spot asks in his own annoyed voice**

Tim: First answer my question, why are you filing the company's money management data, instead of supervising your assigned Gundam team?

**The rejecter bored sighs.**

Drake: Because I don't have one.

**Surprising and angering his cheerful companion.**

Tim: What do you mean you don't have one, what about the one that came in this morning? I personally looked over their application and made sure there was no way in hell that you could reject them!

**Drake answers unconcerned**

Drake: Well you didn't check hard enough; they BS about their fighting skills. After just a minute of sparing with me they started crying from the pain and demanded a break. So I rejected them, anyone who cries and demands a break is not strong enough to be a Gundam Fighter.

**Now Tim sighs preparing to lecture Drake despite his obvious annoyance.**

Tim: Drake, no one starts out as a great Gundam Fighter, you have to help them, train them, and make them become great Gundam Fighters.

**The repetitive feel coming from Tim's voice suggested that this isn't the first time they've discussed this.**

Drake: Look if I see a team with any potential I'll sign off on them.

**Drake gets up and starts to walk away trying to end the conversation but Tim calls out to him causing some people to look up to see what's going on.**

Tim: A God would have trouble passing what you call potential.

**Ignoring him Drake continues walking; he passes by the front desk and lobby where we spot our heroes having a heated discussion with the desk person.**

Shadow: What do you mean it's going to take 3 months to process our application?

**Shadow was never a patient guy and the ridiculous waiting period doesn't help the situation either, Nick and Cagalli are giving the desk person whose name tag reads Kat angry stares but at least they aren't shouting yet. Kenny shyly looks down not liking his old friend making a big scene.**

Kat: I'm sorry sir, but we have a lot of people applying to be a Gundam Fighter, and not as many managers to supervise them all.

**In a diplomatic tone the most experienced negotiator responds**

Cagalli: Yes that sounds understandable but 3 months? I mean really are you just that short on managers or do you have that many people applying?

**Having to deal with people like this at least 3 times a day Kat has mastered the art of nonchalance.**

Desk person: We also list the applications by other standards such as money.

**Feeling a scam Nick angry replies**

Nick: So wait, we're not getting looked at right away because we're broke mate?

**Even professionals have limits on tolerance and Kat has reached hers.**

Kat: Sir if you could find an open manager then you could get him to review and sign off on your application otherwise please fill out the required information and wait for a manager to become available.

**Satisfied in the ultimatum Kat turns back to typing on the computer confident that this will send the annoying brats home. Nick and Cagalli are frustrated and mad but the system is too powerful for them to think of a way to defeat it and they're quickly beginning to lose their will to fight.**

**Kenny knowing Shadow too well is afraid that he's about to make a big scene and so he tries to prevent it from happening.**

Kenny: Let's go Shadow; we can think about what to do next later.

**Shadow, however is not one to be defeated that easily and being true to Kenny's fears proclaims in a grand voice**

Shadow: What about Diz Drake?

**The request is so far off base of anything the Kat has ever had to deal with that she's completely stunned. Drake who had been using another computer terminal while ignoring everyone and everything, up until this point for the first time looks up at this new comer.**

Kat: I-I-I'm sorry?

**Kenny's mouth hangs open at the horror. Cagalli is shocked, and Nick smiles liking the idea. Shadow smiles finally having achieved the upper hand in what was otherwise the Kat's game.**

Kenny: It-It was nothing.

**The programmer stutters to the desk person, desperately trying to undo what Shadow is doing. He turns to Shadow and whispers furiously**

Kenny: Shadow what do you think you're doing?

**But like a storm in motion, Shadow cannot be stopped while radiating confidence continues his attack on the Kat.**

Shadow: You said that if we could find an open manager he could review and sign off on our Gundam Fighter application, well Diz Drake is an open manager.

**Like a rat caught by its tail, Kat has never faced a situation like this before and desperately struggles to regain control.**

Kat: B-Bu-but sir, Mr. Drake is-

**Finally losing it Kenny explodes.**

Kenny: The rejecter! Are you nuts! He holds single handily the record for most rejected Gundam Fighter applications ever and may I point out that it would take 6 normal Gundam Managers to equal the amount of people he rejected. So please Shadow let's not be stupid and-

**Shadow cuts him off.**

Shadow: I don't care; I'm not going to run from someone I've never even met!

**Drake having grown more and more interested in these troublemakers has silently crept closer to the group, now before Kat can speak, he makes his move. Stepping out in front of the desk person he faces his challengers.**

Drake: I'm Diz Drake the rejecter.

**Kenny freezes, if you ever said something about your boss behind his back only to find out he's right behind you, that's the look Kenny has now his face now. Shadow however turns to face Diz Drake; his face is full of defiance.**

**Drake doesn't do anything but stare at them with his dark reddish brown eyes but he emits a presence so strong that it's felt by everyone within 20 feet. This is a warrior whose been in many wars, seen countless battles, traveled through the world and space and then back again.**

**While Shadow radiates a naïve amusing confidence, Drake radiates a confidence backed by mountains of experience and sheer overwhelming raw power.**

Drake: Now that you met me are you going to run!

**Feeling his "aura" everyone stops their work and looks up to the scene unfolding. Cagalli and Kenny showing obvious signs of fear have taken two unconscious steps back. Nick gritting his teeth as a bead of sweat rolls down, has also taken an involuntarily step backwards.**

**Shadow is the only one who doesn't move; instead he smiles apparently liking what he sees in Drake.**

Shadow: I'm Shadow Zoomarey and someday I'm going to be the greatest Gundam Fighter this world has ever seen. So old man if you really are Drake the Rejecter, then I challenge you to look at our application and see if you can reject us.

Drake (Well the kid's got guts if nothing else, but it takes more than guts to become a Gundam Fighter.)

**Still, despite himself Drake also smiles liking what he sees so far.**

Drake: You're pretty cocky kid.

**Shadow just shrugs in acceptance and unconcern.**

Drake: Very well, I Diz Drake shall accept your challenge!

**This definitely gets the crowd's attention, almost all just expected Drake to dismiss them with the wave of his hand but before they have time to gossip about this new development. Drake turns on them launching a fierce killing intent with his one eye and in a booming voice commands**

Drake: And the rest of you, get back to work!

**Yeah something tells us that Drake didn't always used to be a manager. As for the crowd many of them blush in embarrassment and hurry back to their work or cower away in fear. Satisfied that at least one thing has been resolved, Drake walks up to Kat whose still stumbling over the new direction in which everything has gone.**

Kat: Here's their file but you don't have to-

**Drake grabs the file and cuts her off as he continues to walk towards Shadow.**

Drake: Thanks that will be all.

**Walking past Shadow towards the direction of his desk, Drake points at Shadow and says simply**

Drake: You, walk and talk I'm a very busy person.

**Drake takes off at a fast pace but Shadow quickly catches up followed by the rest of the team. Kenny moving past his fear of Drake talks first and fast trying to sell their team.**

Kenny: Now I know that our file isn't the best one out their sir, but I can-

**Drake interrupts him after quickly scanning the file.**

Drake: You can say that again, no fighting history, no money, and worst of all you have no contacts.

**Cagalli doesn't understand.**

Cagalli: Contacts?

**Bored Drake explains**

Drake: Connections, people who can help you or pull strings in the system for you.

**Nick looks at him curious.**

Nick: You mean government people right mate.

**Such a gross oversimplification annoys Drake.**

Drake: Don't call me mate, and yes or scientist, doctors, mechanics; hell I'll even take a teacher. However you guys have no one.

**Not seeing any point to this, Shadow questions Drake**

Shadow: And why does that matter?

**Drake is growing impatient at their lack of insight.**

Drake: It means that you would have to start completely from scratch.

Cagalli: But doesn't everyone start from scratch when they first become a Gundam fighter?

**Drake turns to look at the young woman as if she's a naive idiot.**

Drake: Wrong! Some teams have money, so they can afford to buy Gundams and pay for their training, other teams have a fighting history, like serving in the army so they don't need to be taught the basics of combat, the rest have connections, people who throw charity their way, people who want to see you win. If you guys decide not to become Gundam Fighters no one in the world is going to lose any sleep over it.

**They reach Drake's desk with Tim nowhere to been seen. Drake stops and faces them preparing to hand down judgment.**

Drake: So unless you can tell me one thing you have that no one else has in the next…

**He looks at his watch.**

Drake: Ten seconds, I'm going to reject you and just to let you know this is one of the few times when 99 percent of the managers would agree with me, so don't think you can go and ask someone else.

**Drake looks at his watch as he counts down. Cagalli, Kenny, and Nick try to think of something but Shadow on impulse answers without hesitation or thought.**

Shadow: The will to go on even when everyone says it's pointless.

**Everyone freezes; they all look at Shadow, and even Drake's mouth hangs open a little.**

Drake (Is this guy for real?)

**Drake suddenly starts laughing.**

Drake: Hahahahaha

**Shadow blushes slightly, fully aware of how stupid he sounds but he sticks to his guns and doesn't back down. Drake takes a minute to calm down then replies**

Drake: I've got to say that I wasn't expecting that, I'll tell you what since you made me laugh I'll give you another minute to come up with something useful.

**Drake continues to stare at the kids bored as they desperately struggle to think of a good counter-argument. Shadow fresh out of ideas runs his hand through his hair and that's when Drake sees it.**

**While the Neon gauntlet might as well be a watch or a Gundam whistle to its owner Drake has the experience to realizes it's true significance which is all too clear from the look on his face as we do a freeze frame on his one eye wide open.**

**With reflexes faster than the eye can follow Drake grabs Shadow's neon gauntlet arm and yanks it closer to his face so that he can get a better look at the neon gauntlet while startling the others.**

Drake: This is an active Neon gauntlet.

**Kenny starts breaking into cold sweats. **

Kenny (Damn I should have told Shadow to take that Neon gauntlet off. Piloting Gundams without a license is illegal in Myrtus. Shadow could go to a real jail this time.)

Shadow: Yea, so?

**Like the horrible poker player he is, Shadow tries to bluff his way out of the trouble he knows he's in but Drake sees right through him.**

Drake: You didn't say you already had a Gundam. Let me guess you've been in illegal Gundam Fights?

**Shadow looks away not answering. Drake stares hard at him for a moment then just shrugs.**

Drake: Whatever, it's not my job to make sure illegal Gundam fights don't take place, however I want to see your Gundam.

**Upon the realization that Drake isn't going to rat on them and the fact that he wants to see their Gundam, makes Kenny jumps with excitement.**

Kenny: Does that mean you're going to accept our Gundam application?

**Drake is annoyed by the implication that he would fold that easily.**

Drake: It means that you bought yourself more time before I reject your Gundam application.

**With his bubble burst Kenny sighs.**

Kenny: Our Gundam is a couple of miles outside the city.

**The way Kenny says this implies a hassle of going there which Drake doesn't understand.**

Drake: So, we'll drive.

**Thinking that's the end of it he starts walking towards the exit.**

Shadow: With what car?

**The manager stops surprised. He makes the connection and then sighs.**

Drake: Well that's just great, and you want to be Gundam fighters, yet you don't even have a car.

**Feeling insulted Shadow snaps back**

Shadow: Lots of people don't have cars.

**Drake retaliates**

Drake: At least they have bus money. *sigh* I'll get my friend who has a car to drive us. Stay here!

**Voicing his authority, Drake nods his head satisfied that they won't wonder off and then walks away. The camera cuts to Tim who's sleeping at his desk.**

**Still a little sore from their earlier conversation Drake slams his hand down onto the table roughly waking Tim up, but being the bigger man, he only takes a small amount of pleasure scaring the crap out of Tim.**

Tim: Huh, what, I'm awake?

**The sleepy employee being fearful of his boss having caught him, tries to shake himself from his dream daze.**

Drake: Come on, I need you to drive me and a bunch of brats to outside the city.

**Tim still a little confused focuses on Drake.**

Tim: Drake? What why? What's going on?

**Always on the move Drake begins walking while his rocker friend stumbles a little trying to catch up.**

Drake: I'm reviewing a Gundam application.

**It's as if he's still dreaming, a miracle beyond a miracle, Drake the most stubborn man on the planet is reviewing a Gundam application, by choice! It's almost too good to be true.**

Tim: Really?

**The next scene opens up with the crew back where they parked Nightwing. Shadow, Cagalli and Kenny are standing by the leg looking at Drake waiting to see what's up. Nick is also standing with them but he's checking out Nightwing.**

**Drake is further away also checking out Nightwing but unlike Nick he's looking at Nightwing with an observant eye. He's walking around the Gundam and taking in all the dents, scratches and even the placement of the dirt. He comes back around and then does another slow look through. Shadow grows impatient.**

Shadow: How long are you going to take?

**Drake turns to face him not liking his attitude.**

Drake: As long as I feel like!

**He turns back towards Nightwing and continues examining it. Curious Cagalli asks**

Cagalli: What are you doing?

**Drake looks at the girl for a moment trying to decide whether or not she's worth his time. He decides that it would waste more time arguing with them if he said no.**

Drake: I'm seeing if you guys have any potential as Gundam pilots.

Kenny: That explains why you're having the computer programmer look at Nightwing's data, but what do you hope to learn by just standing there staring and looking at it?

**Drake smiles a smile of all knowing.**

Drake: You would be surprised by what you can learn by just observing someone's Gundam.

Shadow: Like what?

**Drake once again not liking this little punk's tone of voice replies**

Drake: Well for starters, I can tell from the dents on the head and knuckles that your last fight was an old fashioned fist fight, and judging from the amount and level of dents your Gundam sustained, I'll say that you were on the receiving end of most of the punches thrown.

**Drake airs confidence, backed by experience, he can see right through Shadow. Shadow may have guts but without skill he might as well be the brave mouse who charges after the cheese right into the mouse trap.**

**Gritting his teeth Shadow looks away ashamed.**

Drake: But since you're still here I'd have to say that you won by surprising your opponent in some manner, like taking out your beam saber.

**Hitting the nail on the head, Drake can't resist a small smile of satisfaction as he sees Shadow squirm under his all-knowing gaze, even with one eye he sees more than most people. The noble cowboy after taking all this in puts 2 and 2 together and looks at Shadow.**

Nick: So wait mate, you won by taking a dirty shot?

**The deeply proud rookie Gundam fighter snaps back**

Shadow: NO, he already had his beam saber out; I was just evening the playing field.

**Nick still sees this as a dirty shot which is unacceptable to his code, thus an argument begins between the young adults about what is considered a dirty shot. Around this time Tim pops out of Nightwing's cockpit and waves Drake over.**

**Taking a momentary glance behind himself Drake makes sure the others are distracted, then performs about six jumps from Nightwing's kneed leg to the hand to the cockpit door. Drake moves like a ninja, without trying he moves at incredible speeds while still keeping his steps as silent as a ghost.**

**Upon reaching the top Drake looks back to see Shadow and the others have not yet noticed his movements. He turns back to face Tim.**

Drake: So how many fights has he been in?

Tim: One.

**Drake shows signs of surprise.**

Drake: One!

Tim: Yea and you're never going to guess who they stole this Gundam from.

**Drake now a little curious asks**

Drake: I figured they jacked it from some rich guy who was using it for a lawn ornament.

Tim: Wrong, care to guess again?

**Tim is having a good time at Drake's expense but Drake quickly fixes this.**

Drake: Tim tell me now before I snap your neck.

**Tim frowns at having his fun spoiled.**

Tim: Fine, Mr. Spoil sport.

**Tim takes a breath.**

Tim: From the warden of Slyer.

**Drake's reddish brown eye opens wide.**

Drake: Wait Slyer, as in the prison for the innocent?

**Tim nods his head.**

Tim: The one and only.

**Drake looks back down on Shadow and co. to see them still discussing the last fight. A thousand thoughts flash through his mind and not all of them are uncaring but the world hasn't been nice to Drake either and although his heart may not be ice it's neither soft.**

Drake: Well I guess that explains why they don't have any money or connections, but to be able to break out of Slyer.

**Drake shakes his head feeling his age. Almost daring not to hope Tim asks**

Tim: Impressive right?

**Knowing full well what Tim is getting at, Drake doesn't go for it.**

Drake: True, but not impressive in a Gundam fighter way.

**Tim's smile grows wider; he was clearly waiting for this moment having a counter move ready for his old friend.**

Tim: True, but what about this, you said yourself that he won his last fight because he did something unexpected.

**Drake nods not liking the fact that he's not controlling the conversation.**

Drake: Yeah, he pulled his beam saber out.

Tim: Yes but I don't think it was because of that, I think it was because he operated the NS system at 100 percent capability.

**A one two punch Tim had been praying for, stunning Drake.**

Drake: What! It takes at least a month of training to operate the NS system at 100 percent capability!

**Drake looks back at the rookies as if seeing them for the first time, even he can't deny that, that was impressive. Tim goes in for the finishing blow.**

Tim: I know, would you not call that Gundam fighter impressive?

**It's not stubbornness that keeps Drake from passing them, it's more like a deeply rooted personal issue, an uneasiness having nothing to do with the team but coming from within Drake himself. He just isn't ready to admit that this team has potential yet.**

Drake: It's not unheard of for a Gundam pilot to suddenly operate the NS system at 100 percent capability on their first attempt in a life or death situation.

**Tim can't believe his ears, do animals have to talk and do wizards have to appear before Drake bows?**

Tim: But impressive none the less, or does a God have to come down and personally tell you they have potential before you accept it?

**Drake like a corner rat grudgingly admits.**

Drake: I guess it is a little impressive.

**It's a start but Tim is still a little bit unhappy by this response.**

Tim: A little?

**Drake isn't willing to further humor the seller. He as well as the camera turn to look down on the supposed "potential" Gundam team. To his mild surprise they finally notice his movement and are watching his exchange with Tim although they're too far away too hear anything.**

**Cagalli nervous leans in close to Shadow and whispers**

Cagalli: Is it a good idea to let that guy look at your Gundam's data. We did steal it from Slyer.

Shadow: Slyer was an illegal prison not sanction by any government so the last thing they're going to do is get anywhere near the cops to report us or their Gundam missing.

**Kenny overhearing the conversation quickly corrects his friend.**

Kenny: They wouldn't report us but they still might report Nightwing as stolen to the police and have it listed under their front company but I still wouldn't worry about it. Illegal Gundam Fighting is a much worse in Myrtus then stealing a Gundam, you get 5 to 10 years for illegal Gundam Fighting while stealing a Gundam is only a misdemeanor maximum 1 year in jail so if Drake isn't busting us for illegal Gundam Fighting I doubt he's busting us for stealing.

**Cagalli is a little unsettled by this.**

Cagalli: Wait hold a minute, stealing a Gundam, a military grade weapon is a MISDEMEANOR!

**Kenny annoyed replies**

Kenny: Gundam's aren't considered a weapon unless you activate the weapons systems or use it with the intent to harm others; then it becomes a completely different crime. Depending on the charges and court you'll most likely get anywhere from 5 to 10 years not counting addition charges. For example if you're piloting a stolen Gundam in an illegal Gundam fight that's at minimum, 6 months of community service for theft, plus 5 years of jail for illegal Gundam fighting and an additional 5 years for activating the weapons system.

**Shadow adds**

Shadow: Don't forget about the fines. Yea if you damage anything while illegally piloting a Gundam you're legally responsible for paying for it. Break a tree, you pay to plant a new one, step on someone's car you pay for how much it's worth, you damage a street you pay for it to be repaired and if you can't pay then you have to work it off….IN JAIL. That's not even counting piloting a Gundam within city limits without permission and outside official designated areas.

**Kenny gives a small laugh.**

Kenny: HA you get caught for doing that you might as well kiss freedom goodbye because they're never going to let you out.

**Cagalli takes this all in in silence as she reflects upon the Sora laws. Bright shades of pink and purple light up the sky as the sun begins to set ending another day. Sighing, Drake jumps down from the Gundam. The kids are too inexperienced to realize the level of skill Drake's jumps are at. The camera looks back up at the retired Tim frowning, clearly not liking being ignored.**

Tim: Hey!

**Shadow glares at Drake with his hands folded.**

Shadow: Well did you decide to accept us yet or do you need more proof of our greatness.

**The cocky rookie says the last part with a smile further irritating the already irritated manager. In the background Tim hops down from Nightwing, nowhere near as gracefully as Drake.**

Drake: Impatient and overconfident not very good traits for a Gundam fighter.

**Nick puts his hand on top of Shadow's head and pushes down causing a forced bow. Nick is smiling and putting the other hand behind his back in embarrassment.**

Nick: Sorry about me mate here, but we had a long day and we're all hungry so if you could just cut us some slack.

**Drake straightens his tie and begins to walk away from the Gundam towards the car. Shadow, Nick, Cagalli, and Kenny glance at each other not sure of what's going on turn around and start to follow as Drake begins to talk.**

Drake: Well after looking at everything I've have to say that you do have some potential as a Gundam fighter.

**Drake might as well be pulling staples out of his body the way he reluctantly admits this. Shadow and co.'s eyes light up with joy which is quickly dashed when Drake turns around and says**

Drake: But not as a Gundam team.

**Everyone just stares at Drake, not quite believing their ears or the absurdity of the statement.**

Kenny: But isn't that the same thing?

**Kenny challenges. Drake has stopped by the car and turns to face them.**

Drake: Wrong, a Gundam fighter is someone who can pilot a Gundam.

**Infuriated by this constant bureaucrat bull, Shadow snaps**

Shadow: Which we are!

**Drake snaps back**

Drake: Which _you _are!

**He points at Shadow.**

Drake: First, you are the only member of this team, which by the way doesn't even have a name; that proved your ability to pilot a Gundam. Second you only have four people on your team.

**He points at Kenny still yelling.**

Drake: A computer programmer.

**He points a Nick.**

Drake: A sharp shooter cowboy.

**He points at Cagalli; his yelling causes Cagalli to take a step back.**

Drake: And YOU, what exactly do you do anyway, what do you contribute to this team? Is your only purpose to look cute and act as a fan girl! You're useless!

**While it's true Drake's sour mood is causing him to be harsher than normal nothing he said was a lie. It was his honest evaluation of the applicants said in the harshest possible manner; still the truth hurts and everyone feels the slash of his verbal sword.**

**Drake's words cut Cagalli the deepest though. Not because they're mean but because they're true. Up until this point Cagalli hasn't really done anything for Shadow despite all the help he's given her. Without even realizing it until this very moment Cagalli has become the stereotype damsel in distress. Something she hates more than anything and it hurts her to realize how far she's fallen.**

Cagalli (useless, I'm useless just like…)

**We should have a quick flashback to when Mr. 4 killed everyone at the party. Meanwhile Shadow isn't going to let Drake get away with insulting his team. Burning with anger derived from intense loyalty, he shouts back**

Shadow: If you think my team is so bad then prove it in a Gundam fight!

**Drake stops and turns to face Shadow not surprised by this response. It's common for rejected applicants to futilely challenge the managers to prove their worth. Drake quickly points out the problems concerning a Gundam fight.**

Drake: First off your Gundam is damaged to the point where it needs to be repaired before it can fight again. Second in a Gundam fight I would be able to defeat you in seconds.

**Shadow goes to say something but Drake continues**

Drake: However I could use a good fight right now so I'll tell you what, we can have a good old fashioned human to humanfight instead and if you can land a single blow on me I swear on my life that not only will I sign off on your Gundam application, I'll train you personally. Do you agree?

**The eager one is about to shout "hell yea" but Tim jumps in the middle.**

Tim: Wait before you agree you need at least 3 fighters on your side.

**This outrageous requirement further enrages Shadow.**

Shadow: What, why?

**Tim answers calmly and rationally.**

Tim: Because otherwise it would just be a slaughter, Drake is really good, he used to be a Gundam fighter himself, and I've seen your skill and trust me you need at least three people to have even a 1 percent chance of landing a hit on him.

**Tim speaks only the truth taken from a neutral and logical position but Shadow has too much pride to accept this.**

Shadow: In your opinion! I plan on winning this fight.

**Growing impatient Drake who believes in tough teaching says**

Drake: Just let him fight me, he'll learn the hard way.

**The way Drake says this is almost like an afterthought, there is no doubt in his mind he can defeat Shadow with ease. Shadow recognizes this overwhelming confidence and would have attacked right then and there if Tim didn't once again block his path.**

Tim: No, we both know that he hasn't got a shot in Heaven in landing a hit on you by himself. I can't allow you to fight if you don't have two other people fighting with you.

**Shadow goes to say something but Nick steps forward and puts his hand on Shadow's shoulder.**

Nick: I'll fight with him.

**Shadow doesn't care if it's a team battle or not, he just wants to fight and beat that smug confident look right off of Drake's face so he greets Nick's entrance into the battle with appreciation but the wise programmer knows that it's still not enough.**

Tim: That's nice but you're still short one fighter.

Shadow: Oh come on!

**Shadow tries to go around Tim to get to Drake, but although Tim may not be a fighter directly he's still not backing down and blocks Shadow's path every time.**

**Seeing that's not going to work, Nick looks to Kenny for help but the hacker seeing the look on Nick's face knows what's coming and answers the question before the cowboy can even ask it.**

Kenny: Don't look at me I'm just a programmer, I don't know how to fight.

**Drake has better things to do than play games with children,**

Drake: Well since Tim here won't let you fight me without three people I'll be taking my leave.

**Drake turns to go. Shadow's face is full of frustration at not being able to fight him. Nick also looks ticked off and just when it seems like they might attack Tim to get to Drake, Cagalli unexpectedly says**

Cagalli: I'll fight.

**For the briefest of moments something inside her stirred, an instinct or impulse that had long gone dormant and been buried deep inside but for a fraction of a second it moved, awoke and saw daylight and fought to the surface.**

**Cagalli's voice rings with an air of complete confidence, similar to Drake's and Shadow's that she's never heard before, not even during her times as Orb's Chief Representative or when she fought alongside Kira and Athrun during the wars.**

**In fact it's almost as if Cagalli hadn't spoken, rather the words themselves leapt from her mouth unable to tolerate their master's silence any longer, but all of that was just for a fraction of a second and it quickly disappears, leaving Cagalli and everyone else frozen in shock.**

Drake: You, you think you can fight?

**Drake asks more than a little skeptical which of course Cagalli takes as an insult. Her eyes take on her stubborn look as she replies with growing confidence feeding off her anger.**

Cagalli: Yes! I do have some combat experience.

**The noble cowboy goes to say something against putting a lady in such harm's way but the less noble fighting junkie quickly turns to Tim closing the deal.**

Shadow: There happy, we now have three fighters so let us fight?

**Seeing that the fight is unavoidable plus with his requirement's fulfilled Tim shrugs and walks towards the car and Drake.**

Tim: Fine, come with me to pick out your weapons.

**Shadow, Nick and Cagalli look at each other not sure by what he means. Tim has walked to the back of his large shipping truck.**

Cagalli: What do you mean by weapons?

**Tim opens up his truck and pulls down a ramp, curious our heroes try to take a peek at what's inside the truck, but poor lighting makes it impossible to see inside, not that it matters because Tim brings out its contents anyway.**

**Racks full of all types of weapons are being pushed out. We see hammers, axes, swords, guns, ammunition, knives, chains, spears, lances, ball and chains, and pretty much any other normal weapon you can think of coming in all sizes and types.**

**Shadow stares at all of this like a kid in a candy shop, not sure where to begin. Nick although not drooling like his partner can't resist eyeing the ammunitions rack, having been low on bullets.**

**Cagalli of course is the only normal person in the group and knows that no matter what country she's in, or what planet she's on, there's no way in hell having that many weapons just lying around in the back of your truck is legal and eyes the rocker, a little afraid he might be a weapons smuggler.**

Cagalli: Where did you get all these weapon and-

**Nick puts his hand on her mouth before she can finish while Shadow annoyed turns around and faces her.**

Shadow: Cagalli this is one of those times where it's best not to ask questions and be thankful that we get to get some free stuff.

Tim: If you're done having your group discussion, you can pick out one weapon each and all the ammunition your heart desires.

**Leaving Drake to handle watching the rookies, Tim turns back to Nightwing and begins walking towards it while grabbing Kenny on the way.**

Tim: Come on, you and me are going to see if we can't get some lights from this Gundam on. We wouldn't want them to also have to fight in the dark.

**The waning colors in the sky also make this point clear. Kenny nods his head and follows the senior programmer, meanwhile the camera swings back around to look at the 3 fighters. Shadow jumps forward eager to claim his new weapon.**

Shadow: I call the katana!

**Figures Shadow would go after the sword. Nick heads straight for the guns and ammunition rack, itching to resupply free of charge.**

Nick: Least I don't have to worry about buying bullets now.

**Cagalli is the only one who doesn't dive right in, although the veteran isn't stupid enough to believe she can win the battle against Drake without some kind of weapon, she's still reluctant to just browse around the weapons as if she were buying new shoes.**

**Nick begins looking at the different types of ammunition while Shadow has already grabbed a katana from one of the racks. From the way he's holding it any idiot can see he has no experience with any kind of sword play.**

Shadow: This is so cool!

**After fumbling with his sword for a minute Shadow manages to get it out of its sheath without cutting himself, a miracle. With boyish excitement he begins hacking at the air pretending enemies have surrounded him.**

**The blade gleams in the setting sun, judging from the random and wild way Shadow swings his sword around it becomes even more clear just how little experience Shadow has with that weapon. Cagalli upon seeing this puts her hand on her head and shakes her head very worriedly about their slim chances against Drake.**

Cagalli: We are so screwed.

**Upon hearing this Shadow turns to face the nonbeliever and with his humorous smile replies**

Shadow: Have some faith, princess.

**The way he's holding the sword makes it look he's going to stab himself at any moment, and any sword master seeing him would be crying. The smile on his face however is one of pure joy.**

Shadow: Why don't you stop worrying and pick out your weapon?

**Cagalli surrendering to her fate at this point replies**

Cagalli: Fine and stop calling me princess.

**She begins walking between the racks looking at all the different weapons. Drake walks over to Nick, who is holding two different ammos in his hands.**

Drake: You do realize that bullets come in different sizes?

**Drake doesn't think much of the cowboy but luckily Nick doesn't notice.**

Nick: Yes, but my gun is specially designed, so I can modify it to hold different sized bullets.

**Drake now looks at him impressed.**

Drake: Really?

Nick: Yep, but it's a pain to do.

**The camera turns back to Cagalli aimlessly wandering the racks. She's heading towards the gun rack, of course being the most obvious weapon of choice for any modern warfare and is just really glancing at the other archaic weapons having no intention of bringing any of them into a real fight when suddenly one of those weapons catches her eye.**

**Freezing in her tracks Cagalli stands and stares at a spear type weapon. The point of the spear weapon when standing vertically on the ground reaches up to Cagalli's shoulder. The pole and the blade are made from solid metal; the blade itself is curved with only one bladed side.**

Cagalli (This is the guan dao)

**A flashback is triggered, we're back at Orb, Uzumi is sitting at a desk, near a fire emitting warmth, and a young ten year old Cagalli is standing in front of him. He's scratching his chin.**

Uzumi: So you what to know about the Athha family crest?

**The way he says it makes it sound like he thinks the question is funny, he laughs a little. Young Cagalli puffs, not liking being laughed at.**

Young Cagalli: Fine forget I asked.

**Uzumi realizes he has hurt her feelings.**

Uzumi: I'm sorry Cagalli, but before I answer your question can you tell me why you're interested?

**Young Cagalli gets over her anger quickly and answers in an embarrassed way.**

Young Cagalli: It's just that I've noticed that everyone else has two swords crossing on their crest, but we have some spear thing on ours.

**The camera turns and looks up over the fireplace, where a shield is hanging up. Two guan daos are crossed behind it, there's a picture of a lion and a rose on the shield. This is the Athha crest (Not Orb, that's a completely different crest) they're talking about. The camera turns back to Uzumi, he smiles kindly at young Cagalli.**

Uzumi: Its proper name is the guan dao.

Young Cagalli: Gan dauo?

**Young Cagalli mispronounces the word. Uzumi still smiling corrects her.**

Uzumi: Not gan dauo, guan dao.

Young Cagalli: Guan dao.

**Young Cagalli gets it right this time.**

Young Cagalli: So why do we have it instead of a sword?

**Uzumi leans back in his chair.**

Uzumi: Well I was planning on telling you about our family crest when you were older but since you've taken an interest in it, I guess I can tell you now. Come have a seat.

**Uzumi gets off his chair and leads Young Cagalli to a seat by the fire where she sits down. Uzumi moves to face the fire, and he begins to talk in a grand story teller fashion.**

Uzumi: You see there's a story behind the reason why we have a guan dao on our family crest instead of a sword.

**Young Cagalli is hooked already and asks with a child's excitement**

Young Cagalli: Really, what is it?

Uzumi: Well you see long, long, ago

**Young Cagalli interrupts.**

Young Cagalli: You mean last year?

**Uzumi smiles and laughs a little.**

Uzumi: HAHA no, much longer, back during the time of the first Athha.

**Young Cagalli's eyes open wide.**

Young Cagalli: Wow.

Uzumi: You see the first Athha was a wanderer, he traveled from place to place and had many adventures, but his most well-known adventure was when he came upon a sad land that was ruled by an evil king. The king was cruel to his people and made them do work for him all day long.

Young Cagalli: Without any breaks?

**Uzumi smiles.**

Uzumi: Without any breaks, the people wanted to overthrow the evil king but his large army made them too afraid then one day the wanderer came to the land, he could see the people were in pain so he marched up to the evil king's castle and challenged the evil king's army by himself.

**Young Cagalli's eyes are open wide.**

Young Cagalli: All by himself?

**Uzumi nods his head.**

Uzumi: That's right, the army surrounded him on all sides, and then they charged, they say the people could hear the sound of fighting for three days straight. On the third day when the sounds of fighting had stopped, the people came out to see the outcome.

**Uzumi pauses for dramatic effect, it works.**

Young Cagalli: And what happen?

Uzumi: The first Athha had defeated them all; the evil king was no more, he had single handily liberated the people. That very night the people threw him a grand partly in celebration. The people worshipped him, they had wanted to make him the new king but by the time the party was over he had disappeared.

Young Cagalli: So wait why did he leave?

**Uzumi shrugs his shoulders.**

Uzumi: I can only guess that he had no desire to be king, he had done what he wanted and left.

Young Cagalli: Oh, so what happen to him?

Uzumi: Well after many more adventures he returned to the land that had he saved, only he made sure no one recognized him. He settled down and had a family.

**Young Cagalli is confused.**

Young Cagalli: Why didn't he want anyone to recognize him?

Uzumi: He probably didn't want people treating him any differently than they would a normal person.

**Young Cagalli realizes something.**

Young Cagalli: So wait what does this have to do with our family crest and why we have a guan dao instead of a sword?

**Uzumi smiles again.**

Uzumi: That's because the guan dao was his weapon of choice.

**The flashback ends with a picture of Uzumi smiling. We come back to the present, Cagalli has picked up the guan dao and is holding it deep in thought.**

Drake: The guan dao huh, a very interesting choice.

**Cagalli jumps having not noticed Drake. She turns to look at him. Drake smiles when he sees her jump.**

Drake: Well this should be interesting.

**He walks away before Cagalli can comment. We cut to Nightwing whose light is illuminating the area. The programmers seem to have wired Nightwing's eyes to act like giant spotlights. The camera takes an eagle eye view, it turns to one side where Drake is standing calmly; he has yet to take a battle stance.**

**We turn to face the other side, where Nick, Shadow and Cagalli face Drake. Shadow is holding his katana with both hands in front of his chest with the tip pointed at Drake. Nick is standing to the left of Shadow his gun is still in his holster but the strap is unbuttoned and you can see his leg muscles are tense and ready to move in any direction at a moment's notice.**

**Cagalli is to the right of Shadow; she's holding her guan dao with both hands about 3 feet apart. She's holding it diagonally across her body, with the blade close to her right shoulder and the end of the pole close to her left knee. The blade is pointed towards the sky and to anyone watching it should look something like a defensive stance.**

**Drake looks bored. Shadow looks excited and can't wait for the fight to begin. Nick also looks excited but it's more of a calm excitement compared to Shadow. Cagalli is the only one who looks nervous; her eyes keep looking all around.**

**The camera suddenly looks toward Nightwing's hand, where Tim and Kenny are watching. Kenny is sitting down while Tim is standing, and then Tim begins to shout the rules.**

Tim: This is a 3 on 1 fight; all types of weapons are allowed excluding Drake who is not allowed to use a weapon. The fight will continue until someone lands a hit on Drake or until you give up. On my mark

**Shadow, Nick and Cagalli tense. Drake still looks bored.**

Tim: Ready….. Set….. GO!

**The episode ends with a freeze frame of Shadow charging.**


	7. Episode 6

Episode 6

**The episode starts with a repeat of Tim's countdown.**

Tim: Ready….. Set….. GO!

**Shadow charges straight at Drake, he goes to make a downward strike with his sword but Drake moves to the side and kicks him square in the chest before he can even finish the swing knocking the breath out of him.**

**Nick at the moment of go moves to the left and pulls out his gun and starts firing at Drake the moment Shadow staggers and falls out of the way, Drake faces Nick and walks straight towards him, he effortlessly dodges the bullets**

Nick (Am I missing, no he's…he's dodging the bullets!)

**His face is full of shock as Drake comes straight up to him still looking bored, he kicks him straight in the chest knocking him clean off his feet, this all happens in minutes. The camera turns to Cagalli whose frozen by Drake's overwhelming display of power, Drake looks at her**

Drake: You do know what happens to deer that stand still in headlights?

**Drake is on her in less than a minute, he unleashes a flurry of punches most of which land on her face or chest, Cagalli's taking steps back and is trying to block but Drake is easily getting around her defenses**

Drake: They get run over!

**He hits her square in the face which combined with the rest of his attacks causes her to collapse to the ground from pain; suddenly Shadow comes from behind and starts a downward swing of his sword but Drake without turning around kicks him in the chest and sends him flying before he complete the swing.**

**Then still on one foot Drake jumps up as a bullet hits the ground where his foot was, the camera turns to Nick who's still lying on the ground from Drake's pervious attack, Nick growls in frustration of the miss. Drake rushes towards the marksmen and kicks him square in the chest causing next to go into a barrel roll.**

**The camera turns to Kenny, and Tim. Kenny has a look of shock and horror on his face**

Kenny: Holy crap!

**Tim looks at Kenny with pity**

Tim (You have no idea, this is Drake using kitty gloves, if Drake only had to beat them he would have already knocked them all unconscious already.)

**The camera turns to Drake who's looking at Cagalli, who's still on her hands and knees coughing and spitting in pain from his last attack**

Drake: You said you wanted to be a Gundam Fighter, so what are you doing on the ground!

**He yells the last part as he kicks her hard in the chest while she's still on the ground, the force of the kick sends her rolling, after rolling 7 feet Shadow moves behind her and stops her rolling with his knee**

Shadow: What are you doing lying down in the middle of a fight princess?

**He says this in his playful voice with a smile but his eyes are focus on Drake who is starring at them still with the bored expression. Cagalli coughs and groans still in pain but she understands Shadow and says while getting up**

Cagalli: Don't call me a princess!

**She's on her knee's now and looking at Drake, suddenly Nick on his feet again starts shooting at Drake, Drake turns to Nick and begins dodging the bullets, the camera stays on Shadow and Cagalli**

Shadow: Okay I have to say that it wasn't a bad idea to have more people help me with this fight. Come on lets double team him or are you going to sit there all day and take that kind of beating?

**Cagalli glares at him and tightens her grip on her weapon**

Cagalli: Day time is over you idiot, and let's do this!

**They both charge Drake as he grabs Nick and throws him carefully so that Drake doesn't break any of Nick's bones, they come up behind and jump intending on doing a jump attack. Without turning around Drake jumps on his hands and kicks both Shadow and Cagalli while their still in midair sending them both flying again. The camera once again turns to Kenny and Tim, Tim flinches seeing how badly Drake is kicking their ass.**

Tim: I knew I should have told them they need at least five people to have a 1% chance of beating Drake, but that Shadow guy was so enthusiastic that I folded at 3.

**Tim shakes his head**

Tim: They don't have a prayer of a chance of landing a hit on Drake.

**Kenny looks at Tim angry**

Kenny: You're wrong!

**The is moving back and forth between Kenny and the fight with Drake, Drake is easily kicking the crap out of Shadow, Nick, and Cagalli. Tim looks at Kenny with surprise**

Tim: Are you blind, it's pretty clear that Drake is going to kick the crap out of them.

Kenny: You're right and I'd be worried if Shadow had to win the fight but you said it yourself he only has to land a hit on him and if there's one thing Shadow's good at it's taking a beating.

Tim: If you think Shadow can outlast Drake in stamina, you're out of your mind. Drake can fight for hours on end without a break.

**Kenny sits down**

Kenny: Then you better sit down because this fight is going to be awhile.

**Tim just stares at him and then sits down to, and that's how that scene ends. The next scene begins with the camera looking at the moon, judging from its position we can say that some time has pass, we can hear the sounds of Shadow and co. fighting Drake, but by the time the camera looks down we only see Shadow get thrown to the ground.**

**We look around to see Cagalli and Nick are also on the ground lying on their back. We can see that all three of them are exhausted, there is sweat pouring down their faces, and their breathing extremely heavily. The camera turns to Drake who looks the same as when he started the fight, and he still looks bored. The camera turns to Kenny and Tim who is sitting down, Tim looks at his watch**

Tim: It's been a little over an hour now since the fight began, and they haven't quit. I've got to say that's impressive. However they've reach their limit, there's no way they can continue fighting, they're just too tired.

**Kenny doesn't say anything but just looks at the fight, we turn to Drake**

Drake (Well they can take a beating if nothing us but it's time to end this. Tim's stupid restrictions are forcing me to pull all my punches and kicks so I can only do baby hits, hmmm let's try some mind games.)

**Drake begins talking out loud**

Drake: Why don't you just quit it's obvious that you can't beat me, so why don't you just save yourself the time and pain.

**The camera looks at Nick and Cagalli to see they're waning**

Drake: I'll tell you what, how about I buy you guy's a nice 5 star hotel room for a week and I'll even throw in all the food you can eat. I'll even allow you to put your application file back in, once a manager see's that you spared with me for a little over a hour before quitting, I'm sure that they will sign your

Shadow: Shut up!

**Shadow still on the ground had cut Drake off, surprising everyone, Shadow rolls over and gets on his knees, he takes his sword and stabs it into the ground and uses it like a walking stick to help him get up. He's obviously in pain and struggling but he grits his teeth as he says**

Shadow: First off if we agree to that then we'd have to wait for someone to approve our application and I hate waiting.

**This statement causes Cagalli and Nick to smile**

Shadow: Second now that I've seen your skills I know for a fact that you're the only manager that I'll accept and last is my pride won't let me leave this fight until I've at least landed one hit on you!

**Cagalli and Nick smiles widen, they start to get to their feet the camera turns to Kenny and Tim, Tim is impressed**

Tim: Not only did he not get sway by Drake's mind games he inspired his teammates to get back up.

**Kenny also smiling replies proudly**

Kenny: That's Shadow for you, he could always inspire stupidly in everyone around him.

**The camera cuts to Drake, who is frowning**

Drake (Great, plan B didn't work so back to plan A, continue to beat the crap out of them until they surrender.)

**Drake does a mental sigh as he goes into autopilot, no need for real intelligence against opponents of this level, Cagalli and Nick are on their feet holding their weapons, all three of them are glaring at Drake with a grim determination**

Shadow: Let's do this!

**Shadow screams out, he and Cagalli charge Drake. Shadow gets their first; he begins to swing his sword in a downward slash**

Drake (Another downward slash, this guy doesn't learn.)

**Drake moves to the side and begins to do a roundhouse kick on Shadow while he's still in mid swing, it should be noted that this is in slow motion, suddenly Cagalli's Dao spear head appears over Shadow's shoulder, Drake is taken by surprise**

Drake (What a second attack!)

**Drake stops his attack, the camera turns to his foot on the ground, we see it starts to change positions so that he can move back instead of forward, we look up to hear a gun shoot Drake looks over Shadow's other shoulder to see (still in slow motion) that Nick has shoot at Drake we can see the bullet traveling through the air and can roughly judge that it we pass over Shadow's other shoulder and hit Drake, Drake is stun now**

Drake (A third attack, three synchronized attacks!)

**Time goes back at regular pace, Drake moves back as Shadow completes his swing, the bullet lands to the side of Drake's foot. Shadow bends down when he completes his swing allowing Cagalli to turn her weapon and do a side slash, three more bullet land around Drake's feet but it looks like Nick's missing on purpose.**

**Drake's face is full of frustration as he is force to step back again as Cagalli completes the swing but before he can counter attack Shadow is charging him and doing an upward slash as Cagalli moves behind him, bullets keep getting shoot around Drake's feet limiting his movement, Drake moves back again avoiding the hit but the moment he does Shadow steps back as Cagalli steps forward and slashes in a left downward strike.**

**Bullets are still keeping Drake from moving to the side as he moves back to avoid the hit, Cagalli steps back before he can counter attack as Shadow does a right downward slash, the camera turns to Tim and Kenny. Kenny is excited and Tim is shocked**

Tim: That's the three fold tactic.

**Kenny turns to Tim confused**

Kenny: The what?

**Now Tim looks and Kenny even more shocked**

Tim: Three fold tactic, wait are you telling me that this is the first time they're doing this?

Kenny: This is the first time I'm hearing of it.

**Tim begins talking more to himself**

Tim: Amazing, to think they're doing this just by instinct.

**Kenny annoyed now**

Kenny: That's nice mind telling me what it is?

**Tim regains himself**

Tim: The three fold tactic is a battle strategy design for battling a much stronger opponent. It requires three people, two close combat fighters and one long distance fighter.

**While they're talking the camera is moving back and forth between them and the fight with Drake, we're seeing the same basic thing as above, we also hear Drake saying Damn it in his head because of the frustration of not being able to counter attack**

Tim: It works by having the two close combat fighting engage the enemy, they fight in an entwining manner, one person attacks, the enemy blocks, the moment the enemy blocks the attack the first attacker takes a step back at the same time the second attacker takes a step forward and begins his attack, they then continue to repeat the process. This process makes a counter attack impossible.

**Kenny thinking**

Kenny: But couldn't the enemy just side step around the attackers?

Tim: Which is why a long distance attacker is needed, he shoots to the sides of the enemy, and the attack will only hit the enemy if he moves to the side. Which means the only place he can move to is behind meaning he can't break the entwining attack.

**Kenny thinks about this**

Kenny: It makes sense, hahaha, good thing Shadow figured something like that out, and after this fight is over I can't wait to tell him that he wasn't the first one to think of this.

**Kenny goes back to watching the fight but Tim is still thinking**

Tim (No you're wrong, this tactic requires perfect timing and coordination, it's one thing for someone to think of it, but to use it in battle for the first time with no practice. Regardless of what you think Drake these kids defiantly have some kind of talent)

**The camera turns back to the fight, Drake's face looks even more frustrated as Cagalli attacks then steps back as Shadow attacks then he steps back as Cagalli attacks, and to his sides bullets keep landing.**

Drake (Damn it, how could they know such an advance skill!)

**Drake can feel his battle instincts struggle to kick in, to do or die, attack with all you've got but Drake resists those impulses and instead curses in his mind**

Drake (Damn it if I was in better shape I could easily get out of this without doing anything drastic like using weapons or breaking bones. I can still get out of this but I'd definitely take a hit, only a scratch but since I didn't define what a hit was it still counts arrrg. How could I have been so stupid to let my guard down and get caught in this trap?)

**Cagalli's attack comes very, very close to hitting him**

Drake (Damn it!)

**The camera turns to his feet when he goes to make another step back, on Cagalli's attack his foot lands in a ditch causing him to lose balance for 1/10 of a second, time slows down**

Drake (Crap!)

**Shadow sees the opening, he smiles as he charges forward and does a jump attack**

Drake (I can't dodge!)

**Drake breaks and completely falls back on his instincts which aren't very training friendly, time goes back to normal as we here a cling, metal hitting metal sound. We see that Drake has drawn some kind of knife from his sleeve to block Shadow's sword; Shadow, Cagalli, and Nick are stun. **

**The next second Drake is behind Shadow and Cagalli, Shadow and Cagalli are in the air blood is coming out of several slash wounds made by Drake but was too fast for us to see, Nick is even more shock now**

Nick (What!)

**Drake looks at Nick, suddenly three of his knives appear in Nick's right arm, Nick howls in pain and takes a knee as he drops his gun and grabs his wounded arm, the camera turns to Kenny who just comprehended what happen, his face is horrified**

Kenny: Shadow!

**He screams as he jumps down from Nightwing's hand, now that the danger has passed Drake comes to his senses and realizes he just went all out on basically a bunch of kids, like a racecar driver hitting the gas pedal while racing a bicycle**

Drake: Crap.

**The way he says it is like the way one would say crap if they forgot to throw out the trash just as their mother is coming to check on them, which in Drake's case is Tim who also jumps down from Nightwing's hand**

Tim: Drake you asshole, I told you not to use your weapons or seriously hurt them! Since we're reviewing their application they're under our care, which means WE'RE LIABLE!

**Tim is more mad than anything, Kenny rushes to Shadow who's lying on the ground unconscious, his face is full of worry as he checks Shadow's wounds, Tim has walk straight up to Drake mad as hell**

Drake: Relaxed I didn't kill them…I don't think I kill them anyway they've only passed out because of the sudden shock of losing a lot of blood. I also didn't hit any vitals, and that includes that cowboy over there.

**Drake nods his head over at Nick, who's walking over to the group, Nick has pulled out the knives from his arm, he looks at Kenny who confirms with what Drake said, Kenny gets up and goes over to check on Cagalli, Tim is still mad**

Tim: What are we going to do with them now?

**He gestures at Shadow and Cagalli**

Drake: You can drive them back to the clinic at the office; they can sleep there for the tonight.

**Drake begins to walk over to Kenny, ending his conversation with Tim, Kenny looks at Drake a little nervous but not backing away from his injure comrades, Drake's expression is hard to read**

Drake: When he wakes up tell him to come to my office in the morning.

**Drake begins to walk away leaving the shock Kenny to collect his thoughts**

Kenny: W-wait does that mean you've decided to accept our Gundam application?

**Drake doesn't turn around; he looks up at the sky as he says**

Drake: I'm sure going to miss being called The Rejecter.

**Kenny's shock turns to joy, Nick is also very happy, Tim is stun, we end the scene with Kenny jumping in the air and cheering. The next scene opens up with flashbacks of Mr. 4 killing the party people, when Mr. 4 charges at the camera we cut to Cagalli suddenly bolting right up, she's sweating heavily, we can see that she's once again in a hospital room, she looks wildly to the sides of her as she collects her thoughts**

Shadow: Bad dream?

**She turns to the bed next her, Shadow is lying down with his legs cross and his hands behind his back, and he's smiling. Cagalli gets defensive**

Cagalli: None of your business.

**Shadow sits up and turns to face her, he's still smiling**

Shadow: Ok, Ok, whatever, but you sure took your sweet time sleeping princess.

**He says this in a playful way, Cagalli calms down and remembers last night**

Cagalli: Oh yea….we got beat bad by Drake.

**Shadow smile widens as he's about to say something, Kenny and Nick walk in, Nick's arm is all better. They seem to be carrying something**

Nick: Sorry we took so long mates, good morning Cagalli.

**He tips his hat at Cagalli; Kenny pulls from the bag two burgers which he throws at Shadow and Cagalli.**

Kenny: We got you both cheeseburgers, Nick and I already ate.

**Shadow already unwrapping his burger**

Shadow: Thanks.

**Cagalli is also unwrapping her burger but not as fast as Shadow**

Cagalli: Cheeseburgers for breakfast?

**Kenny says angry**

Kenny: Well if you don't like it don't eat it.

**Cagalli's stomach growls in response, Cagalli blushes and shuts up and eats her burger. They all laugh**

Nick: Well I guess that answers that mate.

**Nick turns to Shadow and pulls out a beer bottle**

Nick: And I got the beer you asked for mate.

**He tosses the bottle to Shadow who's already done with his burger, he opens it as Kenny says excitedly**

Kenny: Alright let's get this celebration started.

**Cagalli is confused**

Cagalli: Celebration?

**Kenny surprise turns to Shadow as Shadow starts drinking his beer**

Kenny: You didn't tell her?

Shadow: I was going too.

**Cagalli not liking being out of the loop turns to the smiling Shadow, Nick has passed a beer bottle to Kenny as they watch the interaction between Shadow and Cagalli**

Cagalli: Tell me what?

**Shadow's smile widens**

Shadow: Well, Drake, The Rejecter, has accepted are application and agree to become our Gundam Manager.

**He says this excitedly, Cagalli is stun then a smile starts to spread across her face then they all burst out laughing and cheering. Shadow, Nick, and Kenny start drinking their beer, Nick goes to hand one to Cagalli, Cagalli politely declines**

Cagalli: That's okay I don't drink, I'm underage.

**Shadow just stares at her then burst out laughing again**

Shadow: Cagalli, you defiantly got to loosen up some more.

**Cagalli is slightly offended**

Cagalli: And what is that supposed to mean!

Nurse: Well I for one think not drinking after being serious wounded in combat is a fine principle.

**They all laugh at this until they realize who said it; they all shut up and slowly face the Nurse who had walk in unnoticed by them, the Nurse looks mad**

Nurse: Gentlemen what part of "No drinking" do you not understand?

**Kenny and Nick wisely decide to just look down; Shadow was never one to be wise**

Shadow: Oh come on I'm all healed.

**He gets up and flexes to show the nurse, but the Nurse uses this moment to take all of the beers**

Shadow: Hey

Nurse: Just because you're healed doesn't mean you can drink, you need to wait at least a day before you consume alcohol. I will throw these out.

**Shadow does the whole dramatic actor thing**

Shadow: No, not the beer, anything but the beer, you can take Kenny instead.

Kenny: Hey!

**Cagalli and Nick burst out laughing even harder when Shadow says this, the Nurse walks away, Kenny looks at his watch**

Kenny: Come on, our _manager_ is waiting to talk to us.

**The camera zooms out so that we can see the whole building, then zooms in on a different part of the building, we can see the gang walking through the office, the office workers are going around doing work but every time they think the gang isn't looking they stare at them, they are very curious about the team that got Drake to pass them, Cagalli is unsettle by the starring**

Cagalli: They keep starring at us.

**Shadow smiles and says in his joking way**

Shadow: They've probably never seen such a perfect team before.

**Cagalli rolls her eyes and says sarcastically**

Cagalli: Yea that's it Shadow.

**They walk into a meeting room, the only one there is Drake, and he's doing some paper work. Shadow smiles and says**

Shadow: Hello MANAGER.

**Drake glares at him as he takes a seat and puts his feet on the table; Cagalli, Kenny and Nick also sit down.**

Drake: Not a day into it and I already regret passing you.

**Kenny shrugs his shoulder**

Kenny: You'll get used to it.

**Shadow cuts in excited**

Shadow: Alright so when's our first Gundam Fight?

**Drake stares at Shadow, then burst out laughing**

Drake: ahahhahaah, you think you're ready to Gundam Fight, hahahahaha.

**Shadow not liking being laugh at**

Shadow: What's so freaking funny!

**Drake calms himself down**

Drake: You don't have the requirements to be a Gundam team.

**Cagalli confused**

Cagalli: Wait I thought you said

**Drake cut's her off, she frowns not liking it**

Drake: A Gundam team is require to have, 5 Gundam pilots, 5 Gundams, a computer programmer, a head mechanic, and an official GFC manager. You have a programmer, 3 Gundam pilots, 1 Gundam and me.

**Nick in an objective tone says**

Nick: So we need 2 more Gundam pilots, 4 more Gundams, and a mechanic.

Cagalli: Can't we share the Gundam?

**Shadow answers before Drake does, he says this in a sober tone**

Shadow: No, a Gundam is a reflection of the Pilot; it shouldn't be share like some common toy.

**Cagalli, Nick and Kenny looks at him like he's nuts, but Drake looks at him nodding his head in respect**

Drake: Well said, anyway the first thing you need is a heaf mechanic luckily I known a place where you can find one.

**Shadow still a little tick about being laugh at**

Shadow: Where?

**Drake's smile widens**

Drake: Junk City.

**Cagalli looks at Drake like he's nuts**

Cagalli: You're kidding right?

**Drake gets serious**

Drake: I assure you Junk City is a real city in Myrtus, if you leave right now it should take you, oh about 3 days by car to get there, oh and while you're there you can start looking for a ship.

Shadow: Ship, why do we need a ship?

**Drake glares at Shadow**

Drake: You don't right now, but later on, when you start having battles and missions outside the city you'll need transportation, so start price checking for ships.

**Shadow grumbles but doesn't say anything hearable**

Drake: Oh one more thing.

**He goes over to the cabinet and opens it revealing Shadow's katana, Cagalli's guan dao and the type of ammo Nick uses. There's a look of surprise on everyone's face**

Drake: The world is a dangerous place and it's only going to get worse if you continue walking down the path of a Gundam Fighter, so take these weapons and try not to die.

**Shadow, Cagalli, and Nick grab their weapons**

Cagalli: Wouldn't guns be better.

**Shadow answers**

Shadow: It's not just the weapon that determines the outcome of a fight it's also the weapon holder.

**Cagalli just rolls her eyes, Shadow hooks the sword to his belt, Cagalli puts her weapon over her back and Nick puts the ammo in a pack on his belt; Drake checks his watch and starts to head to the door**

Drake: Well what are you standing around for get going!

**He begins pushing them out of door, when they're all outside he slams the door shut as he says**

Drake: And don't come back until you have everything!

**Shadow starts banging on the door**

Shadow: You jackass, don't just slam the door in someone's face!

**Nick's already focus on the next goal**

Nick: So how are we going to get to Junk City without a car?

Kenny: Well if we walk it would only take about two weeks.

**Cagalli looks at Kenny like he's nuts and says flatly but firmly**

Cagalli: No.

**Shadow over Drake slamming the door on his face turns to Cagalli**

Shadow: Don't worry princess we'll come up with something.

**The scene cuts back inside the meeting room, Drake goes to sit down**

Drake: Alright you can come down now.

**Three of Drake's knives appear in the ceiling in a triangle pattern, that title breaks and Tim falls down**

Tim: Owww

Drake: That's what you get for being so nosy.

**Tim gets up still rubbing his behind**

Tim: Sorry but I was just curious to see what you would do, NEW MANAGER.

**Drake glares at Tim, Tim gets serious**

Tim: But sending them to Junk City, don't you think that's risky. Junk City is a dangerous place for new comers, not to mention the raiders, and the constant fights, plus you know that they don't have a car. The woods between here and Junk City are full of dangerous wild animals. You should have at least gone with them.

**Drake is quiet as he takes all this in then he answers**

Drake: Tim, you were right when you say that nobody is born great, and it's our job to mold and sharpen them until they become great, so that's what I'm doing now.

**Tim is still worry**

Tim: But

**Drake cuts him off**

Drake: Don't worry I checked the area, right now there are no Gundam Fighters with a rank higher than E in Junk City. This time of season they don't get much action so as long as they're back within a month they'll be fine.

**Tim is still uncertain**

Tim: But what about the woods?

**Drake sighs**

Drake: They're not idiots, I'm sure they've already figured a way to get to Junk City.

**The scene cuts to the back of a hay pickup truck, Shadow and Nick are on one side across from them are Cagalli and Kenny. Kenny is watching the scenery, Nick is lying down with his hat over his eyes taking a nap, Shadow is also lying down but he's playing with his sword still in its sheath, Cagalli looks ticked off. They are all cover in hay and every time they hit a bump they get thrown up in the air. Cagalli is not happy.**

Cagalli: This is your great idea!

**Shadow doesn't like being yelled at**

Shadow: Well I'm sorry princess if this isn't to your normal comfort level.

**Cagalli doesn't like his attitude**

Cagalli: What are you trying to say!

**She gets up and gets in Shadow's face Shadow doesn't back down**

Shadow: It means that you're spoiled!

Cagalli: Oh yea!

**They're both sending daggers at each other with their eyes, suddenly the truck jumps up again causing them to headbutt each other. They both say at the same time**

Shadow: Owwww

Cagalli: Owwww

**Kenny laughs at them while they're rubbing their heads**

Kenny: hahahaa, serves you idiots right, hahahaha.

**Cagalli and Shadow say once again at the same time**

Cagalli: Can it!

Shadow: Shut up!

**Kenny still smiling**

Kenny: Well you better cool it because we got another seven hours to go before we get off.

**Cagalli looks at him**

Cagalli: I though Drake said that it would take 3 days by car to get to Junk City.

**Kenny nods his head**

Kenny: It would, but this guy isn't going to Junk City. If we get out and cut across the woods at just the right time we can save a day on our travels.

**Cagalli looks at Kenny impressed**

Cagalli: How do you know that?

Kenny: Internet.

**Cagalli is not sure how to react to that, Shadow however does**

Shadow: So what are we going to do for seven hours?

**Kenny yawns and lays down**

Kenny: How about a nap?

Shadow: We already slept.

**Kenny a little annoyed**

Kenny: No you and Cagalli slept, me and Nick were busy filling out the paper work for the Gundam application, that and we had to watch the doctors treating you. So I'm taking a nap, you two can keep each other company and try not to kill one another.

**An awkward silence follows this then Shadow speaks**

Shadow: So what do you want to talk about?

**Cagalli says the first thing that comes to mind**

Cagalli: How about your real name?

**Shadow just shrugs his shoulders**

Shadow: It's Shadow Zoomarey.

**Cagalli rolls her eyes**

Cagalli: I find it very hard to believe that any parent would name their kid Shadow.

**Shadow is offend**

Shadow: Oh, and what about your name, why did they name you Cagalli?

**Cagalli answers without thinking, angry at Shadow again**

Cagalli: My father Uzumi

**She stops in mid-sentence, Shadow senses her discomfort**

Shadow: What is it?

**Cagalli laughs a self-pity laugh of sadness**

Cagalli: It's just I realizes, that I don't know why I was name Cagalli.

**Shadow looks at her curious**

Shadow: Didn't you ask your father, um, Uzumi?

Cagalli: He was my adoptive father; I don't even know the name of my birth father. I only have a picture of my birth mother.

Shadow: Oh

**There is a sad pause**

Shadow: Why don't you ask your adoptive father about it?

**Cagalli answers in a matter of fact voice**

Cagalli: Can't he's dead.

Shadow: Oh

**Another awkward pause, Cagalli is watching the scenery pass by, her face is blank**

Shadow: So, how good looking was your birth mother on a scale of 1 through 10.

**Cagalli is shocked at Shadow, then angry**

Cagalli: What the hell kind of question is that!

**She starts moving to attack Shadow who starts to back up into a pile of hay; the truck hits a bump causing the pile of hay to land on Cagalli and Shadow. They get up to show they're both covered in hay, they look at each other then burst out laughing**

Cagalli: hahahahah, you should see yourself in a mirror, hahhahhah.

Shadow: hahhahahah, looks who's talking, hahhahaha.

**They both fall down from laugher, the scene cuts to the truck driving off leaving Shadow, Nick, Kenny, and Cagalli on the edge of the woods, they're waving at him**

Shadow: Thanks for the ride.

Nick: Be safe mate.

Kenny: Have a nice trip.

Cagalli: Thanks for the lift.

**The truck disappears from sight, they stop waving, and Nick turns to Kenny**

Nick: So which way mate?

**Kenny looks around then points in a direction**

Kenny: That way.

Shadow: Well let's get started.

**Shadow starts moving, Cagalli sighs then follows, we cut to scenes showing them walking in the woods, jumping over fallen trees, Shadow pulling a branch back and whacking Cagalli in the face with it, Cagalli chasing him, the scene goes back to normal as they approach a rope bridge. The rope bridge looks old and ready to fall any second, and it looks to be about a 7 story drop to the bottom of a river, Cagalli takes one look at the bridge and shakes her head**

Cagalli: There is no way I'm going across that.

**Nick nods his head**

Nick: I'll agree with the miss on this one, that thing looks like it's going down with one strong wind.

**Kenny is also reluctant to cross the bridge**

Kenny: I guess we could find another way across.

**Shadow was never one for caution**

Shadow: Oh come on, quit acting like such scary cats.

**Shadow begins to walk across the bridge**

Shadow: See, This Bridge is perfectly fineaaaaaaaaaaaa

**The bridge managed to last 10 seconds before it breaks, Shadow grabs on to one of the ropes and swings across, Cagalli, Nick and Kenny rush forward**

Cagalli: Shadow!

Kenny: Shadow!

Nick: Mate!

**Shadow is holding on with one hand, he grabs the rope with the other hand**

Shadow: I'm okay sort of.

**They sigh with relief, and then Cagalli calls out**

Cagalli: Still think the bridge is safe?

Shadow: SO, not the time for that.

Kenny: Start climbing to the top.

**Shadow starts climbing the rope ladder, he gets to the top and climbs over the ledge.**

Shadow: So what now?

**Kenny thinks for a moment, then comes up with an idea**

Kenny: You see that mountain over their?

**He points at (not really a mountain more like a very large hill) in the distance, Shadow uses his hands to shad his eyes so that he can see the hill better against the setting sun**

Shadow: Yea

Kenny: Good, we'll meet under it by midnight.

**Shadow nods his head**

Shadow: Alright, see you in a couple of hours; oh by the way don't get eaten by the wildlife.

**He says the last part with his joking smile then disappears into the trees, Cagalli a little nervous turns to Kenny**

Cagalli: He was joking about the watch out for wildlife right?

**Kenny hums**

Kenny: hmmmm, well actually he's probably right about it, hahaha, I had completely forgotten that a lot of wild animals inhabit this area.

**Cagalli is shocked**

Cagalli: What!

**Kenny rolls his eyes**

Kenny: Oh would you relax; most of the dangerous ones are on the other side of that river.

**He points in the direction Shadow headed**

Nick: So you mean the dangerous animals are all over on that side with Shadow?

**Kenny nods his head**

Kenny: Yup, good thing he broke that bridge or else we might be in trouble.

**Cagalli not believing her ears**

Cagalli: What, how can you say that isn't Shadow your friend!

Kenny: Don't worry Shadow can take care of himself.

**Nick starts walking towards the hill**

Nick: I agree mates, but just to be on the safe side lets head to that hill and meet up with him as soon as possible.

**Kenny nods his head and follows, Cagalli takes one last look over her shoulder towards the direction Shadow went then heads after them. We cut to Shadow he's walking by himself in the woods heading towards the hill.**

**The sun has passed the tree line making the forest dark, we start hearing animal noises, and every time a noise is made we see Shadow's eyes turn in that direction, after the fifth time there's a noise right behind him in the bushes, Shadow jumps around drawing his sword and pointing it at the bushes. He shouts out**

Shadow: Alright who's there! Come out now!

**A small fury animal jump out of the blushes and runs up a tree, Shadow relaxes a little**

Shadow (It's nothing, stop jumping so easily!)

**He thinks to himself as he hits his head with his fist**

Shadow (There's nothing to be afraid of, if there was I'm sure Kenny would have said something.)

**Satisfied with this he turns around just as a cheetah looking animal jumps at him. The episode ends with a freeze frame of the cheetah in midair about to land on a very surprise Shadow.**


	8. Episode 7

Episode 7

**The episode starts with the cheetah looking animal attacking Shadow. Unlike an Earth cheetah though this animal appears to be quite bigger with longer claws, its spots are more triangle shaped and it's more orange then yellow**

**Shadow drops his sword and puts his hands out preventing the cheetah from clawing him right in the face. It works but he gets knock on the ground, he grabs the cheetah's front paws and tries to force it off of him but it's not working. The cheetah starts snapping at Shadow's face but he moves his head to the left avoiding the hit.**

**The cheetah bites towards the left so he moves right, the cheetah moves right too. They go on like that for a couple more seconds then Shadow starts to knee the cheetah in its chest to force it off, but that doesn't appear to work. The cheetah is drooling already thinking about its dinner to come. Shadow looks panic but not the type of panic that makes you unable to move but the type of panic like if you forgot your homework. He starts saying**

Shadow: Bad cat, off, off!

**He kicks at the cheetah's chest again only this time he hits the cheetah in the place that proves he's a male. The cheetah's head snaps back in pain as Shadow uses this moment to throw the cheetah off him. The cheetah lands on its side, it gets back up shaking its head while Shadow starts to look around wildly for his sword**

Shadow: Sword, sword, where's my sword?

**He sees it, the cheetah has already recovered, it prepares to pounce again, this time it looks really mad. Shadow still on the ground rolls to the sword, the cheetah jumps as Shadow grabs the sword and swings it around cutting the cheetah's right front leg. The cheetah howls in pain as it backs off. Shadow jumps to his feet**

Shadow: HA, how do you like me now you stupid cat!

**The cheetah growls at him as they start circling one another.**

Shadow: Not so tough now are you?

**The cheetah continues to growl at him, suddenly two more cheetahs appear by its side. Shadow's cocky attitude disappears**

Shadow: Oh, you um brought friends ha.

**He gives a nervous laugh; the cheetahs take a step forward growling their heads off.**

Shadow: Crap.

**With that Shadow turns around and starts running, the cheetahs follow. Shadow weaves in and out of the trees, jumps over roots but the cheetahs are close behind. He keeps running but the cheetahs are gaining when suddenly Shadow trips and rolls down a hill, hitting some bushes on his way down. The cheetahs stop on the edge of the hill and growl at him then turn around and leave. Shadow lying on his back is somehow still holding on to his sword, takes this as a sign of retreat**

Shadow: Yea, you've better run!

**He shakes his fist at them, he turns around to see that he's now in an alligator den, unlike Earth alligators these Sora alligators have slightly longer legs, straighter teeth and bluish skin. The alligators are eyeing Shadow hungrily**

Shadow: Oh come on can't a guy catch a break!

**Shadow turns around and starts running again and the large pack of alligators start chasing him but lucky for Shadow they're a lot slower than the cheetahs.**

Shadow (I hope the others are having a better time than me.)

**The scene cuts to Cagalli, Nick, and Kenny walking in the woods towards the hill, the sun has completely set by now. Cagalli and Kenny keep looking over their shoulder after every sound while Nick appears to be the only one at peace in this forest.**

Cagalli: What was that!

**Kenny franticly looks around**

Kenny: What, Where!

**Nick rolls his eyes**

Nick: Come on you jumping jacks, will you mates calm down.

**They turn to stare at Nick**

Nick: There is nothing to fear out here but

**Nick stops mid-sentence as another Cheetah thing jumps out at him, however he draws his gun and shoots it in the head before it lands on him, but because of the momentum the cheetah's body still hits Nick and knocks him down. Surprise Cagalli and Kenny call out**

Cagalli and Kenny: Nick!

**They rush forward; Nick pushes the cheetah's body off himself**

Nick: Looks like I've got dinner!

**Cagalli's still freaked out**

Cagalli: What the heck was that!

**Kenny takes a closer look at the cheetah**

Kenny: It looks like a Sheetah.

**Cagalli just stares at him**

Cagalli: A what?

Kenny: A Sheetah, its part of the cheetah family, it was discovered on Sora.

**Nick gets up and picks up the sheetah.**

Nick: I don't really care mates; all I know is that it's going to taste delicious.

**Kenny turns to Nick**

Kenny: You make it sound like you've done this before.

**Nick nods his head**

Nick: Yep, all the time in my home country of New Australia.

**Kenny does the ah-ha moment**

Kenny: Ah-ha, so you're form New Australia, guess that explains the accent.

**Cagalli confused**

Cagalli: Wait, New Australia?

**Kenny nods his head**

Kenny: Yup, there's a large island that has almost the same type of landscape as Australia on Sora, so they decided to call it New Australia, from what I read the place is like the Wild West. This explains a lot.

**He says this eyeing Nick, Nick does not like that**

Nick: What are you trying to imply mate?

**Kenny backs down**

Kenny: Nothing.

Cagalli: How do you know all this?

**Kenny states in a matter of fact voice**

Kenny: Internet.

**Cagalli's not sure how to answer that, Nick starts to get wood from around the area**

Nick: Let's take a break and build a fire so we can eat this.

**Cagalli's slightly worry**

Cagalli: Wait what about Shadow?

**Nick replies in a calm voice**

Nick: If we go hungry and start looking around the woods in the dark for him we'll only put ourselves in more danger, so we'll rest a bit and then we'll search for him.

**Cagalli still hesitates**

Kenny: Don't worry Shadow's probably doing the same thing right now.

**The scene cuts to Shadow, once again running only this time from bats. He dives behind a tree and lets the bats pass by. He's out of breath**

Shadow: No FREAKING luck at all! Today is not my day, I've been chased around this forest by every freaking animal inhabiting it, and I'm also cold and hungry! This is just GREAT!

**Shadow says the great sarcastically; he gets up and starts to walk to the hill when he hears a noise in the blush behind him. Shadow rolls his eyes**

Shadow: Great, just perfect!

**Something jumps out of the bushes and goes to pounce on Shadow, however Shadow turns around and uses his sword to block the attack. The force of the charge knocks him back to the ground, the camera is focus only on Shadow's face and the hand of the attack, gold claws are trying to stab Shadow's face but he's using his sword to block them, suddenly realization dawns on him**

Shadow (Wait a minute, gold claws?)

**The camera zooms out to reveal a girl is attacking Shadow. The girl has purple eyes, short red hair, and a well tone body. She's wearing a T-shirt which has some kind of rock band on it; she has blue jeans on with one pant leg missing, her clothes look old and dirty and are ripped in multiply places. Her eyes have a wild look in them. Shadow and the girl look surprise and say at the same time**

Shadow and Girl: You're human!

**Shadow is slightly annoyed**

Shadow: No I'm a dog; YES I'M HUMAN SO CAN YOU QUIT TRYING TO KILL ME!

**She pulls back her hand in surprise**

Girl: Oh sorry.

**The girl gets off Shadow letting him sit up; the way the girl sits down is like a cat. Her legs are to her side and her hands are flat on the ground in the center. She starts to scratch behind her ear with her left leg, once again bringing forth the image of a cat.**

Girl: I thought you were an animal?

**She says matter of fact, Shadow eyes her not sure what to make of this strange yet surprisingly attractive person. He stands up**

Shadow: Right, you though I was the animal.

**She stops scratching her ear and looks at him for the first time taking in his looks, she starts to look at him hungrily like a predator making Shadow uncomfortable.**

Girl: You know you're not bad looking.

**She gets up and starts to walk over to him seductively. Shadow puffs out his chest his uncomfortableness forgotten.**

Shadow: Well thanks, I work out a mmm.

**She grabs the back of his head and does a force and very aggressive kiss. Shadow's eyes are wide open, clearly shocked, he breaks the kiss**

Shadow: ha, listen no offence but I just met you in the woods pact with wild animals, not to mention you try to kill me less than 2 minutes ago so.

**She answers without stepping away from him, making the space between them less than a ruler.**

Girl: I live in these woods to connect more with my animal instincts, I don't have a boyfriend and my father has no idea where I am. So is that enough information for you?

**Without waiting for an answer she jumps him in another passionate kiss, Shadow's caution is waning**

Shadow (Maybe this isn't such a bad day after all)

**He closes his eyes and embraces the kiss, suddenly a picture of Nick getting chased by Sheetahs enters his mind**.

Shadow (No, don't think about that!)

**A picture of Kenny getting eaten by alligators enters his mind**

Shadow (No, stupid conscious stop!)

**A picture of Cagalli getting carried off by bats enters his mind. Shadow breaks the kiss, this time the girl is very surprised, giving the impression of one who's not rejected often**

Shadow (Damn you conscious!)

Shadow: Listen I can't…

**The Girl is confused**

Girl: Why not?

**Shadow sighs**

Shadow: Because my friends and I got separated and now that I know how dangerous these woods are I have to make sure they're ok first.

Girl: Oh

**Shadow turns his back to the Girl and begins to hit himself in the head**

Shadow: Stupid, Stupid, Stupid, Stupid!

**The girl turns around and begins to walk away**

Girl: Ok, goodbye then.

**Shadow turns around panicking**

Shadow: Wait!

**The girl stops confused, she turns to face him, Shadow thinks fast.**

Shadow: How about you help me look for them, and when we find them and make sure they're ok we can go somewhere privet to, um, finish what we started?

**The girl considers this**

Girl: Umm ok, I don't have anything better to do anyway.

**Shadow starts punching his fist in the air in triumph**

Shadow: Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes!

**The Girl stares at him, and then does a cat stretch as she says**

Girl: You're weird.

**Shadow eyes the girl as she once again starts scratching her ear with her foot and says in a sarcastic way**

Shadow: Right, I'm the weird one.

**He starts walking in the direction of the hill when he realizes something, he turns around and asks**

Shadow: Hey, I just realized that I never got your name?

**The girl stops and thinks for the moment than laughs**

Girl: hahahaha, that's right I almost forgot I had a name, animals don't tend to ask my name.

**Shadow stares at her like she's crazy**

Roxas: My names Roxas Nile, and what's yours?

**Shadow takes a breath**

Shadow: I am the Great, the almighty and fantastic, Shadow Zoomarey!

**Now Roxas looks at him likes he's crazy**

Roxas: You're really weird.

**Shadow is annoyed by this statement**

Shadow: At least I remember my name!

**Roxas is offend**

Roxas: Hey, you would forget too, if you lived in the wild for a year!

**Now Shadow is surprise; note they're talking while they are walking towards the hill**

Shadow: Wait you've been in this forest for a year, why?

**Roxas just shrugs her shoulders**

Roxas: I wanted to reconnect with my animal instincts.

**Roxas is now walking on all fours, Shadow just stares at her then says in his playful voice**

Shadow: Well I think you master that.

**Roxas looks at him over her shoulder, and takes Shadow's statement as a compliment**

Roxas: Thanks, so where are we going anyway?

**Shadow points to the large hill**

Shadow: My friend Kenny told me he'd meet me over by that hill.

**Roxas looks at it**

Roxas: Ooooh, that's unfortunate for you, the only way over there is to cross over the Wpacks territory.

Shadow: The what?

**Roxas and Shadow stop, Roxas begins to lick her hands, once again think of a cat licking its paws. Shadow's already accepted her animal behavior**

Roxas: Wpacks, you know the bears with rabbits feet and huge paws with claws, the kind of animal that if you come across you run like hell.

**Shadow sighs as they start walking again; they hop on top of a fallen log.**

Shadow: Well I've already run from every other type of animal might as well run from this one as well.

**Roxas just looks at him with one of those all-knowing smiles. There's suddenly a noise, Roxas stops and looks up and says in a very commanding but quiet voice**

Roxas: Stop moving now!

**Shadow surprised stops and looks at Roxas**

Shadow: What's

**Roxas interrupts him**

Roxas: Shhhhh

**Shadow stops talking and watches Roxas. Roxas is on three limbs, her right hand is slightly off the ground, her head is unmoving but her eyes are moving in all directions scanning the area. The camera zooms in on her ears to see them twitch indicting she's also listening intensely, the camera moves to her nose and we can see it sniff in the air while Shadow is quietly taking all of this in. Roxas begins talking in a low tone of voice.**

Roxas: I smell Kness, and judging from the sound they're in the trees.

**Shadow without moving his head moves his eyes up**

Shadow: So Kness right, that doesn't sound too threatening.

**Roxas still without talking her eyes off the trees answers**

Roxas: Sure, if you don't think large meat eating birds with razor sharp teeth is threatening.

**Shadow sighs again**

Shadow: Aren't there any nice plant eating animals in this forest?

Roxas: Yea, but they hide all the time because the meat eating animals eat them.

Shadow: So what should we do?

Roxas: Well the good news is from what I can hear they aren't hunting they seem to be doing their mating ritual.

**Shadow is impress**

Shadow: You can hear all that!

**Roxas still focus on the trees answers half heartedly**

Roxas: Yes. Ok if we walk really slowly we should be fine.

**Shadow nods his head in understanding. Shadow slowly lifts one leg and puts it down, walking very slowly away, Roxas does the same thing but still walking on all fours. The camera turns to look at Shadow's feet, he's carefully picking them up and putting them down, suddenly the top of the log gives out under his foot. **

**Shadow's foot sinks in and gets stuck. Shadow and Roxas flinch at the sound and then look up at the trees, we can hear the bats now. Shadow starts struggling to get his foot out of the hole**

Shadow: Think they hear us?

**He asks Roxas, Roxas doesn't move a muscle and talks very quietly**

Roxas: Yes, but they don't seem to care, so hurry up and get your foot unstuck!

**Shadow is still struggling to get his foot unstuck**

Shadow: Trying!

**Shadow is pulling at his foot now, we can hear more noise now from the trees. Roxas is getting really nervous**

Roxas: Try harder!

**Shadow does an a-ha face, he pulls his sword out of its sheath, and he then stabs it down close to his stuck foot. Nothing happens, he goes to pull it out but it's now stuck. Not believing it he starts pulling at his sword, Roxas turns her eyes to him looking at Shadow like he's an idiot**

Roxas: What was that supposed to do?

**Shadow still pulling on his sword**

Shadow: Well I thought that I would stab it down and make a circle around my foot to get it lose, like in the movies.

**Roxas still looking at him like's an idiot says**

Roxas: Ok, First you're an idiot, for that idea to be even possible you would need master level sword skills, and second you would need a master level sword.

**Shadow is offend**

Shadow: How do you know I'm not a master level swordsman?

**Roxas just looks at him, Shadow turns away not meeting her gaze. The noise in the trees become really loud, suddenly a very black bat like thing with sharp teeth pops its head out and looks at them. More pop out as we start to hear cracking sounds from the log. Roxas is beginning to panic.**

Roxas: Hurry up they're coming!

**Shadow is pulling really hard now on both his sword and foot**

Shadow (Come on!)

**The bats burst out of the trees and charge Shadow and Roxas. Shadow's foot and sword pop out of the log resulting in the log making a large cracking noise and starts rolling. Shadow and Roxas not really thinking at this point just go with it do the log rollers thing. **

**They pick up speed fast, as the log goes widely down out running the bats. They go on like this for about a minute pretty much out of control but at least they out ran the bats. Shadow looks behind his shoulder to make sure then looks at Roxas.**

Shadow: So now that we took care of the meat eating bird problem how are we going to stop this thing?

**The camera turns to show a stone right in the middle of where they're going to roll, Roxas sees this**

Roxas: Well I would say right about…NOW!

**She times it so that she says now right when the log hits the stone and gets launch in the air. Surprisingly both of them don't look scare but rather excited, the log falls first hitting two trees and shattering into pieces. Shadow hits the ground rolling, and gets the air knock out of him but luckily doesn't break any bones despite the pain he feels. **

**Roxas lands lightly on all fours; appearing to be unaffected, in fact she seems to be very happy. Shadow groans and gets up as Roxas starts moving around in circles this time like an excited dog, she goes over to Shadow.**

Roxas: Let's do that again! Can we do that again? I want to do that again!

**She sticks her tongue out and starts puffing like a dog, Shadow sitting down looks at her surprised.**

Shadow: So it's not just cats you do but dogs as well.

**Roxas regains some of her human composer although she is still sitting like a cat. She looks confused at Shadow**

Roxas: What do you mean?

**Shadow shrugs**

Shadow: It's just that I noticed that you act like a cat sometimes so I thought that was all you could do but just now you acted dog like.

**Roxas is offend**

Roxas: Why do you think I can only act like a cat, is it because I'm a WOMAN!

**Shadow realizing he made a mistake starts moving back as a glaring Roxas moves forward**

Shadow: N-No, I mean, it's just that, um, you know, um

**Shadow is struggling to think of something, Roxas really pissed now**

Roxas: I'll have you know that I can act and think like over 100 different animals!

**She starts moving and growling like a tiger at Shadow, Shadow momentary forgets his danger and says surprise and excited.**

Shadow: What really?

**Roxas stops and smiles taking this as a complement**

Roxas: Well, I always liked animals and I study them and read about them whenever I could so it wasn't that hard.

**Shadow is amazed**

Shadow: Still that's amazing!

**Roxas blushes at the complement, puts her hand behind her back and starts scratching her head.**

Roxas: Yea, well, um, let's get going; don't want to keep your friends waiting.

**Roxas says to change the subject, she also adds with a seductive smile**

Roxas: Or we can stay here and get more relaxed.

**She inches closer to Shadow and puts a seductive hand on his leg, Shadow jumps up**

Shadow: Right, let's find my friends so my conscious will shut up while I get laid.

**Shadow starts looking around for the hill; Roxas sighs then gets up on two feet for a change and starts walking in the direction of the woods, showing how well she knows the forest**

Roxas: It's this way.

**Shadow looks at Roxas**

Shadow: You didn't even have to look up; you must have stay in this forest for a while to be able to tell where you are without looking around.

**Shadow says this as he chases after her, she shrugs uncaringly**

Roxas: I told you I've been in this forest for about a year, so I know this forest like the back of my hand.

**They continue walking towards the hill which is getting closer despite all the set backs**

Roxas: Anyway don't you have bigger things to worry about?

**Shadow's not sure what she means**

Shadow: Like what?

**Roxas not believing her ears**

Roxas: Oh, I don't know maybe the WPACK!

**Shadow still not getting it**

Shadow: Oh, the rabbit cross bear thing right, I'm not to worry about that.

**Roxas gives him the alright you'll see look**

Roxas: Alright but don't say I didn't warn you.

**Shadow shrugs**

Shadow: Come on how tough could this thing be.

**The scene cuts to show a wpack, body of a bear, feet look like rabbit's feet, and paws are huge with claws as big as kitchen knives, lying down, apparently sleeping. The camera turns around to show Shadow and Roxas hiding behind a bush. **

**Shadow's eyes are wide in surprise; Roxas is smiling while seeing Shadow's reaction. They move back to hide behind the bush. Shadow is sitting down cross-legged; Roxas is sitting like a cat and is scratching her head with her leg**

Roxas: Not only does it look mean but it's got three times the strength of the average male human, plus those claws can cut through rocks. So the only option is to go around.

**Shadow looks up at the moon**

Shadow: How long will that take.

**Roxas answers unconcerned**

Roxas: About a day maybe less depending on the setbacks by the animals.

**Shadow thinks about it for a moment then shakes his head**

Shadow: No, that won't work I'm supposed to meet my friends by midnight.

**Roxas laughs**

Roxas: hahah, the only way you would make that deadline is if you cut across wpack's territory.

**Shadow turns to the direction of the wpack, he smiles a smile of excitement**

Shadow: Well then I guess I'm going through the wpack.

**Roxas stops scratching her ear and looks at Shadow like he's crazy**

Roxas: Are you nuts! How do you think you're going to get pass him!

**Shadow is beginning to grow more excited**

Shadow: That's easy I'm going to fight her!

Roxas: Ok first of all it's a male and second of all ARE YOU INSANE! Did you miss the whole conversation we just had about how strong he is!

**Shadow is unmoved by Roxas yelling at him**

Shadow: I don't think I told you this Roxas but I'm a Gundam Fighter, and my dream is to become the greatest Gundam Fighter that ever existed and if I'm going to accomplished that dream then I can't back down from any challenge.

**Now Roxas is looking at him like he is crazy**

Roxas: What kind of stupid reasoning is that!

**Shadow turns to face her but the smile never leaves his face**

Shadow: It's my reasoning, that and my fighting spirit is dying to take this guy on.

**Roxas not believing her ears**

Roxas: It's an animal.

**Shadow looks Roxas straight in the eye and says in a sober voice**

Shadow: All animals fight to determined who is the strongest, I thought that out of all people you would know that Roxas.

**Roxas is dumbstruck, Shadow still smiling continues**

Shadow: Anyway thanks for all the help; I can take it from here. It was nice meeting you Roxas.

**With that Shadow jumps over the bush and goes into the wpack's clearing. Roxas is stun for a moment then she gets a hold of herself. She shrugs as she turns around and begins to walk away**

Roxas (That idiot is going to get himself killed, well what do I care anyways is not like I even know the guy.)

**She walks for a moment more than stops**

Roxas (Still he is the only guy I met in here in over 6 months.)

**She turns around and goes over to the bush and pulls it slightly to the side to see what's happening**

Roxas (The least I could do is see his final moments alive.)

**Shadow is facing the wpack which is still lying down, he has his sword out and is holding it with two hands pointing at the wpack.**

**The camera turns to the wpack face to show its eyes suddenly pop open. It gets on all fours and roars loudly at Shadow, Shadow face shows only excitement. The camera turns to the bush Roxas is hiding behind, her own eyes are wide open.**

Roxas (What's with this guy, he's not scare at all. No he's excited.)

**She thinks shocked. The camera turns back to Shadow as he shouts out**

Shadow: I Shadow Zoomarey challenge you wpack for permission to cross your land!

**The wpack roars in response, it lifts up one of its massive paws and slams it on the ground breaking the rock underneath. Shadow turns his sword to its side and tenses his muscles as he prepares to charge**

Shadow: Ready….GO!

**Shadow charges the wpack while the wpack charges him at the same time. The camera quickly turns to the hiding Roxas**

Roxas (That idiot he's charging straight at it!)

**The wpack lifts one of its massive paws and goes to hit Shadow. Shadow jumps to the side at the last minute avoiding the hit as rocks shatter from impact.**

Shadow (Whoa that was close.)

**Shadow going to the side of the wpack lifts up his sword and slashes the arm that try to attack him. The wpack howls in pain and lifts the arm off the ground and backhands Shadow. **

**Shadow tries to block with his sword but the power of the wpack sends him flying into a tree, however he does manage to cut the wpack a second time. Shadow quickly gets back to his feet, as the wpack howls in pain over the new cut**

Shadow (Damn, if I hadn't block that with my sword that attack would have broken some ribs, still it sent me flying with one arm, Roxas wasn't kidding when she said this thing had the power of three people.)

**The wpack turns to look at Shadow with glaring eyes as it roars again at him and gets up on two legs surprising Shadow.**

Shadow (huh, what's going)

**Before he has time to finish that thought the wpack jumps into the air. The jump is about the height of a normal male but it easily closes the gap between Shadow and the wpack. The wpack brings one of its massive paws down as it lands and Shadow just manages to jump out of the way but the ground smatters from the impact.**

**Iit doesn't end there the wpack jumps towards Shadow and begins to slash at him with his claws, the jumps aren't as high as the first one so the attacks don't have that much power in them but they do have enough. Shadow is desperately running backwards and blocking blows with his sword grunting with effort each time the claw connects with his blade. The camera turns to Roxas who's gritting her teeth**

Roxas (This is the end there's no way that idiot can block all those attacks!)

**The camera turns back to the struggling Shadow, the camera turns towards his feet to show him trip on a root. He falls down on his behind, the wpack lifts up one of its massive claws preparing to finish Shadow off.**

Shadow (Crap!)

**Suddenly there's a loud roar from behind the wpack, surprise, or as surprised as a bear face can look, it turns its head around to see Roxas on all fours charging straight at him. The way she moves and even her face looks like a charging tiger. Roxas jumps on top of the wpacks back, sinking her gold claws in.**

**She also lifts up her head and bites the wpack; the wpack howls in pain as it steps back from Shadow and begins to try and throw Roxas off its back but Roxas holds on tight. The camera turns to Shadow seeing his moment he gets up and charges the distracted wpack. He does a right angle slash on the wpacks chest. The wpack howls in more pain and starts wildly slashing with its claws. **

**Shadow jumps back and Roxas chooses to jump off as well, she goes over to Shadow's side and still on all fours looking more like a tiger than human she begins to growl at the wpack while Shadow holds his sword still pointed at the wpack. The wpack calms down somewhat and looks at them, it also starts to growl but this time it seems half-hearted, it's also breathing heavily.**

Shadow: You fought well my friend but you'll reach your limit so just let us pass.

**The wpack is still just staring at them then it turns around and walks away deciding that this meal is not worth the trouble. After it disappears from sight Shadow lowers his sword and sighs in relief.**

Shadow: Well I say that wasn't a bad fight.

**Shadow turns to Roxas who has regained some of her human composer but she still on all fours and scratching her ear with her foot.**

Roxas: Yup, I was great.

**Shadow not liking how she said "I"**

Shadow: And what about me?

**Roxas turns and looks at him**

Roxas: You could use some work.

**Shadow is offended**

Shadow: What are you talking about I had everything under control!

**Roxas replies sarcastically**

Roxas: Right that's why the wpack was about to cut you in half. Anyway let's get going before the wpack comes back.

**Roxas gets up on two legs and starts to walk away, Shadow annoyed follows her**

Shadow: I wasn't that bad.

**The scene cuts to Kenny sitting down by a fire, suddenly there's movement by the bush; Kenny nervous jumps up and grabs a branch and points it at the bush.**

Kenny: W-w-w-who's there?

**There's no sound for a moment, then the bush behind Kenny parts slightly to show Shadow's smiling face.**

Shadow: Boo

**Kenny jumps and turns around to face a laughing Shadow**

Kenny: Shadow, you son of a bitch you almost gave me a heart attack!

**Shadow still smiling walks into the light **

Shadow: Oh a heart attack, well I'm so sorry to not have thought about your health like I don't know NOT TELLING ME ABOUT THE DANGEROUS ANIMALS!

**Kenny does a nervous laugh**

Kenny: hehe, sorry about that but good to see you're still alive.

**Kenny and Shadow stare at each other than burst out laughing and high five each other.**

Shadow: HAHAHA, fine we're even now. So where are Nick and Cagalli?

**Kenny shrugs**

Kenny: Oh them they went out to get firewood.

**Shadow nods his head**

Shadow: Oh by the way I met someone.

**This surprises Kenny**

Kenny: Who?

Roxas: Me.

**While Kenny and Shadow were talking Roxas had sneaked into the camp fire and began eating the food, Kenny turns around in surprise.**

Kenny: Who are you?

Shadow: More importantly why are you eating my food!

**Roxas finishes what she was eating then does a cat stretched. Then she walks over on all fours to a spot of grass still in the fire's light then does the circle in one spot for three times thing and lays down the same way a dog lays down.**

Roxas: The names Roxas Nile, and I was hungry thanks to all the running we did so consider that my payment.

**Kenny turns to Shadow angrily**

Kenny: Great you found another weirdo!

**Roxas appears to be taking a nap, Shadow's surprised**

Shadow: And what's that supposed to mean?

Kenny: Well first it was the crazy girl who thought she was a princess from Earth, then the Cowboy, and now this.

**He points at Roxas who seems to be ignoring him. Before Shadow can answer; Cagalli and Nick come into the camp holding firewood.**

Cagalli: Don't mind the crazy Earth princess.

Nick: Or the Cowboy, which in most cases I would consider a compliment but for you mate I'll make an exception.

**Kenny does a nervous cough, but lucky for him Shadow jumps in**

Shadow: Nick, Cagalli!

**Nick after placing the firewood down goes over to Shadow and does the high five shoulder bash thing.**

Nick: Shadow, knew you would be fine mate.

**He nods towards Cagalli as he says**

Nick: The miss here was worry about you mate.

**Cagalli puffs**

Cagalli: I was only worry that your stupid sense of direction would get you lost and we'd be stuck in this mountain for days looking for you.

**Shadow still smiling takes no offense**

Shadow: Nice to see you're doing well princess.

**Cagalli glares at Shadow not liking the way he said princess, suddenly Roxas jumps in**

Roxas: Well what do we have here!

**She rushes to Nick on two legs getting very close, Nick is looking around nervous**

Nick: Uh, hello miss, I take it you're the person Shadow met in the woods?

**Nick is taking steps back but Roxas is matching him step by step**

Roxas: Roxas Nile, but you can call me whatever you want.

**She says seductively, Nick is really red and looking around for help. Shadow does not like being ignored; he walks up to Roxas and says in his version of playboy manner**

Shadow: So now that we find out my friends are ok let's go find somewhere private so we can finished what we started.

**Roxas turns to face Shadow allowing Nick to escape**

Roxas: Sorry I'm no longer interested.

**Shadow is horrified**

Shadow: w-wh-what! Why!

**Roxas shrugs**

Roxas: Sorry it's nothing personal but I only sleep with people I fine interesting, and I no longer fine you interesting.

**Shadow starts sulking in a corner, Kenny walks up**

Kenny: What about me.

**He says excitedly**

Roxas: I never found you interesting.

Kenny: What?

**Kenny starts sulking with Shadow, and says almost crying**

Kenny: I'm interesting.

**Shadow is hitting himself**

Shadow: Stupid, Stupid, Stupid conscious, I should have slept with her when I had the chance.

**Shadow comes up with an idea**

Shadow: Wait you no longer fine me interesting now but you did once.

**Roxas nods her head**

Roxas: Yea

**Shadow getting excited now**

Shadow: So that means there's a chance that you might find me interesting again?

**Roxas considers this a moment**

Roxas: I suppose so, if we hung out more you might do something that rekindles my interest.

**Shadow punches the air**

Shadow: Yes!

Roxas: But I have no reason to hang out with you.

**Shadow deflated**

Shadow: No

**Shadow comes up with another idea**

Shadow: Hey, I know why don't you come with us as a Gundam Fighter?

Roxas: Sorry but I have no interest in becoming a Gundam Fighter.

**Shadow becomes deflated again Roxas starts looking around**

Roxas: Hey where's the cowboy?

**She spots Cagalli, there should be some kind of love snap shoot, you know a freeze frame where a bunch of hearts appears, and then she rushes towards Cagalli startling her**

Roxas: My God you're beautiful!

**Cagalli not sure what's going on**

Cagalli: Oh, um, thanks.

**Roxas gets in Cagalli's personal space and puts on her seductive smile**

Roxas: You know a body like yours should be worshipped, how about you let me worshipped it.

Cagalli: What!

**Shadow and Kenny connect the dots**

Shadow: Oh my god she swings both ways!

Kenny: I don't know where you found her Shadow but you need to find more women like her.

**Cagalli fluster tries stepping back but realizes to late that she's pin by the fire**

Cagalli: Uhhh, look I'm flatter and all but I don't swing that way.

**Roxas not giving up**

Roxas: Oh, come on you don't have to be shy.

**Roxas is closing the already small gap between them; Cagalli looks to Shadow and Kenny for help**

Cagalli: uh, guys some help here.

**Shadow and Kenny are watching this like hawks**

Shadow: Now Cagalli if we come to your rescue every time how will you ever learn to defend yourself, besides there's no harm in experimenting.

Kenny: Go for it Cagalli!

**Cagalli very tick by their comments clenches her fist**

Cagalli: Why you

**Cagalli stops dead cold when Roxas starts groping her breast, there's dead silence and everyone looks shocked. Roxas starts talking appearing not to notice**

Roxas: Not very large but somehow they're very attractive, and even through the clothes they feel incredible.

**Cagalli gets over the shock, and punches Roxas square in the face**

Cagalli: Get off me you pervert!

**Roxas stun gets knock to the ground; Cagalli pissed storms over to the smiling Shadow**

Shadow: See you got out of ouch!

**Cagalli kicks Shadow in the knee hard, he starts jumping up and down**

Cagalli: That's for being a pervert and enjoying the situation too much.

**Kenny laughs at Shadow till Cagalli also kicks him in the knee**

Kenny: Oww, what I do?

Cagalli: That's for being his side-kick.

**She walks away, the camera turns to Roxas lying on the ground.**

Roxas: Oh, I like it when they fight.

**She gets up intending to pursue Cagalli but Shadow gets an idea, and stops her**

Shadow: Hey Roxas let's talk for a moment.

**Roxas tries to go around him but he steps in her way blocking her movements, she looks over his shoulder at Cagalli.**

Roxas: Sure.

**She says not really listening, Shadow begins speaking in a business way.**

Shadow: Now Roxas you want to seduce Cagalli right?

**Shadow forcefully turns Roxas around and begins to walk in the other direction, Roxas starts focusing in on Shadow.**

Roxas: Yea

Shadow: But you have to admit that it's not going be easily, I mean Cagalli is a strong willed person after all.

**Roxas nods her head wondering where he is going with this**

Roxas: Your point?

**Shadow smiling continues**

Shadow: So you're going to need more time to try and seduce her, you don't honestly believe you can do it in one night.

**Roxas thinking nods her head**

Shadow: So why don't you join our Gundam Team as a Gundam Fighter?

**Roxas thinks about this, unfortunately for Shadow Cagalli overhears this**

Cagalli: What!

**Kenny walks behind Shadow and grabs the collar of his shirt**

Kenny: Sorry but we need to have a team meeting.

**He pulls Shadow away from the thinking Roxas over to Nick and Cagalli, Cagalli is still pissed**

Cagalli: What the hell do you think you're doing using me to get her to join!

**Shadow shrugs**

Shadow: Look I think she would make a great allied to us, and Drake said that we needed two more fighters.

**Kenny has the "yea right" look on his face**

Kenny: No you just want to sleep with her, not that I blame you she's really hot.

**Nick has also appear from nowhere**

Nick: Sorry mate but I've got to side with them on this, we don't even know if the miss can fight.

**Shadow takes on a surprising serious voice**

Shadow: Look I know that I'm asking a lot on faith but you have to trust me, she can fight and has other skills that can help us.

**He looks them each in the eye, his seriousness surprises them, and suddenly Roxas interrupts the silence.**

Roxas: I've decided to join you guys and become a Gundam Fighter so I can seduce Cagalli!

**Shadow punches the air**

Shadow: Yes!

**Nick shrugs accepting the new team mate**

Nick: Oh well better go find us some more food.

**Kenny yawns**

Kenny: I'm going to go to bed.

**Cagalli is the only one left with the problem.**

Cagalli: What about me, it's easily for you guys you don't have to worry about some nut job trying to seduce you!

**Shadow excitedly explains**

Shadow: Don't worry I've got a plan, you see while she's trying to seduce you I will seduce her and get her to sleep with me instead.

**Cagalli rolls her eyes**

Cagalli: You couldn't seduce her if you wanted too.

**This annoys and offends Shadow.**

Shadow: Find then consider this as taking one for the team.

**Shadow gets up and begins to walk away**

Shadow: She's all yours Roxas.

**The episode ends with a freeze frame of Roxas on all fours jumping towards a startled Cagalli trying to back away.**


	9. Episode 8

**Episode 8**

**The episode opens up with a view of Junk City. From what can be seen there are mountains of junk made out of old broken down Gundams, ships, and basically anything made out of metal. The piles differ in height but they're all over 2 stories high and they also differ in color with shades of bronze everywhere depending on how rusted some of the metals are. We can see one mountain junk pile that's over 30 stories high in the center of the city. **

**We can also see some houses made out of scrap metal, as well as some mines going into the junk piles. There's a certain beauty about Junk City that's hard to see or describe. The camera zooms in to show Shadow, Cagalli, Kenny, Nick, and Roxas. They're looking around taking in the sights, Nick whistles**

Nick: So this is Junk City.

**Shadow is looking around excited**

Shadow: This place is awesome!

**Cagalli looks at Shadow like he's nuts**

Cagalli: Your kidding right, this place is like a landfill its cover it mountains of Junk.

**Shadow turns around and faces Cagalli, and looks her straight in the eye**

Shadow: Is that really all you can see?

**Cagalli is taken back; Kenny smiles as he says**

Kenny: Junk City holds the largest amount of broken down machinery in the galaxy. Most countries don't recognize it as a real city.

**Cagalli still starring at Shadow but turns to Kenny curious**

Cagalli: But wait, if most countries don't consider them a real city then how do they get funding?

Kenny: The City's main source of income comes from its 47 mechanic warehouses.

**Nick who has been quietly listening asks a question**

Nick: Mechanic warehouses?

Kenny: Yea, the mechanic's in the area scavenge different parts from different machinery then they either build brand new machinery from the old parts or they use the parts to repair broken down machinery.

**Roxas who is walking on all fours asks**

Roxas: How do you know all this stuff?

**Kenny answers in a matter of fact voice**

Kenny: The Internet.

**Shadow interrupts**

Shadow: That reminds me Drake sent Nightwing to one of the Mechanic Warehouses to be repair.

**Roxas looks confused**

Roxas: Nightwing?

**Cagalli sighs**

Cagalli: The stupid name Shadow gave to his Gundam.

**Offending Shadow**

Shadow: Hey, Nightwing is an awesome name!

**Cagalli turns around to argue when Roxas butts in**

Roxas: I agree.

**Shadow and Roxas high-five**

Shadow: HA!

**Cagalli is shocked**

Cagalli: What!

**Cagalli stops moving, Roxas smiles**

Roxas: You know your even cuter when you're angry.

**Cagalli throws up her hands in frustration**

Cagalli: arhg, I give up!

**Cagalli starts moving again**

Kenny: Anyway we need to head down to the Warehouse where Shadow's Gundam is to claim the Gundam and get them to start repairs.

Nick: So mate do you know which Warehouse the Gundam is at?

**Kenny stops, bring everyone to a stop he looks confused at Nick**

Kenny: What?

**Nick shrugs**

Nick: Well you said it yourself mate, they're 47 different mechanic Warehouses all over the city right, so how are we going to figure out which one Drake sent it to?

**Kenny does the Oh crap I didn't think of that face. He tries to cover it up but Nick see right through him.**

Nick: Or was your plan to go to each and every Warehouse till we get lucky mate?

**Before Kenny can answer Cagalli butts in angry**

Cagalli: Well that's just great; we're going to have to spend all day walking from Warehouse to Warehouse, not to mention where are we going to spend the night!

**Shadow smiling**

Shadow: Having trouble sleeping on the grass princess?

**Cagalli annoyed at the way he said princess snaps back**

Cagalli: Yes! I was hoping we could stay at a place with an actual bed!

**Roxas starring at some random piece of shiny metal says somewhat distracted**

Roxas: Why don't you go to one Warehouse then check their computer network to see which Warehouse has the Gundam?

**They all turn to stare at Roxas impressed, but that is quickly lost when she doesn't even look at them but instead turns her head sideways like a cat and begins to bat at the piece of shiny metal with her hand also like a cat.**

Kenny: There now we have a game plan, the closest Warehouse is east of here so let's get going.

**Nodding in agreement they all start walking east except Shadow who stands there with a smug smile. It takes a few moments but they realize that Shadow isn't following they stop and turn to stare at him. Cagalli annoyed and impatient to start looking for a hotel room asks**

Cagalli: Hey, Shadow in case you're going deaf we're heading over to the Warehouse east of here so come on!

**Shadow is unmoving his smug smiling never leaving his face**

Shadow: Oh I heard you alright.

**Kenny is confused**

Kenny: Ok, Soooo?

Shadow: Nightwing isn't there.

**Kenny's not sure where he's going with this**

Kenny: How do you know for sure?

**Cagalli annoyed by the holdup says**

Cagalli: Well unless you have a better place to check I'm heading there!

**Shadow's smile widens, he was waiting someone to say that**

Shadow: As a matter of fact I do.

Cagalli: Ok where?

**Shadow closes his eyes appearing to concentrate then says**

Shadow: I would say 10 kilometers south west of here.

**Cagalli is surprise; she was not expecting him to give such an exacted answer. Nick is becoming suspicious of Shadow**

Nick: And how do you know for sure mate?

**The way Nick says this implies suspicion and Shadow mocks offended**

Shadow: I'll have you know that a Gundam and a Gundam Pilot share a special connection, and we can tell each other's location at all times.

**Roxas starts to walk in the direction Shadow pointed.**

Cagalli: Where are you going Roxas?

**Roxas shrugs her shoulder**

Roxas: It's common in the forest for animals to develop a sense of where each other are.

Shadow: ha! That's Roxas for I believe in Shadow.

**Nick sighs and also begins to move in the direction Shadow pointed. Kenny who's been in deep thought since Shadow said connection with his Gundam has a break through.**

Kenny: A-ha!

**Everyone stops and looks at him**

Kenny: Shadow let me see your arm.

**Shadow looks away acting guilty**

Shadow: W-what for?

**Cagalli smiles enjoying Shadow being exposed**

Cagalli: Why don't you show him your arm, or are you hiding something?

**Shadow glares at Cagalli, and then starts to lift his right arm. Kenny stops him**

Kenny: Your other arm.

**Shadow sighs defeated and then reluctantly lifts his left arm, revealing his Neon gauntlet. Nick and Roxas look at it closely having not taken notice of it before. Kenny triumphantly proclaims**

Kenny: I knew it!

**Cagalli confused asks**

Cagalli: Wait, that's called the Neon gauntlet right?

**Kenny explains**

Kenny: Right, the Neon gauntlet was originally design to help pilots get to their Gundam. So I figured that Shadow must have play around with it and figured out how to bring up the GPS location of his Gundam.

**Nick scratches his head**

Nick: I figured that too, but what I want to know is why yours is black mate?

**Shadow getting over being busted**

Shadow: I painted it black.

**Nick can't tell if Shadow is kidding. Cagalli having found out how Shadow knows the location of his Gundam grows impatient again.**

Cagalli: Fine, whatever can we get going now?

**Shadow sighs**

Shadow: Fine

**He lifts up his arm and begins to type on the Neon gauntlet with his other hand. He nods to show he confirmed the direction and the scene ends with them heading in the direction he pointed out. The next scene opens up in a Warehouse; the Warehouse is huge, about the size of a small football field. Gundams can be seen all over the place, they all seem to be going under some kind of repair.**

**There are people walking around and constantly moving, they're most likely mechanics, we can also see a series of catwalks where people are working on the upper parts of the Gundams or just seem to be staring out at the crowd, most likely the pilots of the Gundams waiting for their Gundam to be fixed. We can also see a couple of trucks moving around, they're carrying parts for the Gundams.**

**We can see one truck with a Gundam arm, we look around to see another Gundam in the middle of getting its broken arm cut off. We can hear the sounds of metal hitting metal, drills, hammers, the blow torch cutting pieces of metal off, not to mention thousands of voices like a school cafeteria. The camera finally settles down on Shadow and co. who are close by the entrance. They're all staring around the place watching with fascination at the things going on. Nick whistles**

Nick: This place is busier than a bee hive.

**Roxas says in a daze**

Roxas: So much shiny stuff.

**Roxas starts to walk to some screws on the ground but Kenny grabs her T-shirt collar and pulls her back.**

Kenny: Oh no you don't, last thing we need is for you to get us kick out because you started playing with stuff that doesn't belong to you.

**Cagalli is wide eye and standing by Shadow**

Cagalli: I've never seen anything like this; I mean I've been to a Mobile

**Shadow cuts her off**

Shadow: Gundam.

**Cagalli corrects herself**

Cagalli: A Gundam hanger before but it was nothing like this place, this place is just

**She stops trying to think of the right word, Shadow smiles at her, and gives her one**

Shadow: Incredible.

**Cagalli looks at him for a moment then smiles**

Cagalli: Yes…incredible.

**She turns back to stare at the surroundings. Shadow is the first one to get over his amazement; he claps his hands to get everyone else's attention.**

Shadow: Alright, let's find out who's in charge, find Nightwing, get Nightwing repair, and then find a mechanic for the team.

**The way he list the things they need to do helps the others snap out of their trance**

Kenny: Right, let's ask one of the mechanics who's in charge.

**They start to walk to the closest Gundam being repair. The Gundam that's being repair seems to be finish; there are a couple of people shining it with rags giving the Gundam a shiny finish. Roxas eyes open wide**

Roxas: Really shiny.

Cagalli: Let's talk to that guy.

**Cagalli points to one of the workers shining the Gundam. Cagalli starts to walk over there but Nick grabs her shoulder stopping her. Cagalli turns around confused, but Nick nods to the direction of someone walking towards the Gundam. Shadow nods his head in response to show Nick he understands. The camera turns to the person walking towards the Gundam, he's wearing a brown pilot suit with his helmet under his arm. **

**He's got long dirty brown hair, it's most likely been awhile since he took a bath, and he's got one of those grins that say he's looking for trouble. He walks to one of the mechanics shining his Gundam and shouts**

Pilot: Hey, You, is my Gundam ready yet?

**He says asks this rudely, the mechanic sighs but he's used to rude customers**

Mechanic: We're just about finish with the shine you ask for sir, after that we'll be done.

**The Pilot makes a sour face like this is a big inconvenience for him then he says in a rudely.**

Pilot: Fine.

**The mechanic turns to go back to his work but the pilot interrupts him again**

Pilot: Hey, who do I talk to about the bill with?

**The mechanic sighs again then gets off from the place he was shining and heads towards the Pilot as he says.**

Mechanic: I guess you can talk to me about it.

**The pilot holds up the bill to the mechanic**

Pilot: These prices are outrages, do you guys think you can rip me off!

**The pilot shouts at the mechanic. The mechanic is unfazed by the accusation he replies calmly.**

Mechanic: Sir, I can assure you that those prices are the stander rate in Junk City; if you go to any other Warehouse they'll charge you the same thing.

**The pilot snickers, and in a spoiled way says**

Pilot: Well I'm not paying.

**He then rips the bill up and throws the rip pieces at the mechanic. The mechanic looks at him coldly.**

Mechanic: I would advise against that Sir.

**Although he doesn't raise his voice there's an edge to it, but the pilot either doesn't notice or doesn't care. The pilot smirks and begins to walk over to his Gundam the mechanic turns but doesn't go after him**

Pilot: Well my Gundam's 75 mm CIW's say otherwise.

**With that he lifts up his left arm which has a Neon Gauntlet on it, unlike Shadow's Neon Gauntlet his is still the same metal color. He begins typing on the touch screen, the Gundam's eyes flash and then the head begins to move. The people who are working on the Gundam jump off in surprise. The Gundam's head looks down at the mechanic who looks bored, the 75mm CIW's on the sides of the Gundam's head begins to fire at him.**

**Several people jump out of the way, while others turn to look at what's going on. The camera turns to see Cagalli and Roxas jump back in surprise but the mechanic, Nick, and Shadow don't move. The 75mm CIW's stop shooting, no one has been shot, people are turning in surprise towards the Gundam, and the stunned Pilot.**

Pilot: W-wh-what! Why aren't you dead?

**He shouts out, suddenly a voice comes out from behind him**

Tom: If you had bothered to read the repair sheet, you would have realized that we don't put the ammo in till after you pay us.

**The pilot turns around to face this new man, the new guy is very big, he's got beard stubble and his face looks old, like he's seen the world, we can also see that both his legs are robotic, he's skin is very tan from working in the sun to long, his eyes are very sharp, he's rubbing his hands with a rag to clean off oil or something. **

**He nods towards the mechanic as unspoken messages is pass between them, the mechanic nods his head in understanding and walks away. The pilot glares at the guy and begins to type on the touch screen of his Neon Gauntlet while backing towards his Gundam. Other bigger mechanics are coming over surrounding the pilot. They look ready for a fight and based on the pilot's small frame even one of them could take him out.**

Tom: We also disengaged the computer hatch opener. So you would have to open the hatch manually if you wanted to get the hatch open.

**Two of the big mechanics grab the pilot and lift him off the ground, the pilot begins to struggle**

Pilot: Unhand me you bastards!

**The mechanics ignored him; Tom goes on as if nothing is happening**

Tom: We'll keep your Gundam until you can pay us.

**The pilot looks to Tom shock**

Pilot: Y-you can't!

Tom: Oh we can, now show this man to the door.

**He says this last part to one of the mechanics holding the pilot, the mechanic grins and says**

Big Mechanic: Yes Sir.

**He and the other big mechanic begin to carry the pilot to the exit. The pilot still struggling yells over his shoulder**

Pilot: You'll regret this you hear me you have no idea who you're dealing with!

**Tom already walking away appears unconcern**

Tom: Yea, Yea, Yea; if I had a pebble for every time some bum shouts that at me after he realized he couldn't shoot his way to a free repair I'd have a mountain all to myself now.

**The camera turns back to Shadow and co. Kenny whistles and looks at the mechanics impressed and a little afraid too.**

Kenny: Well I guess we know now not to mess with those mechanics.

**Cagalli nods her head; she also looks shocked by how fast things happened she turns her head to Shadow.**

Cagalli: But how did you know that was going to happen?

**Shadow shrugs his shoulders**

Shadow: I didn't but Nick did, so I just went with it.

**They all turn to stare at Nick with questions in their eyes. Nick just shrugs his shoulders**

Nick: It wasn't that big a deal mate, I see a lot of jerks like him walk into the bar looking for trouble. Me and me mates just got good at telling who was looking for trouble.

**Everyone nods their head thoughtful, but Kenny turns and asks Nick**

Kenny: Ok, but how did you know the bullets were blanks?

Nick: Oh that, I could tell by the sound.

**Kenny and Cagalli look at him in shock**

Cagalli: By the sound?

**Nick nods his head**

Nick: Yea, a bullet exiting a barrel would have made a whooshing sound; I didn't hear the sound so I know they were blanks.

**Nick turns to Shadow**

Nick: But how did you know mate?

Shadow: I didn't I was following you.

**Nick smiles**

Nick: So if I was wrong mate, that means we both would have been screwed?

**Shadow smiles back**

Shadow: But you weren't.

**Nick and Shadow stare at each for a moment smiling, then Roxas butts in**

Roxas: Yea, that's great an all but did you see those guy's muscles, umm, I can't wait to sleep with one of them.

**Cagalli rolls her eyes**

Cagalli: Is that all that's on your mind?

**Roxas jumps and hugs Cagalli**

Roxas: You don't have to be jealous Cagalli; I'm still determined to sleep with you too.

**Cagalli pushing Roxas off her**

Cagalli: Get off me Pervert!

**Shadow, Kenny, and Nick are ignoring the girls. Shadow nods towards Tom**

Shadow: I say that guy's in charge.

**Nick and Kenny nod their heads**

Shadow: Well let's go ask him about Nightwing.

**They start to walk over to where Tom is. Kenny calls over his shoulder**

Kenny: Come on ladies.

**Cagalli who had been pushing Roxas off her eagerly takes this opportunity to escape. Roxas sighs and begins to follow on two legs. They walk over to Tom who is working at a computer terminal.**

Shadow: We like to speak to the person in charge.

**Tom doesn't look up**

Tom: That would be me, what do you want?

Kenny: We would like to talk to you about a Gundam that was shipped to you.

**Tom still not looking up asks**

Tom: Number?

**Kenny is confused**

Kenny: Number?

**Tom finally looks up and says in a bored voice**

Tom: When someone ships a Gundam to us we give them a verification number so when they come they can verify that's their Gundam. So what's the number?

**Kenny looks to Shadow for answers Shadow shrugs. Tom is taking this all in with an eyebrow raise.**

Tom: Sorry no number no Gundam.

**Tom begins to turn away; Shadow desperate says the first thing that comes to mind**

Shadow: uhm, Drake sent us!

**Tom stops dead in his tracks, realization dawns on him as he turns to face them**

Tom: Oh, so you're the new Gundam team Drake agree to manage.

**Tom walks over to them surprising the gang by the sudden warm greeting**

Tom: Sorry about the rude greeting before, I'm Tom Hors and welcome to Warehouse 24.

Cagalli: I'm Cagalli

Nick: Nick

Roxas: I'm Roxas

Kenny: Kenny

Shadow: I am the

**Cagalli cuts him off**

Cagalli: He's Shadow

**Shadow glares at Cagalli**

Shadow: Hey, don't cut someone's introduction off!

**Shadow yells at Cagalli, Cagalli snaps back**

Cagalli: Then don't make your introduction so long and stupid!

**Shadow and Cagalli start glaring at each other. Nick sighs and then takes his hands and puts them on Cagalli and Shadow's head and forces them to head-butt**

Cagalli and Shadow: Ow

**They rub their heads as Nick turns to Tom who's taking this in with interested**

Nick: Sorry about that mate.

**Tom waves his hand dismissing the apology**

Tom: No worries, in all honesty I was wondering what kind of people could get that stubborn man to agree to be their manager.

**Shadow puffs out his chest with pride, Cagalli and Kenny are embarrassed by the comment, Nick and Roxas are unfazed**

Tom: Anyway let me show you where your Gundam is?

**They begin to walk with Tom in the lead**

Roxas: This place is so big.

**Roxas says wide eye still looking around she's also back to walking on all fours, Tom laughs**

Tom: hahahaha, I guess you can say that, we get about a 100 Gundams at a time to repair so it has to be big to fit them all.

**They come to a stop at Nightwing, no one seems to be working on it, and it seems to be in the same state as when we last saw it.**

Cagalli: Wow, the repairs are so good we can hardly notice.

**She says sarcastically, Tom glares at her**

Tom: For your information we were given instructions by Drake not to start the repairs until we discussed them with the pilot.

**Tom turns to look at Shadow**

Tom: A Mr. Shadow Zoomarey.

**Shadow puff out his chest full of pride**

Shadow: That would be me.

Tom: Oh so you're the crappy pilot.

**Bursting Shadow's growing ego. Cagalli and Roxas openly laughs; Nick and Kenny try hard to suppress their laughter.**

Shadow: Who are you calling a crappy Pilot!

**Tom laughs**

Tom: Don't take it to personally kid, you just need more practice that's all.

**Shadow settles down as Tom similes kindly at him**

Shadow: Yea, I may be bad now but just you wait someday I going to be the greatest Gundam Fighter this world has ever seen!

**Tom is surprise by this statement. The others roll their eyes clearly used to Shadow shouting out his dreams; Tom then laughs**

Tom: HAHAHAH, I like a man that isn't afraid to shout out his dream but I have to ask, why did you get a Basic Original.

Cagalli: A what?

**Tom looks at them surprise**

Tom: A Basic Original, wait are you telling me you had no idea?

**They all look away confirming Tom's theory**

Tom: Well I guess that explains why Drake sent you here. Alright tell me what you know about Gundams.

**Cagalli jumps on that to prove she's not an idiot**

Cagalli: Gundams are mass produce in factories and are organized solely by their serial number

**Tom cuts her off**

Tom: Wrong!

**Cagalli is shocked**

Shadow: Ha

**Cagalli turns to glare at Shadow,**

Tom: Don't worry it wasn't a bad guess, in fact from what I hear that's how they organized their Gundams on Earth. But it's important that you understand that wouldn't work on Sora.

**Cagalli looks back at Tom curious**

Cagalli: Why?

Tom: Well on Earth most of the Gundams are made by the Governments so they're all made the same way in huge factories, which not counting new models makes it easy to know their fighting abilities since they're all the same. Well I shouldn't say all the same, they do vary by model but overall once you fought one model you know how to fight all Gundams of that model.

Tom: But on Sora there are a lot more freelance Gundam Pilots with their own mechanics. Thanks to the Gundam Fights mechanics are constantly playing around with their Gundam in order to get them to perform better. The result is that the Gundams no longer match the manufacture blue prints, so Gundams on Sora are like snowflakes, no two are alike. Which makes Gundam combat on Sora a lot more difficult.

Tom: It's also why they're not just simply classified by numbers but instead by a classification chart. Gundams are first classified by model such as sold or transformable; second by type like Basic, animal, or vehicle; third by class, Jet, Tiger; fourth manufacture; and finally by serial number. So for example your Gundam Nightwing is a Sold model Basic type Original class Lujo manufactured F23-8764-90874 serial Gundam, but most of the time we just refer to Gundams by their type and class.

**Cagalli, Shadow, Nick, and Kenny nod their head in understanding, but Roxas on the ground scratching her ear with her foot asks**

Roxas: So what's a Basic type Gundam?

**Tom similes at her**

Tom: Well just because the mechanics like to play around with the Gundam doesn't mean they want to build one from scratch but at the same time they risk serious damaging their starting model Gundams if they screw up too badly fiddling around with it especially since they're not cheap or that easy to build, a whole risk vs. reward thing so a new line of Gundams called Basic came out to fix this problem.

Tom: They're Gundams that have some start up capabilities but are extremely simplistic in design so any mechanic worth his wrench would be able to build one with the right parts. This gives mechanics plenty of room to play around with the Gundam and not have to worry about breaking it beyond repair. Not to mention compare to the other types of Gundams Basics are dirt cheap plus they come in different classes with different specializations. For example The Basic Heavy Gundam specializes in power; The Basic Flash Gundam specializes in speed, The Basic Wing Gundam specializes in aerial combat, and so on.

**A thought just occurs to Kenny**

Kenny: So wait what's a Basic Original Gundam?

**Tom similes at Kenny**

Tom: The Basic Original Gundam was the original Basic model Gundam.

**Cagalli curious asks**

Cagalli: Why do they call it Basic Original?

Shadow: Because it's the Original model of the Basic series.

Tom: Correct now don't interrupt. Anyway it's not that fast, it's not that powerful, doesn't have any flight or Underwater capabilities, and it only comes with one beam saber.

**Nick nods his head**

Nick: So overall this baby can't do much.

**This deeply offends Shadow.**

Shadow: Hey!

**Tom nods his head**

Tom: Yup, this is the first time I've seen one in years, the only reason a person would buy it is because it's the cheapest Gundam out there.

**Cagalli snickers at Shadow**

Cagalli: Looks like you pick a crappy Gundam to steal.

**Shadow yells at Cagalli**

Shadow: Don't call my Gundam crappy!

**Shadow and Cagalli start to glare at one another until Tom breaks into their argument**

Tom: Anyway it doesn't look that badly damage, it's mostly the outer armor that's got dented up badly, but the internal circuits are all alright. You'll need some adjustments here and there but I would say that she should be up and running smoothly in a day.

**Tom goes to signal some other mechanics**

Tom: Well better get started.

Shadow: Wait!

**Although Shadow didn't yell he says this very firmly surprising Tom**

Tom: Huh, Why?

**The others turn to look at Shadow too**

Shadow: No disrespect but we didn't just come here to get Nightwing fix, we also came here to find a mechanic.

**Tom, Cagalli, Kenny, and Roxas don't understand what he means but Nick puts it together**

Nick: You want to use Nightwing as a final test to the new mechanic mate?

**Kenny already thinking ahead**

Kenny: Yea that's not a bad idea, that way if they screw something up

**Tom cuts him off, clearly offended**

Tom: My mechanics don't screw stuff up!

**Kenny fixes what he was saying**

Kenny: I mean do something we don't like; we can have the people here fix it.

**Cagalli grudgingly admits**

Cagalli: It's not a bad idea.

**Shadow grins at her she glares at him, while they're doing that Roxas turns to Tom,**

Roxas: I guess you're not going to save us the trouble by becoming our mechanic?

**All eyes turn to Tom who laughs in response**

Tom: hahahaa, sorry but I'm too old to be going around and being a Gundam Team's official mechanic.

**Kenny sighs**

Kenny: Well so much for the easily way out.

Roxas: Speak for yourself; this guy is way too old for my taste.

**Tom is a little offended, Cagalli rolls her eyes**

Cagalli: Roxas you do realize we're not here to pick up a man for you.

**Roxas does puppy eyes at Cagalli**

Roxas: Of course I know that all I want is for our mechanic to be good looking.

**Shadow, Nick, Kenny and Tom laugh at Cagalli caught off guard by the puppy eyes**

Shadow: Alright let's split up and look around and ask about who's the best mechanic.

Kenny: Why do we have to split up?

**Shadow is annoyed by Kenny's question**

Shadow: To cover more ground.

Nick: So what time are we meeting back up mate?

**Shadow looks at the clock on his Neon Gauntlet**

Shadow: We'll meet back here in 2 hours to share information on what we learned.

**Cagalli sighs**

Cagalli: I was looking forward to finding a place to stay and get a nice rest.

**Shadow smiles**

Shadow: Well you can do that, after all there's no way you could beat me.

**Cagalli looks angrily at Shadow**

Cagalli: Beat you at what?

**Shadow still smiling**

Shadow: At information gathering of course, your small girly muscles would never be able to keep going, and your poor social skills would never be able to charm information out of people.

**Cagalli highly offended and pissed off shouts**

Cagalli: I'll show you girly muscles and poor social skills!

**Cagalli takes off. Shadow smiling takes off too as he shouts**

Shadow: HA, I won't loss to you!

**Kenny, Nick, Roxas, and Tom watch as they go in opposite directions**

Tom: Well nothing like a good rivalry to get the energy going.

Roxas: Well anyway I've got a man I mean a lead on our mechanic. See you later

**Roxas gets back on all fours and chases after a group of muscular mechanics, Nick sighs**

Nick: Well better get going, don't want to be last mate.

**Nick walks off. Kenny turns to Tom**

Kenny: Hey do you mind if I take a look at your computer system?

**Tom point his arm at a computer terminal**

Tom: Not at all just don't change anything.

**Kenny walks away. Tom similes as he watches them**

Tom: Well I have to say Drake you certainly found some interesting people.

**He says this to the air and then walks off. We next have a bunch of Freeze pictures of Cagalli, Nick, and Shadow talking to different people. We also have a freeze picture of Kenny working on the computer. The last pictures should be of Shadow talking to a mechanic, Shadow leaning on a leg of a Gundam, the Gundam leg falls backwards causing the Gundam to collapse, the mechanics looking angry at Shadow, Shadow running like hell away from the mechanics. The scene goes back to normal with Shadow breathing heavily behind a tool cart**

Shadow: Damn those mechanics were fast.

**Cagalli walks by Shadow and smiles when she sees him**

Cagalli: Aw, tired already Shadow, but don't worry I'm heading over to talk to are future mechanic right now.

**Cagalli walks away; Shadow regains his breath and calls back angrily**

Shadow: Oh yea, well see about that!

**With that he walks off. We cut outside to Cagalli and Nick, they seem to be walking in a housing district of Junk City. The houses are built into the piles of Junk, we can also see some people working on them, and children playing in the street although there don't seem to be any cars. Cagalli is talking excitedly with Nick**

Cagalli: I've got a good feeling about this guy Nick, everyone I've talk to says he's one of the best mechanics at Warehouse 24, he's also got a perfect record of customer satisfaction, and he has never made a mechanical error EVER.

**Nick nods his head**

Nick: That does sound impressive mate, but why did you ask me to come with you?

**Cagalli seems embarrass,**

Cagalli: Um, Well ….

**Her eyes move back and forth nervously, Nick figures it out and says in a kind way**

Nick: This place is known to have a high crime rate, not to mention little to no police so it's best if we travel in packs when outside mate.

**Cagalli looks at him thankfully, and then turns to look at a group of men in their twenties**

Cagalli: That's him.

**She points to one of the boys**

Nick: What's this mate's name?

Cagalli: Van, that's all I could find out.

**They walk over to him**

Cagalli: Excuse me could we talk to Van for a few minutes?

**Van looks at them confused**

Van: Um, Sure I guess.

**The scene cuts back inside the Warehouse with Shadow walking around and looking around. Suddenly he hears shouting**

Mechanic: You had no right Jack!

Jack: Hey don't tell me how to do my job!

**Shadow turns to look at them, there's one big mechanic arguing with a female mechanic underneath a Gundam. The female mechanic seems small compare to the big muscular mechanic, she's got dirty blond hair tied in a ponytail behind her back, she's got a black glove on her left hand, she's wearing navy blue overalls, and she's also wearing what seems to be a homemade jacket.**

**The jacket seems to be made out of jeans and is also covered in pockets. Shadow subconsciously steps into the shadow of another Gundam; his dark clothes make him blend into the background. The fighting continues**

Mechanic: You messed with the converted and reconfigured the Cyclops system!

**He yells and points accusingly at her, she yells back**

Jack: I improved the converter and Cyclops system! I increased the speed of the Gundam by 10%!

Mechanic: And decreased the power by 5%! Which if you had bothered to listen to the client you would know that is an absolute no-no!

Jack: Oh come on the power levels on this thing was more than enough to sacrifice 5%, but the speed on this thing was as fast as a turtle; it needed the speed boost and could lose some power!

Mechanic: That's not the point Jack! You went ahead and mess with systems you weren't supposed to! He only asks us to fix the left arm Koralex but you went ahead and started messing with the converter and the Cyclops system!

Jack: I made the Gundam better! Because of the speed increased the overall power of an attack will increase!

Mechanic: Well the client didn't see it that way; I just spent the last 30 minutes getting chewed out for allowing the converter and Cyclops system to be modified, even though I have no idea that it had!

Jack: Well if the pilot complained than he's an idiot!

**The mechanic is red in the face. He begins to take deep breaths to calm himself down, and begins to talk in a calmer voice.**

Mechanic: If the pilot wants to be an idiot than that's his choice, we are only supposed to mess with the systems he asks us to fix nothing else, so just undo what you did so we can get this Gundam finish.

**Jack still angry turns around and begins to walk away**

Jack: Undo it yourself!

**She calls out over her shoulder as she continues walking away past Shadow still hiding in the Gundam's shadow. He has one of those smiles that says he found what he's looking for, he walks out of the shadow and begins to follow Jack. The scene cuts back to Cagalli, Nick and Van, they're talking by one of the houses**

Van: So basically you want me to become your official mechanic for your Gundam team.

**Cagalli nods her head**

Cagalli: That's right.

**Van says in a very calm voice**

Van: No

**Cagalli is surprise**

Cagalli: Huh?

**Van gets up**

Van: Thanks for the offer, but I'm happy here, so no.

**Cagalli says the next statement without thinking**

Cagalli: Ha how could you be happy here, this place is a dump.

**If you ever had a moment when you said something that you instantly regretted saying out loud, something you said out of impulse, well that's what is going on to Cagalli right now. Cagalli instantly regrets what she said she puts a hand over her mouth, Van turns to look at her angry, some other people close by overhear**

Person A: Did you hear what she just said?

Person B: That stuck up brat!

Person C: Let's teach her a lesson!

All persons: Yea!

**They begin to move towards Cagalli, Cagalli looks at them afraid. Nick steps between them and Cagalli, he moves his cowboy coat back showing his gun to them, although his gun is still in its hostler the strap is off and his hand is on it. He looks at them with his sharp blue eyes.**

Nick: This is a private conversation mates, so let's not do anything stupid.

**The persons stop when Nick confronts them, Van is still angry at Cagalli**

Van: Dump, a dump! How dare you call my home a dump! Oh I get it you must be some wealthy noble, so this city isn't shiny and doesn't have the fancy qualities of a big rich city but you know what it has its own unique beauty! And if you weren't so spoiled and open your eyes and really look around. You might just see it too.

**Van seems to have vented his anger he turns around and begins to walk away from the shock/stun Cagalli, but he calls over his shoulder**

Van: Whatever you may think of this place know that it's my home, and the only way I'm leaving it is in a body bag.

**Cagalli starts to have flashbacks of Shadow asking her if that was really all she saw, and Van telling her to open her eyes and look around**

Cagalli (Is-is there really a beauty here that I can't see?)

**The episode ends with her wondering.**


	10. Episode 9

Episode 9

**The episode opens with a flashback (you can tell it's a flashback by the classic black and white pictures). It's at the front cargo doors of Warehouse 24, its pouring rain. We can see a younger Jack crying, Tom is standing next to her he's got a hand on her shoulder. We can't hear anything, as if someone has push the mute button.**

**The camera is pointed straight at Jack, we see someone knee down and put his hand on Jack's other shoulder. The camera doesn't leave Jack's face so we can't see this new guy's face, but we hear one sentence clearly. It seems to be the new guy who says this in a sad voice**

New Guy: Goodbye Jack.

**We go back to the present which is shown by the sound of the workers of Warehouse 24 in the background and the color coming back on. We see Jack's red eyes suddenly snap open as her head jerks back. She's sitting down at a tool station and upon awakening looks around then sighs**

Jack (Damn, I must of dose off.)

**She looks at her watch, and then grabs a bunch of tools and puts them into her many pockets.**

Jack: Well better go and look busy for Tom.

**She says this more to herself than anyone, but Shadow coming out of nowhere answers anyway**

Shadow: Well if you need something to do I have a Gundam that I would like you to take a look at.

**Jack turns around surprise**

Jack: Who the hell are you?

**Shadow smile widens**

Shadow: I am the great, awesome, and magnificent Shadow Zoomarey!

**He does a little bow; Jack turns around and begins to walk away**

Jack: Bye weird-o.

**Shadow shocked chases after her**

Shadow: Hey wait!

**Jack continues walking away, she says rudely**

Jack: Go away I'm busy.

**Shadow replies in a good nature way**

Shadow: You just said you weren't busy.

Jack (Crap he overheard that, nosy bastard!)

Jack: Look go bother some other mechanic, I don't want to look at your Gundam.

**Shadow still following her is struggling to come up with an idea, and suddenly idea hits him. He stops and says**

Shadow: Oh I see now.

**The way he says this causes Jack to stop and slowly turn to look at him suspicious**

Jack: See what?

**Shadow still smiling walks over to Jack as he says**

Shadow: No it's ok, I get it now; you must be a rookie mechanic.

Jack: Rookie?

**Jack is clearly offended; Shadow sees this but goes on**

Shadow: It's ok; it explains why you're nervous about working on a Gundam by yourself.

Jack: Nervous!

**Jack very offended now**

Shadow: Oh sure, I mean I saw how that other mechanic chewed you out because you made so many mistakes on that other Gundam.

Jack: MASTAKES?

**Jack is now highly offended and insulted, Shadow sighs**

Shadow: It's all right; I'll go and get one of the more senior _male_ mechanics to look at my Gundam.

**He puts the male comment in their to be extra insulting, it works**

Jack: SO BECAUSE I'M A WOMAN I CAN'T BE A GOOD MECHANIC!

Shadow: I didn't mean it like that

**Jack cuts him off, mad out of her mind, she gets in his face and screams**

Jack: No, show me this Gundam and I'll show you just how good a mechanic I am!

**Shadow starts walking leading Jack towards Nightwing. He's smiling; the kind of smile a salesman has when they talk someone into buying something.**

Shadow (I am good.)

**The scene cuts back to Nightwing, it looks the same as when we last saw it. The camera turns around and looks down to show Tom working at a computer terminal; he looks up when he hears Shadow.**

Shadow: There he is.

**Shadow's pointing to Nightwing. Jack is walking behind him and she seems to have calmed down. Tom raises an eyebrow when he sees her, and she also looks surprise for a minute when she sees him but she quickly regains her composer. She walks over to him**

Tom: Jack.

**Jack nods her head**

Jack: Tom, let me see the repair profile.

**Tom hands her a small portable computer screen (Think touch PDA only the size of a small computer screen) and she begins typing on it.**

Jack: That idiot over there begged me to come and have a look at his Gundam.

**She points to Shadow who's standing next to Nightwing. He's circling around it and seems to be in deep thought. Jack continues**

Jack: Anyway who is he, some kind of VIP?

Tom: An old friend of mine asked me to look after them while they're in Junk City.

**Shadow seems to have finished doing whatever he was doing. He walks over to Jack**

Shadow: So how's he look.

**Jack puts the computer monitor back on the computer terminal, she looks up at Shadow annoyed.**

Jack: Like a waste of my time.

**She turns around and begins to walk away and Shadow confused begins to follow. Tom is silently watching the scene unfold.**

Shadow: Wait a minute what do you mean a waste of your time?

**Jack turns around very annoyed**

Jack: The only thing that needs repair on that Gundam is the outer armor dents, with some minor realignment of the inner circuitry!

Shadow: Ok

**Shadow says this implying he doesn't understanding the issue, Jack explains.**

Jack: This kind of work is a rookie's job, it's beneath me.

**Jack folds her hands waiting for his response. Shadow is struggling to think of something**

Shadow: Oh come on!

**Jack turns her head away from him**

Jack: NO, I refused to do this kind of degrading work.

**Shadow looks to Tom for help who shrugs his shoulder.**

Tom: Don't look at me, she's right this kind of repair work is normally left to the rookies. If it wasn't for the fact that you know Drake I wouldn't even give this Gundam a second glance and I'm not going to force my mechanic to work on it if she doesn't want to.

**Jack smiles at Shadow triumphantly. Shadow is still struggling to think of something as Jack begins to walk away. Shadow chases after her**

Shadow: Well if you think you can't handle

**Jack cuts him off**

Jack: Sorry but that only works once and I know for a fact that I could do that kind of work in my sleep.

**She continues walking away. Shadow comes up with a last ditch effort**

Shadow: What about if I agree to let you work on any parts or systems you want to?

**Jack stops and turns around he's got her attention now.**

Jack: Any system or part I want?

**Shadow quickly amends the statement.**

Shadow: As long as it improves the overall performance of the Gundam.

**Jack is a little annoyed**

Jack: I don't like what you're implying?

**Shadow shrugs and says**

Shadow: Nothing personal but you know how it goes, a mechanic gets all excited because he or she figure out how to increase the output of a system but doesn't realize that even though they increase the output of that system they lower the overall performance of the Gundam.

**Jack is surprise by Shadow, Shadow still smiling continues**

Shadow: You know, the same way a stubborn pilot might lower the performance of his Gundam because he refuses to lower his power levels in exchange for increase speed levels.

**Jack eyes open even wider in surprise, and then she gives a soft chuckle and grins.**

Jack: Heh Shadow Zoomarey right?

**Shadow nods his head**

Jack: I'm Jack Coldback.

**She holds out her hand, Shadow shakes it and smiles**

Shadow: Nice to finally get a name Jack.

**Jack grins back**

Jack: Nice to finally work with a pilot that isn't a complete idiot.

**Shadow smiles at first taking this as a complement as Jack starts to walk towards his Gundam, then the complete idiot part makes its way through his brain.**

Shadow: Hey wait a second what do mean by complete idiot?

**Jack doesn't turn around**

Jack: Nothing just for future notice when you try to speak mechanic, make sure you actually know what you're talking about.

**Shadow is annoyed by this comment, he turns to Tom**

Shadow: I thought I did a wonderful Job of faking mechanic speak.

**Tom laughs**

Tom: HAHAHH, Yea to a non-mechanic.

**The scene cuts to Kenny who is working on a computer terminal. Kenny sighs as he hits a few keys and turns the computer off. He turns around when he hears Nick.**

Nick: Hey mate.

**Nick is walking with Cagalli who is in deep thought. Kenny walks over to them**

Kenny: Hey Nick, Cagalli.

**Cagalli nods but is still in deep thought. Kenny raises and eyebrow at Nick as they continue to walk.**

Nick: Don't worry about it mate, so how did your search go mate?

**Kenny sighs**

Kenny: No luck, I tried to look up who had the best performance review, but their computer system is a mess. It took most of my time to go through it and pick out a couple of names, but when I went to talk to them they said they weren't interested.

**Nick nods his head**

Nick: Same problem here mate, only the rookie mechanics seemed interested in becoming a part of our team.

**Kenny sighs again**

Kenny: Well maybe Shadow or Roxas had more luck then we did.

**They come up to Nightwing and spot Shadow and call out to him.**

Kenny: Hey Shadow!

**Shadow turns to look at them**

Shadow: Hey guys!

**He meets them halfway**

Shadow: So how it go?

**Kenny shakes his head**

Kenny: No luck.

Nick: Same here mate.

Shadow: Oh

**Shadow turns and looks at Cagalli who is still in deep thought. He walks up to her and begins taping her forehead.**

Shadow: Hello Cagalli anyone in there?

**Cagalli snaps back to the present and angrily slaps his hand anyway from her head.**

Cagalli: Will you stop that!

**Shadow shakes his hand in pain**

Shadow: Ow that hurt.

**Cagalli gets in his face**

Cagalli: Good, just what the heck were you doing anyway!

**Shadow starts glaring back at Cagalli**

Shadow: I was trying to bring you back down to Sora!

**Cagalli is momentarily confused by this, then she gets it. Kenny tries to break up the fight.**

Kenny: Anyway we were talking about the progress we made on trying to find a mechanic.

**Cagalli calming down steps away from Shadow and turns to Kenny**

Cagalli: I didn't find anything.

**Shadow smiles**

Shadow: Aw poor princess.

**Cagalli snaps at him**

Cagalli: Can it!

**Kenny intervenes again**

Kenny: I wonder where Roxas is?

**Shadow points behind Kenny**

Shadow: She's coming right now.

**Roxas moving on all fours is coming towards them. She looks sweaty as if she did an intense physical workout; she also has a big grin on her face. She walks up to them**

Kenny: So how it go?

**Roxas looks at Kenny surprise**

Roxas: How what go?

**Cagalli rolls her eyes,**

Cagalli: Finding a mechanic, you know the whole reason why we're in Junk City to begin with!

Roxas: Oh that,

**Cagalli is really tick now**

Cagalli: Yes that! What have you been doing all this time!

**Nick smiles as he figures out what Roxas has been doing**

Nick: Someone has been getting lucky mate.

**Kenny rolls his eyes**

Kenny: Stop joking Nick, no way

**Roxas ignores Kenny and answers Nick**

Roxas: Yup

**Everyone, except Nick, turns and looks at Roxas stun. Shadow recovers first**

Shadow: You lucky

**Cagalli cuts Shadow off**

Cagalli: Roxas you perverted animal, how could you be so irresponsible, our whole point of coming here was to find a good mechanic, not so you could get laid!

**Roxas pleading her case**

Roxas: But I was helping to find a good mechanic. I was giving the mechanics I talked to a…physical; you know to make sure they were in good health.

**Shadow grinning asks**

Shadow: So how healthy were they?

**Roxas licks her lips**

Roxas: Deliciously healthy.

**Cagalli turn to Shadow and yells at him**

Cagalli: Stop encouraging her!

**Shadow sighs**

Shadow: Fine

**He then turns to Roxas smiling and asks**

Shadow: How about you give me a physical?

Cagalli: What!

**Roxas looks at Shadow uninterested**

Roxas: Sorry I still don't find you interesting enough.

**Shadow deflates while Cagalli throws her hands up in frustration**

Cagalli: I give up!

**Roxas jumps and hugs Cagalli**

Roxas: Aww, don't be mad Cagalli you'll always have a special place in my heart.

**Cagalli struggles to get Roxas off her**

Cagalli: Get off me pervert!

**While they continue to struggle the camera turns to zoom in on Jack, working on Nightwing. She's got goggles on, in one hand she's using a blowtorch, in the other she's got a hammer. **

**She's using the blowtorch and hammer to smooth out the dents in the outer armor. We can hear the flames of the blowtorch heating the metal and the dull cling of the hammer hitting the metal, the volume goes (As if someone hits the lower volume button on the remote) down a little as we hear Jack's thoughts**

Jack (Hm, A Basic Original huh, reminds me of the first time I worked on a Basic Original…..)

**We have another flashback, we see Tom walking with Jack right behind him. Jack is clumsily carrying a tool box, but she has a huge excited happy smile on her face something we have yet to see from the present Jack excluding her occasional grins.**

Tom: Alright today we'll have you work on a Basic Original Gundam.

**Tom stops at a Gundam that looks identical to Nightwing. Jack looks at Tom unhappy**

Jack: A Basic Original, come on.

**Tom looks at Jack annoyed**

Tom: What's wrong with the Basic Original?

**Jack replies in a whiny voice**

Jack: The Basic Original is boring. Can't I work on something else, like the Basic Heavy, or Viking Spear, I even heard that an animal model Gundam came in last night, let me work on one of those?

**Tom sighs**

Tom: First off Jack, those Gundams need repairs in areas and systems that you're not qualify enough to handle, and second you're a rookie so you do the rookie stuff.

**Jack glares at him**

Jack: Hey I'm not a rookie!

**Suddenly her tool box opens and all her tools fall out causing Tom to laugh**

Tom: HAHAHAH, says the mechanic who can't keep her tools in order!

**Jack blushes and goes to pick up her tools and put them back into her tool box. Tom starts to walk off**

Tom: Right I'll leave you to it.

**Jack puts all the tools back in her tool box. She gets back up and sighs then walks over to the Basic Original Gundam, and begins to examine it. Suddenly we hear and see sparks from a blowtorch being used on the Gundam. Jack surprised and annoyed at the same time shouts**

Jack: Hey who's there!

**A person lifts his head up. He turns off the blowtorch puts it down and lifts up his goggles**

Person: Hey there little sister.

**He says in a good humor way similar to how Shadow greets people. He has curly brownish/blondish hair, he's not as buff as Tom but he's getting there, he's got determine but playful red eyes. Jack is very annoyed now**

Jack: Mark what are you doing here? Are you here because Tom doesn't trust me to work on a Gundam by myself?

**Mark smiles ignoring the rude way she asks the question**

Mark: Chill sis, I didn't even know you were going to be working on this Gundam today.

**Jack calms down as common sense kicks in**

Jack: Oh, so why are you here?

**Mark shrugs and says casually**

Mark: I always work on a Basic Original Gundam whenever they come in.

**Mark turns around and begins to mess around with some wires inside the hole he cut away with the blowtorch. Jack hands him a tool**

Jack: I don't get it. The Basic Original Gundam is so boring, it's got nothing new to play around with; it's all just the Basic systems.

**Mark looks up and grins at Jack**

Mark: I suppose one could say it like that.

**Jack eyes him**

Jack: And how would you say it?

**Mark's grin turns into a full blown smile**

Mark: A mechanic's dream!

**Jack is surprise**

Jack: Huh?

**Mark smile never leaves his face**

Mark: A true mechanic shouldn't just be interested in playing around and understanding the new technology, he should be trying to create his own systems and blueprints for a Gundam and what better Gundam to test these new systems and blueprints on then

**Jack smiling at Mark's enthusiastic views finishes it for him**

Jack: A Basic Original Gundam.

**Mark smiles and nods at Jack**

Mark: Yup, after all that's what it was design for.

**Jack sighs then smiles**

Jack: Fine, you can work on this Gundam under my supervision of course.

**Mark smile disappears, he's surprise and a little insulted by this statement**

Mark: Hey Rookie don't get a big head. Just because I want to work on this Gundam doesn't mean I'll agree to be your lackey!

**Jack tick at being called a Rookie responses**

Jack: Oh yes you will, because Tom assigned this Gundam to me, and if you want to touch it you need me to sign off on it and don't call me a rookie!

**They glare at each other for a moment then Mark breaks out laughing**

Mark: Hahahah, alright I give this one to you but only because you're my little sister after all, the future greatest mechanic in the world can't be seen taking orders from a brat.

**Jack rolls her eyes**

Jack: Not this again.

**Mark ignores Jack and goes on**

Mark: Someday I'm going to become the greatest mechanic this world has ever seen!

**Jack sarcastically says**

Jack: Yea right.

**Mark grins at her and rubs the top of her head, showing the height difference, and messing up her hair**

Mark: Hey brat, don't make fun of my dream!

**The flashback ends with Mark laughing and Jack pushing his hand off her head. We come back to the present; Jack is still smoothing out the metal on the right arm of Nightwing.**

Jack (I was such a rookie back then.)

**Jack turns off the blowtorch and puts it into one of her pockets on her jacket. She lifts up her goggles, and looks closely at the spot she had been working on. It's still glowing red from the heat but we can see it's perfectly smooth.**

Jack: Not a bad job if I say so myself.

**The camera turns back to Shadow and co. Cagalli has manage to get Roxas off her. Roxas is on the ground scratching her head with her hands like a cat. Kenny turns to Shadow**

Kenny: Wait a minute I just realize we haven't asked you yet how your search went for a mechanic.

**All eyes turn to Shadow, he grins**

Shadow: I found one.

Cagalli, Kenny, and Nick: What!

Cagalli: How come you didn't say something before?

**Cagalli is very annoyed by Shadow holding out on them**

Shadow: Don't be jealous of my mad skills Cagalli.

**Cagalli very tick off now snaps**

Cagalli: Who would be jealous of you!

**Nick cuts in the middle of the two**

Nick: Shadow where is this mechanic now?

**Shadow points to Nightwing then yells**

Shadow: Jack! Get down here!

**Jack's head suddenly pops up from Nightwing. She jumps down and heads towards Shadow**

Kenny: So Shadow what's he like?

**Roxas start jumping up and down excited**

Roxas: Is he buff, does he have muscles coming out of muscles; is he rough and manly looking?

**Shadow is not sure how to answer the questions.**

Shadow: Ummm well

**While they're talking Jack walks up to them annoyed about being interrupted.**

Jack: What do you want?

**Kenny, Roxas, Cagalli, and Nick look at Jack surprise**

Kenny: Um, who is this?

**Shadow smiles**

Shadow: Everyone I want you to meet Jack. Jack this is everyone.

**Jack is still annoyed about being interrupted, but she's also thrown off guard by meeting these new people.**

Jack: Um, hi.

**She says awkwardly, Kenny still stun ask**

Kenny: Wait you're Jack?

**Jack not sure what's going on**

Jack: Um, yea.

Cagalli: Short for Jackie?

**Jack is now very annoyed most likely because she's been ask this question before, many times before.**

Jack: No, just Jack.

**Kenny breaks out laughing**

Kenny: hahahaha, that's a guy's name.

**Jack takes a wrench out of one of her pockets and whacks Kenny in the head with it. Kenny spins once then crumbles to the ground unconscious, Shadow, Nick, Cagalli, and Roxas are very surprise. Jack looks at them still pissed**

Jack: Anyone else have something to say about my name!

**Jack says threateningly, they shake their heads**

Jack: Good!

**Shadow moves right along as if nothing happen**

Shadow: Anyway the person you just knocked out is Kenny, that's Cagalli, Nick, and Roxas.

**He points to each of them in turn, Cagalli and Nick wave at her but it's clear that they're intimidated by her, Roxas however sighs.**

Roxas: She's not my type.

**Jack not sure what she means**

Jack: Um, what?

**Cagalli however snaps**

Cagalli: Roxas is that all you think about!

**Roxas ignores Cagalli, and jumps up once again hugging her**

Roxas: But it's alright I still have my Cagalli!

**Cagalli once again struggles to get Roxas off.**

Cagalli: Get off me!

**While there doing that Shadow turns to Nick and asks.**

Shadow: Hey, Nick do you think you can take Kenny and get him some ice for that bump on his head.

**Nick nods as if this is something he does every day**

Nick: Sure, mate.

**Nick picks up Kenny and begins to walk away. Cagalli still pushing Roxas off turns to Shadow concern**

Cagalli: He'll be alright right?

**Jack looks at Cagalli annoyed and answers**

Jack: Relaxed he'll be up in a couple of hours, I didn't hit him hard enough to damage the skull.

**Shadow smiling also adds**

Shadow: Don't worry Kenny is use to taking hits like that, remember we come from Slyer.

**Cagalli sighs with relief, Roxas sees this**

Roxas: Aw, you were really worry weren't you; that is so cute!

**Roxas goes to hug Cagalli even tighter. Cagalli is struggling now to keep Roxas off her; Jack watches this for a moment then turns around and begins to walk toward Nightwing**

Jack: If that's all, I need to get back to work weird-ohs.

**Shadow chases after her**

Shadow: Oh come on I just wanted you to meet my Gundam Team.

**Jack stops surprise then looks back at the "Team"**

Jack: You're a Gundam Team?

**Shadow smiles and puffs out his chest with pride**

Shadow: Yup

**Jack unbelieving asks**

Jack: So where are your teammates Gundams?

**Shadow deflates, embarrass by the answer**

Shadow: Um, well they don't have one yet.

**Jack now looks at Shadow skeptically**

Jack: A Gundam Team with only one Gundam?

**Shadow gets defensive**

Shadow: Well we're a new team just starting out so we don't quite have all the things we need to actually participate in an official Gundam Fight.

**Jack isn't impressed**

Jack: No kidding, call me whenever that happens.

**She says the last statement sarcastically implying she doesn't think they will ever be a Gundam Team. Jack turns around and starts to walk away when Shadow grabs her shoulder stopping her. She turns to look at him surprised, Shadow has a very serious look on his face**

Shadow: Don't doubt my dream.

**Shadow doesn't raise his voice, but the serious way he says this surprises Jack. Jack is wide eye when she asks**

Jack: Dream?

**Shadow smile once again returns**

Shadow: My Dream is to become the Greatest Gundam Fighter this world has ever seen!

**He shouts out, some people turn to look at him surprise but they continue to walk away ignoring him. Jack is very surprise, we hear Mark inside Jack's head.**

Jack (Mark: My dream is to become the Greatest Mechanic this world has ever seen!)

**Shadow waves his hand in Jack's face**

Shadow: God, what is with people spacing out today?

**Jack blinks, shakes her head then snaps at Shadow**

Jack: Will you leave me alone so I can get back to work!

**She storms off, leaving a stun Shadow**

Shadow: What I do?

**We cut outside to see the sun set, we cut back inside to see Kenny slowly wake up. He's set up against a wall near Nightwing. He groans as he regains his senses**

Kenny: What hit me?

**Shadow is standing nearby he smiles kindly at Kenny**

Kenny: Good morning sleeping beauty.

**Roxas is curl up in a ball similar to a dog on the wall a little bit away from the others. She has her eyes close but she answers him anyways.**

Roxas: A wrench and the fury of a woman scorn.

**Kenny remembers**

Kenny: Oh, that.

**Nick is standing leaning against the wall on the other side of Kenny. He chuckles a little**

Nick: hehehe, like they say mate, Hell have no fury like a woman scorn.

**Kenny begins rubbing the back of his head where Jack hit him.**

Kenny: I didn't know she take it so bad.

**Cagalli is sitting down on the other side of Nick. She's put her Guan dao on her lap so it's not in her way when she leans against the wall.**

Cagalli: Well at least you know not to make fun of her name.

**Kenny moans in pain again**

Kenny: And it only cost me a lump on the head the size of a mountain.

**Shadow grins at Kenny and lightly kicks his legs**

Shadow: Come on, you got bigger bruises then that in Slyer.

**Kenny laughs a little**

Kenny: haha, yea right, so how long have I been out?

**Shadow shrugs**

Shadow: Only a couple of hours.

**Jack walks up to them. Kenny slides a little further down afraid of her.**

Jack: So he's awake.

**She says to Shadow eyeing Kenny coldly. Shadow smiles seeming to not notice the tension**

Shadow: Yup, how's Nightwing?

**Jack turns to Shadow confused**

Jack: Nightwing?

**Shadow nods his head**

Shadow: Yea, my Gundam.

Jack: You name your Gundam Nightwing?

**Jack asks like he's an idiot, Shadow is offended**

Shadow: Nightwing is a great name!

**Jack holds up her hands**

Jack: Fine, whatever. I need you to come with me to test out "Nightwing's" new systems.

**Shadow is excited**

Shadow: Did you finish him!

**Jack has turn around and started to walk towards Nightwing**

Jack: I only finish the right arm.

**Shadow is a little disappointed**

Shadow: Oh

**He looks at the others. Roxas, Cagalli, and Nick seem to have fallen asleep, and Kenny is rubbing the back of his head.**

Shadow: Kenny, you'll be alright keeping watch right?

**Kenny looks up at Shadow and smiles**

Kenny: You're kidding right, with this huge lump on my head I doubt I could get to sleep even if I wanted to.

**Shadow nods his head, turns and goes after Jack. Jack is at a computer terminal, the computer terminal has a glove that goes up the length of the arm. She points to it as she says**

Jack: Put that on.

**Shadow does as Jack asks, the moment he puts the glove on his arm it starts to glow with the red line appearing (Think back to the Gundam Fight with the Warden, how his Pilot suit glow with red lines when the NS system activated) Shadow's muscles in his arm start involuntary flexing. He yelps more in surprise than pain, he then grits his teeth in pain, and glares at Jack. Jack is unconcern**

Jack: Don't worry that's just a remote arm simulator for the NS system, its use in the final tests on Gundams that only need their limbs repair.

**The NS system activates fully, which means the pain stops. Shadow calms down then says in a joking way.**

Shadow: Man you could warn a guy first.

**Jack moves along in a businessman way**

Jack: Anyway I won't bother you with terms you don't understand but to cut a long story short, I increased the mobility and the power of the right arm.

**Shadow gets excited**

Shadow: Really?

**Unfortunately Shadow forgets he has the NS system on. He clenches his hands into fist and brings them to his side, but because his right arm has the NS system on, Nightwing's right arm copies his movement hitting its own body. Jack gets very angry**

Jack: You moron! Only your right arm has the NS system on so be careful!

**When she says you moron, she hits him with her wrench, not as hard as she hits Kenny but enough that it hurt.**

Shadow: Ow!

**He goes to rub the spot she hit but once again he uses his right arm causing Nightwing to bash itself in the head.**

Jack: Idiot! What did I just tell you! I thought you said you piloted this thing before!

**Jack yells at him, Shadow is getting annoyed**

Shadow: Look its different when the whole body doesn't have the NS system on!

**Jack gets impatient**

Jack: Will you just flex your arm!

**Shadow doesn't get it**

Shadow: Flex my arm?

**Jack sighs**

Jack: You know to get a feel for the new mobility and power adjustments.

**Shadow gets it now**

Shadow: Oh

**Shadow turns to face Nightwing his face takes on a surprisingly focus look. He lifts up his arm Nightwing copies, he begins to flex each one of his fingers one at a time, Nightwing copies, he tense the muscles in his fingers, Nightwing copies, he moves each one of his fingers in a circular motion, Nightwing copies.**

**As he's doing this Jack is also looking intensely at Nightwing and Shadow, periodically she types something down on something that looks like a small PDA. They're both so focus on the task that they fail to see Tom come up and stand behind them. He has a look of surprise on his face**

Tom (A common mistake most beginner Gundam Pilots make is to not check the flexibility of their Gundam, relying on the Gundam's power, speed and armor they just assume that the Gundam will be able to follow all of their movements but that's incorrect.

If the joints aren't properly maintain or are installed wrong it can severely limit the Gundam's movement; forcing the pilot to make unnecessary movements to compensate, and this will lower the overall performance of the Gundam. I don't know how many times I've seen rookie pilots drop their weapons during a fight because they fail to check the joints on their Gundam's fingers.)

**While Tom's thinking this Shadow finishes checking the fingers. He clenches his hand into a fist and begins to move it in circle, Nightwing copies, Shadow smiles as he says**

Shadow: This is incredible; you did an awesome job on increasing the flexibility!

**He begins punching the air, Nightwing copies. Jack smiles**

Jack: Of course and this is only one arm, wait into I finish the whole thing.

**Shadow still rapidly punching the air**

Shadow: Oh man I can't wait!

**Tom choose this moment to make his presences known**

Tom: Say kid did Drake tell you to check the flexibility of your Gundam like that?

**Both Jack and Shadow turn around surprise,**

Shadow: Um, No, Why?

**Tom shrugs trying to pass this off as no big deal. Shadow's fool, but Jack is looking at Tom closely. Shadow is still moving around his arm testing the range of mobility.**

Tom: Oh No reason, it's just unusual for a Gundam pilot to check that right off the bat.

Shadow: Oh, well you see when I was in my last Gundam Fight; when I was holding my beam saber I notice that my fingers wouldn't close all the way.

**Shadow takes out his sword and shows them, Nightwing copies his grip without the sword. Jack nods her head**

Jack (Not surprising with what I found, the finger joints clearly hadn't been look at in a while. It was to the point where I had to change out several of the parts and rebuild them from scratch.)

**Shadow continues**

Shadow: So I had to compensate by tightening the grip with my thumb, which was fine since I didn't have to use my beam saber for long.

**Shadow demonstrates, Tom nods his head in understanding**

Tom: But in a long lasting fight your thumb will get tired much more quickly causing you to drop you beam saber, and you figure all this out after one fight?

**Shadow is a little embarrass**

Shadow: Well it wasn't until I started using an actual sword that I notice it.

**Tom nods his head impressed,**

Jack: You can take the glove off now.

**Jack hits a switch and the NS glow deactivates. Nightwing's arm drops down to its side, Shadow is focus on Nightwing so he doesn't notice Cagalli and the others walking up to him.**

Cagalli: Are you done yet!

**She seems highly annoyed. Roxas looks like she's sleep walking, she's even standing on two legs. Nick has his hat down low to cover his red tired eyes, and Kenny is still rubbing the lump on his head.**

Cagalli: In case you can't tell we're all exhausted, and with the noise in this place we can't get a wink of sleep.

**Shadow looks at her and smiles too happy to care about her rudeness**

Shadow: As a matter of fact we are.

**Cagalli is a little surprise by his attitude, Shadow goes on**

Shadow: I Shadow Zoomarey, Leader of the

**He pauses for a moment thinking, he turns to Kenny**

Shadow: Hey Kenny remind me later to think of a name for our Gundam Team.

**Kenny still rubbing his head**

Kenny: Yea, whatever.

**Shadow goes on**

Shadow: Anyway, I have decided that Jack Coldback is to be our Gundam Team's mechanic!

**He shouts and points to Jack, surprised all eyes turn to Jack who is the most surprised, but she regains her composer.**

Jack: No.

**Shadow is thrown off guard. Apparently nowhere in his mind had he consider her refusing**

Shadow: HUH?

**Jack sighs**

Jack: Look I'll finish repairs on your Gundam tomorrow, however after that I'm done. I don't want to be a part of your Gundam Team.

**Shadow goes to say something but Cagalli cuts him off**

Cagalli: Can't we talk about this in the morning; I need to find a place to sleep!

**Shadow goes to argue, but Nick cuts in**

Nick: I think the Miss is right mate; we need to find a place to recharge first before we worry about any other things.

**Roxas half asleep says**

Roxas: Not…Nocturnal…need…sleep.

**Shadow realizes he's out voted**

Shadow: Fine, we'll find a hotel or somewhere to crash at.

**Tom starts laughing**

Tom: Hhahahahha, Hotel, hhahhahah, you think there's a hotel in Junk City, hahahahahhahaha.

Kenny, Cagalli, Roxas, Nick: What!

**Tom calms down**

Tom: What, did you think this city gets many tourists? There aren't any hotels in Junk City.

**Kenny trying to suppress his growing panic asks**

Kenny: Come on, where do the Gundam pilots sleep when you keep their Gundams overnight?

Tom: Normally on their ships.

**Tom points to what appears to be the battleship section of the Warehouse**

Roxas: Can't we just sleep outside again?

**Nick shakes his head**

Nick: Way to dangerous, especially if they think we have money.

**They all start thinking, Tom steps forward and puts a hand on Jack's shoulder.**

Tom: Why don't you stay at Jack's place?

**Jack turns to Tom shocked an annoyed**

Jack: What! You can't just go an offer my place without my permission.

**Tom eyes Jack coolly**

Tom: Just like you need permission from a pilot to work on certain systems.

**Jack steps back and looks away**

Jack: Oh, Josh told you about that.

Tom: Now Jack do you think there is anything in my Warehouse that I don't know about?

**Jack doesn't answer but keeps her head down**

Tom: Anyway you can consider this as punishment.

**Jack still not ready to give in**

Jack: Don't you think you're overstepping your boundaries?

**Tom says in a very serious voice**

Tom: It's either this or you're fired.

**Jack flips out**

Jack: What? For one incident!

**Tom yells back**

Tom: For three and that's only for this week!

**Jack realizes he's right**

Jack: Oh

**Jack struggles to think of something but she fails**

Jack: Alright.

**Jack says reluctantly Roxas jumps up**

Roxas: Yes!

**Jack pissed storms off; Roxas, Cagalli, Nick and Kenny follow her. Shadow goes to follow her to but Tom grabs his arm, confused Shadow turns to look at him.**

Tom: Hold on a minute kid, I want to talk to you.

Shadow: Ok what?

**Tom looks Shadow straight in the eye**

Tom: You should pick another mechanic to be on your Gundam Team.

**Shadow narrows his eyes**

Shadow: Why is that?

**Tom seems to grow in size and glares down at Shadow**

Tom: Because I said so.

**He doesn't raise his voice but there's defiantly an edge to it. He steps closer to Shadow glaring down at him, but Shadow doesn't back down.**

Shadow: No.

**He says it with the same quiet edge as Tom. They continue to stare at each other, it can only be describe as a battle of wills, and then Tom sighs.**

Tom: You have a better chance of stopping the sun setting than you do talking Jack into joining your team.

**He turns around and walks away but he calls out over his shoulder.**

Tom: You should also know that she's got a history.

Shadow: A history of what?

**He calls out, Tom doesn't answer Shadow. Shadow watches Tom walk away.**

Shadow (You can talk all you want Tom but Jack Coldback will be my Gundam Team's mechanic)

**The episode ends with Shadow's eyes taking on a determine look.**


	11. Episode 10

Episode 10

**The episode opens up inside a house, there's one table with four chairs that appear to be made out of metal, there's also a metal tool cabinet in the corner, on top of the cabinet is three pictures. The picture to the left is of a man, a women and Tom smiling as they work on a Gundam, the man and women look similar to Mark and Jack. **

**The middle picture is the man and the woman holding a baby in their arms, we can see young Mark (maybe 6) standing next to them, they're all smiling and basically happy. The picture to the right is of Mark and a young Jack (maybe 12) Mark is smiling and has a peace sign up while he's messing up Jack's hair, Jack is looking at Mark annoyed. The door opens and Jack walks in, she turns on the lights**

Jack: Welcome to my house, make yourself at home not that I've got a choice.

**Cagalli, Roxas, Nick, Kenny and Shadow walk in after her. Jack walks over to the tool cabinet and begins to put her tools away.**

Shadow: Nice place.

**Kenny goes and sits down at one of the chairs. Kenny turns to look closer at the chair**

Kenny: Are these chairs made out of metal?

**Jack done putting her tools away turns to glare at him**

Jack: Yea, so?

**She says challengingly, Kenny cowers under her gaze but Nick taking a seat across from Kenny turns around and says**

Nick: She's a mechanic mate, and she probably built this whole house and everything in it.

**Jack doesn't comment. Roxas starts to walk to the kitchen**

Roxas: I'm hungry, where's the kitchen?

**Shadow follows Roxas**

Shadow: It's impolite to let a lady eat alone so I will come with you.

**He says this in a grand manner. Cagalli who's leaning on the wall rolls her eyes**

Cagalli: More like you just want another chance to hit on Roxas.

**Shadow turns to glare at her**

Shadow: NO, well maybe yes, but I am hungry.

**Roxas and Shadow walk into the kitchen. Jack starts to chase after them**

Jack: Wait a minute, don't just go and rummage through other people's houses without their permission!

**She yells at them as she chases them into the kitchen, Nick turns to Cagalli, and Kenny as he pulls a deck of cards out of his pocket**

Nick: Want to play a game of cards mates?

**The scene cuts to the Kitchen; Roxas is eating a steak at the table once again reminding us of some kind of animal with the way she's just ripping it apart with her teeth and gold claws. Shadow is waiting by the microwave for his food to finish; Jack burst in takes one look around and gets really red with anger.**

Jack: What the hell do you think you're doing!

**Shadow is unmoved**

Shadow: We're eating.

**That just pisses off Jack even more**

Jack: I can see that, what do you Jackasses think you're doing eating my food?

**She yells at them, Jack goes to take the steak from Roxas but Roxas snaps her teeth and barks at her, then growls at her when Jack backs off momentary taken back. Shadow looks amuse and a little afraid.**

Shadow: Yea, I won't do that again.

**Roxas goes back to ravaging the poor steak. Jack is still a little shocked**

Jack: Is she always like this?

**The microwave beeps and Shadow grabs his food.**

Shadow: Yup, we found her in the woods so she sometimes acts more animal like than human.

**Shadow begins to eat his food while Jack continues to stare at Roxas.**

Jack: Interesting.

**Shadow looks at Jack surprised.**

Shadow: I didn't know you were into that kind of thing.

**Jack kicks him hard in the knee**

Shadow: OW!

**Jack still focus on Roxas takes out her PDA from her pocket and begins to write a bunch of notes down.**

Jack: Watching her gives me an idea on how to perfect a new design for the rapture system on the left knee of a Gundam.

**Shadow looks at Jack like she's speaking a foreign language.**

Shadow: Um, Ok.

**Jack is getting excited**

Jack: This is great I haven't had a breakthrough on this design for months!

**Shadow is watching her closely, but Jack is now paying complete attention to her PDA. He begins taking slowly**

Shadow: You know, Roxas isn't the only interesting person on my Gundam Team, I'm sure if you came with us you'll be able to find lots of inspiration.

**Like a switch that was press, Jack's face changes from one that is excited to one that is extremely annoyed. She stops writing on her PDA and turns to glare at Shadow**

Jack: I said NO!

**She puts her PDA back into one of her pockets.**

Shadow: Why not?

**He says pleadingly, Jack snaps back**

Jack: Because I said so and stop eating my food!

**She yells at Shadow as she grabs the food from him.**

Shadow: Hey I was still eating that!

**Jack puts the food back in the refrigerator. Roxas has finish her steak, she licks her lips and burps.**

Roxas: Not anymore apparently.

**Shadow turns to Roxas annoyed**

Shadow: Thanks Roxas.

**Roxas smiles playfully**

Roxas: Anytime.

**Jack starts yelling at them**

Jack: Both of you out of my kitchen now!

**She takes out her wrench and starts swing it at them, Roxas meows at Jack and dodges the wrench the same way a cat would and Shadow also dodges. Roxas and Shadow start retreating from the kitchen, they head back into the living where Cagalli, Kenny, and Nick seem to be playing a game of poker.**

Shadow: Man Jack sure has a temper.

**Roxas nods her head**

Roxas: I agree she needs to get laid.

**Cagalli looks up from her cards**

Cagalli: I don't suppose you idiots would consider that Jack has a right to be mad, after all you did come into her house and start eating her food without her permission.

**Shadow shrugs it off**

Shadow: Details, Details, Details.

**Cagalli gets tick off by Shadow's comment**

Cagalli: Were you raised in the jungle!

**Roxas goes to answer but Cagalli snaps**

Cagalli: Don't answer that Roxas!

**Roxas blinks in surprise**

Roxas: Well excused me.

**Roxas walks over to the corner on all fours, circles three times then sits down, Shadow doesn't take offense.**

Shadow: Don't take it personally Roxas; Cagalli is just mad because she's getting her ass kick in poker.

**Shadow walks behind her and looks at her cards, Cagalli looks at Shadow annoyed. Nick looks up from his cards they seem to be playing Texas hold em.**

Nick: All right show your cards.

**On the table is an A of spades, 10 of jacks, 3 of diamonds, 8 of hearts, and a King of hearts, Kenny puts a 2 of heats and a queen of diamonds on the table**

Kenny: Queen high

**Cagalli smiles and puts a King of diamonds and a 7 of spades**

Cagalli: Pair of Kings

**Cagalli smiles thinking she's got them beat, Nick smiles kindly then puts down his card, A of jacks, and A of hearts**

Nick: Sorry miss, but that's three A's mates, I win.

**Nick collects the cards and starts shuffling,**

Cagalli: Damn!

Shadow: Texas Hold em, isn't that kind of boring without actually gambling?

Kenny: We are, we have it work on a point system with each player starting at 100 points, we bet the points instead of money.

**Shadow nods in understanding**

Shadow: So who's winning?

**Kenny sighs**

Kenny: Nick with 276 points. I've got 34 points.

**Shadow nods towards Cagalli**

Shadow: How many does Cagalli have?

**Cagalli sighs depressed**

Cagalli: I'm out.

**Nick smiles kindly at her**

Nick: Aw don't be like that mate; it was your first time playing cards.

**Cagalli still depressed replies**

Cagalli: It was my first time 20 hands ago.

**Shadow looks at Cagalli then takes a seat next to her**

Shadow: Put me in with a 100 points, Cagalli and I will act as Team.

**Cagalli looks at Shadow surprise**

Cagalli: Team?

**Shadow shrugs**

Shadow: Yea, I figure I'll give you some tips on how to play, that and if you just sat there waiting for the game to end you'll mess up my concentration.

**Cagalli is slightly offended**

Cagalli: Fine, I bet you can't even play anyways.

**Shadow is annoyed by her comment**

Shadow: I'll show you!

**Nick starts dealing the cards**

Nick: I don't mind, two bad players equal one good player.

**Shadow's offended**

Shadow: Wait and see I'll school you all in poker!

**The camera cuts to the hallway, we see Jack walking towards the living room.**

Jack (Those guys sure made a mess in the kitchen, better go see what they're up to.)

**She turns in to the living room to see them playing poker, we see Shadow and the others laughing, smiling and basically having a good time. It gives off a warm friendly feeling. The camera turns to Jack to show she's in a deep state of shock.**

**The camera turns back to the others only to show them replace with a bunch of mechanics, we see Mark in the seat where Shadow was sitting. They settle down from their joke, Mark turns and notices Jack standing there.**

Mark: Oh Jack why don't you come play poker with us?

**He says with a smile and friendly voice, Jack is still deeply shock, Mark starts looking at her concern.**

Mark: Hey Jack you alright?

**Suddenly Mark's face begins to fade and gets replace by Shadow**

Shadow: Jack you alright?

**The other faces go back to normal; Jack blinks then shakes her head**

Jack: Huh, what?

**Shadow still a little worried asks**

Shadow: I was asking you if you wanted to come play poker with us.

**Jack suddenly snaps**

Jack: NO, I'm heading to bed!

**She marches off; the others all have surprise looks on their face**

Kenny: What's her problem?

**Shadow shrugs; Jack calls out to them still in the hallway**

Jack: And if you bastards go anywhere us other than that living room I'll beat the shit out of you all.

**They all exchange looks of fear, the camera cuts back into the dark hallway, Jack takes her fist and hits the wall.**

Jack (Damn it, why does he have to be so similar to him!)

**The scene end with Jack walking off into her bedroom. The next scene opens up in the living room, the lights have been turn off and everyone seems to be asleep. Roxas is still in the corner curled up, Nick is sitting down in the chair with his feet on the table; his hat is down low covering his eyes, Kenny has taken the other three chairs and is laying down on them, Shadow and Cagalli are on floor leaning on the wall across from one another. Jack burst into the room, she's fully clothe but her hair is a little wet like she just came out of a shower.**

Jack: Wake up you free loaders!

**She calls out, and walks over to her tool cabinet; on her way over there she kicks the chair out from under Kenny and sends it flying into Shadow. Kenny crashes to the ground as the chair hits Shadow in the chest.**

Shadow and Kenny: OW

**Cagalli and Nick are starting to wake up, Cagalli rubs her eye.**

Cagalli: Huh, what's going on?

**Nick yawns and stretches**

Nick: G'day mates, morning all ready?

**Jack still taking tools from the tool cabinet replies**

Jack: Yup, I've got to get to work and I'll be damn if I let you free loaders stay by yourself in my house, so you're coming with me.

**Shadow pushes the chair off himself; he is very tick about being woken up.**

Shadow: What time is it?

**Jack replies without hesitation**

Jack: Early, now get your lazy bums up and you stop sleeping right now!

**She says the last part at Roxas and throws a wrench at her hitting her in the chest, Roxas jumps up and hiss like startle cat. Jack finishes getting her tools and walks over to the door and opens it.**

Jack: Alright come on slow people let's get going.

**Kenny getting up looks at Jack annoyed**

Kenny: Don't we at least get a shower?

**Cagalli also getting up adds**

Cagalli: And breakfast?

**Jack says in a hurried voice**

Jack: There are normally a couple of food benders in the warehouse, so I'm sure you can buy something from them.

**Nick is already heading towards the door and Cagalli seems to becoming more awake. Kenny and Shadow are still trying to shake sleepiness from their eyes, and Roxas is laying down trying to get back to sleep.**

Cagalli: And what about the shower?

**Jack laughs**

Jack: Hahahah like I would let you use my shower.

**Nick, Cagalli, and Kenny exit, Shadow walks over to Roxas and grabs the collar of her shirt and begins to drag her towards the door. Hissing Roxas begins to try and grip the floor with her nails unsuccessfully, Shadow still unhappy about being woken up says.**

Shadow: Come on Roxas; if I have to suffer so do you, and you why do you look so damn relaxed!

**He says the last statement to Nick as he walks out the door still pulling Roxas, it's still dark outside. Nick smiles at him**

Nick: This is the time I used to get up and start work on the range with the mates, mate.

**Kenny rolls his eyes as Jack closes and locks the door.**

Kenny: Figures cowboy.

**Jack turns to face them and puts the keys in her pocket**

Jack: What are you guys standing there for MARCH!

**Jack barks at them, the scene cuts back into the warehouse in front of Nightwing. The camera moves over top of Nightwing to see Jack once again working on Nightwing, the camera moves over to the side to show Shadow and the others leaning against the wall looking bored.**

Shadow: I'm so bored.

**Shadow complains, Cagalli turns to look at him annoyed**

Cagalli: And you complaining about it for the fifth time in 10 minutes will make it all better.

**Shadow and Cagalli start glaring at each other,**

Nick: Well it's not like we can do much more mates, it's too loud in here to get some sleep with the exception of the miss.

**He nods towards Roxas, who is curled up sleeping like a log. Cagalli looks at her**

Cagalli: Are we sure she's human?

**Shadow smiles at her**

Shadow: Well pretty sure although I do wish I could fall asleep in this ruckus.

**Kenny gets off the wall and starts walking towards Nightwing. Shadow turns to him surprise**

Shadow: Where are you going?

**Kenny doesn't turn around**

Kenny: I'm going to go check out the programming in Nightwing.

**Shadow smiles at him**

Shadow: If you're going to check it out you might as well upgrade it.

**Kenny just waves at him, Shadow leans back against the wall**

Shadow: I'm so bored.

**Cagalli jumps off the wall**

Cagalli: That's it I'm getting some air!

**She shouts out very annoyed by Shadow's comment. She walks away, and Shadow surprise turns to Nick**

Shadow: What I say?

**The camera cuts to Cagalli who's walking towards the exit of the Warehouse**

Cagalli (Arg that stupid Shadow Zoomarey is such a pain constantly talking and saying stupid jokes, if I hear him say he's bored one more time I'll…I'll….)

**She stops her train of thought as she walks outside an exit just in time to see the sun rise. Her eyes open wide in surprise, the camera turns and moves behind Cagalli so that we can also see the view. **

**We can see different mountains of Junk of different sizes spread out, but as the rising sun hits the metal and the light reflects off it onto other metals and the lights reflect off those metals and so on, giving the effect of thousands of light beams crisscrossing one another, the whole scene is considerably beautiful.**

**Cagalli is stun by its beauty, her eyes are wide open and her mouth has slightly dropped. Tom walks up behind her, he's smiling at her**

Tom: So what do you think?

**Cagalli startle looks behind herself to see Tom. Once she sees its Tom she goes back to looking at the scenery.**

Cagalli: It's beautiful.

**Tom smiles at her and goes to stand next to her**

Tom: It sure is I come here every morning to take a look at this view before I start my days work. As I'm sure you know Junk City isn't known for its beauty.

**Cagalli looks to the ground embarrassed, Tom notices but continues anyway**

Tom: Or rather it isn't known for the beauty rich people look for when they think of beauty, but Junk City has its own unique beauty, a beauty that can only be find here like this sunrise. It's just ashamed that most people consider Junk City a landfill and not even bother to look for its own beauty.

**Cagalli lowers her head ashamed**

Cagalli: I'm sorry; I'm one of those people who just thought this City was a landfill.

**Tom laughs**

Tom: HAHAHAH, there's nothing to be sorry about, I have yet to meet someone who wasn't born in Junk City come here and not think right off the bat that Junk City is just a landfill.

**Tom laughs some more but Cagalli cuts in**

Cagalli: You're wrong.

**Now Tom looks at her surprise, Cagalli has a quick flashback to Shadow asking her if that was all she could see.**

Cagalli: Shadow could see instantly from the moment he step foot in Junk City its beauty.

**Tom takes this in for a moment than slaps Cagalli on the back**

Tom: Well you're not Shadow and the important thing is that you can see the beauty now, so let's head back in to see how Jack's doing on the Gundam.

**Tom turns around and heads back into the Warehouse. Cagalli lingers for a moment more than also heads back in.**

Cagalli (He's right the important thing now is that I can see the beauty of Junk City too.)

**The scene cuts back to Nightwing, Jack lifts her head up from the spot she had been working on, she puts the wrench and drill she was working with back into her pockets. She wipes sweat from her forehead and thinks out loud.**

Jack: Alright now that I finish improving the Geo system I'll move on to, Hey what the hell do you think you're doing!

**She shouts the last part at Kenny, who she notice when she turn to look for the new system. Kenny has a laptop hook up to a bunch of cables hook up to Nightwing. He was typing pretty fast when Jack interrupt, when Jack shouts at him he jumps up startle.**

Kenny: I…I was improving the programming on Nightwing.

**Jack looks at him surprise**

Jack: Programming, you're a programmer?

**Kenny is a little offended and momentary forgets his fear of Jack**

Kenny: That's right I'm the official programmer of the Gundam Team, and since it was made a point that the Warehouse doesn't do programming I figure I do it now while I had the free time.

**Jack starts to glare at Kenny, causing him to step back slightly afraid, but then Jack sighs and says.**

Jack: Fine, but don't get in my way.

**Before Kenny can comment Shadow calls up from the bottom of Nightwing**

Shadow: Hey Jack how much longer is this going to take?

**Jack jumps down to him; Kenny turns back to the computer and continues his work**

Jack: I've got about 83 percent of it done give me another 3 hours and it should be completely finished by then.

**Shadow nods his head**

Shadow: And when you finish it, it should be as good as new right?

**Jack gives a short laugh and brags**

Jack: HA, when I finish it, it will be better than new; it will be operating a 100 times better.

**Shadow looks at her deeply impressed. While they've been talking Tom and Cagalli have walk up behind them and Tom laughs when he hears her say 100 times better**

Tom: HAHAHAH, 100 times better I like to see it but I figure it would have to be three times the size of the Basic Original and with four times the fire power!

**He smiles at Jack, it's one of those friendly smiles a father gives to a son when he catches him boasting BS, and Jack blushes in embarrassment at being caught.**

Jack: Well I might have exaggerated a little bit.

Tom: Jack a professional mechanic doesn't lie about the performance of the Gundam.

**Tom gently scolded but Jack still gets defensive.**

Jack: Oh come on that guy's an idiot, he was eating every word I said; couldn't we go on letting him believe he was getting such a good deal?

**Jack points to an annoyed Shadow when she says that guy. Tom rolls his eyes while Shadow highly annoyed says**

Shadow: Hey I'm still here!

**Jack turns to him now slightly annoyed**

Jack: And why are you here? I already told you it will be another 3 hours so shoo.

**She waves her hand at him to go. Shadow is annoyed by the comment but lets it go, he smiles at Jack and says.**

Shadow: I'm not going anywhere until you agree to become our Gundam Team mechanic.

**The mood changes instantly, before Shadow made the comment the mood can be describe best as light hearted and easy going. The moment Shadow makes the comment; the mood goes south, Jack very tick off now turns around and yells at him**

Jack: God what will it take to get through your thick skull that I do not want to be a part of your Gundam Team!

**She shouts out loud, Nick, Kenny, and Roxas come over to see what's going on. Shadow is surprise by her anger; Jack turns around and marches off to finish Nightwing. Tom starts glaring at Shadow**

Tom: You had to go there didn't you!

**Tom starts yelling at him**

Tom: You couldn't let it go! You had to push it!

**His voice takes on a threatening tone**

Tom: Now I'm telling you to drop it!

**Tom takes on a threatening pose, Kenny and Cagalli are obviously intimated, Nick and Shadow are staring at him evenly, and Roxas is on the ground playing with some kind of shiny bolt thing, but her eyes occasionally glances upwards showing mild interest. Tom thinking he made his point begins to walk away.**

Kenny: Hey Shadow maybe we should let this go, I'm sure we can find another mechanic.

**Cagalli nods her head in agreement**

Cagalli: Kenny's right, there's no reason to be a jerk and keep bothering her when she obviously doesn't want to be on this team.

**Shadow is still staring intensely at Tom**

Shadow: Yea, I guess that would be the smart thing to do but since when have I ever been doing things based on what's the smart thing to do. Nick?

**He turns to Nick, Nick nods his head, he also has a determine look in his eye**

Nick: Don't worry mate, I also have a couple of questions to ask.

**With Shadow in the lead and Nick following behind him, they head after Tom. Cagalli and Kenny are stun.**

Cagalli: Hey w-wait a minute what are you guys going to do?

**They ignored her and continue walking towards Tom. Cagalli turns towards Kenny**

Cagalli: What the hell could they be thinking?

**Kenny shrugs his shoulder**

Kenny: Most likely something stupid and impulsive, well we better good to see what's up.

**Roxas adds**

Roxas: And to back them up if needed.

**Cagalli and Kenny look down at Roxas surprise. Roxas eyes have change from playful to one of a watchful animal waiting to see what might happen in her territory. Kenny nods his head also growing more serious.**

Kenny: Yea that too.

**Kenny, Cagalli, and Roxas chase after Nick and Shadow. Shadow and Nick have caught up to Tom.**

Shadow: Hey wait a minute, do you think you can just tell me to drop it and walk away without giving me any reason whatsoever.

**Tom turns around very angry**

Tom: I DON'T HAVE TO TELL YOU ANYTHING!

**Shadow glares at him as Nick steps forward.**

Nick: Then you can listen mate, you see I have my own theory is to the mystery of Jack.

**Tom is growing even angrier**

Tom: Shut up.

Nick: You see when Jack first said no at first I thought it was because she didn't want to get separated from her family.

Tom: Shut up!

Nick: But when we went to her house it was empty, it's true that she could have been an orphan and built that house herself like most of the residents of Junk City but that wouldn't make sense since it's a large four bedroom house, so most likely her parents built it and she simply inherented it.

**Shadow puts it all together**

Shadow: So the real question is what happened to her family?

Tom: I SAID SHUT UP!

**Tom punches Shadow in the face; Shadow goes flying and hits the ground hard a meter or two away.**

Cagalli and Kenny: Shadow!

**Roxas and Nick move between Shadow and Tom as Tom begins to shout at them**

Tom: Who the hell do you think you are! You think you can come in here and just jump into people's most private matters and for what! So you and your buddies can have a laugh later at a little girl's expanse or maybe to show her some pity like she doesn't get that enough from the mechanics here, come on tell me why! WHY DO YOU HAVE TO KNOW!

**Shadow rubs his chin where Tom punched him and spits out some blood. Shadow gets up slowly and looks Tom straight in the eye, his green eyes haven't lost their intense gaze. He replies in an even voice.**

Shadow: I want to know so that I can understand her better.

**Tom has calm down a bit**

Tom: So you can manipulate her into joining your Gundam Team?

**Tom asks suspicious, Shadow answers evenly**

Shadow: So I can understand why she doesn't want to join my Gundam Team.

**Tom and Shadow continue to stare at one another, finally Tom seems to fold.**

Tom: If I tell you will you stop asking Jack to join your Gundam Team?

**Shadow nods his head**

Shadow: You have my word as the soon to be greatest Gundam Fighter this world has ever seen.

**Tom gives a short sad laugh**

Tom: HA, you know you're like Mark in so many ways it's almost scary.

**Shadow is confused**

Shadow: Mark?

**Tom sighs**

Tom: Jack's older brother, you see when Jack was very young she and Mark lost both their parents to raiders. Mark was 12 when it happened, but even at such an early age Mark decided to take care of his little sister. I help them out here and there but Mark did a lot of work on his own, he got a job here at the Warehouse and began working as a mechanic. You know it was his dream to become the greatest mechanic this world has ever seen.

**Shadow nods his head**

Shadow: Sounds like a good dream.

Tom: It was, and even with so much sadness in his life he never gave up on his dream. He raised Jack all on his own after their parents died, he taught her to read and write, he even started to teach her basic mechanic skills. At the Warehouse his own mechanic skills were improving constantly, he was always playing around with system designs trying to improve them in any way he could. HAHAH, he use to get in so much trouble when he experimented on customs Gundam's, but make no mistake he had all the necessary talents and skills to become a first rank mechanic.

**While Tom is talking we should have a couple of flashback pictures of Mark, one of him holding Jack's hand at a funeral, a couple of him working at the Warehouse, and a couple of him with Jack.**

Shadow: So what happen?

**Tom looks at him for a moment deciding how much to tell.**

Tom: It happen 3 months after Jack started working here, I remember it well; it was pouring that day. I had just been told anyone's worst nightmare; that the S-generator was failing.

**We enter a flashback, Tom is surrounded by mechanics, and one of those mechanics just told him something unpleasant**

Tom: What?

**All of the mechanic appear scare**

Mechanic A: It's true Tom, the S-generator is out of control the power levels are off the charts and they keep rising, at this rate the S-generator is going to explode!

**Mechanic A is very panicked, all of the other mechanics look very scare now. Tom trying to keep people calm asks**

Tom: Calm down, now tell me exactly what happen slowly.

**Mechanic A on the brink of a nervous breakdown**

Mechanic A: I….I don't know one minute everything was fine the next everything is going hay wired.

**Mark who's been listening to everything carefully asks a question**

Mark: What about the safely devices?

Mechanic A: They're all not responding.

**Now Mark looks surprise**

Mark: All of them!

**Mechanic A loses it**

Mechanic A: Yes all of them! We don't have time for this we need to evacuate now; we need to get people as far away from Junk City as possible now! Oh my god we're all going to die!

**Tom goes up and slaps him**

Tom: Get a grip on yourself!

**But its obvious Tom's scare too, he looks around himself to see a bunch of scare faces. Tom takes a breath to calm himself down and then shouts out**

Tom: Alright everyone you heard the man let's get moving, Rick, Jim you guys grab some people and start telling the Gundam pilots to get out of here, if a Gundam can move then it's good to go. Jacob start asking the ship's captains if we can get a lift out of here, everyone else go home to get your families and hurry to get out of town.

**People start running to get what they needed done. Tom starts walking and thinking while Mark follows him, neither of them notices Jack following the both of them.**

Mark: If the S-generator does explode it's going to level Junk City, there's no way everyone is going to make it out in time.

Tom: I know but unless you can suggest something we don't have any other choice.

Mark: There is another option.

**Now Tom stops and looks at him**

Tom: What?

**Mark seems to think about it for a moment then smiles a sad smile**

Mark: We're mechanics Tom; we repair things, so of course the best option is to repair one of the safety devices on the S-generator.

**Tom is shocked**

Tom: Are you nuts, the S-generator can't be turned off so if you try to get anywhere near it you'll either be killed by the extreme heat or one of the electrical discharges.

**Mark goes to argue**

Mark: But I should still have enough time before I die to fix at least one of the safely devices.

**Tom just stares at Mark**

Tom: Mark

**Mark gives another sad smile**

Mark: See you Tom.

**He begins to walk away leaving a stun Tom behind, Jack begins to follow him. She begins to plead with her older brother, a desperate and sad plead of one trying to stop a person who's going to jump.**

Jack: Mark come on let's go, one of the ship's captains I worked with agree to let us ride on his ship, so if we go now we should be able to get out of the city in time, so let's GO!

**She grabs his arm and try's to pull him by force. Mark doesn't budge; he smiles a sad smile at Jack.**

Mark: I'm sorry Jack not this time.

**Jack is beginning to cry. Mark turns away again and begins to walk away when Jack shouts**

Jack: Damn it why are you risking you're life to save this stupid excused of a landfill, its better off just disappearing!

**Mark turns around and slaps Jack. Tom and Jack are stun**

Tom (I've never seen Mark hit his sister before!)

**Mark angry now**

Mark: Don't you ever call your home that!

**Mark takes a breath**

Mark: Jack, this city is a lot more important than people realize. If a Gundam's life came be describe as a circle, then this city is beginning and ending point of a Gundam's circle, this is the place where Gundam's come to die, this is also the place where Gundams are born, a place where old broken down Gundams are brought to be reborn into new more powerful Gundam's and if this place where to disappear then it would be like someone taking a piece out of the circle making it incomplete and I am sure that this disaster would be felt by all the world. That's why as long as I live I can't let this city be destroyed.

J**ack has gotten up, Tom has put a reassuring hand on her shoulder as Mark takes a knee and puts his hand on her other shoulder. Jack is crying uncontrollably**

Mark: Goodbye Jack.

**With that he gets up and begins to run towards the place with the S-generator. We come back to the present.**

Tom: Mark lost his life on that day but he manage to fix one of the safely devices and saved the whole city.

**Everyone is quite taking this in**

Shadow: Thank you for telling us, I believe I understand Jack better now and a deal's a deal so I will not bother her again.

**Tom nods his head**

Tom: Well I've got work to do so bye.

**Tom walks away. There's an awkward silence as they think of what they learned then Kenny speaks.**

Kenny: Well I should get back to the programming of Nightwing.

**Kenny begins to walk away**

Nick: I could use some air mates.

**Nick walks away, Roxas stretches**

Roxas: I need a nap.

**Roxas walks away; Shadow turns towards Cagalli and smiles his normal smile.**

Shadow: Well I'm hungry so I'm going to see if I can catch one of those food benders.

**Shadow walks away but Cagalli chases after him.**

Cagalli: Hey wait a second, there's still a couple of things I don't understand about the story.

**She catches up to Shadow, they continue walking together**

Shadow: Like what?

Cagalli: Well for starters I don't understand the whole S-generator thing; don't they only power the Gundams?

**Shadow is still looking for a food bender but he answers Cagalli's question.**

Shadow: There are two kinds of S-generators, you would have to ask a mechanic or a specialist on what exactly is the difference between the two, but from what I know one is smaller than the other.

**Cagalli is a little annoyed by his lack of information**

Cagalli: So wait all you can tell me is that S-generators come in different sizes.

**Shadow shrugs and looks at her slightly offended**

Shadow: What do I look like, a mechanic?

**Shadow finally spots a food bender (Just think hotdog stand) he signals the food bender**

Shadow: Hey guy, two hotdogs please

**He also adds with a devilish smile**

Shadow: and put it on Tom's tab.

**The bender nods his head and gets two hotdogs ready, Cagalli rolls her eyes**

Cagalli: I'm pretty sure it's a crime to use someone else's tab without their permission.

Shadow: Um no on Sora it's perfectly legal.

**He's lying obviously; we can tell that Cagalli knows he's lying by the way she's staring at him and folding her hands. Shadow tries a different approach**

Shadow: Well Tom did say we were special guests and I'm sure Drake will pay him back.

**Cagalli is still eyeing him disapprovingly. Shadow rolls his eyes**

Shadow: And if all else fails then I'll pay Tom back myself once I make some money in the Gundam Fights.

**Cagalli nods her head**

Cagalli: That's better.

**The food bender gives Shadow the hotdogs. Shadow turns to him**

Shadow: Thanks.

**He hands Cagalli one of the hotdogs**

Shadow: Here you haven't eaten much today.

**Cagalli takes the hotdog**

Cagalli: Um thanks.

**Shadow starts eating his hotdog without hesitation. Cagalli is eyeing the weird color sauce.**

Shadow: Anyway where was I with the S-generators?

**They start walking aimlessly**

Cagalli: They come in different sizes.

**Shadow remembers**

Shadow: Right, Right, like I was saying the S-generator comes in two sizes, as you already know the small S-generator powers the Gundams, but what you didn't know is that most Cities' use the larger S-generator as the main power source for the whole city.

**Cagalli nods her head in understanding. She's still eyeing the weird color sauce; Shadow finally notices she's not eating the hotdog. He smiles at her**

Shadow: What's the matter princess food not good enough for you?

**Cagalli is annoyed by the comment**

Cagalli: NO, it' just….do you know what kind of sauce this is?

**Shadow is surprise the kind of surprise like "I've never thought about it" he begins to look at the remainder of the sauce on his hotdog more closely.**

Shadow: Hmmmm, no idea.

**He shrugs then takes another bite of his hotdog**

Shadow: But it's delicious.

**Cagalli rolls her eyes**

Cagalli: Thanks that was helpful.

**Shadow rolls his eyes**

Shadow: If you're too scared to eat it then give it to me.

**Shadow goes to grab the hotdog, but Cagalli moves it out of his reach**

Cagalli: I'm not scared!

**She brings the hotdog to her mouth, she sniffs it, and then hesitantly takes a bite of the hotdog. She begins to chew it her eyes pop open wide**

Cagalli: Mmmm, this isn't bad.

**Shadow smiles at her**

Shadow: Told you so.

**She finishes chewing then sticks her tongue out at him, and then she continues eating the hotdog.**

Cagalli: Alright you told me what you know about the different S-generators, but you haven't told me about what happens when an S-generator fails.

Shadow: Well the S-generator is a massive power source and like all power sources it can fail or go out of control.

**Cagalli nods somewhat understanding**

Cagalli: Ok, so what makes this power source so dangerous?

**Shadow says in a surprisingly sober voice**

Shadow: Because when an S-generator fails it normally explodes and an S-generator explosion is equal to 3 nuclear bombs minus the radiation.

**This shocks Cagalli and she starts looking around nervously.**

Cagalli: What? And you people let something so dangerous in every city!

**Shadow rolls his eyes**

Shadow: Oh relax, there are over a dozen safety devices in place to make sure that in case the S-generator fails the energy is dispenses evenly preventing an explosion.

Cagalli: Ok but what happens if all the safety devices fail at the same time?

**Shadow takes on a serious look**

Shadow: It's impossible for all the safety devices to accidently fail at the same time.

Cagalli: But wait Tom said that all the safety devices fail…

**The word accidently finally makes its way into Cagalli's brain, she stops talking as the realization hits her**

Cagalli: You…You think someone

**Shadow still with the serious look on his face finishes her statement**

Shadow: Try to eliminate Junk City, without a doubt.

**The episode ends with Shadow continuing to walk while Cagalli stops in her tracks stun.**


	12. Episode 11

Episode 11

**The episode opens up showing a raider's ship. We cut into the captain's room to see a person sitting in a chair in front of a desk. He's got his chair turn around so that the back is facing the desk and he's looking out the window, while smoking. The smoke and the dim lighting make it hard to see physical details. We hear a knock on the door the man behind the desk speaks without turning around**

Boss: Come in Hunter.

**The door opens and a person enters and nods his head slightly**

Hunter: Sir, I've come to give you a progress report.

**The Boss doesn't turn around**

Boss: Go on.

Hunter: Yes Sir, Teams A, B, and C are in positions and are ready to go, final checks on the ship have been completed and all systems are a go.

**Hunter hesitates then decides to go on**

Hunter: Sir I have to know why you decide to raid Junk City now, they haven't received any new parts, nor have I received reports of them operating on any valuable Gundam.

**The Boss interrupts him, his tone suggest he's annoyed by the question**

Boss: So you want to know why I'm wasting my time robbing a place that doesn't have anything valuable in it.

**Hunter realizes he might have anger the boss by his question**

Hunter: I-I-I yo-you d-don't mind Sir.

**He stutters, the Boss turns around to face him**

Boss: You see that's why I'm the boss Hunter, you don't think things out. You see if we came back when Junk City just got a fresh shipment of new parts they would be overcrowd with powerful Gundam teams, but by raiding during the off season, there are no powerful Gundams. We check the charts and currently there's not a single team above E rank in there city. True we won't get as good a haul as we would when they got new parts but we'll still get something plus we wouldn't have to worry about paying some Gundam fighters to protect the ship.

**Hunter nods his head eagerly**

Hunter: That's a brilliant idea Sir.

Boss: Of course, that's why I'm the boss and you're the lackey.

**He says in an arrogant tone, he gets up**

Boss: Now prepare the ship to take off and to attack Junk City!

**He shouts. The scene cuts back to the Warehouse where we see Roxas, Nick, and Shadow leaning against the wall. Cagalli is in front of Nick facing him.**

Cagalli: Wait, are you saying they never caught the guy!

**Cagalli shouts shocked. Nick nods his head**

Nick: That's what I heard when I asked around if they ever caught the guy who sabotaged the S-generator.

**Cagalli backs down**

Cagalli: W-what should we say to Jack?

**She asks uncertain**

Shadow: Nothing.

**Shadow says calmly. Cagalli turns towards him surprised**

Cagalli: Nothing?

Nick: The worst thing we could do is try to comfort her mate; I'm sure that more than enough people have given her plenty of pity and it's most likely gotten to the point where she's sick of it.

**Cagalli is still uncertain**

Cagalli: But still

**Roxas cuts in**

Roxas: Look Cagalli I know how you feel but in all honestly we aren't that close to Jack. I mean we just met her a couple of days ago, and no matter how much you might want to you can't comfort someone who lost a relative you don't know well, besides too much time has passed.

**Cagalli looks down defeated**

Cagalli: So we just act as if nothing happen, then what was the point of finding out about it in the first place?

**Nick and Roxas look away not sure on how to answer that. Shadow looks up and gets off the wall and begins to walk towards Nightwing as he passes Cagalli he says**

Shadow: The point of it was to understand Jack better, and understanding someone different from yourself better is never a waste of time or a bad thing in my opinion.

**Shadow continues walking towards Nightwing leaving a surprise Cagalli, Nick and Roxas. The camera moves to Jack, she jumps down from Nightwing sighs, wipes some sweat from her forehead, then takes a step back to admire her work.**

Jack: Well not a bad job if I say so myself.

**Shadow walks up behind her and smiles as he says**

Shadow: So I take it you're finish?

**Jack turns around a little surprise**

Jack: Yup, your Gundam is good to go.

**Shadow corrects her**

Shadow: Nightwing is good to go.

**Jack sighs**

Jack: Whatever.

**Shadow smiles again**

Shadow: Here catch.

**He tosses her a soda, she catches out of reflex**

Jack: Huh, what's this for?

**Shadow smile widens**

Shadow: A good job done deserves a nice cold drink reward.

**Jack eyes widen and for a moment Shadow's face blurs and is replace by Mark. We can hear Mark's voice overlap with Shadow's saying the same thing, but just as quickly the image disappears. Shadow frowns as he also opens a can of soda.**

Shadow: You know I wouldn't mind a thank you.

**Jack shakes her head**

Jack: Thanks but, we're not allowed to take gifts from clients.

**She says hesitantly, she then reluctantly holds the soda out for Shadow to take back. Shadow just looks at it for a moment surprised, and then he smiles and says**

Shadow: Well in that case consider it a gift from Tom, since I used his tab to pay for it.

**Jack just looks at him shocked for a moment than burst out laughing. This kind of laughter full of joy hasn't been release from Jack for a long time. She pulls her hand back then opens the can of the soda as she says**

Jack: HAHAHAHHHAHHAHAHHAHAHHAHA, well in that case I would be more than happy to accept Tom's gift, but just tell me what flowers to send to your grave because when Tom finds out he's going to beat your ass silly.

**She continues laughing, Shadow breaks out laughing too**

Shadow: HAHAHHAHHA, then let's have a toast to me never getting caught!

**He holds up his soda, Jack smiles at him then takes her soda and hits his soda with it.**

Jack: And to your Gun….

**Shadow interrupts**

Shadow: Nightwing.

**Jack rolls her eyes**

Jack: To Nightwing's repairs and upgrades being finish.

Shadow: Cheers.

**They take their drinks back and begin to drink. Kenny comes down from Nightwing**

Kenny: Hey Shadow, I just finish upgrading Nightwing's programming so where's my soda?

**Shadow turns to him annoyed**

Shadow: You're a grown man, get your own damn soda.

Kenny: Jerk!

**Shadow sticks out his tongue at Kenny causing Jack to laugh, her laughter causes Shadow to laugh which in turn cause Kenny to laugh. Tom walks over, he stops shocked when he sees Jack laughing.**

Tom (I haven't seen Jack laugh like that since her brother died!)

**While he's standing there, Cagalli, Nick, and Roxas walk over curious to what's going on**

Cagalli: What's going on?

**Shadow takes a breath and turns to her**

Shadow: We're celebrating the completion of Nightwing's repairs.

**Nick nods his head**

Nick: Ok, so what's the jokes mate?

**Kenny and Jack calm down too**

Shadow: You need a reason to laugh?

**Nick gives a short laugh**

Nick: HAHA, good point.

**He starts laughing some more, and pretty soon they all start laughing. Tom walks over to them; he looks at them suspiciously and asks**

Tom: I heard you're Gundam was finish, so when are you planning on leaving?

**Jack stops laughing immediately. Shadow and the others also stop laughing only more gradually. Shadow takes a moment to think about this, Jack has a shocked look on her face as if she never thought they'd leave.**

Shadow: Well I guess we'll leave tonight.

**He says slowly, Jack is even more shock, she turns to Shadow**

Jack: To-Tonight so soon?

**Kenny turns around and says**

Kenny: Well yea, the shipping company that we used to Ship Nightwing back to Arianna we'll be here tonight, and we plan on hitching a ride with them back to Arianna.

**Tom is surprised**

Tom: Hitching a ride?

**Cagalli answers**

Cagalli: We don't have a car, and hitching a ride with the shipping company beats walking.

**Tom nods his head, but Jack doesn't look too happy.**

Jack: But still tonight, do you have to leave that soon? I mean you guys can still stay at my place; I've got plenty of room.

**She says trying not to sound to desperate, everyone looks at her surprise, but Shadow just smiles at her.**

Shadow: Sorry but we've got to go, my dream is calling and I got to go and get it.

**Jack is sad and disappoint**

Jack: Oh

**Shadow starts to walk away**

Shadow: Well, I want to take one last look around before we go so I'll see you around.

**Although Jack is trying to hide it the look on her face implies that she does want him to go.**

Jack: Wait!

**Shadow stops and turns around surprised. Jack goes on**

Jack: Aren't you going to ask me to join your Gundam Team again?

**The camera turns to look over Jack's shoulder to see Tom waiting to see if Shadow will keep his word. The camera turns back to Shadow to show him smile**

Shadow: Why, do you want to join my Gundam Team?

**He asks curious**

Jack: No, it's just I thought someone like you would bug me about it one more time before you left.

**She's looking at him suspicious now, Shadow's eyes quickly glance at Tom. Tom is looking at the floor now. Shadow turns back to Jack before she notices his eye movement.**

Shadow: The offer is still available; however I've simply decided that I'm no longer going to bother you if you really don't want to join.

**Tom looks up surprise and grateful at the same time. Jack is a little down cast**

Jack: Oh

**Shadow turns and begins to walk away but he says over his shoulder**

Shadow: If you ever want to join just let me know ok.

**The scene ends with him walking away. The next scene opens over Junk City; we can see the raider's ship we saw at the beginning of the episode. It starts to head towards the highest Junk Mountain in the middle of the city. The camera cuts to what looks like a mine going into one of the Junk mountains. **

**They're mining for Gundam parts; one of the miners is taking a break outside. He's sitting down on a metal cart turn upside down, he sees the ship heading towards the center Junk Pile and without turning around shouts.**

Miner A: Hey guys!

**The camera cuts again, this time we're at the housing district. We can see Van looking up at the ship and without turning around he shouts**

Van: Hey Rick, can you think of any reason a ship would head towards Junk Mountain Gerodi?

**Another mechanic (Rick) walks up next to him. Rick looks up too, and they both have uneasy looks on their face.**

Rick: None that I know of, you know now that I think of it there's nowhere around Gerodi a ship can land.

Van: Maybe they're lost.

**Van says this half-hopeful, but you can tell that he doesn't really believe that. Suddenly 3 trucks pull up, and the moment the trucks pull up the back opens up and about 20 guy's hop out the back of each truck for about 60 guys total. They are all carrying automatic weapons; Van turns to the other people in the street and shouts**

Van: EVERYONE RUN, IT'S A RAID!

**Everyone starts running for cover in the houses, they either go into the houses or in-between the houses, adults grab the children and start running like hell. Van and Rick dive for cover as the raiders start shooting. The camera cuts to the mine, this time almost all the Miners are outside, they're pointing towards the ship and are obviously nervous**

Miner A: You don't think it's a raider's ship.

Miner B: During the off season, don't be stupid?

Miner C: Maybe they're lost?

**Suddenly we hear gunfire and one of the Miners falls down dead. The miners all turn towards the top of the Junk Mountain to see raiders are coming down from the top of the mountain. The raiders start to open fire on the miners**

Miner D: RAIDERS, EVERYONE GET INSIDE THE MINE!

**The miners start running back into the mine for cover, two more of the miners fall down dead from gunshots. The camera cuts again, this time it seems to be another Warehouse. We see the words "Warehouse 8" come on the screen in the corner. **

**The camera zooms in on what looks like the person in charge of the Warehouse. He's talking to some other mechanics about work, when another mechanic runs to him. The mechanic is out of breath and a little panic**

Mechanic A: Jay we just got a Raiders signal in two locations on the communication network!

**Jay turns around at him shocked**

Jay: What! Are you sure!

**Mechanic A nods his head**

Mechanic A: Positive.

**Jay curses**

Jay: Damn it; alright start getting together teams to drive out the raiders.

**Suddenly what looks to be a fully repaired Gundam standing behind them explodes. Jay and all the other mechanics around the Gundam get thrown off their feet and hit the ground hard. People closer to the Gundam when it exploded get set flying as parts of the exploded Gundam get sent in every direction.**

**We hear several other explosions as more Gundams are destroyed. We switch to Jay's point of view, his vision is blurry and the sound is distorted. Someone is kneeing next to him, we can see him trying to say something but the sound is too distorted to understand. We switch to outside view to see Jay looking disorientated, he blinks and shakes his head, and then sound returns to normal, we can hear the mechanic clearly now**

Mechanic B: Jay, JAY, JAY CAN YOU HEAR ME!

**Jay starts to get up, he grumps in pain**

Jay: Shut up, I'm fine, what's happing?

**We can hear gunfire now and we can see people running away from the gunfire. The mechanic next to Jay looks very panicked. **

Mechanic B: IT'S A RAID!

**Mechanic B shouts to be over heard of all the noise. Jay is up on his legs now but he's still a little shellshocked.**

Jay: What, and stop shouting I can hear you fine!

Mechanic B: It's raiders they're attacking the Warehouse directly!

Jay: DAMN IT, gather as many people and weapons as you can and prepare to mount a defense!

**The camera cuts back to Warehouse 24, we see Tom talking to someone, Jack's also with him when a mechanic runs up to him.**

Mechanic A: Tom, we just got a raiders alert in two places.

**Tom turns around startled**

Tom: What a raid during the off season, are you positive?

**Another mechanic just ran up**

Mechanic B: We just go another alert only this time it's from a Warehouse.

**There's a shocked silence after Mechanic B says this. They are all very surprise and scare by this news.**

Tom: W-What.

**Tom says wide eye**

Jack: They attack a Warehouse directly, are they idiots!

**Jack shouts angry but there's also fear in her voice. Tom begins to focus in on the matters at hand.**

Tom: Are the Gundam pilots using their Gundam to fight against the raiders?

**Mechanic B shakes his head**

Mechanic B: Reports are still sketchy but from what we can get, they blew up the Gundams that were repair enough to be used against them?

**This news is even more alarming.**

Jack: All of them!

**Tom answers that**

Tom: It's the off season so there wouldn't be that many Gundam's in there to begin with and if they were only targeting ones that were repair enough to move, that would probably be only 10 or 15 Gundams they needed to destroy.

**A sudden realization hits them, and a look of fear crosses all of their faces.**

Tom: You two, close down the Warehouse, no one gets in or out, and if anyone looks unfamiliar and suspicious detain them!

**He points and shouts to two of his mechanics, they nod their head and run off. Tom turns to Jack**

Tom: Jack, I want you to get some people and start checking the Gundams that are completed or completed enough that it can move for explosives.

**Jack nods her head**

Jack: Right.

**She runs off**

Tom: Alright let's head to the commutation room and begin to organize backup parties for the areas under attack by the raiders.

**Tom begins to run with Mechanic A and B behind him. Tom's got a determine look on his face, and he's also calm acting and cool headed. The camera cuts back to Nightwing, Shadow and the others are just chilling as Jack comes running towards them. She looks scare. Kenny looks up from a computer terminal**

Kenny: Hey, Jack wh

**She cuts him off**

Jack: Did anyone come near Nightwing since I left!

**She rushes to Nightwing; Kenny is startle by her tone**

Kenny: Um, No, I don't think

**Jack climbs up Nightwing and begins checking it personally. She cuts him off again and snaps**

Jack: You think or you know!

**Now everyone is looking at her surprise, suspicious and concern**

Shadow: No one has come near Nightwing since you left.

**Shadow says in a firm voice, Nick, Cagalli, and Roxas also walk over**

Nick: What's going on mate?

**They all wait for an answer, Jack breathing hard from running and panicking realizes she's made a scene. She takes a deep breath to calm herself down; she hops down from the Gundam and says somewhat calmly**

Jack: Nothing is the matter, sorry to bother you.

**No one believes her, Jack goes to walk away but Cagalli blocks her path**

Cagalli: No one comes in and makes that big of deal for nothing!

**Jack doesn't answer, she tries to go around but Cagalli keeps blocking her. Nick comes up from behind.**

Nick: Come on mate; just tell us what's up.

**Jack snaps**

Jack: Look it's none of your damn business so back off!

**Jack goes to break through again, but Shadow grabs her shoulder and keeps her from leaving. She turns around to face him**

Shadow: Wait a minute; it becomes my business when my Gundam is threatened so out with it what's up?

**Jack hesitates still, Cagalli adds**

Cagalli: Jack we can't help you if you don't tell us what's going on.

**Jack finally reluctantly says**

Jack: Alright follow me.

**She takes off all the others follow. Another mechanic comes up to her**

Mechanic C: Jack, we just finish checking all the completed Gundams for explosives and we couldn't find anything.

**Jack nods her head and sighs with relief**

Jack: Good, alright head over and help with the organization of the defense teams.

**Mechanic C nods his head and goes away. Cagalli and Kenny are looking a little worry now**

Cagalli: Explosives, why would you be checking the Gundams for explosives?

**She says concern and worried**

Jack: We're currently under attack from raiders, and they attacked one of the Warehouses by placing explosives in completed Gundams.

**Nick thinking very carefully asks**

Nick: How can you be sure?

**Kenny answers this**

Kenny: They used their communication network, do you know that the communication network in Junk City is one of biggest and advance in the world? Almost every citizen in Junk City carries around some kind of self-made communication device that is hook up to the overall network so that if they need help at any time they can call someone.

**Jack and Cagalli look surprise**

Jack: Yea, that's right but how do you know about it?

**Kenny answers without hesitation**

Kenny: Internet.

**Cagalli rolls her eyes. Shadow already focusing on the battle asks**

Shadow: How many places are they attacking?

**Jack focusing back on the matter at hand**

Jack: Three, One in a housing district, one at a mine, and another is attacking a Warehouse directly.

**Nick nods his head in understanding**

Nick: That explains why the mechanics are on edge. The Warehouse is like Junk City's military base, if it gets attack nowhere is safe.

**Jack nods her head**

Cagalli: I don't get it, why are they attacking?

**Shadow answers in a matter of fact voice**

Shadow: They're raiders; they came here to steal Gundam parts.

**Cagalli doesn't get it**

Cagalli: Gundam parts?

**Kenny explains**

Kenny: Gundam parts can sell for a lot of money on the black-market but all the parts in Junk City belong to the citizens of Junk City.

Shadow: They're basically just thieves, stealing parts is their primary goal; anyone who gets kill is just collateral damage.

Jack: Normally it's not that much of a problem because we can just ask a couple of high rank Gundam teams to give us a hand but it's the off-season now.

**Cagalli starting to feel like the idiot of the group asks**

Cagalli: Off-season?

**Jack looks at her a moment surprise she doesn't know**

Jack: Off-season is the time of year when we don't get shipments of broken down Gundams and other equipment and we're starting to run low on parts, so most teams choose not to come here because it takes us longer to fix the Gundams because we have to make missing parts from scratch. But it's never been a problem because what kind of thief tries to rob a bank with almost no money in it.

**They walk to what looks like the communication center. It's in one of the corners of the Warehouse, and there is a huge monitor on one wall as well as a bunch of computers that three people are using. Tom is reading the computer screen over one of their shoulders when Jack and the others walk in. Tom looks up and becomes very annoyed to see Shadow. He turns to Jack and says**

Tom: Why did you bring them here!

**Jack doesn't like being yelled at**

Jack: Don't yell at me they wouldn't leave me alone until I told them.

**Shadow is annoyed by this treatment**

Shadow: Hey we are a Gundam team you know.

**Tom snaps back**

Tom: With only one Gundam and no experience!

**Cagalli's pride is insulted a little**

Cagalli: Well actually I have military experience.

**Tom does not believe her**

Tom: HA yea right, playing battle ship or chess doesn't count little girl.

**Cagalli very insulted now goes to say something else but Tom speaks first**

Tom: Now all of you shut up and stay out of our way!

**His shouting manages to shut them up. Nick and Roxas are slightly annoyed by Tom's rudeness, Kenny is intimated by Tom, Shadow is tick off but managing to keep his cool and Cagalli is fuming on the inside but also manages to keep it under control. Mechanic A (one of the people working on the computer) turns his head towards Tom and shouts**

Mechanic A: Tom we finally found the raider's ship, it's over top of Gerodi.

**Tom and Jack are trouble by this. Tom shouts**

Tom: Put it up on main monitor.

Jack: Why would they be over top of Gerodi?

**She says aloud to no one in particular. The main monitor flashes, and then the raider's ship comes up over top of Gerodi. Judging from the camera angle we can assume the camera is on the Junk mountain next to Gerodi. Tom is still uneasy**

Tom: Have any of the other Warehouses tried to make contact yet?

**Mechanic B laughs**

Mechanic B: Yea right, the raiders actually listening to us that will be the day.

**The camera cuts to inside the raider's ship to what looks like the command room. We can see the raider's Boss sitting in the center chair. He's drinking a Martine, Hunter walks up to him.**

Hunter: Sir all teams have begun there operations.

**Boss nods his head**

Boss: Good have any problems arisen?

**Hunter shakes his head**

Hunter: None that I am aware of Sir.

**Boss smiles and takes another sip of his drink**

Boss: Excellent than let us begin our operation.

**The camera cuts back outside suddenly we see the bottom of the raider's ship open and a big black ball attach to what looks like a steal cable; get lower down on to Gerodi. It stops just above it not quite touching the junk mountain. **

**The metal junk parts that make up the junk mountain start to wiggle at first, then they move towards the black ball and get attach to it, more and more broken parts and Gundams are being pulled towards it making the ball bigger and bigger as the magnet works its powers.**

**The camera cuts back into the Warehouse communication center to show the mechanics faces are in deep shocked, Shadow and the others faces are mildly interested.**

Tom: Contacted the raider's ship immediately!

**Tom is clearly panicked, Shadow and the others look at him confused. The camera cuts again into the raider's ship, Hunter now sitting at a computer terminal in front of the Boss turns his head around and says**

Hunter: Sir one of the Warehouses is trying to contact us.

**The Boss turns to him with an evil smile on his face**

Boss: Calling to beg for mercy no doubt put them on.

**The main screen flashes and Tom's face comes on**

Boss: Calling to beg for mercy so soon, I thought you mechanics would put up much more of a fight.

**The camera cuts to Tom's side; he's clearly tick off by the comment by the way he's clenching his fist but he holds it together.**

Tom: No we haven't lost this fight yet, but I have call to ask that you stop taking parts off of Gerodi.

**The camera cuts back to the Raiders ship to shoe the Boss is a little confused.**

Boss: Gerodi?

**The camera cuts back to Warehouse, Tom is really pissed now and is using every ounce of self-control to not curse the Boss raider out and punch the monitor.**

Tom: The Junk Mountain you're currently stealing parts from.

**The camera cuts back to the raider's ship**

Boss: Oh

**The Boss smiles an arrogant smile**

Boss: And why would I do that?

**The camera cuts back to Tom**

Tom: You see Junk Mountains are very sensitive, if you move the wrong thing from them or move something incorrectly the whole mountain can collapse and Gerodi is the biggest and most unstable Junk Mountain in all of Junk City.

**While he's been talking a second monitor has been showing the magnet get completely cover in parts and become 4 times the size it started out as, then it is lifted back up into the ship. The Boss is starting to get bored**

Boss: And I care why?

**Tom begins to plead**

Tom: Because Gerodi is right in front of our S-generator, if it collapses on it Junk City will be without power for months maybe longer.

**Boss is unmoved**

Boss: Once again why should I care?

**The magnet is drop again, all the parts and Junk attach to it have been removed, and it starts the process again. Tom is getting desperate**

Tom: Please without power the few hospitals we have won't work, we won't be able to do our jobs; we won't be able to keep food fresh; you'll be destroying Junk City and ruining hundreds of lives! You can take parts from another Junk Mountain so please, please stop what you're doing!

**Tom begs, the boss doesn't respond for a moment giving them hope, and then he smiles an evil smile and says.**

Boss: No, at best this city can be described as a landfill, trust me when I say people would thank me if I destroyed it, so goodbye.

**He cuts the communication; Tom is at first shocked, then very angrily**

Tom: THAT HEARTLESS DAMN BASTERD!

**He punches the wall, he turns to mechanic A**

Tom: Is there anything we can do to bring that ship down!

**Mechanic A shakes his head**

Mechanic A: We don't have the weaponry to bring down a ship.

**Mechanic B adds**

Mechanic B: I just finish checking with the other Warehouse and the news is bad, no Gundam Team is going to help us, they're all to scare or don't care.

**Jack who looks piss now shouts**

Jack: Those DAMN COWARDS!

**There's a moment of silence as the mechanics try to figure out what to do and Shadow takes this moment to step forward.**

Shadow: Um, in case you guys forgot I am part of a Gundam Team and willing to help.

**Tom looks at Shadow hesitantly, but Jack answers immediately**

Jack: With only one Gundam?

**Shadow goes to argue**

Shadow: How many Gundams does it take to bring down a ship?

**He says this to Tom, Tom is starting to waver. Jack sees this and gets pissed**

Jack: Don't be stupid Tom, his Gundam doesn't even have flight capabilities, there's no way he could even reach the ship!

**Mechanic B thinking out loud**

Mechanic B: We could loan him a beam rifle, then it doesn't matter how far away he is he can just shoot them down.

**Jack turns to glare at mechanic B who cowards under her gaze. Tom has made up his mind**

Tom: Alright go get his Gundam set up and you get ready to suit up. There's a spare pilot suit over there.

**He looks at mechanic B when he says "Go get his Gundam", mechanic B dying to get out of there jumps up and takes off, and then he looks to Shadow when he says "you get ready" and points to a side closet by the communication terminal. Shadow punches the air**

Shadow: Yes!

**Shadow walks over to the side closet and grabs a pilot suit. Jack is very pissed now, and she starts to chase after Tom.**

Jack: Are you out of your mind Tom, we don't know what kind defenses that ship has. It's way too dangerous for Shadow to go by himself.

**Tom snaps**

Tom: Look we don't have a choice!

**Jack shouts back**

Jack: He's a rookie pilot he'll be killed if you send him out there!

**Shadow is a little offended**

Shadow: Hey just because I don't have that much experience doesn't mean I'm a rookie.

**Shadow says this in a joking kind of way with his normal smile on. Jack very pissed off now snaps at him.**

Jack: This isn't the time for jokes!

**Her anger and shouting surprises Shadow. Jack goes on to say**

Jack: If you go out there you'll be heading to your death!

**Jack takes a breath to calm herself down.**

Jack: Look there's no point in you going out and committing suicidal, we appreciate your offer to help but we'll be fine on our own, so just go.

**Jack is beginning to sound desperate. Shadow doesn't move his face is hard to read, Jack gets hysterical**

Jack: I SAID GO, GET OUT OF HERE, what don't you understand!

**Shadow puts a hand on Jack's shoulder. Jack's red eyes are open wide as Shadow looks her straight in the eye**

Shadow: Sorry Jack.

**When Shadow says "Sorry Jack", we should hear an echo of Mark's voice saying the same thing.**

Shadow: But I can't stand by and do nothing while this city is under attack.

**Shadow goes to walk away, Jack is once again on the verge of tears, and we start seeing flashes of Mark running off in the rain to his death.**

Jack: Damn it why, why do you people risk your life to save this stupid excused of a landfill, its better off just disappearing!

**Her statement shocks everyone except Shadow, and Tom**

Tom (Jack.)

**He thinks with pity, Shadow turns around and punches Jack in the face shocking everyone. Jack falls to the ground hard.**

Cagalli: Shadow what the hell do you think you're doing!

**Shadow ignores Cagalli and says to Jack**

Shadow: Don't you ever call Junk City that!

**Jack and Tom are even more shocked now**

Shadow: Junk City is a lot more important than people realize. If a Gundam's life came be describe as a circle, then this city is the beginning and ending point of a Gundam's circle. This is the place where Gundam's come to die, this is also the place where Gundams are born, a place where old broken down Gundam's are brought here to be reborn into new more powerful Gundam's and if this place were to disappear then it would be like someone taking a piece out of the circle making it incomplete and I am sure that this disaster would be felt by all the world. That's why as long as I live I can't let this city be destroyed.

**While he's been talking we've been seeing flashbacks of Mark saying the same thing, Jack is in deep shocked and so is Tom.**

Tom (Th-th-That's impossible I never told him exactly what Mark said, could this guy be…)

**He's staring at Shadow intensely, and for a moment he sees Mark instead of Shadow. Shadow turns to face the others, his words have inspire them.**

Shadow: Guys line up!

**Kenny, Nick, Cagalli, Roxas get closer to him**

Shadow: I Shadow Zoomarey am declaring that protecting Junk City is our first official Mission as an official Gundam Team. Agree?

**Nick nods his head**

Nick: A true gentleman doesn't turn his back when others are in trouble.

**Kenny eagerly says**

Kenny: Agree!

**Roxas gets up and stretches**

Roxas: That Raider Boss smug smile pisses me off, so let's kick his ass.

**Cagalli nods her head**

Cagalli: I agree with Roxas, we should help anyway we can.

**Shadow pacing nods his**

Shadow: Great, since we're all in agreement let's get started. Since I'm the only one with a Gundam I'll deal with the raider's ship, Nick you head to the other Warehouse.

**Nick nods his head**

Nick: Right

**He turns around and walks away, Shadow turns to Roxas**

Shadow: Roxas you take the mine.

**Roxas smiles excited**

Roxas: Sweet, I get to try out my cave animal imitations.

**She gets back down on all fours and takes off fast, Shadow turns to Cagalli**

Shadow: That just leaves the housing district for you.

**Cagalli is shocked and scare**

Cagalli: Wait you want me to go to the housing district full of raider's with machine guns by myself!

**Tom steps up**

Tom: Don't worry there should already be mechanics there trying to fight the raiders. All you have to do is go there and ask them what they need. All the Warehouses are sending backup teams to the areas under attack we just need more time to get them organize but the people already over there could use a hand.

**Cagalli is still hesitate, Shadow smiles at her**

Shadow: What's the matter princess never been to the frontlines before?

**That pisses Cagalli off**

Cagalli: As a matter of fact I have!

Shadow: Good then you should have no problem going there this time.

**He says with a gloating smile, which pisses off Cagalli even more**

Cagalli: Fine I will!

**She turns around and marches off, Kenny walks over to the computer mechanic B was using**

Kenny: I'll stay and help out here.

**Shadow nods his head**

Shadow: Alright I'm heading to Nightwing; contact me if anything else happens.

**One of the trucks use to move Gundam parts pulls up next to them. Tom turns to Shadow**

Tom: You take the truck back to your Gundam and I'll stay here and act as your tech support.

**Shadow nods his head**

Shadow: Alright

**Shadow hops onto the back of the truck, as the truck begins to move Shadow changes into his pilot's suit. The scene cuts to Nightwing it's been move to the front of the Warehouse. We see Nightwing get handed a beam rifle and a shield as the truck pulls right up next to it. **

**The moment the truck stops Shadow jumps out of it and walks around to the front of Nightwing, he's got his pilot suit on except the helmet. Mechanic B is waiting for him on a lift. The moment Shadow hops on the lift Mechanic B flips the switch and the lift begins to move up. Shadow turns to him, he's got a big excited smile on his face, he holds out his clothes.**

Shadow: Hey, do you mind watching my clothes.

Mechanic B: Um, sure.

**The lift reaches the cockpit door**

Shadow: Great Thanks.

**Shadow hits a few buttons on his Neon gauntlet, the cockpit door opens. He puts on his helmet and jumps in, the door closes behind him as he gets to the center of the cockpit in the sunken floor and shouts**

Shadow: Nightwing begin Launching Sequence.

**We cut outside Nightwing for a second to see its eyes flash**

Nightwing: Launching Sequence engage.

Nightwing: Activating S-generator.

**The camera cuts into a metal room to show a crystal or something like it in the center. We see a bolt of eclectically hit it, creating a large boom, and then a mini sun appears. We cut back to Shadow.**

Nightwing: Activating NS System

**We see the black fog being released; it hits Shadow's legs and begins to enter the suit, we see the red lines appear, starting from his feet. The red lines go up and spread across his body, the camera circles around Shadow so we can see this better, this time Shadow doesn't yell in pain but he does grit his teeth and tense his muscles. When the lines spread across his helmet they disappear.**

Nightwing: Activating Zero gravity

**The Zero gravity bubble appears around Shadow again, he floats a couple of inches in the air.**

Nightwing: All system check, all systems ready to go on pilot's command.

**Shadow takes a deep breath he closes his eyes to concentrate**

Shadow (Alright got to remember, I am Nightwing, I am Nightwing, I AM NIGHTWING!)

**Shadow's eyes pop open**

Shadow: Shadow Zoomarey in Nightwing launching!

**We cut back outside Nightwing to see the mechanics scrambling around to get out of his way. Mechanic B shouts**

Mechanic B: Get those hanger doors open!

**The Gundam size hanger doors begin to open slowly. The camera turns around to face Nightwing and because the sun is now center in the middle of the sky it gives off a shining effect. Nightwing walks out of the Warehouse, we cut back inside the cockpit to see Shadow grinning full of excitement.**

Shadow: Alright Nightwing it's time to save a city!

**Nightwing eyes flash again, the episode ends with it bursting out of the Warehouse at top speeds.**


	13. Episode 12

Episode 12

**The episode opens up with Nightwing running at full speeds. We cut inside the cockpit to see Shadow grinning.**

Shadow: Alright Nightwing time to test out the upgraded systems!

**We cut back outside to see Nightwing slow down a little. The propulsion system is working just, suddenly Nightwing sidesteps left, then it starts running backwards, sidesteps right, runs forward for a little bit, then jumps up, then does a kick with one leg and then the other. We cut back inside Nightwing to see Shadow grinning like a loony**

Shadow: These upgrades Kenny and Jack made to Nightwing are awesome!

**Nightwing lifts up its gun and begins to point it at imaginary foes**

Shadow: Bam, Bam, Bam, Bam.

**Shadow makes gun sounds and pretends to fire at the imaginary foes, he even uses his shield to block imaginary return fire. We cut back inside Nightwing, suddenly Tom's face pops up on Shadow's helmet screen and Tom is extremely pissed. Shadow shouts, jumps back and waves his arm in surprise.**

Shadow: AHHHH!

Tom: What the hell do you think you're doing you Freaking moron!

**Tom shouts, his face is very red**

Shadow: Um, testing Nightwing's new systems.

**Tom still pissed off**

Tom: Great, it's working, NOW STOP MESSING AROUND AND TAKE DOWN THAT RAIDER'S SHIP.

**Shadow gets refocus**

Shadow: Right!

Tom: The raider's ship is to the east of your current position, SO GET MOVING!

**We cut back outside to see Nightwing turn east and start running then stops again. Tom calming down asks**

Tom: Why did you stop?

**Shadow is a little embarrassed**

Shadow: Um, well, can you shrink or minimize your window.

**Tom is confuse he doesn't yet realize Shadow is talking about the window that Tom pop out of on Shadow's helmet screen. Similar to a a computer window.**

Tom: What?

**Shadow tries to example**

Shadow: Well, it's just that your window is taking up half my helmet screen, so I only have half my field of vision.

**Tom gets mad again**

Tom: You moron, you control that!

**Shadow is surprise**

Shadow: I do?

**Tom annoyed now**

Tom: Yes, didn't you read the manual?

**Shadow is really surprise now**

Shadow: Wait there's a manual for Gundams?

Tom: Oh for the love of

**Tom stops himself and takes a deep breath**

Tom: Ok, you have to visualize the window to the size you want or it minimizing, this is one of those mind over matter things.

**Shadow closes his eyes and takes a breath. The window shrinks to a small corner of the helmet screen out of the way of the field of vision. Tom nods his head in approve**

Tom: Good, now get going.

**Shadow opens his eyes**

Shadow: Right

**We cut outside to see Nightwing taking off again. We cut back to the communication center of the Warehouse as Tom drops down onto his seat. Mechanic A turns to him worried**

Mechanic A: We're screw aren't we?

**Tom shrugs**

Tom: He's a rookie pilot that's for damn sure.

**The camera moves over them, and stops over Jack who is still on the ground seemingly not to have move. She's having flashbacks of Mark and his final movements with her.**

Jack (Mark you would of like this Shadow guy, I wonder what you would do?)

**Suddenly Jack rubs the tears out of eyes, she's got a new determine look in her eyes**

Jack (No, I know what you would of done!)

**Jack gets up and starts to move**

Jack (You would have done everything you could to help!)

**Kenny is working on a computer when Jack walks up behind and grabs his collar and pulls.**

Jack: Hey you, you're a programmer right?

**Kenny a little intimidated replies**

Kenny: Yea, whyargggg

**Jack starts to drag Kenny by the collar.**

Jack: Come with me.

**She says forcefully**

Kenny: Argg…..you're…arga….chocking…..argagga…me.

**The camera cuts to the housing district, we see Cagalli walking nervously through the houses**

Cagalli (Damn I can't believe I let that bastard talk me into coming here by myself!)

**We see a picture of Shadow with an evil smile enter Cagalli's head**

Cagalli (I know I told Shadow that I served on the Frontline before but in truth I haven't done anything like this since Desert Dawn and back then I had Ledonir Kisaka protecting me, then Kira, and then Athrun.)

**Cagalli stops moving as a sudden realization hits her**

Cagalli (Now that I think about it, I've always had someone protecting me; I've never been by myself in a combat situation before…)

**She stands there thinking about that while a raider quietly sneaks up behind her. Cagalli doesn't notice him, the raider lifts his gun slowly and carefully preparing to shoot her in the back when suddenly Rick comes up behind the raider takes his wrench and whacks the raider hard in the head.**

**The raider still manages to pull the trigger but the hit to the head causes his shots to go wild as he falls hard to the ground knockout. The bullets pass right by Cagalli causing her to jump very startled.**

Cagalli: What the

**Rick walks up to her**

Rick: What the hell do you think you're doing just standing there during a raider attack, and what the hell are you doing here anyway I thought that all the civilians had been evacuated out of this area!

**Cagalli still startled by her near death experience says**

Cagalli: I-I was sent here to help.

**Now Rick is surprise**

Rick: Wait you're the Gundam Fighter Tom said was coming!

**The way he says it insults Cagalli and snaps her out of her trance**

Cagalli: Yes, why you got a problem with that!

**Rick turns around and snaps**

Rick: Damn straight I do!

**Cagalli is surprise, when she yells at someone she's not use to them yelling back at her.**

Rick: When Tom said he was sending a Gundam Fighter to help, I was expecting a big strong fighter or someone smart with plenty of battle experience but instead I got a little girl who is way out of her damn element!

**Cagalli is very offended now**

Cagalli: I have plenty of battle experience!

**Rick turns around and starts walking away,**

Rick: Yea whatever, come with me and I'll show where we got our defense base set up. I guess we could always have you help the wounded.

**Cagalli chases after him**

Cagalli: You're not even listening to me are you!

**They continue walking, the houses around them are all deserted and most of the windows are broken and the doors are swinging wide open. Cagalli is looking around and taking this all in nervously, another raider walks onto the street behind them he takes his gun and prepares to fire, when Van shouts out from one of the deserted houses.**

Van: Rick!

**Rick without looking grabs Cagalli and dives towards the empty house Van shouted from. The raider has open fire but luckily Cagalli and Rick get into the house without taking a hit. The bullets hitting the house make a deafening banging sound from hitting the scrap metal the houses are made from. We cut inside the house to see Rick and Cagalli crawl over to Van. Rick grins at Van**

Rick: Thanks for the help Van, I was just leading our here Gundam Fighter to our defense base.

**He says Gundam Fighter sarcastically; Van is trying to look out the window without getting shot.**

Van: Well you can forget about that, we had to move the base again, that's why I'm out here in the first place to come and tell you. Oh speaking of _Gundam Fighter_ who did they send us?

**Van finally turns to get a good look at Cagalli, Cagalli also turns to get a good look at Van, and their eyes open wide in recognition,**

Cagalli and Van: You!

**Rick looks back and forth between them surprise**

Rick: Wait you two know each other?

**Van starts to glare angrily at her**

Van: Rick this is that spoiled rich brat Cgalial I was telling you about!

**(note, he says Cagalli's name wrong, it is not a typing mistake) Cagalli offended**

Cagalli: It's Cagalli!

**Van loses it**

Van: Are you happy now that this _dump_ is getting destroyed!

**Cagalli looks down ashamed**

Cagalli: Look I'm sorry about what I said

**Van still angry cuts her off**

Van: Bull!

**Cagalli is confused**

Cagalli: Huh?

Van: You're just saying sorry to make yourself feel better not because you acknowledge that you were wrong!

**A bullet flies over their heads causing them to duck down more. Rick is getting annoyed**

Rick: Is this really the best time and place for this!

**Van goes back to trying to look out the window without getting shot**

Cagalli: But I do acknowledge that I was wrong!

**She pleads, Van snorts**

Van: Yea right.

Cagalli: I mean it, why do you think I'm here, to help!

**Van turns back to look at her again and snaps**

Van: And what exactly are you doing to help!

**Cagalli is taken back, Van continues**

Van: You're a Gundam Fighter right, so when are you going to actually fight someone!

**Cagalli stutters**

Cagalli: I-I was going to help in the command center.

**Van rolls his eyes**

Van: Yea thanks but we already got a bunch of old military hounds coming up with a counter-attack plan, what we need is a Fighter who can help us on the frontline not some daddy's little girl type to state obvious fighting plans.

**The daddy's little girl comment ticks Cagalli off, we stop hearing bullet firing sounds**

Cagalli: I'm not a daddy's little girl!

**Although she doesn't raise her voice there's a definitely an edge to her voice. Van is momentary surprise by this tone but gets over it.**

Van: Then prove it, or is that weapon on your back just for show!

**Van is referring to the Guan Dao on her back. Cagalli takes the Guan Dao off her back, and takes off the small sheaf covering the blade**

Cagalli: No it's not!

**With that she jumps out the window, she uses her left hand to help her jump out the window while her right hand is holding her Guan Dao with the blade pointing forward. We see the raider fumbling to reload his weapon, Cagalli charges him, she puts her left hand back on her weapon and brings it up preparing to make a downward strike.**

**The raider looks up surprise, he jumps back a little too late. Due to a combination of the raider moving back and Cagalli's aim her blade only slashes his shoulder. The raider howls in pain and drops his gun. He continues putting distance between himself and Cagalli then drops a knee and grabs his injured shoulder with the other hand.**

**Cagalli is looking at him then the gun on the ground surprise, then she flips her weapon so that the pole part is facing forward and charges again. The raider looks up just as Cagalli whacks him across the face; he falls to the side unconscious. Cagalli is breathing heavily, Rick and Van come out surprise, and Rick is impressed.**

Rick: That wasn't bad!

**Van isn't**

Van: She was just lucky that he was reloading his weapon.

**Cagalli is a little confused, she still staring at the raider and his gun**

Cagalli: He dropped his gun when I cut him.

**Rick walks over to the raider to check the cut**

Van: Yea, what do you expect, these guys aren't profession soldiers. At best they can be called bullies who aren't used to people fighting back.

**Cagalli thinks this over, Rick looks up**

Rick: He'll be fine; when backup comes they'll fix him up so they can throw his sorry ass in jail.

**Van is looking at the raider thinking, Rick gets up**

Rick: Well we should head back to the base.

**Cagalli nods her head**

Cagalli: Right

**Rick starts to walk away with Cagalli following but Van grabs her shoulder stopping her.**

Van: Hold on a second, where do you think you're going?

Rick: Van!

**Van snaps**

Van: She can answer for herself!

**Cagalli is confused**

Cagalli: Um, to the base.

**Van says in an even voice**

Van: Like I said we don't need you at the base.

**Rick tries to reason with Van**

Rick: Come on Van don't be stupid.

**Van ignores him**

Van: The raiders are at their, everyone steal what you want for yourself phase; which means that there are more raiders separated from the main group going through houses and stealing stuff.

**Cagalli doesn't understand**

Cagalli: Ok, so what?

**Van looks her straight in the eye**

Van: We have a plan that will take out the raiders but there's a problem, we need them all in one place.

**Cagalli still doesn't get it**

Cagalli: So what do you want me to do about it?

Van: If you start taking their people out one at a time they'll get spooked and regroup.

**Rick is surprise and shocked**

Rick: Wait you want her to fight the raiders by herself!

**Van snaps back**

Van: Most of the fights would be one on one and she just proved that she'll be able to handle that!

**Cagalli is a little scare and suspicious**

Cagalli: Why doesn't someone us go?

**Van doesn't like her tone**

Van: Because anyone capable of doing it is already doing something, and if you really want to prove you're sorry and want to save this city then you'll do this job!

**Cagalli takes a moment to think then nods her head**

Cagalli: Alright.

**Van nods then begins to walk away. Rick takes a moment to look at Cagalli then follows Van. Cagalli goes in the other direction, after they walk away for a little bit Rick turns to Van.**

Rick: I don't like this Van, she's just a rookie we should send her some backup.

**Van doesn't look back**

Van: We don't have the man power for that and you know it.

**Rick grabs Van's arm stopping him**

Rick: Now you need to be straight with me man, are you trying to send this girl to her death?

**Van looks Rick straight in the eye**

Van: If she really is a Gundam Fighter some raiders won't be a problem for her.

**Van shakes Rick off and continues walking**

Rick: And if they are?

**Van doesn't turn around**

Van: Then she'll die.

**The scene cuts back to Nightwing. Nightwing is running at full speed, we cut inside the cockpit to see Tom talking to Shadow**

Tom: We've equip your Gundam with a beam rifle and a shield.

**Shadow asks excited**

Shadow: Can I keep them?

**Tom answers without hesitation**

Tom: Absolutely not, regardless of what most pilots think beam rifles and shields do not grow on trees or magically appear equip on their Gundam. They are expansive to buy and a pain to build so you are NOT TO LOSE OR BREAK THEM.

**Shadow flinches when Tom yells at him**

Shadow: Ow, alright I heard you, god you do know that the speaker is right up against my ear right.

**We cut outside to see the raider's ship come into view of Nightwing. Nightwing stops and we cut back inside the cockpit to see Tom give instructions.**

Tom: Alright, the Junk Mountain to your left should be stable enough to support your weight but be careful, in case you forgot Junk Mountains are made entirely out of broken down Gundams and other metal objects, so knocking down the wrong part could cause the whole thing to collapse on top of you, so WATCH YOUR STEP.

**Shadow rolls his eyes**

Shadow: That doesn't make me nervous at all.

**He says sarcastically, we cut back outside to see Nightwing slowly ascend the Junk Mountain because of the beam rifle and shield Nightwing doesn't use its hands. Nightwing gets to the top without causing the mountain to collapse. The camera turns so that we are behind Nightwing facing the raider's ship; Nightwing lifts its beam rifle and points it at the raider's ship. Nightwing lowers its shield below its head to see better.**

Tom: Alright, you got a couple of shots before they can react to you so make sure you either hit the bridge or the engine.

**Tom says quietly**

Shadow: Why are you whispering this is a separate communication line so they can't hear us?

**Tom snaps**

Tom: BECAUSE I FEEL LIKE IT NOW FOCUS!

**We cut back outside to see the black ball full of parts and broken machinery begin to raise again, as it rises we notice the Junk sinks a little like a sink hole indicting the Junk Mountain is becoming more unstable. Shadow sees this and realizes he's running out of time.**

Shadow: Time for you to say goodbye!

**Nightwing fires, we cut inside the raider's ship to see the computer screen start flashing red. Hunter turns to the Boss panic**

Hunter: Incoming fire!

**Boss turns around shocked**

Boss: What? Evade!

Hunter: No time!

**They brace for impact. We cut outside to see the beam shot go above the ship missing them; we see Shadow continuing to fire at them.**

Shadow: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

**All of Shadow's shots miss, they're not even close to hitting the raider's ship. We cut inside the raider's ship to see everyone looking up confused. We cut back to inside the cockpit to see Shadow breathing hard (from screaming) Tom looks dumbstruck. Shadow looks down at the beam rifle and says**

Shadow: You're gun is broken.

**Tom is offended and extremely ticked off**

Tom: The gun's fine, YOU'RE JUST A CRAPPY SHOT!

**The camera cuts back inside the raider's ship to show the entire crew laughing**

Crew person A: HAHAHAHHAH, I seen some bad shots but this one takes the cake.

Boss: HAHAHAHAHHA, with shots like that you have to wonder how they ever survived.

**Hunter about to fall out of his chair**

Hunter: HAHAHAHAHAH, if we stay perfectly I don't think we have anything to worry about.

**The Boss takes a deep breath to calm down**

Boss: Alright enough laughing idiots, Hunter did you find who shot at us?

**Hunter also calms down; he turns back to the computer**

Hunter: Yes Sir, It came from a Basic Original Gundam over at the Junk Mountain next to us.

**The main monitor blinks and we see Nightwing come up, Boss laughs again**

Boss: hahahahhaha, a Basic Original now I know the people of Junk City our getting desperate asking such a pathetic Gundam to help.

**Hunter looks back to the Boss**

Hunter: Should we open fire sir?

Boss: And waste the bullets on such a worthless Gundam, just ignore it for now, I doubt such an insignificant machine could ever hit us.

**The camera cuts back to Nightwing's cockpit to show Tom and Shadow arguing**

Tom: You could have mentioned you NEVER HELD A GUN BEFORE!

**Shadow flinches**

Shadow: Well I didn't think it would be that hard!

**Tom is furious**

Tom: You moron people spend years trying to master marksmanship and you thought you could just wing it!

**Shadow's eyes suddenly take a focused look**

Shadow: SHHHHH, something's not right.

**Tom stops talking. We see Shadow's eyes start to scan the area around him, we cut to his point of view to see that the Junk mountain look's quite. The raider's ship has released the magnet again and is lowering it; Tom is getting uneasy**

Tom: What is it?

**Shadow for the first time in a while start's to show a growing anger**

Shadow: Nothing!

**Tom is confused**

Tom: Huh?

**Shadow's anger is growing**

Shadow: Nothing is happing, I just attack their ship so they should either be running or returning fire but they're doing nothing!

**Shadow's anger has reached a boiling point. Tom is surprise he's never seen Shadow this work up before.**

Shadow: THOSE BASTARDS ARE LOOKING DOWN ON ME!

**We cut to outside to see Nightwing lift up his beam rifle and start firing again. The camera cuts to a housing district where we see Jack and Kenny running. Jack is in the lead and Kenny is struggling to keep up.**

Kenny: Where are we going?

**He asks in an out of breath voice, Jack answers over her shoulder**

Jack: Back to my house, there's something there we can use to help defeat the raiders.

**Kenny too tired to question further can only keep running. We start to see a flashback (should be noted that this isn't someone's memory we're seeing but just a past event). We see Tom in a waiting room, suddenly the door opens and a doctor comes out of the room. **

**The camera is angle so that we can see inside the room when it opens, we see Jack sitting in one of those doctor checkup beds her expression is blank. The door closes and the doctor goes over to Tom. Tom worried asks**

Tom: What's wrong with her doc?

Doctor: There's nothing wrong with her.

**Tom cuts the Doctor off, he's very angry**

Tom: Nothing wrong with her how can you say that! You think she's bad now you should see her at the Warehouse, most of the time she walks around like a zombie, and she barley speaks, she hardly eats, and one time she got hit with a metal poll by accident but instead of getting mad she just got up and walked away with the same blank look on her face! So how can you tell me nothing is wrong with her?

**Tom yells at him, the Doctor is annoyed but keeps his professionalism**

Doctor: Before you interrupted me I was going to say that there's nothing wrong with her physically.

**Tom calms down**

Tom: Oh, so what's wrong with her mentally?

**The Doctor scratches his head**

Doctor: Well that's tough to say since I'm not a specialist but if I had to guess I would say her time has stop.

**Tom is confused**

Tom: Her, what has stopped?

Doctor: Time, her time has stopped. Don't get me wrong, she'll still age, if she gets cut she'll bleed but on the inside, her feelings have gone numb, it's like existing without being there.

**Tom gets it a little**

Tom: Ok, so what can you do?

**Doctor laughs**

Doctor: hahaha, me, nothing, the only thing anyone can do is wait. In time she'll get better, and someday I have faith her time will once again start.

**The flashback fades and we come back to the present. We see Jack running, sweat dripping down her face but she's got an intense look of concentration in her red eyes.**

Jack (At that time my biggest regret wasn't that I became a mechanic; it wasn't that Mark and I were born into this life, and it wasn't my feeling of weakness. My biggest regret was that I didn't do anything to help Mark, I just sat there too afraid to move, afraid to risk it all to protect my home!)

**While Jack's been thinking this we've been seeing flashbacks of the night Mark died. At the end we should see the screen shot of Jack lying on her hands and knees.**

Jack (But this time I won't make the same mistake, this time I'm going to do everything possible to help them!)

**Jack burst into her house, Kenny is right behind her. Jack runs to a wall at the back of the house and starts to examine the wall. Kenny walks up behind her, he's looking around the house.**

Kenny: Alright where's this thing that can help us defeat the raiders?

**He's still looking wildly for something, Jack smiles at him**

Jack: Right here.

**Jack hits a hidden switch in the wall, the wall begins to slowly open, and as it opens we have one more flashback. We see Jack in the living room working on a toy car, she seems frustrated, and suddenly she picks up the toy and throws it in frustration. Mark was coming in the room when she threw it but luckily he ducks just in time. The toy car hits the wall with a clang and falls to the floor breaking into pieces. Mark looks to Jack then the toy car, then back to Jack.**

Mark: Something the matter Jack?

**Jack turns, folds her arms and puffs**

Jack: Nothing, I just felt like testing my arm strength.

**She say's obviously lying**

Mark: You know a mechanic is supposed to build or repair things not destroy them; that's the politician job.

**Jack laughs at Marks joke**

Jack: Hahahaha, you know it's that stupid toy car's fault.

**She points to the Toy car on the ground; Mark walks over to it and picks it up**

Mark: How so?

**He examines the toy car**

Jack: It wouldn't work; no matter what I did I couldn't get that stupid car to work!

**Jack then says in a quieter voice**

Jack: Just like all the stuff I worked on at the Warehouse today.

**Mark walks over to her and puts the toy car back on the table. He smiles a kind warm smile**

Mark: Jack, even the best mechanics have bad days, but the important thing is to not let it get to you.

**Jack looks at him**

Jack: yea I know

**Mark smiles then begins to walk away, Jack stops him**

Jack: Um, Mark

**Mark stops, and then turns to look back at Jack**

Jack: How do you, you know, deal with it when you have a bad day?

**Mark smiles**

Mark: Well I personally like to take a break from the work I'm doing and work on something I really enjoy working on.

**Jack nods her head in understanding**

Jack: I see, what do you work on?

**Mark stops and thinks about this for a second then decides on something.**

Mark: How bout I show you, follow me.

**Mark leads Jack to the same wall, we saw Jack lead Kenny. When he gets to the wall he turns to Jack and asks in a serious voice.**

Mark: Before I show you, you have to promise not to tell anyone what you see.

**Jack curious and confused answers**

Jack: Ok

**Mark puts both hands on Jack's shoulders and gets down to her level**

Mark: I'm serious Jack, I haven't shown anyone this, and you have to swear you won't tell anyone.

Jack: I swear.

**Mark nods his head then turns around and hits the secret switch, as the door begins to open Jack turns to Mark surprised.**

Jack: Since when do we have a secret door in our house?

**She asks a little annoyed, Mark answers in an even tone**

Mark: It's a private work space our parents built so no one would see their unfinished works.

**Jack looks to the floor**

Jack: Oh

**Jack eager to change the subject**

Jack: So what are you building that's so important and secretive.

**Mark smiles**

Mark: Something that I've been building from scratch, it's my greatest project yet and when it's finish it's going to be my master piece.

**The flashback ends with the door opening and Mark and Jack walking in. We come back to the present; the door opens all the way to reveal a closet size room with a ladder leading down. We can tell that's it's a long way down because no light is coming from the bottom.**

Jack: Come on.

**She starts to climb down the ladder, Kenny is unhappy**

Kenny: Of course this thing has to be under ground in some deep dark cave.

**Once Jack disappears down the hole, Kenny reluctantly goes down the ladder as well. He grumbles**

Kenny: I hate caves.

**The cave is completely black; the camera does the night vision thing so we can see a little but not a lot. Jack and Kenny get to the bottom of the ladder and get off, Jack hurries off seeming to know where she's going, most likely she knows the layout by heart because she's been here so often. Kenny has his hands out in front of him and is walking slowly forward**

Kenny: Great, just great, its pitch black and I can't see a thing! At this rate I'm just going to step on the thing you want!

**Kenny says to Jack, Kenny is very unhappy. Jack seems to have gotten to a wall; Jack gives a small smile to Kenny's comment.**

Jack: I doubt that.

**With that she flips a light switch, huge flood lights come on. Now that we can see the area better, it looks more like an underground Warehouse than a cave. Kenny is momentary blinded by the sudden light. He puts his hands in front of his eyes when he gets used to the light he puts his hand down and spots the "thing" that Jack wants to use to help defeat the raiders. The camera zooms in on his face as his eyes open wide in shock.**

Kenny: Th-That's a battleship!

**The camera moves out so we can see a little bit of it but we can't make it out clearly, like looking at something through the corner of your eye. Kenny is still shocked; Jack smiles at him as she walks over**

Jack: Actually it's an assault ship, but that wasn't a bad guess.

**Jack takes on a focus look**

Jack: Now come on.

**Jack starts to run to the ship, Kenny shakes his head and refocuses, he then follows Jack. We cut to what looks like the command center of the ship. The camera looks to the door, as it slowly start to open. We look closer to see Jack pushing the door, she's grunting and sweating with effort. Kenny is looking at her confused**

Kenny: Um, I'm no expert but shouldn't this door open automatically?

**Jack still pushing the door open**

Jack: It will, once we get the programming install.

**Now Kenny is really surprise**

Kenny: Wait, you bought a ship that didn't already have programming installed in it!

**Jack manages to get the door open enough to fit through**

Jack: I didn't buy it, I built it.

**If Kenny was surprised before he's shocked now**

Kenny: You built it!

**Jack goes through the opening and Kenny follows. Jack walks over to a computer terminal she turns to Kenny and looks him straight in the eye.**

Jack: My brother and I built this ship

**Kenny shuts up, Jack continues**

Jack: But because we built this ship from scratch and because I don't know a thing about programming, it doesn't have any programming installed in it. It's like a video game console without any video games. I need you to install the programming.

**Kenny is shocked**

Kenny: You want me to install the programming for this entire ship, do you realize how long that will take!

**Jack goes to argue**

Jack: It doesn't have to be perfect, it just needs to be able to move, everything else you can finish later.

**Kenny has his hand in his hair thinking, he then comes to a conclusion.**

Kenny: Alright, I'll try but even that well still take some time.

**Kenny takes a seat and starts up the computer, he fingers become a blur on the key board. Jack smiles in gratitude**

Jack: As long as we make it into this fight in time.

**The scene ends. The next scene opens up with Shadow in the cockpit. He's breathing and sweating heavy. We cut to Tom in the communication center, mechanic A turns to him**

Mechanic A: It's been ten minutes, he's shot over a hundred beam bullets and miss every time. He should have hit them at least once by dumb luck.

**Mechanic B turns to Tom**

Mechanic B: You think he's working with the raiders?

**There's a moment of pause as everyone turns to Tom to see his answer. Tom has a thinking look on his face**

Tom: No, I don't think he's working with the raiders; HE'S JUST THE WORST SHOT IN HUMAN HISTORY!

**The camera cuts back to Shadow in the cockpit, he looks annoyed**

Shadow: You do know I can still hear you!

**Tom snaps**

Tom: Good!

**The camera cuts to the inside of the raider's ship; the boss has the look of someone who thinks he's already claim victory. Hunter turns to him**

Hunter: The enemy Gundam has stopped firing again Sir.

**One of the other crew member's remarks**

Crew Member A: Chances are he should have hit us by now, so not only is he not a good shot but he's also unlucky.

**The Boss gives a winners smile**

Boss: Of course, it's just what I expected.

**The camera cuts back outside, we see the magnet full of Junk get lifted back into the ship again, suddenly we hear a groaning sound like the sound a building makes when it's about to collapse. Shadow hears it and realizes he's out of time**

Shadow: That's it, I'm going over there and cutting that magnet off with my beam saber!

**Shadow goes to move forward but Tom shouts**

Tom: Stop you moron!

**Shadow stops surprise**

Tom: If you go anywhere near that magnet not only we'll your "metal" Gundam get stuck on it but the magnetic field will mess with the circuits of your Gundam making it useless.

**Shadow shouts in frustration**

Shadow: Damn it!

**He starts thinking**

Shadow (I'm out of time I need to stop them now but how; I need to think? As much as it pains me to say it I'm a lousy shot, I could spend all day out here and not hit them.)

**We cut back outside to see Nightwing look down at the gun in its hand. It looks back at the now empty magnet lower again; a broken Gundam is pulled and attach to it. The broken Gundam's arm is swinging slightly. We cut back inside the cockpit to see Shadow's eyes open wide in surprise, we can see him staring intensely at that Gundam's arm.**

Shadow (Wait a second, why is that Gundam's arm still swing? Momentum, No, momentum from being pulled to the magnet wouldn't have it swing that much so what?

Shadow: Nightwing can you zoom in on that Gundam's arm.

**We switch to Shadow's point of view to see the camera zoom in on the arm. We can see that the chest of the Gundam is releasing gas. Tom is confused by Shadow's interest**

Tom: What are you doing? That's just a space type Gundam, its oxygen tank must have been puncture or something like that; why does it matter?

**He asks but Shadow is already thinking ahead, suddenly he smiles**

Shadow: Tom I've got a plan.

**He says with confidence, Tom is surprise**

Tom: A plan really what is it!

Shadow: Sorry Tom no time to explain.

**The camera cuts back outside, we see Nightwing drop its shield, then it grabs it's beam saber from the hidden compartment and turns it on. We cut back to a confused Tom**

Tom (What's he doing, he can't get in close to use his beam saber on the magnet?)

**Nightwing is holding the beam saber in his left hand and his gun in the right. He lifts up his beam saber and slightly cuts his gun, when he cuts it sparks start flying out, the camera cuts to Tom for a second to show dead shock. Then Nightwing throws the beam rifle at the magnet. Tom still in shock shouts**

Tom: WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!

**We cut back to the beam rifle to see it spinning towards the magnet. It looks like it's going to miss when suddenly it curves towards the magnet do to the magnetic attraction and gets attach to the broken space Gundam. We cut to Tom who is furious**

Tom: You moron, why the hell did you throw away your only long range weapon!

**Shadow is smiling**

Shadow: So I could finally score a hit.

**We cut back outside to zoom in on the broken space Gundam and the beam rifle. We can see that gas is still being released and the sparks are still flying from the gun, suddenly BANG! There's a huge explosion on the magnet and the steal cable snaps dropping what is now a fire ball on the Junk Mountain. We cut to see Tom's stun face**

Tom (He realized that he wasn't going to be able to shoot the raider's ship down in time to prevent them from collapsing Gerodi, so he cut the beam rift enough that it would emit sparks. Then he threw it at the magnet using its own magnetic force against it so that it would become attach right at the broken space Gundam's leaking oxygen tank making it explode.)

**While Tom's been thinking the other mechanics have started to cheer, as well as Shadow.**

Shadow: YES, YES, YES, YES, YES!

**We cut back to the raider's ship. Once again red lights are flashing, and Hunter turns to the Boss**

Hunter: Sir, the magnet has just exploded!

**The Boss is outrage**

Boss: What! HOW!

**Hunter is busy typing away on the computer**

Hunter: I'm not completely certain Sir but it seems to be the work of that Gundam.

**The main monitor flashes to show Nightwing jumping up and down and punching the air mimicking Shadow's movements.**

Crew Member A: With the magnet destroy; we won't be able to collect anymore Gundam parts.

**The Boss is looking really piss, he's griping the chair tightly**

Boss: I know that! How dare that worthless piece of crap try to defile me!

**He suddenly gets up and points to the screen**

Boss: Prepare to open fire with everything we got on that Gundam, I don't care what it takes just destroy it!

**We cut back to the communication room, everyone is still celebrating. Mechanic A suddenly looks up to Tom**

Mechanic A: Tom the raider's ship is turning to firing position on Nightwing!

Tom: What! What's Nightwing's current power level!

**He shouts to mechanic B**

Mechanic B: 64%

**Tom curse**

Tom: Damn

Tom (Not only is his power level low but he no longer has his beam rifle to counter attack with.)

**Tom suddenly shouts into the monitor**

Tom: Shadow get out of there the raider's ship is turning around to attack you!

**We cut back outside, we can see the raider ship turning to its side. We can also see the CIW guns on its side lift up and start taking aim at Nightwing. Nightwing has stop jumping up and down, it now has the beam saber in its right hand. We cut inside the cockpit to see Shadow with a crazy smile on his face.**

Shadow: So you're finally ready to take me seriously.

**There's some excitement in his voice, Tom is panicking**

Tom: What the hell are you waiting for; get the hell out of there now!

**We cut to inside the raider's ship, Nightwing is still up on the monitor. Hunter typing away on the computer says**

Hunter: All guns are in firing range and locked on target Sir.

**The Boss is staring intensely at Nightwing with hate.**

Boss: FIRE!

**We cut to Shadow**

Shadow: You're going down!

**He shouts, we cut outside to see Nightwing grab the beam saber with both hands and charge the raider's ship as it begins to open fire. The episode ends with a freeze shot of Nightwing and the raider's ship; we can see Shadow above Nightwing and The Boss above the raider's ship.**


	14. Episode 13

Episode 13

**The episode opens up with two raiders with machineguns walking down the housing district. They look pretty relax, like they own this city. They come to a fork in the road**

Raider A: Alright I'm going left.

**Raider B looks at him surprise**

Raider B: But base is to the right?

**Raider A smirks**

Raider A: I know that, but I haven't got a good enough hall yet, so I'm going to go ransack some more houses before I head back to the base.

**Raider A start to walk down the left road, Raider B sighs then shouts**

Raider B: Fine, but don't expect me to bail you out if you're late.

**Raider A waves his hand at him to show he understands. He continues walking by himself down the housing district; suddenly we see Cagalli hiding in one of the shadows of the houses behind Raider A. The only movement we see her make is with her eyes which are watching Raider A who doesn't seem to notice her.**

Cagalli (Alright I think I pretty much got this attack pattern down so let's try it on that guy.)

**We can see her holding her Guan Dao in her right hand. She's keeping it close to the ground with the blade on its side. She slowly walks out from the shadows behind Raider A**

Cagalli (First step, get behind them or attack them with the element of surprise.)

**She grabs her Guan Dao with both hands then charges the Raider A. Raider A hears her and turns around surprise he raises his gun but it's too late.**

Cagalli (Next do a downward strike to the right shoulder,)

**Cagalli does a downward strike to his shoulder, some blood spills but it's clear that the cut isn't deep or life threatening.**

Cagalli (Because of the pain from the cut the person will step back and howl in pain, he will lower his gun or even drop it so that he can grab his injured shoulder.)

**Raider A howls in pain, steps back and drops his gun so that he can grab his shoulder with his uninjured hand. Cagalli takes a step forward.**

Cagalli (Last, flip my Guan Dao so that the pole is facing forward and attack the head.)

**Cagalli flips her Guan Dao so that the pole is facing forward then performs an upper right attack hitting Raider A in the right cheek.**

Cagalli (Causing a non-lethal knockout.)

**Raider A falls backwards knockout. Cagalli stares at him breathing hard and still crouching down, then she straightens up. Cagalli takes her Guan Dao in her right hand and puts the pole end on the ground with the blade pointed up. She starts rotating her left shoulder.**

Cagalli (Took me a little bit to get the hang of it but I've master it to point where they don't even get a shot off at me.)

**Cagalli stops relaxing, still with the Guan Dao in her right hand now holding it at an angle she starts to jog.**

Cagalli (That makes 9 raiders I've token down, as long as I have the element of surprise and I continue to fight them one on one I should be fine.)

**The scene cuts to Warehouse 8, we can hear gun fire coming from everywhere. Jay and a couple of other mechanics are ducking behind a broken Gundam arm from incoming fire of the Raiders. Jay and the others have guns but the rain of bullets above them is preventing them from getting a shot off. **

**We can see the raiders also using broken Gundam parts for cover. We can see that Jay and the other 4 mechanics next to him are hopelessly outnumber, suddenly another mechanic keeping low to the ground runs over to Jay's group. He gets a couple of shots off but doesn't hit anyone. He manages to dive behind the Gundam arm without getting shot. Jay looks over at him**

Jay: You hit Pat?

**Pat checks himself quickly then looks to Jay**

Pat: I'm not but the situation is looking pretty bad Jay.

**Jay snorts**

Jay: Yea, tell me something I don't know.

**Pat goes on ignoring Jay's comment**

Pat: All the civilians have been evacuated out of the Warehouse with minimum casualties but the defense lines in over a dozen places have been force to move back another 20 yards, and our wounded have almost triple in ten minutes.

**Jay doesn't like where he is going with this**

Jay: Do you have anything useful to say?

**Pat takes a deep breath then says**

Pat: Jay I think we should start thinking about abandoning the Warehouse.

**Everyone stops what they are doing and turn towards Pat shock and surprise. Jay is shock and angry**

Jay: Absolutely not! We just need to hold out a little longer till backup from the other Warehouses come.

**Jay angry and frustrated tries to lift up his gun above the Gundam arm and shoot blindly but a bullet grazes his hand forcing him to pull back.**

Jay: OW!

**Pat looks at Jay worry**

Pat: Jay, are you alright!

**Pat goes to take a look at his hand. Jay shakes him away and snaps**

Jay: I'm fine, I can keep fighting!

**Jay has a desperate look in his eyes he's breathing heavily. Pat looks at him sadly**

Pat: Jay I know this is your home, your castle, your kingdom but it's over.

**He says kindly, he tries to put a comforting hand on Jay's shoulder but Jay shakes him off**

Jay: NO, we can still hold out!

**It's obvious by the way he says this that he's desperate**

Pat: Face it Jay it's over, your defense line is the only one that hasn't been pushed back yet!

**Pat says this more forcefully, Jay is still resistant**

Jay: NO, I will not abandon the Warehouse!

**Pat tries a different tactic**

Pat: Not abandoning but a strategic retreat, once we have more reinforcements we can come back and retake the Warehouse.

**Jay listens to this for a second but then shakes his head**

Jay: No, by then the raiders would have ransacked the place.

**Pat goes to say something else but Jay holds up a finger**

Jay: Wait a minute, why have they stop firing.

**Jay signals Pat and the others to stay down. He slowly lifts his head above the Gundam arm, suddenly a raider pops right up in front of them he's already got the gun pointed at them. Time begins to slow down, Jay's eyes open wide, he tries to move back. The others start to lift their guns to try and fire on the raider before he fires on them first; however it's obvious they won't make it in time.**

Jay (They purposely kept firing high so that one of their guys could craw under the hail of bullets, then once he was right up against our defense wall they stop firing so that he could just jump up and empty his rounds right behind our defense line, damn.)

**We zoom in on the raider's trigger finger; we can see him begin to pull when suddenly we hear a single gunshot. A bullet hits the raider's right in the shoulder of the hand that was going to pull the trigger. The raider's injured arm lets go of the gun as he starts to fall backwards at an angle.**

**The raider lifts his gun with his uninjured arm but a second gunshot to his other shoulder prevents him from doing anything else. He drops his gun completely, falls backwards and hits his head hard on the ground. He appears to be unconscious, and time goes back to normal.**

**Jay, Pat, and the other mechanics surprise turn around to see Nick running at full speed towards them. He somehow is managing to stay low to the ground and run at the same time. His gun is out and in his right hand, and his left hand is on his hat holding it in place on his head. **

**He takes his gun and fires again. The camera switches views so we're following behind the bullet; we see it fly over Jay and the Gundam arm. It goes all the way to the enemy line and hits a raider right in the shoulder that was sticking out from his cover. We switch views back to normal view; we see the raider howl in pain as he falls backwards.**

**Two more raiders get hit before the first touches the ground, one was hit in the shoulder of the arm that was holding its gun out of cover, and the other was shot in the foot that was sticking out from cover. All three of them fall to the ground, the camera cuts back to Nick who does a baseball type slide into the Gundam arm Jay and the others are using for cover, right next to a startled Jay.**

Nick: Sorry for being late mates.

**The raiders start shooting again; we can hear the loud bang of bullets hitting the Gundam arm.**

Jay: Who the hell are you!

**Nick tips his hat a little**

Nick: Nick Mu at your service mates.

**Jay, Pat and the other mechanics are giving him blank looks, so Nick goes on to say.**

Nick: I'm the Gundam Fighter Tom sent mates.

**Recognition crosses their faces**

Pat: Wait Tom sent you, is the backup here?

**Nick shakes his head**

Nick: Sorry mates but they were still getting organized when I left.

**Pat turns to Jay**

Pat: See, The backup party is nowhere near ready we need to retreat!

**Jay snaps**

Jay: We can still hold out a little longer!

**Pat is getting frustrated**

Pat: Damn it Jay we were almost killed less than 5 minutes ago; if we stay any longer we're going to be killed!

**Jay ignores him and goes back to trying to shoot over the cover without being shot. Pat turns to Nick**

Pat: Hey Gundam Fighter can you please talk some sense into him.

**Nick has been quietly listening to the conversation, he turn towards Jay, and says in a calm even voice.**

Nick: He's right mate, I know that this is your home and you may think it's worth dying for but it isn't worth the lives of your comrades.

**Jay thinks this over for a minute then gets a resolved look in his eyes**

Jay: You can give the order to retreat but I'm staying and fighting to the end!

Pat: Jay, don't be stupid this place isn't worth your life.

**Jay shouts at Pat**

Jay: You're wrong; hundreds of people depend on this Warehouse for work. Most of them have families they have to feed, so if this Warehouse gets destroyed or damage beyond repair how are they supposed to get money for their families. I'm not fighting for the building I'm fighting for the people who need this job!

**Pat is surprise by Jay's comment**

Pat: Jay

**Nick smiles; he begins to move to the side of the Gundam arm**

Nick: I see now, at first I thought you were just a stubborn King trying to keep his castle for the sake of his pride but I now see that it's the homes inside the castle you're trying to protect. Don't worry mate we'll hold those raiders off into backup comes.

**Jay and Pat look at Nick surprise by his thoughtful nature. Nick suddenly rolls away from his cover, as he's rolling he opens fire. He gets off 7 shots and each shot hits a target. Nick quickly gets back on his feet and begins to move in a zigzag pattern towards the raiders. He gets off another 7 shots with each shot hitting an exposed limb sticking out from cover.**

**With one hand he releases the empty magazine and at the same time gets a new one from a pouch he's carrying on his side with his other hand. He's reloaded in less than a second and then he begins to fire again. Nick's a little more than half way to the raider's line when the camera cuts back over to a shock Jay and Pat.**

Pat: Holy crap that guy's a monster.

Jay: Well he is a Gundam Fighter after all.

**Jay suddenly shakes his head and shouts at the others**

Jay: Wait a second what are we waiting for, this is our chance to push the enemy line back let's go!

**Jay jumps out from the cover; he's opening fire straight ahead and is advancing. The others follow after him; they move quickly and form a V shape charge with Nick at the tip. They're almost at the raider's line, over half of the raiders that started out have been taken down. The remaining raiders are beginning to retreat. Nick and the others have reached the cover the raiders were using, they begin to use it against the raiders now. One of the raiders shouts.**

Raider: RETREAT!

**The camera cuts to the mine, the carts are flipped over and being used for cover. The miners are using some kind of laser cutting tool to hold off the raiders. One of the raiders falls back to where their Unit leader is.**

Raider A: It will take just a little longer to finish off the miners Sir.

**The Unit leader is annoyed**

Unit Leader: Tell me, why is it taking so long to defeat a bunch of unarmed miners!

**The Unit leader yells at Raider A. Raider A is embarrass**

Raider A: Well you see Sir the miners are using the Ulz laser that is used for cutting the metal parts as a weapon but don't worry it wasn't design for combat so it should run out of power soon.

**Unit Leader nods his head**

Unit Leader: Good, and besides we have them trap in a corner with no way out.

**Suddenly we hear Roxas purr a little**

Roxas: Purrrrrrrrr, you're wrong, this is an attack on you from both sides!

**We see Roxas walking towards the Unit Leader, she has her gold claws on (I don't think I've talk about her weapon yet. Roxas uses sharp gold claws that go over top of her fingers. When not in use she often just puts them within easy reach of her pocket). The Unit Leader turns around surprised**

Unit Leader: What the, who the hell are you!

**4 of the closest raiders who hear the commotion turn around and point their guns at her. Roxas gives them an evil grin**

Roxas: Your worst nightmare.

**Roxas charges, she does a downward vertical claw slash on one of the raiders. The raider falls backward dropping his gun. Before the other raiders have time to react she jumps to the left side wall of the very narrow mine then jumps down on top of a raider that was still shooting at the miners taking him out. **

**The raiders with the Unit Leader start shooting at her. Roxas still moving on all fours quickly jumps to the right side wall and then jumps down on another raider. And then just as quickly jumps to the left wall. **

**The stupid raiders shooting at her forget that they are shooting at their own line. The raiders that were busy with the miners turn around when they hear gunfire coming at them from behind, and return fire. Unit Leader shouts at them**

Unit Leader: Hold your fire you morons you're shooting each other, HOLD YOUR FIRE!

**All the raiders stop firing, big mistake. The moment Roxas sees that they are no longer firing at her she increases her speed of attack. She keeps jumping on and off the walls in a zigzag fashion. **

**Each time she jumps to the floor she takes out two raiders with a claw slash. We cut to the miner's defense line just as the laser they were using to hold off the raiders die. The miner that was operating the laser turns to another miner and says**

Miner A: That's it Cole she's all out of power.

**We can hear screaming coming from the raiders line. Cole is cautiously poking his head out from the cart.**

Cole: Hey Josh got any ideas why the raiders stop firing at us?

**Josh (Miner A) is also cautiously poking his head above the cart**

Josh: I want to know what's up with that screaming.

**Suddenly Roxas jumps to the left wall easily getting around the cart Josh and Cole are using for cover. She starts to pounce looking more like a tiger then a human, both Josh and Cole fall back startle. **

**Roxas eyes open wide in surprise when she sees they aren't carrying weapons and at the last second moves her hand so that her claws don't hit Josh. Her claws were less than a millimeter from touching him. Her claw hits the metal ground making a dull "clang" sound, Roxas is right in Josh's face. Josh is trembling slightly in fear**

Roxas: You're a miner right?

**Josh still in shock doesn't say anything, however Cole connects the dots**

Cole: That's right and you must be the Gundam Fighter Tom sent.

**Roxas looks over Josh's shoulder to see Cole**

Roxas: Ooo, you're cute.

**She pushes Josh out of the way and gets into Cole's personal space. She puts a hand on his leg and says in a seductive voice**

Roxas: Hey what do you say to spending some quality time with me after I finish off the raiders?

**Cole is throw off by Roxas hitting on him**

Cole: Um, is this really the best time for this; we still have the raiders to deal with.

**Cole is trying to back away from Roxas. Roxas stops and tilts her head slightly thinking**

Roxas: Hmmm, I guess you're right, oh sorry for almost killing your friend. I must of lost track of where I was going.

**She says with a smile, she gestures towards Josh who still hasn't move. Cole is unsure of what to say.**

Cole: Um, it's ok he'll be fine, I think.

**Roxas nods her head**

Roxas: Good, well I better go take care of the raiders. I'll see you later.

**Roxas gets up stretches then blinks at Cole. She then does the zigzag jump, jumping to the left wall, to the floor, to the right wall, then back to the floor and repeat, back in the direction of the raiders. Cole watches her leave, and then walks over to Josh.**

Cole: Come on you're not dead yet.

**Josh gets up**

Josh: I think I pissed myself.

**The camera cuts back to the raider's line to show Roxas kicking ass. She's jumping from the walls to the floor to even the ceiling, attacking the raiders as she goes. Her claw slashes are fast and effective although we never see her attack the head or do a stabbing attack.**

**All the raiders are now trying to shoot her but Roxas is too fast and it's made even more difficult by the fact their trying not to shoot each other. The camera focuses in on the Unit Leader, who is crouching down behind the cart trying to stay hidden. He's observing Roxas**

Unit Leader (She's too fast to hit and she's using the walls to maneuver better around the carts and people, she's also staying in-between the men so that they have to double check before firing at her to make sure they don't hit each other. At this rate she's going to take us all out one at a time.)

**The Unit Leader looks frustrated and pissed**

Unit Leader: Alright let's see how you fight in the dark!

**The Unit Leader points his gun at the lights on the ceiling and opens fire. The bullets take out a light bulb and the electrical wires. All the lights go out in the mine bringing total darkness. The camera goes back into night vision mode, and one of the other raiders goes over to Unit Leader.**

Raider A: It's completely black in here, how are we going aim and shoot!

**Unit Leader is annoyed with the raider and snaps**

Unit Leader: Calm down, we can still see the light of the exit we'll retreat outside and just empty out our ammo into the mine.

**All the raiders start to slowly move back to the exit. The camera turns back to Roxas who's sitting on the floor like a cat, arms on the ground in-between her legs, thinking.**

Roxas (This is annoying, well I guess I could always do that but it's been awhile; I wonder if I can still do it correctly.)

**The camera cuts back to the Unit Leader and the other retreating raiders**

Unit Leader: That's it we're almost to the exit.

**Suddenly we hear a screeching sound like a bat, then we hear one of the raiders farther back into the cave scream this sound continues to repeat. The Unit Leader turns around his face full of fear like a hunted mouse.**

Unit Leader: What the hell was that!

**We hear the screeching sound again; Unit Leader suddenly realizes what it is**

Unit Leader (Impossible s-she's using echolocation!)

**While he's thinking this we see Roxas jump out of the dark preparing to attack but just before she attacks the Unit Leader we see the image of a bat appear over her, then her attack lands right on the Unit Leader. **

**The scene cuts back to the housing district, we see Cagalli once again waiting patiently in the shadows. A raider walks by, Cagalli charges, the raider turns around just in time to see Cagalli perform an upward vertical slash to his right shoulder. **

**The raider howls in pain, drops his gun and grabs his injured shoulder. Cagalli flips her Guan Dao around so that the pole side is facing forward and whacks the raider across the face knocking him out in one shot. The raider falls face forward to the ground having only lasted a minute against Cagalli.**

Cagalli (That makes 17)

**Suddenly we hear a sound from behind Cagalli like a bolt or tool of some kind being kick. Cagalli turns around just in time to see another raider raise his gun and open fire. Cagalli dives inside a window of one of the empty houses for cover.**

Cagalli (Damn it, I've been spotted.)

**The machine gun fire sounds almost like rain on the metal house and just as quickly as it came it ended. Cagalli looks confused**

Cagalli (Huh, Why he stop firing?)

**Cagalli cautiously lifts her head out the window to see the raider fiddling with his gun**

Cagalli (His gun jammed, now's my chance to take him out!)

**Cagalli leaps out of the window and charges the raider. The raider looks up from fiddling with his gun then drops it turns and runs.**

Cagalli (He's running away, crap, if he gets away he'll tell the others about me and I'll lose the element of surprise! I can't let him get away!)

**Cagalli continues to chase after him. She chases him down an alley which opens up into a clearing full of raiders, most likely their based. All of them have machine guns pointed at her.**

Cagalli (It's a trap!)

**Cagalli doesn't move she's frozen by fear, one of the raiders moves forward, he appears to be this groups Unit Leader.**

Unit Leader: So you're the one that's been taking out my men. Hahaha, you know some of the stupider men were afraid that you were a C rank Gundam Fighter but I knew for a fact that there were no Gundam Fighters above E rank in Junk City. It was very annoying to gather the rest of my men up in order to reassure them that we could handle any Gundam Fighter that came are way but I must admit that I am surprise that it was this easily to trap you. I thought you put up a little bit more of a fight.

**The Unit Leader looks around as if expecting something.**

Unit Leader: Huh, I thought that a bunch of those stupid mechanics would have jump out by now in a vain attempt to save you. The fact they just left you to die is a little cold hearted even to me but oh well.

**The Unit Leader raises his gun and points it at Cagalli. She starts to tremble a little in fear; the Unit Leader smiles an evil twisted smile.**

Unit Leader: Do try not to piss yourself; it would be annoying if your body stank while we drag it away.

**The Unit Leader starts to pull the trigger**

Cagalli (Is this it, am I going to get killed again?)

**A wrench comes flying out of nowhere hitting the Unit Leader right in the face causing his shots to go wild straight in the air. He falls flat on his ass blood pouring down his face, his nose is broken. He's got his hand on his noise in a poor attempt to stop the bleeding. He starts looking wildly for his attacker and spots him on the roof of a house behind Cagalli.**

Van: I wouldn't try that again, us "stupid" mechanics don't like it when people try to kill our valuable customers.

**All the raiders point their guns at him. The Unit Leader is beyond mad, he's enraged**

Unit Leader: You arrogant bastard how dare you do this to my face, when I'm done with you you'll be wishing for death!

**Van smiles the type of smile you smile when you're about to checkmate your opponent and they have no idea it's coming.**

Van: I highly doubt that.

**Unit Leader scowls**

Unit Leader: Oh really, because where I'm standing you're out gun!

**Van smile widens**

Van: I think you're mistaken, because not only are "you" out gun but you're also surrounded.

**Mechanics start popping up from the houses; a lot are on the roofs. Others are coming out of the houses and circling around the raiders on the street. The rest are staying in the houses but having their guns pointed out the window. The raiders are out number 2 to 1 and they know it, the raiders keep switching where they're pointing their guns they're all looking scared. The Unit Leader is looking wildly around like a corner rat.**

Van: Now I'm only going to say this once, surrender now and we'll spare your lives.

**The Unit Leader looks like he's going to reject instantly but Van cuts him off**

Van: I also like to point out before you make a decision that you are all surrounded and out number 2 to 1 and it's only me that's holding these mechanics back from filling you full of holes. After all you did steal our stuff, destroy our houses, and kill our comrades. Hell I want to see you're bodies rot in a mountain of corpses but I've got a lot of self-control, however if they hear a single gunshot they will empty their ammo into you, SO PUT DOWN YOUR WEAPONS!

**The Unit Leader snarls**

Unit Leader: Surrender to a bunch of fifthly poor mechanics like you guys I rather

**One of the raiders cuts him off**

Raider A: I surrender please don't shoot me!

**The raider puts his gun on the ground; gets down on his knees and puts his hands behind his back. The Unit Leader turns to him surprised and pissed**

Unit Leader: What! You coward pick up your

**He's cut off again by another**

Raider B: I surrender too!

**He also gets on his knees and puts his hands behind his back, and like a domino effect all the other raiders put their guns on the ground and get on their knees and put their hands behind their backs.**

Raider C: Me too

Raider D: I surrender too

Raider E: Please don't shoot

**The Unit Leader is the only one that isn't surrendering.**

Unit Leader: You cowards, what are you doing, pick up your weapons!

**He's red in the face and waving his arms in the air**

Unit Leader: I said pick up your weapons!

**Suddenly a wrench comes flying and whacks him in the back of the head. The Unit Leader crumbles to the ground unconscious, and the camera turns to show Rick with his arm still up in the air.**

Rick: Finally got you to shut up.

Mechanic A: Now Rick why'd you do that, I wanted to shoot him.

**Before Rick can answer Van shouts out**

Van: What are you guys waiting for, get the raiders guns away from them and tie them up!

**The mechanics go over to the raiders and take away their weapons, then they either tie them up with rope or put handcuffs on them. Rick walks over to a still startled Cagalli; she's been watching the events unfold quietly.**

Rick: Hey are you Ok?

**He asks with genuine concern. Cagalli shakes her head getting over her fear**

Cagalli: Y-yea I'm fine.

**She takes another look around then says**

Cagalli: So this was the plan from the beginning, to use me as bait.

**Rick looks down ashamed**

Rick: Well yes, but you see the plan was to get all the raiders in one spot and then we would surround them on the rooftops, then we'd open fire on them hopefully taking more than half of them out instantly. If we tried to confront them all individually we would have lost a lot more people and maybe even lost the battle all together because they out number us.

**Cagalli is confused**

Cagalli: Wait, I thought you out-number them?

**Rick shakes his head**

Rick: Not until 2 minutes ago when the backup from the other Warehouses finally got here, in fact they should be at the other battle sites right about now.

**The camera cuts back to Warehouse 8, we see Nick running from cover to cover taking out raiders with his gun, we never see him hit the head or the chest. Suddenly a lot of mechanics come bursting in shouting**

Mechanics: WEAPONS ON THE GROUND, HANDS UP!

**One of the raiders goes to shoot them, big mistake, in the next second he's full of bullet holes, the other raiders realizes they've lost and surrender. Some of the mechanics surround Nick.**

Mechanic: You too cowboy, put your gun on the ground and hands up!

**Nick doesn't move**

Nick: Listen mates, I think there's been a mistake.

**The Mechanic cuts him off**

Mechanic: Shut up you raider, don't think you can weasel your way out of this one, we're going to make sure you pay for all the damage you done to Junk City.

**It's obvious that this Mechanic isn't going to listen to anything Nick has to say. Nick sighs then tenses his muscles preparing for combat when Jay comes in.**

Jay: What the hell do you morons think you're doing!

**Jay gets in-between Nick and the Mechanic from the backup squadron, several other mechanics do the same. The mechanic from the backup squadron is confused**

Mechanic: I'm arresting a raider, what do you think you're doing defending him!

**Jay is now angry**

Jay: You idiot he's not a raider, he's a Gundam Fighter that Tom sent! He's a hero, without him we would've never been able to hold out this long, so show some god damn respect!

**The mechanic realizes he's made a mistake and apologizes**

Mechanic: Oh, I am so sorry sir.

**He says to Nick, Nick shrugs relaxing his muscles**

Nick: Don't worry about it mate.

**The camera cuts again, this time back to outside the entrance to the mine. We see the backup squadron with their guns pointed at the entrance. The leader of the backup squadron shouts.**

Leader: Alright, raiders come out with your hands up where we can see them! You have 5 minutes to reply before we come in!

**Roxas comes out of the mine, walking on all fours like a conquering lion. All of the guns get pointed at her.**

Leader: Hold it right their!

**Roxas stops at first looking surprise, and then she licks her lips like a hungry tiger that's just spotted it's pray. She's about to take a step towards them when the miners come out, Cole is in the lead.**

Cole: Wait she's the Gundam Fighter Tom sent!

**Everyone lowers their guns, but Roxas still has that look in her eyes. She takes another step forward then spots a shiny bolt or nut. Her eyes open wide**

Roxas: Shiny!

**She jumps towards the bolt and begins to bat it back and forth between her hands like a cat she starts to purr. The Leader looks at her like she's nuts**

Leader: Ok

**The mechanics in the backup squadron start to tend to the wounded miners, Josh also comes out of the mine. The leader turns to Cole**

Leader: So where are the raiders, did they retreat?

**Cole shakes his head, Josh walks up to them**

Cole: No she took them all out.

**The leader's eyes open wide**

Leader: Wait, are you telling me that, that one chick took out over 20 raiders by herself without weapons!

**He points to Roxas who's still concern with the bolt. Cole nods his head**

Cole: We'll she had some kind of claw thing she used for a weapon but she put that away. She took them all out 20 minutes ago.

**The Leader is still shock he turns to look at Roxas with a little bit of awe and fear. Josh turns to Cole**

Josh: Wait, if she defeated them all 20 minutes ago why'd you just now tell us it was ok to come out?

**Cole starts to blush, he turns away**

Cole: Um w-well s-she was b-b-busy with s-something.

**He stutters, Josh is starting to get suspicious.**

Josh: Busy? With what and where did you disappear to in the mine?

**Cole gets even redder. Josh finally makes the connection**

Josh: Oh my god, did you sleep with her in the mine!

**Cole still isn't facing Josh**

Cole: I admit to nothing!

**Josh is pissed**

Josh: I was in that dark hole by myself scare out of my mind and you were off screwing the girl who almost killed me!

Cole: Come on Josh it didn't happen like that.

**Josh walks away**

Josh: Yea, whatever.

Cole: Oh come on Josh, Josh; Josh!

**The camera turns back to Roxas to see she's completely ignored the whole situation. The camera cuts back to the housing district where Cagalli and Rick are standing.**

Rick: Van had decided not to change the plan since you look like you were almost done.

**Cagalli's put her Guan Dao back on her back with the sheath back on the blade.**

Cagalli: I guess that was the best course of action, by the time backup had arrive the raiders were already assembling. No sense letting all that work go to waste although I would have preferred being told that was the plan from the beginning.

**Although Cagalli says this she doesn't seem too happy, in fact she seems really tired. Rick is looking at her with concern.**

Rick: Are you sure you don't want one of the medics to look at you?

**She looks like she's going to say yes when Van walks over and cuts her off**

Van: She doesn't need one of the medics to look at her.

**He says this in sort of a mean tone of voice, Rick looks at Van a little annoyed. Van face has an unreadable look on it.**

Rick: Van don't be an ass she's obvious

**Van cuts Rick off, he seems to be annoyed by Rick now. He turns to Cagalli and asks**

Van: Have you been cut?

**Cagalli is confused**

Cagalli: Um, No.

Van: Do you have any broken bones?

Cagalli: No.

Van: Have you been shot?

Cagalli: No!

Van: Are you bleeding from anywhere on your body?

**Cagalli is getting annoyed with the questions**

Cagalli: NO!

**Van is satisfied**

Van: Then you don't need any medical help, if you're tired you can go take a nap in one of the abandon houses. The civilians won't be back for another couple of hours until we can confirmed that this area is safe.

**Cagalli looks down to the ground, she's tired and a little sad. Rick is looking at Van angrily**

Cagalli: Oh, Ok.

**Cagalli looks miserable. Van looks at her for moment then turns away, not facing her he says**

Van: Cagalli, I accept you acknowledgement that you were wrong about Junk City, I also acknowledge that I was wrong about you; only someone who can see the beauty of this city can push themselves this hard to protect it.

**The moment he's done saying this he begins to walk away, both Cagalli and Rick eye's open wide as they watch him leave shock. Cagalli's shock turns to joy as a smile breaks out across her face. Van stops walking for a moment and calls out from over his shoulder**

Van: I'd head back to Tom's Warehouse if I were you, last I heard that friend of yours in the Gundam wasn't doing too good in his fight.

**The camera cuts back to Shadow in Nightwing fighting against the raider's ship. We see Nightwing begin to charge the raider's ship**

Shadow: You're going down!

**The CIW's open fire, several missiles are also release. Nightwing jumps from the Junk mountain he's on to Gerodi, the raider's ship is now directly above him. All the gunfire and missiles hit the spot he was just at. **

**Nightwing lands on Gerodi's side, and begins to slide down the mountain. We see a bunch of the junk parts fall as Nightwing's feet brace themselves against the mountain and stop's Nightwing from sliding any further. We cut inside the raider's ship**

Hunter: All missiles and guns have missed Sir.

**The Boss expecting this to be over in seconds is shocked**

Boss: What!

**Another crew member operating the computer shouts**

Crew Member A: The Basic Original Gundam is directly below us Sir.

**The Boss is angry now**

Boss: Well what are you waiting for, move the ship forward 50 meters then turn 60 degrees starboard and FIRE!

**We cut outside to see the ship start to move. Nightwing is watching it as it begins to climb to the top of Gerodi. We cut back to the communication center at the Warehouse, everyone has calm down and returned to their respective positions. Tom is grinning**

Tom (Not bad most rookie Gundam Pilots would of jump back instead of forward from an attacking battle ship. A common mistake, jumping backward doesn't take you out of range of the missiles or the guns so even if you dodge the first wave of missiles and bullets they'll get you with rapid fire. However most battle ships have a blind spot directly underneath them, even the greatest missiles or guns can't turn to fire directly below them. The kid's got good instincts.)

**While Tom's been thinking Shadow has been looking for something. Tom is looking at Shadow impressed which is quickly dashed by Shadow's next question.**

Shadow: Hey where I put my shield?

**Tom is extremely annoyed by the question**

Tom: You left it at the other Junk Mountain YOU MORON!

Tom (Forget it, I was just imaging things. As the saying goes even a broken clock is right twice a day, even a stupid inexperienced Gundam Pilot should do a couple of things right by dumb luck.)

**Shadow shrugs his shoulders and tries to pass off the loss of his shield as no big deal.**

Shadow: Oh, well shields aren't my thing anyway.

**Tom even more annoyed now shouts**

Tom: I LIKE TO SEE YOU SAY THAT WHEN YOU'RE GETTING SHOT AT!

**Nightwing has gotten to the top of Gerodi, and the raider's ship has gotten into position. We cut inside the bridge**

Hunter: Weapons have locked on the Basic Original Gundam Sir.

**The Boss nods his head but before he can say anything another crew member adds**

Crew Member B: Sir I just got a message from all the Teams we sent out.

**Boss is surprise**

Boss: Oh, are they finish already, tell them we'll pick them up after we take care of this Gundam.

**Crew member B face has whiten**

Crew Member B: All the teams have been defeated by the mechanics.

**The Boss is shocked**

Boss: WHAT!

**There's a moment of stun silence, then Hunter says a little bitter**

Hunter: So not only did we not get a lot from the Junk Mountain we can't even relied on the stuff the Raider Teams stole, overall this raid was a complete failure.

**The boss is really piss now**

Boss: Thank you Hunter for finding it necessary to point that out! We'll destroy that Gundam then leave the City, so open fire with the CIW's don't use the missiles yet until I say so!

**We cut back outside to see the raider's guns open fire, Shadow notices the gunfire. We see Nightwing quickly jump to the side then charge forward; we cut back inside the raider's bridge**

Boss: Not this time; move back another 20 meters; don't let that Gundam get underneath us again!

**We cut back outside to see the raider's ship begin to move backwards away from Nightwing**

Shadow (Damn, well I guess that trick won't work again.)

**Nightwing stops charging the raider's ship and start's to try and to run around it instead, however it gets hit by the CIW's before he takes three steps. We cut back inside the cockpit to see Shadow howl in pain for a second but he quickly grits his teeth to stop himself from screaming but he's obviously still in pain.**

**Nightwing stops moving and does the classic cross two hand guard in front of his face. The bullet's continue to hit Nightwing but it doesn't look it's doing any obvious sign of damage. We cut back inside Nightwing's cockpit to see Shadow in the same pose as Nightwing gritting his teeth in pain. We cut back to the communication center back at the Warehouse; Tom seems to be keeping his cool.**

Tom: Don't worry Shadow even a Basic Original Gundam's armor is strong enough to withstand CIW's gunfire be thankful that they don't have any beam weaponry.

**We see on the monitor in front of Tom Shadow's face. Shadow is still gritting his teeth**

Shadow: I'll try to remember that, DAMN this hurts! It's like someone is throwing a bunch of pebbles at me.

**Shadow is in pain, Tom snaps**

Tom: Well don't just stand their move away or something, forget the pain and just MOVE!

Tom (The bullets won't break the armor right now, but even the greatest armor will break if you hit it long enough, and if even one of those bullets gets into the inner circuitry it will be the same as if a bullet hits a human body.)

**We cut back inside Nightwing's cockpit; Shadow is still in the same position gritting his teeth**

Shadow (Damn it, I need to think of way to fight back. My beam rifle is gone and the only other weapon I have is my beam saber. Should I try to throw it at the ship? No, even if I did somehow hit the ship there's no way it would cause enough damage to take it down.)

**Shadow is still gritting his teeth in pain trying to think of something. Suddenly he has an Ah-Ha moment.**

Shadow (Wait, that's it, yes this will defiantly work. Well either that or I'm screwed.)

**We cut back outside; Nightwing suddenly turns around and starts to run away. It jumps down the other side of Gerodi. We cut inside the bridge of the raider's ship, the boss is watching the monitor closely.**

Boss (ha, trying to use the mountain as a shield while you retreat how foolish.)

Boss: Quickly go around the mountain port side and lower us 15 meters.

**The ship begins to move, the camera moves to the other side of Gerodi to show Nightwing sliding/running/falling down the mountain. It looks like Nightwing is going to trip and roll down the mountain like a man in a barrel any minute. We cut inside Nightwing's cockpit, Shadow has a focus look on his face**

Shadow: Tom can you get me a topographic map of Junk City.

**Tom is surprise by his request**

Tom: Um, sure, do you have a plain?

**Shadow smiles**

Shadow: Yup.

**We cut back outside to see the raider's ship come around the mountain side. The ship opens fire again; some of the bullets hit Nightwing but most miss. We cut back inside the cockpit; we face Shadow and can see on his helmet screen the topographic map of Junk City. The window it's on minimizes**

Shadow: Alright got my route pick, let's go!

**We cut back outside, Nightwing jumps to another Junk Mountain. Nightwing starts to corkscrews down the mountain. We cut inside the raider's ship**

Boss (What is he trying to do? He must be trying to get us to rise the ship so he can slip under are blind spot again but I won't let that happen.)

Boss: Follow him; lower the ship another 15 meters and continue firing CIW's.

**We cut back outside, the raider's ship comes right in front of Nightwing as its running/slipping down the mountain. It opens fire, Nightwing jumps to another mountain once again only taking minimum damage to the legs. Nightwing runs around to the other side of the mountain then jumps again to another Junk Mountain. We cut back to inside of the raider's bridge.**

Hunter: The Basic Original has run east about 20

**The Boss cuts him off**

Boss: Yes, I know which way he ran, so stop wasting my time asking for directions and just follow him!

**We cut back outside, Nightwing is hopping from Junk Mountain to Junk Mountain, sometimes it corkscrews down the mountain a little before jumping, other times it just goes to the other side then jumps, and the rest of the time it jumps the moment it touches the mountain. **

**While he's doing this he continues to slowly go lower down the raider's ship is clumsily trying to follow him but do to its size it's struggling to maneuver around the Junk Mountain. The raider's ship is continuing to fire on Nightwing.**

**Nightwing is taking minimum damage but it's starting to wear down on the armor. The armor is starting to look really dented in some places. We cut inside Nightwing's cockpit, even through Shadow's helmet we can see him sweating. He's starting to get tired**

Shadow: That's right keep following me.

**We cut to the bridge of the raider's ship. The Boss is getting very annoyed**

Boss: That's it I've had it with this rabbit's game, prepare to fire missiles on my mark!

**Nightwing jumps from the Junk Mountain it's currently on**

Boss: FIRE!

**While Nightwing is in midair the raider's ship fires four missiles at it. We cut to communication center in the Warehouse as the screen monitors start blinking red. Mechanic A turns to Tom**

Mechanic A: Raider's ship has just release missiles targeted at Nightwing.

Tom: What! Shadow get out their!

**We cut back outside, time slows down, Nightwing is still in midair. It turns around and puts up the two hand cross guard.**

Shadow (Damn, I can't avoid it)

**One of the missiles hits Nightwing and explodes. We cut back to the communication center; Tom is shocked and scare.**

Tom: SHADOW!

**The episode ends with a freeze frame of the explosion.**


	15. Episode 14

Episode 14

**The episode opens up to show Cagalli running through the "streets" if you will, of Junk City. Nick catches up to her**

Nick: Cagalli!

**Cagalli looks over her shoulder.**

Cagalli: Nick, what are you doing here!

**Nick matches pace with her so they can talk**

Nick: Same as you mate, heading back to Tom's Warehouse to see how you mates are doing, although since you're also running to Tom's Warehouse I can assume that you were successful in saving the housing district.

**Cagalli sighs a little disappointed in herself**

Cagalli: I didn't really do much, they used me for bait to get the raiders assemble in one place so they could take them all out in one shot.

**Nick smiles encouragingly at her**

Nick: Hey there mate, I'm sure that was a hard job. You should be proud that you manage to help them in some way.

**Cagalli thinks about this then nods her head and smiles**

Cagalli: You're right. Oh, how did your mission go?

**Nick shrugs then says**

Nick: Pretty much the same as yours. I didn't do much I just help them hold out till backup arrive.

**Suddenly Roxas comes out of nowhere running on all fours and jumps on Cagalli causing them both to fall to the ground. Cagalli and Nick are surprise by Roxas sudden appearance**

Roxas: Oh Cagalli I'm so relieve to fine out you and your bosoms are alright!

**Roxas is hugging Cagalli tightly. Roxas begins to rub her head in-between Cagalli's breast which ticks her off.**

Cagalli: GET OFF ME YOU FREAKING ANIMAL!

**Cagalli starts struggling to get Roxas off her. Nick smiles at the two**

Nick: Well nice to see you're ok mate; did you manage to save the miners?

**Roxas looks up from Cagalli, but she's still holding on tightly to the struggling Cagalli**

Roxas: Huh, oh yea. Remind me to thank Shadow; I haven't had that much fun imitating my cave animals in a while.

**Cagalli finally manages to get Roxas off herself. Cagalli gets up**

Cagalli: Speaking of Shadow I wonder how he's doing.

**Cagalli starts hitting the dust off her pants. Nick shrugs**

Nick: He's probably alright mate, after all he is a Gundam Pilot.

**Cagalli rolls her eyes**

Cagalli: A Gundam Pilot that's only been in two battles counting this one.

**Roxas has been on the ground scratching her head listening to the conversation. She now answers thoughtfully**

Roxas: You know you should have more faith in him; Shadow isn't the type to lose easily no matter what the situation.

**Cagalli and Nick both look at Roxas surprise, suddenly we see Nightwing jump from one of the Junk Mountains to a Junk mountain right in front of them. The raider's ship is following close and continuing to fire the CIW's at it. Nick, Cagalli and Roxas are shock**

Cagalli: That's Nightwing, Shadow's Gundam.

Nick: And that must be the raider's ship right behind it.

**We see Nightwing jump again; we cut inside the raider's ship**

Boss: FIRE!

**We cut back outside to see four missiles being fire from the raider's ship, while Nightwing is still in midair. Nick looks worry**

Nick: He can't avoid those missiles!

**Nick, Cagalli, and Roxas watch helpless as one of those missiles hits Nightwing and explodes.**

Roxas and Cagalli: Shadow!

Nick: Mate!

**We watch as Nightwing goes flying and crashes right into a Junk Mountain. Cagalli is stun; Nick grabs her and begins to pull her away.**

Nick: Come on we have to go!

**Cagalli still stun asks**

Cagalli: B-b-but what about Shadow?

**Nick is looking at a Junk mountain close to them he begins to climb it. Roxas is following close behind**

Nick: Don't worry that blast didn't look like it was strong enough to destroy Nightwing but if we stay her any longer we could be in real danger.

**Cagalli still stun asks**

Cagalli: But shouldn't we try to help him?

**Roxas answers that**

Roxas: Without Gundams of our own we'd be more of a burden then we would be of help, we have to trust that Shadow can handle this.

**The camera moves back to Nightwing we can see that it's taken a lot of damage. Nightwing's armor is dented up like crap and in some places we can see sparks. We cut inside the cockpit to see Shadow gritting in pain, we cut to the communication room to see Tom sigh in relief when he see Shadow is still alive.**

Tom: Those were just Y23's; inexpensive missiles with hardly any damage.

**Shadow still in pain manages to roll his eyes**

Shadow: Yea hardly any damage!

**He says sarcastically**

Tom: Any other missile and your Gundam would have been blown to pieces.

**Shadow isn't in the mood to hear how luckily he is**

Shadow: Yea, Yea, Yea.

**Tom says in a serious voice**

Tom: You should give up, your Gundam's armor is useless now, so you should abandon your Gundam and run away. I just receive word that the raider teams they sent down have all been defeated and without their magnet they no longer have a reason to fight and they'll just leave.

**Shadow is really irritated now. He's got a determine/stubborn look on his face.**

Shadow: Shut up, this fight isn't over yet and I refused to give up while I can still move!

**We see Shadow grit his teeth as he forces himself to get up. We cut outside to see Nightwing struggling to get up.**

Shadow: Come on Nightwing get up, you're not done yet!

**Nightwing is slowly getting up; we can hear the screeching of metal on metal. The armor has been dented over the joints so the metals are rubbing against each other. We cut to inside the raider's ship, they're celebrates thinking they've won. One of the monitors blink then shows Nightwing standing. Hunter turns around smiling, once he sees the monitor his smile disappears. He looks at the monitor with shock and fear**

Hunter: H-H-He's getting back up.

**Like a bomb going off everyone stops what they're doing**

Boss: WHAT!

**Everyone heads back to their posts; some of them have looks of fear on their face**

Crew Member A: How can that Gundam still be functioning after taking a direct hit from a missile?

**There's fear in his voice, the boss notices it and snuffs it out immediately**

Boss: Calm down you idiot, the Y23 doesn't do that much damage, but you can still see the damage it's done. That Gundam can barely stand; all we have to do now is finish it off. Stupid thing should have never gotten back up.

**We cut back inside Nightwing's cockpit**

Shadow (Alright Nightwing can still move and me getting blown up hasn't hurt my plan at all, in fact it's help it.)

**We cut back outside, to see Nightwing turn around and run around to the other side of the Junk Mountain it landed on. The raider's ship opens fire with the CIW's but luckily doesn't hit it. The moment Nightwing gets to the other side of the Junk Mountain it jumps to another Junk Mountain.**

**Nightwing runs around this one to and repeats. The raider's ship is following the Gundam still firing with their CIW's. The camera moves over to where Nick, Cagalli, and Roxas are, they've manage to climb to the top of a tall Junk Mountain. They have a nice view of the battle; Cagalli is looking around trying to figure out their location.**

Cagalli: If we head west of here I think we'll hit Tom's Warehouse in 10 minutes.

**Nick without taking his eyes off the battle says**

Nick: You can go if you want mate but I'm staying.

**He says this firmly, Cagalli is confused**

Cagalli: What! Why?

**Nick never takes his eyes off the battle**

Nick: Because I want to watch this mate's battle.

**Cagalli is still confused**

Cagalli: But you said so yourself that we can't help Shadow here, so shouldn't we go back to Tom's Warehouse

**Nick cuts her off**

Nick: To do what mate? We only be in their way too; faced it as long as we don't have our own Gundams we can't do anything to help.

**Cagalli is still hesitant. Roxas who's also been watching the battle without taking her eyes off it says**

Roxas: Cagalli, the whole point of going to the Warehouse was so that we can watch Shadow's fight and now that we've find a place to watch it, it's no longer necessary to head back to Tom' Warehouse.

**Cagalli is slowly waning**

Cagalli: But what if they come over here?

**Nick smiles**

Nick: Then we run like hell mate.

**Cagalli keeps looking back and forth between Roxas and Nicks. Roxas and Nick are both completely absorb by the battle. Cagalli sighs defeated**

Cagalli: Fine, I'll stay too.

**She sits down and starts watching the fight**

Cagalli: Shadow's Gundam looks pretty badly damage.

**Roxas scratches behind her head with her foot imitating a dog, but even though she's doing this her eyes are completely focus on the battle. **

Roxas: That and he seems to have lost his beam rift and shield.

**Nick nods his head**

Nick: Mate's got no room for error, one false move and this battle will be over for him.

**The camera moves closer to the battle, we see Nightwing hop to another Junk Mountain and quickly run to the other side, Nightwing and the raider's ship are close to ground. The raider's ship loses sight of Nightwing as it circles around the junk mountain. We cut inside the raider's bridge. We can see the outside on the main monitor, and the boss is looking annoyed.**

Boss: Hunter how long does it take to finish off a half dead Gundam!

**Hunter is embarrassed**

Hunter: Sorry Sir, he's a quick one.

**The raider's ship goes around the Junk Mountain to find that Nightwing's disappear. All of the raiders are shocked.**

Hunter: H-H-He's disappeared Sir.

**The Boss is even more annoyed now**

Boss: Thank you for stating the obvious again Hunter! What are you other idiots doing stop staring and check the scanners, Gundams don't just disappear!

**The crew members start moving after the Boss yells, suddenly one of the side monitors starts blinking red**

Crew Member C: He's right above us!

**We cut back outside and look up to see that Nightwing has climb the Junk Mountain instead of going down. The Junk Mountain is higher than the raider's ship's current altitude and since Nightwing is on top of the Junk Mountain he's currently above the raider's ship. We cut inside Nightwing's cockpit to see a grinning Shadow**

Shadow: HA, I got you now!

**We cut back outside to see Nightwing jump off the Junk Mountain holding its beam saber with both hands like he's about to perform a jump attack/downward vertical attack. We cut inside the raider's bridge to see the Boss panicking, he's not alone. The whole crew looks like they're going to piss themselves.**

Boss: EVADE!

**We cut back outside; time slows down while Nightwing is slowly falling towards the raider's ship its beam saber extended. At the same time the raider's ship is moving backwards. We can see that's it's going to be a close call if he hits it or not, the camera zooms in on the tip of the beam saber. **

**The tip of the beam saber is still above the bridge but it's getting closer as Nightwing falls. Each passing second feels longer than the last. The screen splits in half, we see the Boss's face on the left and on the right is Shadow both faces look like a cross between determine and desperate as the raider's desperately struggle to move away from Nightwing's blade and as Shadow desperately tries to move Nightwing's blade closer.**

**The screen goes back to normal to show the tip of Nightwing's beam saber slightly touch the raider's bridge. Time goes back to normal, Nightwing falls to the ground chest first like a belly dive into a pool only minus the water. We cut inside the cockpit to see the breath get knock out of Shadow for what it's worth he managed to hold onto his beam saber.**

**The camera turns up and zooms in on the damage the raider's ship receive from Nightwing's beam saber. Even though we can see that the beam saber did graze the ship it's evident that it don't cause any real damage. The most it did was slightly melt the outer armor of the raider's ship.**

**We cut inside the bridge to see the boss breathing heavily, if you ever played baseball and the ball went right by your face and was so close that it literally took some of your facial hair off that's the kind of look he has on now. A mixture of shock/fear/relief then he starts laughing**

Boss: hahahhahahha

**The other crew members look at him as if he's lost his mind**

Hunter: Sir?

**Hunter asks worried. The Boss calms down somewhat**

Boss: Hunter, open a communication link with that Gundam!

**Hunter confused nods his head**

Hunter: Um, yes Sir.

**The camera cuts to back to Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow slowly getting up. You can tell he's hurt by the way he's grunting with effort to stand up. We cut back outside to show Nightwing slowly stand up, we cut back inside to show Shadow breathing heavily.**

**If you ever play soccer (or any other sport) and the scores tied and you just tried to kick the winning goal but missed well that's the look Shadow has on his face now. Not a defeated look but a tired and sad look. Tom's face is on his helmet screen, Tom looks sad as well.**

Tom: It was a good try Shadow, but I think it's time to throw in the towel.

**Shadow may be tired and sad but the determine look never leaves his eyes**

Shadow: Not yet I can still keep fighting!

**Suddenly The Boss's face pops up on Shadow's helmet screen. Shadow is too tired to be startle; the Boss is grinning at Shadow.**

Boss: hahahahah, so this is the face of the annoying Gundam Pilot that won't just quit.

**Shadow manages a smile**

Shadow: I would say, so this is the face of the arrogant asshole that can destroy cities and lives without blinking an eye, but I've already seen your face.

**There's anger is his voice but the Boss just ignores him**

Boss: Hahahhahahh, I got to say you almost had me there; that was pretty clever having us follow you as you jump from Junk Mountain to Junk Mountain while at the same time gradually getting closer to the ground. Hahhahhahahahha, you tick us into lowering our altitude enough that one of the Junk Mountains was higher than we were, you climb the mountain then jump on us from above and boom suddenly you can attack us in close combat. Hahahhahah, it's a shame that you didn't have the skill to pull this plan off.

**The Boss is laughing hysterically like some kind of lunatic, Shadow has remain silent while the Boss has been rambling. We cut back to the communication center to show Tom looking sad.**

Tom (He's right, the plan was solid, there wasn't a single tactical error made, Shadow simply didn't have the skill require to pull it off. He's finish now; that was his last hope.)

**We cut back to Nightwing's cockpit, the Boss has calm down again, and he wipes sweat off his forehead.**

Boss: However you won't be able to do that again, now that I'm aware of your plan I'll make sure not to drop my ship's altitude to a lower level then the Junk Mountains surrounding it.

**We cut outside quickly to show the raider's ship rise higher than the Junk Mountains around it while at the same time moving backwards so that Shadow can't slip under its blind spot again. We cut back inside the cockpit; the Boss has that condescending smile on his face**

Boss: Tell you what; since you gave me a better fight than I thought possible I'll make your defeat fast and painless.

**Shadow has heard enough**

Shadow: How about I tell you what, when I defeat you I will try very hard not to humiliate you too badly.

**The smug smile drops from the Boss face as he asks in disbelief**

Boss: You still intend to fight?

**The Boss looks annoyed and although he's trying to hide it he also looks afraid. You can only tell by the slight twitch in his eye and a small drop of sweat forming on the right corner of his forehead, but Shadow can see the Boss's fear and that makes him smile.**

Shadow: Of course, I'm still breathing, I can still move, I'm not ready to surrender yet!

**There's a growing fear in the Boss**

Boss: Don't be stupid! Your Gundam can barely move, if you continue to be a nuisance to me I will make your defeat SLOW AND PAINFUL!

**The Boss has lost his composer, even though he says this his voice shakes a little in fear. This does not go unnoticed by Shadow, his smile never leaves his face**

Shadow: You can try.

**We switch to the bridge of the raider's ship, the Boss has been completely thrown off by Shadow's calm demeanor, and the crew is looking at him expectedly. The Boss looks nervous and self-conscious of the crew watching him, he snaps at Hunter**

Boss: Cut the communication link!

**Hunter turns around and hits a few keys on his computer; the image of Shadow on the main monitor disappears. Everyone turns back to look at the Boss, the Boss takes a deep breath to regain his composer then snaps**

Boss: Well, what are you all staring at! Prepare to fire all our missies at that Gundam! We're going to send it to hell in pieces!

**We cut back to Nightwing's cockpit to see Shadow franticly looking around**

Shadow (Okay I managed to win that verbal confrontation now I just have to figure out how to win this battle. Come on brain got to come up with another plan.)

**We cut outside to show Cagalli, Nick and Roxas anxiously waiting for something to happen.**

Cagalli: Why are they just standing their staring at each other!

**She looks nervous and worried. Nick replies in a thinking voice**

Nick: They must have open up a communication link.

**Nick has an intense look of concentration on the battle. Cagalli looks at him confused**

Cagalli: Communication link?

**Although Roxas is on the ground batting a shiny bolt back and forth like a cat her eyes have never left the battle. She explains absent mindedly**

Roxas: All Gundams and warships are built with a universal communication link so that any ship or Gundam can contact any other ship or Gundam at any time, even during a battle.

**Cagalli looks at Roxas impressed, by the idea and not Roxas. Suddenly something clicks in Roxas and she turns to look at Cagalli suspicious.**

Roxas: That information is common knowledge, most people learn about it when their children because it's part of basic Sora history in school. So how come you don't know it?

**Cagalli looks away not sure how to answer, and before Roxas can push for an answer from Cagalli Nick shhhhh them.**

Nick: Shhhhhhh, I'm trying to watch the battle mates!

**He's a little annoyed, Roxas and Cagalli turn back to watch the battle. Both the raider's ship and Nightwing haven't moved yet. We cut into Nightwing's cockpit, Shadow's got a focus look on his face. He also has a smile on his face, even though he's getting his ass kicked he's still enjoying the battle.**

Shadow (Alright I'll wait until they fire their first round of missiles at me, I'll duck behind the Junk Mountain to my left and use it for cover. Then I'll somehow figure out a way to get behind them, and start throwing parts that I can grab off the Junk Mountains. Hopefully I'll hit one of their engines and bring that ship down.)

**We cut to the bridge of the raider's ship. On the main monitor is Nightwing, we turn around to see the Boss staring at the monitor with the same focus look as Shadow, but unlike Shadow there's no smile on his face. He's clearly not enjoying the battle, Hunter looks at him confused.**

Hunter: Um, Sir, the missiles are locked on target and ready to fire on your command.

**The Boss is annoyed by Hunter**

Boss: Hunter you're an idiot, if we fire our missiles too soon he'll just duck behind one of the Junk Mountains and we'll be force to play his rabbit game again.

**The Boss never takes his eyes off the monitor. Hunter nods his head obediently**

Hunter: So you're going to wait until he moves first then fire.

Boss: Exactly

**We cut outside to see one of the Junk Mountains by them suddenly explode, it's not right next to them but it's close enough to make them nervous. The screen splits, on the left is the Boss on the right is Shadow both look surprise.**

Boss: What

Shadow: Huh

**The screen goes back to normal; we can see debris from the Junk Mountain start to rain down. We cut inside the bridge of raider's ship, a bunch of red lights are flashing.**

Hunter: The Fourth Junk Mountain to our right just exploded Sir.

Crew Member A: Debris from the explosion is starting to rain down on us Sir.

**The Boss is beginning to panic**

Boss: Evade and close the missile hatch, if debris crashes into the missiles it can set them off prematurely while they're still on the ship!

**We cut outside to see debris from the Junk Mountain raining down. The raider's ship is trying to avoid it but the debris is too small and there's too much. A lot of the debris is hitting the raider's ship, we can see the missiles retract back into the ship.**

**The camera turns around to Nightwing, we can see Nightwing moving around also trying to avoid falling debris but unlike the raider's ship he's doing a better job of avoiding it, only getting hit occasionally. We cut inside the cockpit to show Shadow annoyed, confused, and irritated.**

Shadow: Tom what the hell is going on!

**Tom looks annoyed and confused but he also looks a little fearful.**

Tom: I have no idea; just avoid the area the explosion happened at until we know what's going on.

**We cut back outside, to show where Cagalli, Nick and Roxas are watching the battle**

Cagalli: Where did that explosion come from!

Roxas: Do you think it came from the raider's ship?

Nick: No I've been watching them like a hawk and they haven't fire anything yet, besides from what I've seen their explosions aren't that powerful.

Roxas: So who blew that mountain up?

**Nick and Roxas are talking fast. The camera moves over to the exploded Junk Mountain, there's a heavily layer of dust in the air making it impossible to see through.**

**As we continue to watch as the dust begins to settle we can begin to see the outline of a ship. We cut inside this new ship's bridge to find that it's Jack's ship; Jack and Kenny are operating two of the computer monitors. Kenny looks at Jack angry**

Kenny: I thought you said that the explosion wasn't that powerful!

**Jack doesn't like being yelled at**

Jack: That was what I was told; my brother was the one who set the bombs in case he needed to get the ship out in a hurry!

**Kenny grunts still unhappy, he's typing on computer**

Kenny: Fine, the raider's ship and Nightwing are 50 meters in front of us.

**Jack looks at the main monitor, the only thing we can see is dust. Jack is frustrated**

Jack: I can't see anything on the main monitor!

**Kenny still typing on his computer rolls his eyes**

Kenny: That's because the bomb you set off kicked a lot dust in the air. The radar and scanners are barely working; its good thing I upgraded their programming or else we'd be flying blind right about now.

**Jack is now frustrated and annoyed**

Jack: Well when you're done patting yourself on the back how about you move the ship out of this dust cloud so we can see better!

**Now Kenny is annoyed**

Kenny: Your terminal is the one that controls the ship's movement; after all it is the only one that has a steering wheel on it.

**Jack blushes for a second in embarrassment, then snaps**

Jack: Of course I knew that I was just testing you!

**Kenny gives Jack one of those looks to which Jack replies by taking a bolt from one of her pockets and throwing it at Kenny. It hits right in the head**

Kenny: OWWWWW

Jack: Don't just stare at me get back to work!

**Kenny rubbing his head where the bolt hit him glares at her for second then turns back to his monitor. Jack turns to look back at her terminal uncertainly**

Jack: Um, right this one I think.

**Jack hesitantly hits a couple of buttons then grabs the wheel. We cut back outside to see the ship start to move forward, the dust is starting to settle. We can see parts of the ship now but we still can't make out the whole thing. **

**The camera turns to the raider's ship still trying to avoid the debris. We cut inside the raider's ship bridge, we can hear banging sounds from the debris hitting the ship. Red lights are still blinking suddenly crew member A turns to the Boss.**

Crew Member A: Another ship has just been picked up on radar and it's heading straight for us!

**The Boss was already panicking before he found out there was another ship, now he's completely lost his smug composer.**

Boss: What! Get us away from it and for the love of god stop getting hit by the debris.

**We cut outside to see the raider's ship move backwards but due to the confusion of the crew and the contradicting orders from the captain the ship backs into one of the Junk Mountains. **

**Some of the parts from the Junk Mountain fall from the top of the mountain onto the raider's ship but unfortunately for Shadow the raider's ship doesn't take that much damage. We cut back inside to see several crew members get thrown forward including the Boss who is thrown from his seat.**

**We cut back outside to see Nightwing looking at the new ship. The debris has stop falling from the sky, but we still can't make out the ship because of the dust. We cut inside Nightwing's cockpit to see a confuse Shadow but he also has that fighters look in his eye. He's ready to fight this new ship if it proves to be an enemy.**

Shadow: Tom a ship is coming out of the dust where the explosion came from; is it an ally of the raiders or is it one of yours?

**Tom looks confused/annoyed and irritated**

Tom: No one told me anything about sending a ship so I can't confirm if it's an ally or enemy. Look just stay where you, don't attack it unless it attacks you first.

**We cut back outside to see the ship, a combination of the dust settling and the ship moving away from the dust cloud is beginning to make the ship more visible. Just when we are about to fully make it out the camera moves to where Cagalli, Nick, and Roxas are. They're all standing up; Nick and Roxas look surprise.**

Nick: A new ship; is it backup for the raiders!

Roxas: I've never seen that model ship before!

**The camera now turns to Cagalli; while Nick and Roxas are surprise Cagalli is stunned. They're no words to describe the shocked look on her face; her eyes look like they're going to pop out of their sockets and her mouth is slightly open.**

Cagalli: T-th-that's the Archangel!

**The camera finally turns to the now completely visible ship. Cagalli's right it's definitely an Archangel Class ship. There are some differences but the most noticeable is that this ship isn't painted. The camera cuts into the raider's ship's bridge, the Boss is getting up from the ground and he looks pissed.**

Boss: Damage report!

**He snaps, Hunter getting back into his seat answers**

Hunter: The outer hull is dented up pretty bad but other than that there are only minor damages to

**The Boss cuts him off, the other crew members have got in back to their places**

Boss: That's enough turn the ship around 60 degrees and open fire with the missiles!

**We cut back outside to see the raider's ship beginning to move away from the Junk Mountain it back into. We turn to see the Archangel look-a-like ship coming towards the raider's ship; we cut inside the Archangel look-a-like ship's bridge.**

Kenny: The ship is turning to face us!

**Jack is holding the wheel like a rookie driver. She seems to be trying to feel out how the ship moves.**

Jack: They must be trying to get a better angle to fire missiles. Quickly fire our weapons at them first!

Kenny: What weapons?

Jack: What do you mean "what weapons" the ones I built into this ship?

Kenny: I told you, I didn't finish the operating program for them yet!

Jack: WHAT!

Kenny: You told me to just get this ship flying and that's what I did!

Jack: What good is a ship with no weapons!

**They're yelling at each other and talking very fast. We cut back to the raider's bridge to see the Boss yell**

Boss: FIRE!

**We cut outside to see 8 missiles being fire from the raider's ship. We cut back to the Look-a-like's bridge to see Kenny's monitor start flashing red.**

Kenny: Incoming missiles!

**Jack takes the wheel yanks up and to the side hard**

Jack: Crap!

**We cut back outside to see the Archangel look-a-like's right side lift up, most of the missiles missed badly and were nowhere near the ship. Only one missile came close to hitting the ship but thanks to Jack's movement the missile misses the ship. **

**The right side of the Archangel look-a-like lowers back down. The Archangel is very low to the ground now; we cut inside the raider's bridge.**

Hunter: All missiles have missed their target.

**The Boss is surprise and annoyed**

Boss: What! How is that possible!

**Hunter is typing on his computer**

Hunter: It looks like the missile targeting system has been damage by the falling debris.

**The Boss snaps**

Boss: Well fix it or figure out another way to get our missiles to aim correctly.

**We cut back outside to see the Archangel look-a-like stop before the raider's ship. The raider's ship is on a higher elevation then the Archangel look-a-like. We cut inside the Archangel look-a-like's bridge, Kenny turns to Jack**

Kenny: Jack we have to get out of here, we're just a sitting duck here!

**Jack is obviously unhappy by the idea**

Jack: Shut up and give me a minute to think!

**Suddenly we hear a "Bang", metal hitting metal not gunshot bang, sound. Kenny and Jack surprise look around wildly.**

Jack: What the hell was that!

Kenny: I don't know.

**Jack snaps at him**

Jack: Well why don't you check on your computer instead of looking around like an idiot!

**Kenny does the, I didn't think of that, face and quickly turns around and starts typing on his computer. We cut back outside to see that Nightwing has hop on top of the Archangel look-a-like ship. **

**It's on one knee with its right hand down on the ship for better balance. Its left hand has its beam saber turn at an angle away from the ship. We cut inside Nightwing's cockpit to see Shadow with his focus look on his face he's also got one of those stupid grins.**

Shadow: Nightwing can you open up a communication link with this ship?

Nightwing: Opening communication link to Archangel Class ship.

**A window pops up on Shadow's helmet screen to show, Jack and Kenny. We switch to Jack's side to see Shadow on the main monitor, on the upper right corner we can see Tom's window, both Tom and Shadow look surprise.**

Shadow: Kenny!

Tom: Jack!

**Kenny looks embarrass but Jack looks annoyed**

Jack: Yes it's me and Kenny operating this ship alone; now are we going to waste time with questions or can we discuss how we can defeat the raiders before they kill us!

**Tom glares at her annoyed and angry but he realizes she's right.**

Tom: You're right but we will definitely talk about this later!

**Shadow has already accepted Jack and Kenny as the pilots of the Archangel look-a-like ship and is already thinking of his next move.**

Shadow: Jack can your ship climb to a higher elevation then the raider's ship?

**Jack is offended**

Jack: The thrusters on this ship our 10, no; 20 times more powerful than that of that piece of crap scrap metal those raiders call a ship!

**Tom rolls his eyes knowing that she's exaggerating again, Kenny also rolls his eyes but Shadow grins.**

Shadow: Good, then raise the ship higher than the raider's ship.

**Jack eager to prove herself right says**

Jack: Just you watch!

**She takes the wheel and yanks upward, we cut outside to see the Archangel look-a-like begin to rise upward. We cut to inside the raider's bridge, Hunter looks nervous**

Hunter: Um Sir shouldn't we move back or something?

**The Boss does one of his arrogant smiles**

Boss: Relax; those mechanics most have sent out some half dead ship in a poor attempt to save that Basic Original Gundam. Why do you think they haven't fire at us yet, because they don't have any weapons!

**Hunter nods his head in total acceptance of the Boss's theory**

Boss: How long until the repairs on the targeting system are finish?

Hunter: The damage wasn't too bad, only a slight misalignment, so it should only take about 5 more minutes Sir.

**A light starts blinking on one of the monitors**

Crew Member B: The mechanic's ship is gaining altitude Sir.

**The Boss smiles a self-assure smile**

Boss: See, those idiots obviously have no idea what they're doing; we can easily slip under their blind spot now if they start firing at us.

**Hunter has begun typing on his computer; the main monitor is switching camera views. It's obvious he's looking for something; the Boss is getting annoyed so he snaps**

Boss: Hunter what are you doing!

**Hunter looks nervous**

Hunter: Um, Sir it seems in the confusion I've lost the Basic Original Gundam.

**The Boss is shocked**

Boss: What! Find him!

**Everyone turns around and starts typing on their computers. The Boss leans back in his chair, he's very nervous. Crew Member A turns to Crew Member B and asks**

Crew Member A: You don't think he's on top of another Junk Mountain do you?

**Crew Member B shakes his head**

Crew Member B: No, that would be pointless because we're on a higher elevation then all of the surrounding Junk Mountains.

**The Boss looks over at them**

Boss (Higher elevation?)

**Something clicks inside the Boss and he turns to look up, his face is full of fear.**

Boss: He's above us!

**He screams; the camera cuts outside to show that the Archangel look-a-like is now high above the raider's ship. Nightwing jumps off the Archangel look-a-like and straight on top of the raider's ship.**

Shadow: HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

**When Nightwing lands on top of the raider's ship it falls to its knee's but it quickly gets back up and runs along top of the ship to its engine. Nightwing has its beam saber on and is holding it with both hands, when it reaches the engine it stops. Then Nightwing takes its beam saber and stabs down on the engine. **

**Nightwing moves the beam saber to the left while it's still in the engine causing the engine to explode. Nightwing gets sent flying and crashes into a Junk Mountain; a couple of its fingers have been blown off. The raider's ship starts to fall to the ground, but at a much slower rate.**

**Some of its thrusters are still working however it's evident that the ship can't fly anymore. We quickly cut inside the raider's ship's bridge to see everyone get thrown around. We cut back outside to see the raider's ship hit the ground hard but it doesn't explode. The camera looks up at the Archangel look-a-like and cuts inside the bridge.**

Kenny and Jack: Shadow!

**They both scream worried. The main monitor shows Nightwing unmoving on top of the Junk Mountain. In the right corner we see Tom's window, Tom hurries to comfort them**

Tom: Don't worry Nightwing's cockpit shouldn't have suffer any damage and if it did the safety device would have activated and protected Shadow.

**Jack and Kenny still look worried**

Kenny: But

**Tom goes on**

Tom: Jack you worked on Nightwing you should know better than me its capabilities.

**Jack looks momentary surprise by this, and then she takes a deep breath to calm herself down and answers calmly.**

Jack: Tom's right, Nightwing's chest wouldn't have been damage by that type explosion.

**Kenny looks at her for a second still uncertain then nods his head in acceptance**

Kenny: Alright

**He looks at the main monitor, which has switch to show the raider's ship on the ground. The engines are smoking but other than that it looks ok**

Kenny: What about the raiders? Even though their ship can't move anymore they can still be dangerous.

**Tom gives Kenny a wicked smile**

Tom: Oh don't worry about them; now that they're on the ground us mechanics can take care of them.

**The camera cuts back to the raider's ship bridge. We can see them getting up, the bridge doesn't look too badly damage. The Boss gets up and shouts**

Boss: Damage report!

**Hunter is the first one to his computer monitor; he types a few things then shakes his head.**

Hunter: The engines are destroyed beyond repair; we won't be able to move.

**The Boss curses**

Boss: Damn it!

**He kicks his captain's chair. The camera cuts outside and turns to a Junk Mountain that's right next to the raider's ship. Van is on top of the Junk Mountain looking down on the raider's ship when Jay walks up to him. Van turns to Jay surprised**

Van: Jay? It's a surprise to see one of the heads of Junk City come here personally.

**Jay turns to Van annoyed**

Jay: That's because this is personal Van! Those bastards attack my warehouse!

**Van looks at Jay for a moment then smiles**

Van: So would you like to do the honors?

**Jay looks at him for a moment surprised then smiles at Van in gratitude**

Jay: Don't mind if I do.

**Jay turns towards the raider's ship and shouts at the top of his lungs**

Jay: MECHANICS CHARGE!

**Jay takes off down the mountain towards the raider's ship, suddenly hundreds of mechanics appear on top of the Junk Mountain and start running towards the raider's ship. The camera switches views to an overhead view, from an overhead view it looks like a small army is heading towards the raider's ship. Some of them are on jeeps or bikes, the rest are just flat out running. They look pissed and ready for some payback, we cut back inside the raider's ship.**

Crew Member B: There are over a hundred mechanics heading straight towards the ship!

**The other crew members are looking panic, the Boss starts shouting orders**

Boss: Open fire on them with the CIW's you idiots!

**We cut back outside to see that a lot of the mechanics have reached the ship. They've climb on top of the ship and started taking apart the CIW's, they've also jammed the missile hatches.**

**In minutes the CIW's have been stripe of their main components like a car in a chop shop. The rest of the mechanics take blow torches and start making holes into the ship. We cut back inside the raider's ship to see the Crew members really panicking.**

Hunter: They've dismantled all our weapons Sir!

**Hunter shouts close to hysterical**

Crew Member B: The Mechanics are cutting into our ship's hull; I estimate we got 5 minutes before they breach our ship's hull!

**The crew members pause for a moment expecting some kind of order from the Boss but it doesn't come. If you ever seen someone have a mental breakdown that's the kind of look he has now. He's completely frozen, Hunter and the other crew members turn to face him**

Hunter: We're waiting for you orders Sir!

**The Boss doesn't replied, he still has that frozen look on his face. The crew members are on the brink of losing it when Hunter takes charge.**

Hunter: Surrender, we're going to surrender to the mechanics!

**The camera cuts outside to where Cagalli, Nick, and Roxas are. Nick turns around and begins to walk away.**

Nick: This battle is over mates, now that the raider's ship can't move the mechanics will easily beat the crap out of them.

**Roxas does a cat stretch then turns and follows Nick**

Roxas: Well that was a lot more fun than I thought it would be; I actually want to get my own Gundam now.

**Roxas is walking next to Nick, she's walking like a human now. Nick turns and grins at her**

Nick: I know what you're saying mate, I mean I did tell Shadow I be one of the Gundam Fighters on his team but it wasn't until I just saw that battle now that I felt the adrenalin rush and truly wanted to be a Gundam Fighter!

**Roxas nods her head in agreement, they're both excited. Suddenly they both stop as they realize that Cagalli isn't following, they both turn around to look at Cagalli who's still staring intensely at the Archangel look-a-like.**

Nick: Hey mate you coming?

Roxas: Cagalli you ok?

**They both ask worried. Cagalli snaps out of her trance and turns to look at them**

Cagalli: Y-yes I'm fine.

**She's still shaken up from seeing the Archangel look-a-like. She walks over to them; Nick looks at her worried, Roxas looks at her suspicious**

Nick: Well alright mate, let's head back to Tom's Warehouse.

**The camera moves over to the unmoving Nightwing. We cut inside the cockpit to see Shadow lying on one of the walls. The cockpit is all dark so one can assume the explosion knock out the Gundam's main computers. Shadow looks unconscious for a moment then groans**

Shadow: Arhg so this is what it's like to be a cannon ball.

**Shadow tries to sit up but can't. He rolls his head around to stretch the sore muscles in his neck and to keep the blood going to his head.**

Shadow: Hey Nightwing you working?

**He gets no response, and grins**

Shadow: I guess not. I shall rest for few minutes then I'll get up and do something about Nightwing.

**Shadow shouts in a grand voice to nobody, Shadow looks like he's about to lose conscious again but then we hear banging sounds. Footsteps from people walking on Nightwing, we also hear voices.**

Mechanic A: Hey guys over here, the cockpit's door is over here!

Mechanic B: The Pilot's not coming out, he might be hurt!

Mechanic C: Let's hurry up and get this door open!

**We hear some drilling and torch cutting sounds, suddenly we see light coming into the cockpit from the small passage that connects the door to the outside and the cockpit. Shadow is right under the light so he closes his eyes for a moment and groans**

Shadow: Can't a guy get some well deserve sleep!

**The camera switches to Shadow's view, we can see the outside sky. The sun looks like it's going to set soon, we can see three mechanics leaning over the side of the door grinning at Shadow.**

Mechanic A: Well looks like the kid isn't dead.

**Shadow glares at him**

Shadow: I'm no kid, I'm 19!

**The Mechanics laugh at him**

Mechanic A, B and C: AHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHH

Mechanic A: Yea, Yea Whatever kid.

Mechanic B: Hey Kid can you stand?

**Shadow angry now shouts**

Shadow: I'M NOT A KID and yes I can still stand!

**Shadow attempts to get up again. He manages to get up slightly higher than before but he still falls down again. Mechanic C looks at him with concern**

Mechanic C: Hey don't hurt yourself!

**Mechanic C glares at the other two Mechanics, Mechanic A sighs**

Mechanic A: Tell you what when you become at least a C rank Gundam Fighter then we'll stop calling you a kid.

**While he's talking Mechanic B lowers a rope into the cockpit. Shadow still isn't too happy, Mechanic A slides down the rope and hops next to Shadow.**

Mechanic A: So come on kid get up, after all heroes are supposed to walk on their own two legs!

**Mechanic A grins at Shadow and holds out his hand to help him up. Shadow looks at the hand for a moment then grins at him**

Shadow: Fine, but I've got to warn you, I'll be a C rank Gundam Fighter in no time.

**Shadow grabs mechanic A's hand. Mechanic A lifts Shadow off the ground and puts Shadow's arm around his should and helps carry him out of the cockpit. The episode ends with Shadow looking up at the sky.**

Shadow (Ha, another beautiful sunset.)


	16. Episode 15

Episode 15

**The episode opens up at Tom's Warehouse, the sun has set. There's a party going on at full swing. The Warehouse is packed with people; the mechanics have set up a stage with huge speakers and a DJ. The music is so loud it's almost deafening. The camera switches to an overhead view; we can see that tables have been set out with food and drinks.**

**Some people are dancing to the music others are just standing and talking to their friends, everyone's eating and drinking. We spot Shadow, Jack, Kenny and Roxas dancing on the makeshift dance floor. They're laughing and having a great time, Roxas is dancing seductively with a couple of the guys and women.**

**We see Nick eating a steak by one of the food tables; he's having a pleasant conversation with one of the other mechanics. The overall mood of the party is happy and upbeat. The camera moves outside the Warehouse, there are a bunch of people also celebrating outside, but it's more of a quiet self-reflecting celebration.**

**We can still hear the music but it's nowhere near as loud as inside, and no one is dancing. The camera stops on Tom. Tom is standing by himself having a drink, he's looking up at the night sky. Mechanic A (the same Mechanic A that help Shadow out of the cockpit early) walks over to Tom**

Tom: So how's Shadow doing Anthony?

**Anthony**** grins**

Anthony: We were a little worried at first because he couldn't move but the doctor told us it was just exhaustion.

**Tom nods his head in understanding**

Tom: Makes sense, physically he doesn't have the stamina yet to be in a Gundam Fight or any kind of battle for that matter. If it wasn't for his stubborn will he would have drop from exhaustion a lot sooner.

**Anthony**** nods his head in agreement**

Anthony: Yea, it was annoying getting him to the Warehouse though. He kept asking us about his Gundam, I had to get onto my phone and personally tell a couple of guys to take care of his Gundam in order to satisfy him.

**Tom looks impressed**

Tom (Well what Shadow lacks in skill he makes up in ethics at least. A professional Gundam Fighter always takes care of his Gundam before himself.)

**Anthony**** goes on**

Anthony: Well other than that he has few bumps and bruises but overall Shadow is fine. Ha, he's already up and running, I saw him dancing with Jack 5 minutes ago!

**Tom lifts an eyebrow, a classic father concern look. ****Anthony**** sees this and quickly goes to reassure him**

Anthony: Relax Tom, it looked more like a brother sister dance than anything else.

**Tom nods his head**

Tom: I see.

**Anthony**** hesitates for a moment then asks**

Anthony: Is it me or does Shadow remind you of

**Tom finishes for him**

Tom: Mark?

**Anthony**** tries to read Tom but Tom's face is unreadable. There's a moment of uncertain silence then Tom speaks**

Tom: Shadow wants to become the world's greatest Gundam Fighter; Mark wanted to become the world's greatest mechanic. Their dreams maybe different but the way they chase after their dreams, the way they keep getting up after getting knock down, the way they keep ignoring the people who tell them it's hopeless, in that way they are the same!

**Tom takes a sip of his drink. The two old men take a moment to remember their fallen friend. Tom turns to ****Anthony**

Tom: You should go back to the party.

**Anthony**** looks back at Tom surprise**

Anthony: No, it's alright Tom I can stay out here for a while longer.

**Tom gives a good hearty laugh**

Tom: HAHAHHAHAHHAHAHHAH, Who do you think you are, my babysitter? I'm fine, besides I want you to keep an eye on Jack. It's been a while since she's had a drink and I don't want her getting drunk and going wild; again.

**Anthony**** hesitates then smiles and nods his head**

Anthony: You got it Tom.

**Anthony**** walks back into the Warehouse. As Tom watches ****Anthony**** leave he spots Cagalli sitting down on some kind of metal box by herself. She seems to be in deep thought and looks sad. Tom watches her for a second then sighs, and then Tom walks over next to Cagalli.**

Tom: It's one thing for a bunch of old guys to choose to stand outside alone and miss a great party but for a young woman such as yourself to miss a great party like this and stand outside by yourself, it's enough to make the sky cry.

**Cagalli surprise turns around to see Tom. When she sees its Tom she goes back to sulking**

Cagalli: I don't feel like celebrating.

**Tom gives her a caring smile**

Tom: Oh, may I ask why not?

**Cagalli gives Tom a look, then asks**

Cagalli: What will happen to the raiders you capture?

Tom: They're going to be executed.

**Cagalli gives Tom a horrified look. Tom rolls his eyes**

Tom: Oh for the love of god, I was kidding, geez what do you think we are monsters!

**Cagalli is relieve and a little embarrass, Tom goes on**

Tom: Since Junk City isn't officially apart of any nation it doesn't have a jail or police force, but they're some friendly nations that have kindly offer to arrest the raiders and put them in their jail for us, after a fair trial of course.

**Cagalli grins a little at Tom's small joke**

Cagalli: Of course.

Tom: Although some of the mechanics did want to kill the raiders themselves, understandable if misguided, but most were satisfied that the raiders were going to rot in prison for a very long time.

**Cagalli has gone back to looking sad; she nods her head in approval**

Cagalli: Well that's good.

**Tom gives her an all knowing smile**

Tom: Well as touch as I am for your concern about your enemy I don't think that's the only reason you're missing the victory celebration.

**Cagalli suddenly becomes very angry**

Cagalli: What victory, people still die and for what; money! How can you people celebrate when so many homes were destroyed and so many lives were lost!

**Cagalli punches the ground, she says this hatefully**

Cagalli: And I couldn't do anything to help or stop it!

**We have a quick flashback to Mr. 4 killing the people at the party. There's a brief moment of silence as Tom stares at Cagalli shocked. Cagalli doesn't meet his gaze, suddenly Tom gets down on his knees and hugs the sitting Cagalli. Cagalli is surprise**

Tom: So this is what's been bothering you; Cagalli you are far too young to be carrying such a heavy burden. To mourn the deaths of the innocent in the silent night away from joy of others is the job of us old men.

**Tom let's go of Cagalli. Cagalli is still surprise and stares at Tom; Tom goes on as if the previous incident never happen.**

Tom: You don't have to worry about the people who lost their homes to the raiders, as mechanics we built our own houses from the metal parts we found in the Junk Mountains. At worst people would consider it an annoyance, HA most of the mechanics would think of it as a renovation.

**Tom says this with a smile on his face as if he thinks this whole thing is a joke. This pisses off Cagalli, and she snaps**

Cagalli: Well what about the people, who died I doubt that they'll think of it as a renovation; ARE THEIR DEATHS JUST A JOKE TO YOU!

**The smile drops from his face; he stands up a little straighter and says in a sober voice, and although he tries to control it there's a little anger in his voice.**

Tom: Of course not!

**Cagalli realizes she has crossed the line. Tom sighs**

Tom: How do I explain this? 156 people died today in the battle with the raiders.

**Cagalli is not sure what he's getting at**

Cagalli: You know the exact number of casualties, so what?

**Tom looks at her evenly**

Tom: The average daily death total for Junk City is between 1,000 deaths a year.

**Cagalli is shocked**

Cagalli: W-w-what!

**Tom forces a smile and tries to pass this off as no big deal**

Tom: Well if you thought about it, it makes sense; I mean we have no police so there's always a chance of getting shot or mugged in the street, not to mention a lot of these Junk Mountains are unstable and sometimes they collapse on people walking by. Plus we're mechanics; we spend all day reattaching Gundam arms and legs to Gundam bodies and as much as we try to prevent it if one of those limbs falls on a person they're dead. In just this Warehouse we have about 5 accidents a day.

**Cagalli has got in over the shock and is just surprise**

Cagalli: Then why do you guys do it, why do you live here if it's so dangerous?

**Tom looks at Cagalli and gives her a genuine smile**

Tom: Because we love it.

**Cagalli doesn't get it**

Cagalli: Huh?

**Tom eyes start to sparkle as he begins to talk, the type of sparkle you get in your eyes when you talk about something you really love or were excited about doing.**

Tom: I love being a mechanic; every morning when I wake up I can't wait to come to work and start working on the Gundams! When I sleep I dream of new Gundam designs, parts, weapons, armor, I am constantly dreaming of new ways on improving the Gundams and when a new Gundam comes in that I've never seen before I go all giddy like a kid that's just got a birthday present and can't wait to take it apart and find out how it works! Sometimes I get so lost working on a Gundam in the Warehouse I end up spending the whole night here working on it!

**Cagalli is trying to understand**

Cagalli: Ok so you love being a mechanic but why do you have to be a mechanic in this City?

**Tom goes on still excited**

Tom: Because this City is a mechanics dream! I mean just the other day I was walking home and I found an old Gundam part I was looking for. I brought it home and reconfigure it into a brand new and improve version of itself. Mechanics can find any part they're looking for here regardless of how expensive a part is. Regardless of the danger the mechanics that live here love and enjoy the life they live and if we sometimes have to shed tears in order to continue living like this then it is well worth it. I can also tell you right now that if I die sometime today then I would die a happy man because I live a happy life and most of the mechanics share my opinion.

**Cagalli is still unhappy with his answer**

Cagalli: Well what about the people who lost family members I doubt they're celebrating!

**She's says this very bitter. Tom smiles at her**

Tom: Then you'd be wrong.

**Cagalli is surprise**

Cagalli: Huh?

**Tom turns to face the Warehouse, from the way we can hear the music and the lights we can assume the party is still going full swing.**

Tom: No one knows how the tradition started, probability when the first Warehouses appear, but it's a tradition in Junk City to throw a party after a raider attack.

**Cagalli doesn't understand**

Cagalli: But why are you trying to celebrate a victory! What kind of victory is worth celebrating when you lost so many people!

**Cagalli shouts in anger. Tom meets her anger with an even stare and soft smile**

Tom: Where not celebrating a victory, we're celebrating being alive!

**Cagalli is surprise**

Cagalli: What!

**Tom goes on**

Tom: Tomorrow the families of the decease will have a private funeral for their dead but tonight we celebrate the people who survive the battle and will witness the sunrise tomorrow morning, tonight we celebrate the living; the dead can wait to be mourn.

**He says this in a sober voice, suddenly a door to the warehouse opens and Shadow pops out. He looks a little tipsy, and he's holding a beer bottle.**

Shadow: CAGALLI! CAGALLI! WHERE ARE YOU!

**Other people turn to stare at Shadow as he begins to search for Cagalli. Cagalli and Tom turn to stare at Shadow. Cagalli moans and shakes her head in embarrassment at Shadow making a scene and Tom smiles in amusement at Cagalli's embarrassment.**

Tom: You should go celebrate; after all you did survive too.

**Cagalli turns to stare at Tom uncertain of what to do. Her decision is made for her when Shadow spots them.**

Shadow: Cagalli! There you are!

**Some people are still staring as Shadow stumbles towards Cagalli.**

Shadow: Why didn't you answer me!

**Shadow says in an unnecessary loud voice. The people that are staring start to giggle a little thinking this a couple's dispute. Cagalli blushes in embarrassment**

Cagalli: Will you quiet down I'm not deaf, and are you drunk!

**She shouts at him, the people are starting to laugh a little harder. Shadow flinches and puts a hand over his ear.**

Shadow: Ow, man you're the loud one.

**This pisses Cagalli off**

Cagalli: Just answer the question!

**Shadow smiles at her and says in a grand voice**

Shadow: Nope I'm not drunk yet but the night is still young! Here have some beer!

**Shadow offers the beer in his hand to Cagalli. Cagalli turns to Tom glaring disapprovingly**

Cagalli: Isn't it a universal law that the legal drinking age is 23?

**Tom smiles and shrugs**

Tom: Like I said no police force; now why don't shut up, have a drink and have some fun.

**Shadow continues to offer Cagalli the beer**

Cagalli: Sorry but unlike some people I don't drink.

**She says looking at Shadow. Shadow glares at her not liking the way she said "Some People" but then he gets over it and shrugs.**

Shadow: Fine but

**Shadow grabs Cagalli's arm and begins to pull her towards the Warehouse. Cagalli looks surprise**

Shadow: If you're not going to drink, then you're going to at least dance; besides Roxas promise me a picture of her in a bathing suit if I brought you onto the dance floor.

**Cagalli struggles a little but is gradually going with Shadow**

Cagalli: So wait you're just using me to satisfy your perverted desires!

**She says a little angrily. Shadow turns to her and grins**

Shadow: No, I honestly wanted to celebrate with you; satisfying my perverted desires is just a bonus.

**Cagalli's anger lessens to an annoyance, she is no longer struggling but letting Shadow guide her towards the Warehouse. Tom smiles at them and waves**

Tom: Shadow make sure Cagalli has fun; even if you have to shove it down her throat.

**Cagalli glances back at Tom annoyed**

Cagalli: Isn't it a contradiction to force someone to have fun.

**Shadow turns to grin at her**

Shadow: With enough alcohol all logic makes sense!

**Shadow says in his grand voice. He then leads Cagalli to the Warehouse as Tom burst out laughing, even Cagalli slightly grins at Shadow's joke. The scene starts to do the slideshow thing; we see pictures of the party. **

**Some of the pictures include, Nick politely dancing with Jack, Shadow and Roxas ravaging the food table and beer, Cagalli dancing and politely eating, Roxas chasing Cagalli trying to grope her again, Cagalli yelling at Shadow, Kenny talking with some of the mechanics while eating, and Roxas hitting on some people. **

**The scene ends after the slideshow. The next scene opens up in the morning, the camera goes slowly over the Warehouse. It shows the classic after party, there are people lying all over the floor pass out from too much drinking. The camera stops over Shadow, he has the classic hangover look on his face. Kenny also looks like he has a hangover; Nick and Cagalli are the only ones that don't have a hangover.**

Nick: You should have listen to me mate when I told you to go easier on the drinking.

**Cagalli has a huge "I told you so" grin on her face**

Cagalli: Serves you right for breaking the law.

**Shadow glares at her; he forces himself to straighten up**

Shadow: Drinking was well worth the hangover!

**Shadow shouts in a grand voice. Kenny covers his ears**

Kenny: God, Shadow do you have to talk so loud.

**Nick and Cagalli are momentary surprise, but it's quickly lost when Shadow immediately turns around and pukes behind the table right after he shouts. Cagalli burst out laughing**

Cagalli: Hahahahah, say that again when you can hold down your stomach!

**Kenny groans again. Nick gives Cagalli a look clearly saying the joke has gone on long enough. He hands Shadow a glass of water**

Nick: Here mate, the best way to get over a hangover is to drown it with lots of water.

**Shadow takes the glass of water and nods in gratitude**

Shadow: Thanks

**Cagalli sighs then hands Kenny a glass of water**

Cagalli: Here you too Kenny.

**Kenny takes the water grateful**

Kenny: Thank you Cagalli.

**Cagalli starts to look around as Kenny and Shadow drink the water**

Cagalli: Hey where're Roxas and Jack?

**Kenny turns to Cagalli and answers**

Kenny: I haven't seen Roxas since last night when she was hitting on some mechanics.

**Shadow now shows interest**

Shadow: Male or female mechanics?

**Kenny grins**

Kenny: Both.

**Shadow and Kenny high-five while Cagalli rolls her eyes and folds her arms.**

Cagalli: Perverts

**Nick turns to Cagalli**

Nick: I saw Jack early this morning mates just as the party was breaking up. She told me she was going to head home to grab some supplies to fix Nightwing up with and to wait for her next to Nightwing.

**The camera zooms out and cuts to Jack's house. Jack is packing her tools in a traveling bag, we can see a second bag full of clothes. Tom walks in**

Tom: You seem to be packing for a long trip?

**Jack isn't surprise to see Tom**

Jack: I'm not going on a trip Tom, I have decided to accept Shadow's offer and become his team's mechanic.

**Tom's face is a mask**

Tom: I see, do you mind if I ask why?

**Jack looks up from packing and turns to face Tom. She sighs not sure how to answer**

Jack: A couple of reason really. Ha, during the battle with the raiders I realize how inexperience I am as a mechanic.

Tom: What are you talking about you've gotten plenty of experience working on Gundams in the Warehouse.

**Jack rolls her eyes**

Jack: I only have experience in reconfiguring parts and systems of the Gundams to make them operate better. At the Warehouse whenever I reconfigure a part or system it always operates better than the original part or system and increases the Gundams performance but the problem is I've never reconfigure more than one part or system within a single Gundam before.

**Tom nods his head in understanding**

Tom (That makes sense, most Gundam Pilots don't want the mechanics messing with any system or part that isn't damage and I haven't let Jack work on any Gundams that were damage in more than one place. Shadow was the first Gundam Pilot to give Jack the freedom to work on any system or part she chose.)

**Jack continues speaking**

Jack: When I look at Nightwing's battle data I realize that the different reconfigured parts and systems were reacting against each other and lowering Nightwing stats.

**Tom doesn't understand**

Tom: What are you talking about; Nightwing operated better after you installed the upgraded parts and systems!

Jack: But not as much as I had calculated, by my calculations Nightwing should have been performing 10 times better than it was! The reason my calculations were so off was because I never consider how the reconfigure parts would react to each other and I'll never learn how to property tune each reconfigure part or system with each other unless I've got a Gundam I can freely work on. That's why I have to go with Shadow; if I don't I'll never have another chance to join a Gundam Team and be able to freely work on a Gundam.

**Tom wants to argue but he knows Jacks right. He sighs then asks**

Tom: Tell me Jack why are you suddenly so intent on improving your mechanic skills?

**Jack's red eyes open wide in surprise. She gets up and turns to look at the pictures on her tool cabinet, and then she gives a little laugh.**

Jack: Ha, that's right I never did take being a mechanic seriously.

**Tom looks surprise and sorry, like when you accidently hurt someone's feelings.**

Tom: Jack I didn't mean

**Jack cuts him off**

Jack: Don't patronize me Tom! Sure I was excited and proud to be a mechanic but I was no different than a kid going to school, I never pushed myself beyond my limits, I never strove to be the best!

**She grabs the picture of Mark**

Jack: It was Mark's dream to be the best.

**There's a moment of silence, then Jack turns to Tom**

Jack: Tom, tell me did Mark want to join a Gundam Team!

**Jack demands to know, Tom looks uncomfortable.**

Tom: Jack

Jack: Tom I demand to know, tell me did my brother want to join a Gundam Team!

**Tom looks Jack straight in the eye**

Tom: Yes, Mark also knew that the only way he could improve as a mechanic was to be able to freely work on a Gundam and the only people who have that privilege our official Gundam Team mechanics.

**Jack looks sad**

Jack: And the only reason he never join a Gundam Team was because of me!

**Tom looks a little sad too**

Tom: You're half right, Mark was a very gifted mechanic, there was always some young and new Gundam Team asking him to join their team but Mark always refused because as much as he wanted to become the greatest mechanic in the world he loved you more!

**Jack looks close to tears. Tom goes on**

Tom: So Mark had decided to wait until you turn 18 before he join a Gundam Team. He even asked me if you could move in with me, because he didn't want you to live by yourself.

**Jack looks back at the picture of Mark. She grins, if you ever find something ironic but incredibly sad at the same time, that's the kind of smile she has.**

Jack: So that's why after Mark died you kept asking me to move in with you.

**Jack turns away from Tom. We see a single tear run down her cheek, Tom takes a step about to comfort her.**

Tom: Jack

**Jack quickly rubs the tear out of her eyes and turns to face Tom before he takes another step. She's got a resolved look in her eye**

Jack: Mark's dead and he's never coming back and that won't change no matter how long I stay here or try to pretend otherwise.

**Tom is deeply shock by this comment. Jack continues**

Jack: But just because Mark's dead doesn't mean his dream has died.

**Jack puts her hand over her heart**

Jack: Mark's dream now lives on in me, because now my dream is to become the greatest mechanic this world has ever seen.

**Jack puts the pictures in her traveling bag. She has finish packing, she picks up both bags and walks past the stun Tom. The camera moves in front of Jack so that we are facing her, we can see Tom stun stiff behind her. Jack stops then grins and without turning around adds**

Jack: And if I'm going to become the world's greatest mechanic then it's only fitting I work with the world's greatest Gundam Fighter.

**Tom's eyes pops open even wider. Jack starts to walk away again. Tom turns to watch her walk away; he still looks stun**

Tom (Jack that was the first time I ever heard you say Mark was dead. I'm an idiot, all this time you tried to pretend that Mark was still alive. How many lonely nights did you spend pretending that your brother was still alive and making you dinner, playing games with you, tucking you in at night? No wonder you never recover from Mark's death and I was too stupid to see it.)

**A smile spreads across his face as a tears run down his cheeks like rain.**

Tom (Thank you Shadow Zoomarey for healing Jack, thank you for finally making Jack's broken clock tick once again.)

**The scene ends with a freeze shoot of Jack walking away from Tom, the way the sun hits her gives off a warm hopeful feeling. The next scene opens up at the Warehouse, Shadow, Nick, Kenny and Cagalli are waiting by Nightwing. Shadow seems to have got in over his hangover or more likely he's faking it to not show Cagalli any weakness.**

**Jack and Tom walk up to them. Jack stops when she sees the damage Nightwing, her mouth drops open. Tom notices her surprise and his face twitches a little as he tries to resist a smile.**

Tom: Why do you look so shock, you knew Nightwing was damage?

Jack: This is the first time I've seen the damage up close!

**Shadow is growing impatient and shouts**

Shadow: Hey Jack what's taking you so long!

**Jack walks up to Shadow and hits him with a wrench**

Jack: You idiot look how badly you let my Gundam get damage!

**Shadow is rubbing his head where Jack hit him. Nick has an eyebrow raise in question**

Nick: Your Gundam?

**Jack folds his arms**

Jack: That's right; I fix Nightwing up so I consider it half mine!

**Shadow's pride has been offended.**

Shadow: I didn't let Nightwing get damage that badly!

**Jack gets in Shadow's face**

Jack: What are you talking about! Nightwing's armor has been completely trash; it's so bad that Nightwing would be better off going into battle butt naked then using that armor!

**Shadow is unimpressed by Jack's metaphor**

Shadow: You know that metaphor only works in human situations!

**Jack is slightly embarrass as she realizes Shadow is right, but her anger quickly comes back.**

Jack: Fine then how about this; Nightwing is missing fingers; FINGERS; how is that not an example of bad piloting!

**She's right, the camera turns to show Nightwing missing several fingers. Now Shadow blushes in embarrassment. Cagalli, Nick, and Tom laugh at Shadow. Kenny still feels too crappy from his hangover for jokes**

Cagalli: Hahahahhahah, I think she's got you beat Shadow.

**Shadow turns to glare at her**

Shadow: Hey whose side are you on!

**Tom takes pity on Shadow**

Tom: Relax Shadow it's all a learning experience but for future notice when you stab something that could be explosive, you want to pull the blade out and jump back not just stand there looking like an idiot.

**Cagalli and Nick burst out laughing again. Shadow turns red again**

Shadow: Fine, laugh all you want now but when you make a mistake in your Gundam Fights I'll remember this!

**Jack sighs**

Jack: It's going to take me at least 3 days to get Nightwing 100% fix up and running again.

**Shadow, Cagalli, Nick, and Kenny are shock**

Shadow: 3 days!

Kenny: We have to spend another 3 days in Junk City!

Cagalli: Where are we going to stay!

**While they're panicking and cursing there bad luck. Jack turns to Tom**

Jack: Hey Tom can you have your people load Nightwing onto my ship for me?

**Tom nods his head**

Tom: Sure

**He signals to a couple of nearby mechanics. The mechanics bring over a truck and start to load Nightwing onto it while Shadow and the others look at Jack confused.**

Shadow: Why are you loading Nightwing onto your ship?

**The mechanics manage to get Nightwing on the truck and take off.**

Jack: Dud so that I can work on it on our way to Arianna.

**Nick raises an eyebrow**

Nick: Our?

**Jack turns to face him**

Jack: Yea, Now listen up; I have decided to become the greatest mechanic this world has ever seen! As such it's only fitting that I work with the greatest Gundam Fighter this world has ever seen!

**They all look surprise for a moment. Jack looks at Shadow**

Jack: So is your offer still on the table; I also like to point out that I come with a ship?

**Shadow stares evenly at Jack and Jack has a momentary fear that Shadow will say no but then Shadow's face breaks into a wide grin.**

Shadow: YES, YES, YES, we have a mechanic now!

**Shadow jumps up into the air. Jack also begins to smile; Nick slaps her on the back.**

Nick: Welcome to the team mate!

Jack: Thanks, oh by the way what's our team's name?

**Cagalli is also smiling. She shrugs**

Cagalli: We don't have one yet, Shadow still hasn't decided on one!

**Shadow doesn't like the way Cagalli said that**

Shadow: Hey picking a Team name is a very important decision; you can't make it just like that!

**Cagalli and Shadow start glaring at each other**

Cagalli: Maybe you're just bad at naming things!

**Shadow gets in Cagalli's face**

Shadow: Why don't you say that again!

**Shadow threatens. Kenny cuts in**

Kenny: Guys, Guys, Guys, that's not what's important, what is important is that we have a ship now, which means no more walking!

**He shouts with joy. The others start laughing, Tom smiling adds**

Tom: I'll tell you what; since I'm in such a nice mood I'll give you the Y23 missies we savage from the raider's ship free of charge.

**Shadow looks unimpressed**

Shadow: Shouldn't you do that anyways since I save the city?

**Tom is annoyed now**

Tom: NO, if anything you owe me money for the beam rifle you destroy and the shield you lost not to mention all the food you keep putting on my tab!

**Shadow forgot about that**

Shadow: Ohhhh

Tom: Don't oh me, do you know how a beam rifle and shield cost and what a pain it is to build them!

**Shadow looks at his Neon Gauntlet**

Shadow: Oh, well I better go make sure Nightwing is loaded onto the ship correctly, so how about we say we're even!

**Shadow takes off after the truck that hull Nightwing away. Tom turns to him and shouts**

Tom: Yea you better run!

**The scene ends with Cagalli and the others laughing at Shadow. The next scene opens up outside the Warehouse. The Archangel look-a-like is park right next to the Warehouse, we zoom in right next to the ship to see the mechanics saying goodbye to Shadow and co.**

Anthony: Goodbye and good luck you guys!

Mechanic B: Thanks for everything!

Mechanic C: Good Luck on your Gundam Fights!

Mechanic D: We'll be rooting for you!

**Shadow and the others are also waving goodbye.**

Shadow: See you guys around, and remember my name because I'm going to be a famous Gundam Fighter someday!

**Kenny and Nick are saying goodbyes too. The camera focus on Cagalli, she's a little ways away from Shadow and the others. She's staring intensely at the Archangel look-a-like**

Cagalli (It looks exactly like the Archangel but how is that possible! The Archangel was a top secret Orb ship, only a handful of people knew it existed and even less had access to the blueprints. After the war I thought Erica Simmons destroyed all copies of the Archangel blueprints and kept the original blueprints lock up in a secret safe that only she had access to. So how did Jack make an exact replica of it!)

**While Cagalli is thinking this Van has walk up behind her.**

Van: Is the princess too important to say goodbye to us common folk?

**Cagalli turns around surprise to see Van. She's annoyed at being called a princess**

Cagalli: Don't call me a princess and I didn't think anyone wanted to say goodbye to me.

**Van walks closer to her**

Van: That's not true, you were a great help in the raider attack, and without you a lot more people would have die.

**Cagalli is surprise and a little touch by Van's comment**

Cagalli: Thank you.

**Van shrugs**

Van: I'm just stating the facts.

**He holds out his hand**

Van: Goodbye Cagalli and good luck in becoming a Gundam Fighter. You're welcome in Junk City anytime.

**Cagalli looks at the hand even more surprise. A smile spreads across her face as she shakes his hand.**

Cagalli: It was an honor to serve with you Van.

**Van looks surprise for a moment then laughs**

Van: Hahahah, serve! We're not soldiers Cagalli we're mechanics, see you around.

**Cagalli is momentary surprise by his comment but gets over it and nods.**

Cagalli: Goodbye Van.

**Van walks away as Nick walks up to her.**

Nick: Hey mate what are you doing, we're just about to leave.

**Cagalli turns to face Nick and nods her head.**

Cagalli: Right let's go.

**Cagalli and Nick start to walk towards the Archangel look-a-like. The camera turns to Shadow and Jack; most of the mechanics have finish saying their goodbyes and are walking away. Just when it looks like they're about to leave too Tom walks up to them.**

Tom: Hey you aren't going to leave without saying goodbye to me are you?

**Jack turns around momentary surprise then smiles.**

Jack: Of course not Tom.

**Tom gets closer to Jack and takes a knee so that he's on the same height level as Jack. There's an awkward pause as neither know what to say, Jack gives a nervous short laugh.**

Jack: Ha, so is this when you mother me about remembering to brush my teeth, watch my manners, don't stay up pass my bedtime, don't get into trouble, to always maintain my tools

**Tom cuts Jack off by suddenly hugging her. Jack is very surprise**

Tom: Just be safe, nothing else matters as long as you're safe.

**The emotion in his voice is as plain as day. Tom abruptly gets up and turns around, he rubs the formation of tears out of his eye. There's another awkward pause then Jack says**

Jack: You to old man don't die on me while I'm away!

**With that Jack turns and runs to her ship, tears are coming down her face. The camera turns back to Shadow and Tom, Shadow has been politely watching the scene unfold. He now turns to Tom**

Shadow: Well Tom it's

**Tom suddenly punches Shadow hard in the face. Shadow falls to the ground**

Shadow: OWWWWWWWWWW, WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR!

**Shadow shouts angrily, Tom looks Shadow straight in the eye**

Tom: That was to show you how strong one of my punches are; and there will be a 100 more of them waiting for you if Jack gets hurt in any way! You're the leader of this Gundam team Jack is your responsibility now, it is your job and duty to protect her even if it cost you your life!

**Shadow and Tom stare off for a moment, and then Shadow turns away.**

Shadow: Tsk I was going to do that without you telling me anyway!

**Shadow gets back up, then looks Tom straight in the eye.**

Shadow: You have my word as a Gundam Fighter that I will protect Jack as if she's my own sister!

**Tom is momentary thrown off, and then he starts to laugh.**

Tom: HAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHA 

**Shadow thinks Tom is laughing at him and is offended.**

Shadow: What's so funny!

**Tom calms down**

Tom: Nothing, it's just life is funny some times.

**Tom smiles at Shadow now and holds out his hand.**

Tom: Well now that that's taken care of; goodbye and good luck Shadow Zoomarey. The next time I hear from you, you should be at least a C rank Gundam Fighter.

**Shadow takes the hand and shakes it**

Shadow: Of course, see you around Tom.

**With that Shadow turns around and walks towards Jack's ship. We cut inside the Gundam bay of Jack's ship, Nick, Kenny, Jack, Cagalli and Shadow are all staring and walking around slowly. We can see the still damage Nightwing in the corner, Jack is beaming with pride.**

Jack: She's a great ship isn't she?

**Shadow looks at Jack**

Shadow: Why's it got to be a she, why can't it be a he?

**Jack looks at Shadow annoyed now**

Jack: Because I'm a she, and it's a known fact that the ship takes the gender of the person who built it!

**Shadow nods his head thinking that makes perfect sense. Kenny snickers**

Kenny: That's the first time I've heard of that.

**Jack turns to Kenny very annoyed now**

Jack: That's because you're not a mechanic!

**Nick still looking around asks**

Nick: Hey mate is it even possible for us to fly this thing by ourselves?

**Kenny answers**

Kenny: Most battleships require a minimum of 50 people before they're considered fit to fly.

**Seeing the worry looks on Nick, and Cagalli's faces Jack quickly goes to reassure them**

Jack: But that's only for long voyages, the crew is really only needed for maintenance, up keep and defense of the ship and so on. However the ship can fly on auto-pilot and since Arianna is only a couple of hours away by air we'll be more then fine.

**Nick and Cagalli relax. Cagalli starts to look around as she realizes something**

Cagalli: Hey where's Roxas?

**Roxas suddenly appears behind Cagalli and gropes her breast from behind. Nick, Shadow and Kenny jump back in surprise by the sudden appearance.**

Roxas: Fear not my darling Cagalli and her loving bosoms for I am here!

**Cagalli's shock gets replace by anger**

Cagalli: GET OFF ME YOU FREAK!

**Cagalli begins to struggle to get Roxas off her. The others are still shock by the way she appeared out of nowhere.**

Jack: Holy crap, how did you do that?

Kenny: Talk about mad ninja skills!

**Shadow smiles**

Shadow: More like mad chameleon skills.

**Roxas looks up at Shadow's comment. Cagalli manages to wiggle free from her grip, Roxas smiles and nods her head.**

Roxas: Yup, I've been wanting for a while to try out my animal blending techniques.

**Kenny yawns then stretches**

Kenny: Well we better start to take off or else we'll never leave.

**Shadow nods his head eagerly**

Shadow: Right, besides I want to take a look at the bridge!

**Shadow turns around and starts to walk away at a fast pace. He looks like a kid going to get the toy he wants, but then he realizes something and turns around.**

Shadow: Hey where's the bridge anyway?

**They all burst out laughing**

All: HAHAHAHHAHAHAHA

**Shadow is annoyed**

Shadow: Hey only Jack is allowed to laugh, none of you other guys know where it is either!

**Cagalli and Nick shut up as they realize Shadow's right. Roxas has grown bored of the conversation and started scratching her ear with her foot like a dog. Jack is still grinning and Kenny has a smug smile on his face.**

Kenny: Well actually I know where the bridge.

**Shadow very annoyed now turns and glares at Kenny**

Shadow: You don't count, Jack already show you where the bridge is!

**Kenny is slightly offended**

Kenny: I do too!

**Shadow and Kenny start to glare at each other. Jack gets in the middle of them**

Jack: Alright that's enough you two, come on I'll show where the bridge is.

**The camera cuts to a hallway in the Archangel look-a-like, Jack is leading the guys to the bridge. Cagalli is towards the back of the group, she's looking around closely.**

Cagalli (On the outside Jack's ship looks exactly like the Archangel but on the inside its layout is completely different.)

**Roxas is watching Cagalli closely**

Roxas: See something you like?

**This time there's no flirtation in Roxas voice; she's purely suspicious and makes no attempt to hide it.**

Cagalli: Um, No, it's just

**Cagalli stumbles not sure what to say. Nick saves her**

Nick: The mate's just never seen a ship like this before and come to think neither have I.

**Kenny has a hand under his chin and is taping his foot**

Kenny: I know I've seen this Ship Class somewhere before but I can't remember where, or what it was!

**Kenny is deeply frustrated. Nick and Shadow are also trying to figure out what kind of ship it is. Jack is enjoying watching them try to figure out her ship.**

Jack: Would you like me to give you a hint?

**Suddenly Shadow remembers something**

Shadow: Wait a minute Nightwing said this ship was an Archangel Class ship.

**Jack is taken by surprise, but Kenny snaps his fingers.**

Kenny: Ah-Ha, Archangel Class, of course, I knew I saw this ship somewhere; it was in a battleship encyclopedia I read.

**Jack nods her head and looks at Kenny impressed**

Jack: Yea; you uploaded a ship identification program into Nightwing?

**Kenny blushes slightly in pride and scratches the back of his head.**

Kenny: Well, it really wasn't that hard, and I figured it could come in handy in a battle if Nightwing can identify a ship's Class!

**Shadow is growing impatient**

Shadow: Yea that's nice and all but could you guys explain to us what an Archangel Class ship is anyway?

**Nick nods his head in support**

Nick: Yea mates, I don't consider myself and expert on battleships but I haven't even heard of this Class before.

**Kenny nods his head**

Kenny: That doesn't surprise me, the Archangel Class came out about 80 years ago. Most critics say that it's one of the best types of battle ships out there but due to its complex structure and design it had to be handmade, so it was never mass produce. The few that were made became extremely expensive; unless you were like super rich there was no way you could afford it.

**Jack nods her head**

Jack: No surprise there, the parts by themselves were pretty costly and hard to come by, and if you add the manual labor cost.

**Jack whistles when she does the mental math. Kenny nods his head and goes on**

Kenny: Right, needless to say it didn't take long for the ship manufacturing companies to realize they were spending more money on building the ships then they were making selling them. The Archangel Class ship was soon discontinued, but what I want to know is how you got the original Archangel Class blueprints?

**Kenny asks Jack. Jack doesn't understand**

Jack: Why?

Kenny: Because it's so old most of the blueprints have been lost or destroyed, you could probably find one at the original manufacturing company but I doubt they let you see it out of fear that their competition would steal it, so how did you get a hold of the original Archangel Class blueprints?

**Nick thinking out loud asks**

Nick: Most of the technology on this ship looks pretty new, a lot of it wouldn't have been around 80 years ago; so isn't possible that she made the blueprints up herself and based them on what she knew about the Archangel Class mate?

**Kenny shakes his head**

Kenny: I check online using the ship's computer, even though there are some differences the fundamental designs and layouts are too exact for someone to successfully guess at. It's more likely that she had the original blueprints and modernized them.

**Jack shakes her head**

Jack: I didn't modernize them.

**Kenny goes to argue but Jack adds**

Jack: It was my brother Mark who found the blueprints and modernized them; after he died I just kept following the blueprints he had made, and I don't know where he found them. I had always assumed that he found it while he was scavenging for parts in Junk Mountains.

**There's a moment of sad silence, suddenly Cagalli shouts**

Cagalli: That's wrong!

**The episode ends with everyone turning to look at Cagalli with surprised. Cagalli seems to be very angry.**


	17. Episode 16

Episode 16

**The episode opens up with a brief recap of Kenny giving the Sora version of the Archangel History and Cagalli shouting**

Cagalli: That's wrong!

**Everyone turns around surprise Cagalli looks very angry. Cagalli starts to shout again, her shouting growing in volume.**

Cagalli: The Archangel Class ship was made on Earth by Orb; only two ships were ever made, the Archangel and the Dominion and the Dominion was destroy in the first Bloody Valentine war!

**Cagalli is breathing heavily. The others are still looking at her surprise by this sudden outburst. Kenny's surprise gives way to his pride, he shakes his head as he says**

Kenny: That's wrong, the Archangel Class was first made on Sora about 80 years ago, and there have been numerous ships made, although still less than an average ship.

**Cagalli turns to glare at Kenny, Kenny backs away a little afraid. Shadow's eyes open wide as he remembers something.**

Shadow: Hey wait, wasn't there some really big court case a couple years ago about a mechanical scientist that broke the no share law?

**Cagalli still angry turns to Shadow confused**

Cagalli: No share law?

**Roxas still looking at Cagalli suspicious answers**

Roxas: It's the law that states no technology may be share between Earth and Sora.

**Kenny's got his thinking face on as he connects the facts**

Kenny: Yea, that's how the Archangel Class got to Earth; apparently the guy got a permit to travel between Earth and Sora. He had somehow got a hold of the original Archangel blueprints; which is still consider a good ship by Sora standers and a revolutionary ship by Earth standers. He had planned to build it and sell it to make his fortune. He had figure that since it was an old design the Sora government would be less likely to discover it.

**Cagalli doesn't believe him and she still looks angry**

Cagalli: If that was true how do you explain the fact that the Archangel design was based on Izumo-class battleship!

**Kenny is relaxed and calm, information is his element. He smiles at Cagalli**

Kenny: You got that backwards, the Izumo class was the one that was based on the Archangel Class. The guy who brought the Archangel blueprints over wasn't an idiot, he realize that even though the Archangel was an old ship on Sora it was still more advance then the battleships on Earth, will not so far advance that people would start calling him a prodigy sent down by god but far enough that it would open some eyes.

Kenny: So he took some of Orb's battleship blueprints and modifies it with some of the Archangel Class weapons which are the current Izumo Class battleships. He did it so he could claim that the Archangel Class was a natural evolution technology and was in no way influence by Sora technology. Unfortunately for him the ship became pretty well known, apparently it became some kind of big war hero, with that kind of publicity it didn't take long for the Sora government officials to figure it all out. They quickly deported him back to Sora and put him on trial; he's currently serving a life-sentence in jail.

**The others are thinking over the story but Cagalli is still angry and non-believing.**

Cagalli: You're lying, Morgenroete Inc made the Izumo and Archangel Class battleships!

**The others are still surprise by Cagalli's emotional outburst. Kenny still in his calm information state shakes his head.**

Kenny: No, if you looked into it you'd find that the actual creator of the Izumo and Archangel Class battleships are one and the same, of course no one question this because it look like a gradual evolution.

**Cagalli starts to calm down as she realizes it's possible**

Cagalli (Is he right? I only know that the Archangel and the Izumo Class ship were made by Morgenroete Inc; I don't know the actual creator's name.)

**While Cagalli's debating this Roxas has been watching her with intense suspicion.**

Roxas: I have a question; why do you care so much?

**All eyes turn to Roxas, Cagalli is surprise; Roxas presses on**

Roxas: Another thing, how do you know so much about Earth information? Also while we're at it how do you not know about the Universal communication link, and the No Share Law, both of which are taught in common grade school?

**Cagalli now looks uncomfortable under this bombardment of questions. Nick is looking back and forth between Cagalli and Roxas with observant eyes. Jack and Kenny are also looking back and forth between Roxas and Cagalli confused and uncertain. Shadow looks interested. Roxas asks one more question**

Roxas: But the most important question I have is who are you?

**All eyes turn to Cagalli**

Cagalli: I am, I am Cagalli Yula Athha Chief Representative of Orb on Earth!

**There's a moment of stun silence then everyone burst out laughing except Shadow**

Nick: hahhahahahah, yea right mate, and I'm the Chief Representative of Loony Land on Mars, hahahahhahahah.

Kenny: hahahhahaha, you're an Earthling, hahhahahhaahahha.

Jack: hahahhahahahah, I seen some crazy people say they were from Earth but this is the first time I heard someone try to say they were the leader of a nation on Earth, hahahhahahah.

Roxas: hahahahahahahhhah

**Cagalli is looking around at everyone stun**

Cagalli: But, But I'm telling the truth! I am from Earth!

**Shadow sees that Cagalli is getting upset. He turns to the others and snaps**

Shadow: Alright that's enough!

**The others realize that they're making Cagalli upset and stop laughing**

Jack: Come on you guys, the bridge is this way.

**Jack starts leading them to the bridge. Cagalli doesn't move and just watches them when suddenly Roxas jumps up from behind her and starts groping her breast again.**

Roxas: Oh forgive me my beloved Cagalli and her bosoms for being so suspicious; now that I know you're crazy I'm even more attracted to you!

**Cagalli struggling to get Roxas off now shouts.**

Cagalli: GET OFF ME PERVERT AND I'M NOT CRAZY!

**Kenny turns around**

Kenny: Come on crazy girls, let's go.

**Cagalli still struggling to get Roxas off snaps**

Cagalli: I'm not crazy!

**The scene cuts to the bridge; once again we see the doors being manually open by Nick, Shadow, and Jack.**

Jack: Kenny, I thought you said you finish the auto-opening programmed for the doors!

**They manage to get the door open. Kenny is offended**

Kenny: Hey, this isn't my fault, you used several different door opening mechanics throughout the ship; I only did the programming for one type of door.

**Jack blushes as she realizes he's right**

Jack: Mark was experimenting with different door opening designs to see which was most efficient.

**Shadow burst into the bridge looking around excitedly.**

Shadow: Oh I call the captain's chair!

**Shadow jumps to the captain's chair and starts doing a couple of poses. Nick and Roxas walk in and start looking around curious, Jack heads to the terminal that has the steering wheel and Kenny heads to a computer terminal. Cagalli is the last to walk in; she's looking at everything very carefully.**

Cagalli (The Bridge is slightly different then the Archangel, the captain's chair is higher and the navigator and communication officer chairs have been move to the sides. The helm's wheel is also design differently and there are less computer terminals.)

**While she's been thinking this Kenny has been typing on his computer. He turns to Jack**

Kenny: I'm all ready on my end.

**Jack nods her head**

Jack: Alright everyone take a seat and hold on.

**Everyone grabs a seat. Jack hits a few switches at her terminal and grabs the wheel, the camera cuts outside to see Jack's ship's engines start up. We cut back inside to see Jack pull the wheel up, she titles the wheel with the front end up, and pushes forward.**

**The camera cuts back outside to see the ship rise up off the ground, the front end of the ship titles up and then the ship goes forward. The ship rises above the Junk Mountains and levels out as it moves away from Junk City. We cut back inside to see Kenny hit a few more keys.**

Kenny: Activating auto-pilot now.

**We hear a beeping sound from his computer. Jack let's go of the wheel as Kenny goes on to explain**

Kenny: I program the auto-pilot to take the most direct route to Arianna but even still it will take a couple of hours before we get there.

**Shadow grins**

Shadow: I can't wait to see Drake's face when he sees we have a ship.

**Jack turns to him confused**

Jack: Who's Drake?

**Kenny answers**

Kenny: Are official GFC manager.

**Jack shrugs and gets up and stretches**

Jack: Oh, well I guess I'll meet him at Arianna, till then I'll be in the Gundam bay working on Nightwing.

**Jack walks out; Kenny turns around to face the computer screen**

Kenny: I'm going to start on the weapons and defense operation programming and while I'm at it I'll refine the flight programming.

**Kenny turns around and begins typing on the computer. Shadow gets up from the captain's chair and begins to rub his hands together.**

Shadow: Well since we have nothing better to do who wants to come with me to explore the ship?

**Nick shrugs**

Nick: I'm game mate.

**Roxas jumps up**

Roxas: Oh, me too!

**Cagalli folds her arm**

Cagalli: I'll just stay here; I don't feel like looking around.

**She says in a depressed way. Shadow walks up to her and grabs her arm and begins to forcefully drag Cagalli to the door.**

Cagalli: Huh, what!

**Cagalli is surprise, Shadow turns to grin at her, Nick and Roxas are also following behind**

Shadow: You don't get a choice!

**Cagalli annoyed**

Cagalli: What, and let go of me!

**Roxas jumps up behind Cagalli and hugs her**

Roxas: Oh come on Cagalli I'm sure you'll have fun!

**Nick also adds**

Nick: You'll thank us for this later mate!

**The scene ends with Cagalli reluctantly going with them. The next scene opens up in Warehouse 24, we see Tom working on a computer terminal. Van walks up to him.**

Van: Hey Tom Jack and the others ship just left.

**Tom nods his head, but doesn't look up from his work.**

Tom: Thanks

**Van hesitates for a moment then asks**

Van: Hey Tom I overheard you say to that Gundam Pilot the next time you see him he should be in C rank.

**Tom finally looks up from his work**

Tom: Yea so?

**Van hesitates for a moment more then asks**

Van: You don't honestly believe they'll make it to C rank do you? I mean you saw that Gundam Fight didn't you, you have to admit that not only was that one of the worst Gundam Fights you've ever seen but it was also one of the worst piloting you've ever seen.

**Tom looks at Van for a moment then nods his head.**

Tom: You're right, Shadow's Gundam Piloting skill sucks and his strategies were amateurish at best, but his fighting spirit was defiantly first class.

**Van gives Tom a skeptical look.**

Van: Right and all one needs is his fighting spirit.

**He says sarcastically. Tom turns and grins at him**

Tom: I never said it would be easy, but wouldn't it be something if years from now we can say we knew that famous A rank Gundam Team back before they even had a name.

**Van still looks skeptical. Tom looks at him evenly**

Tom: But you know one of their members so why don't you tell me; do you think they don't have a shot at getting to C rank?

**Van's eyes open wide in surprise. He turns away from Tom as he takes a moment to think about this, he then turns back to Tom and replies carefully.**

Van: I think it's not impossible for them to become C rank Gundam Fighters just unlikely.

**Tom smiles at him**

Tom: It's definitely a long shot but they've got Jack with them now, so I say their chances just got better.

**Van grins at Tom**

Van: Yea I guess so, well I better let you get back to work, see you later Tom.

**Tom nods his head**

Tom: See you Van.

**Van walks away as Tom goes back to work. The camera goes over Tom's should to show that he's watching the Archangel look-a-like leave Junk City.**

Tom (So that's the ship Mark built.)

**We have another flashback, we're at the Warehouse.**

Tom: You want to build a battleship!

**Mark and Tom are talking away from the other mechanics and people. Mark has told Tom something surprising. Tom's eyes are wide open and his mouth has slightly drop, Mark is smiling and shrugs.**

Mark: Well technically it will be an assault ship.

**Tom slightly tick now**

Tom: That doesn't matter! Do you have any idea how hard it is to build a ship from scratch and by yourself too!

**Mark shrugs seeming to be uncaring**

Mark: It won't cost that much money since I'll just scavenge the parts and materials from the Junk Mountains.

**Tom is annoyed now**

Tom: But do you realize how long it will take to build it, and the fact that you have to scavenge for parts will make it even longer!

**Mark once again shrugs**

Mark: I say about 4 to 5 years.

**The way he answers throws Tom off guard**

Tom: Well yea, *sigh* I guess it be a pointless question to ask you if you're ok with that. So what Class ship have you decided to build?

**Mark smile widens**

Mark: The Archangel Class.

**Tom eyes almost pop out of their sockets**

Tom: What!

**Mark gets a faraway look in his eye.**

Mark: I had a dream the other night about an angel and this morning when I was out scavenging for parts I found an original Archangel Class blueprints in the wreckage of an old ship.

**Tom rolls his eyes**

Tom: And you think this is a sign for you to try to build what is easily known to be one of the most complex ship designs ever thought up by man by yourself!

**Mark smiles at Tom**

Mark: You don't get it Tom, I'm not just building this ship because I'm bored or for the fun of it; I'm building this ship to test my skills to see how good of a mechanic I really am. I'm going to use every trick and skill I've learn up to now on this ship; I'm going to completely renovate the blueprints with all new weapons, defense and even layout designs. I'm going to put my heart and soul into this ship Tom, and when it's done it's going to be my greatest work, my master piece.

**Tom looks at Mark for a second then laughs**

Tom: HAHAHAHAHH, well when you finish it let me know; I'll gladly take a look at it!

**Mark eyes Tom a little annoyed**

Mark: Oh sure laugh now Tom but once you see it I guarantee you won't be laughing.

**The flashback ends and we come back to the present to see Tom looking at a picture of the Archangel look-a-like.**

Tom (Mark was very secretive about his ship; he didn't want anyone to see it before it was completed, god I don't know how many times I asked him where he was building it but he never told me. I always thought that ship die with him, left somewhere where no one could fine it. It had never occurred to me that Mark would have told Jack where it was, nor that Jack would have continued working on it after his death. Heh, but I should have guessed.)

**Tom smiles at the computer**

Tom (You built a fine ship Mark.)

**The camera cuts back to the Archangel look-a-like. We're in what looks to be the cafeteria, Shadow, Cagalli, Nick and Roxas are sitting around a table playing cards. Jack walks in as Shadow throws his cards down.**

Shadow: Finally I win a hand!

**Cagalli smirks at him. Nick looks like he has something on his mind.**

Cagalli: What was that 40 hands in a row you loss?

**Shadow glares at her, as Jack grabs a glass of water.**

Shadow: It was only 20 and you're not doing that hot either!

**Cagalli glares at him now**

Cagalli: I'm doing better then you!

**Shadow snaps**

Shadow: By two points!

**While they're glaring at each other Jack walks over trying to suppress laughter.**

Jack: Hey I thought you guys were exploring the ship?

**Roxas answers as she yawns**

Roxas: We finish about a half hour ago, and did you know there's no food on this ship!

**She asks angrily, Jack annoyed snaps back**

Jack: I'm mechanic not a magician, I can't make food magically appear. You should be thankful that I even had water on this thing!

**Shadow turns to Roxas**

Shadow: Don't worry Roxas, we should be in Arianna any minute now. We'll grab some grub when we land.

**Cagalli looks at Nick concern**

Cagalli: Hey Nick are you ok, you look like you've been thinking about something else for a while now?

**Nick focuses on Cagalli**

Nick: Oh, well mate, it's just I've been wondering you built this ship from scratch right?

**Nick directs his question at Jack. Jack looks at him surprised**

Jack: Yea

**Everyone looks at Nick confused.**

Nick: Then I supposed you wouldn't have built a ship verification number into the ship mate?

**Jack still confused shakes her head**

Jack: No, you need special parts and equipment to install a ship verification number into a ship and I didn't have them.

**Shadow looks confused**

Shadow: What's a ship verification number?

**Jack answers**

Jack: It's an electronic radio wave that emits a ship's code number.

**Seeing the question on Shadow's face Jack continues.**

Jack: The code number is the number assign to every ship, it basically informs cities that the ship's crew is non-hostile or in some cases that there's a warrant out for its arrest.

**Nick nods his head**

Nick: That's what's been worrying me mates, what's going to happen if we try to enter the city without a verification number?

**Cagalli answers absent mindedly**

Cagalli: Well if it was me I shoot us down; ha after all we are an unidentified assault ship attempting to enter a heavily populated area.

**Shadow and the others nod their head in agreement and understand, suddenly all their eyes pop open wide as a sudden realization hits them. They all jump out of their seats and rush towards the door.**

Shadow: KENNY STOP THE SHIP!

**The camera cuts to the bridge to see the door open and Shadow and the others burst in**

Shadow: KENNY STOP the….

**Shadow trails off when he sees the main monitor**

Kenny: You're a little late!

**Kenny says nervous. Everyone's eyes open wide in surprise when they see the monitor. Kenny nervous and scare shouts**

Kenny: We're surrounded!

**We cut outside to see 3 dozen battleships and countless Gundams surrounding the Archangel look-a-like. All of them are pointing their weapons at the Archangel look-a-like. We cut back inside the bridge to show everyone looking scared. Jack has taken a seat at the helm; Kenny is furiously typing**

Kenny: We're surrounded by 3 dozen battleships and over a 100 Gundams!

**Shadow is leaning over Kenny's shoulder; Shadow is the only one who isn't scare and nervous, in fact he looks almost excited.**

Shadow: So I guess fighting isn't an option.

**Cagalli turns to him and snaps**

Cagalli: Are you an idiot; we only have one Gundam and a weaponless and defenseless ship!

**Kenny turns around and says**

Kenny: Well actually I finish the weapons and defense operation programs.

**Cagalli turns and snaps**

Cagalli: WE'RE NOT FIGHTING AND THAT'S THAT!

**Shadow is a little annoyed**

Shadow: Hey I'm the leader of this team isn't that my call.

**Before Cagalli can respond the main monitor flashes and a General appears on it.**

General: Unidentified ship, turn off your thrusters and identify yourself or we will open fire!

**Jack hits a few keys on the helm**

Jack: Turning off thrusters.

**Shadow very annoyed now**

Shadow: Hey I'm the leader of this team!

**Jack unapologetic replies**

Jack: Sorry Shadow but I'm agreeing with Cagalli, no way in hell can we hope to win a fight against them!

**Kenny continues typing on his computer.**

Kenny: I'm opening up a communication link.

**The monitor flashes again to show a live fee of the General. The General looks surprise to see he's dealing with kids.**

General: Alright who's in charge!

**Shadow and Cagalli answer at the same time**

Shadow and Cagalli: I am!

**Shadow and Cagalli turn to glare at each other. The General looks annoyed but before he responds Nick quickly begins talking.**

Nick: Listen mate this is all a big misunderstanding.

**The General very annoyed now**

General: Misunderstanding! Do you guys know that it is a serious offense to attempt to enter a city without a verification number?

**Cagalli answers next**

Cagalli: We apologize for the trouble we cause Sir, but we attain this ship through

**Cagalli looks at Jack**

Cagalli: unorthodox means, because of that it wasn't built with a verification number and we haven't had time to install one yet.

**The General doesn't look please with this answer**

General: Even if that is true it doesn't excuse the fact that you are in violation of the law.

**Shadow looks annoyed**

Shadow: Can't you just escort us to a ship bay and let us install a verification number?

**The General is extremely annoyed by Shadow's attitude.**

General: The verification number is a sign that the crew means no harm to the city; you can't just get one install like that!

**Cagalli looks at Shadow very annoyed and snaps**

Cagalli: Shadow be quiet before you make things worse!

**Shadow ignores Cagalli, his pride has been insulted.**

Shadow: You bastard, we're a Gundam Team how dare you say we'd attack a city full of innocent people!

**Shadow yells at the General, Cagalli looks at Shadow shock and angry**

Cagalli: Shadow!

**But the General is looking at Shadow with new light.**

General: Wait you're a Gundam Team? Why didn't you say so in the first place; who's your GFC manager? He can vouch for you.

**Everyone is momentary surprise. The scene ends with everyone saying at the same time**

All: Drake!

**The next scene opens at the GFC office; we see Drake working on his computer as a grinning Tim walks over to him.**

Tim: Hello NEW MANAGER.

**Drake sighs as Tim sits on his desk**

Drake: Tim, aren't you getting tired of greeting me like that yet?

**Tim grins at him**

Tim: Nope, so have you heard from them yet?

**Drake makes a bigger sigh**

Drake: No, I sent them to Junk City about a week ago; if my math is right they should have just got in to Junk City. It will probably take them at least a month to find a decent mechanic that will agree to join their team, so I'll give them another week before I call some of my contacts in Junk City to check up on them.

**Drake gets up**

Drake: Now can you quit being so nosy and let me get back to work.

**Drake walks away from Tim not waiting for an answer. As we follow Drake down the hall we overhear some of the office workers talking.**

Office Worker A: Hey did you hear that some idiot Gundam Team tried to enter the city with a ship that doesn't have a verification number?

Office Worker B: What, really! What kind of moron would be that stupid!

**Drake continues walking without talking to them**

Drake (A stupid moron huh)

**A picture of Shadow enters Drake head. Drake stops surprise for a moment then shakes his head.**

Drake (No don't be stupid, there's no way those idiots got to Junk City found a mechanic and came back in under a week and even if they did there's no way they could have got in a ship! No it's impossible.)

**Drake continues walking, suddenly we hear the loud speakers blurt out.**

Loud Speaker: DRAKE GET YOUR ASS DOWN TO MY OFFICE RIGHT THIS *beep* MINUTE!

**Everyone looks up surprise then they turn to Drake. Drake looks even more surprise**

Drake (No, it couldn't be, it's impossible)

**The camera cuts to what looks like the Boss's office. On one wall is a huge computer monitor and across from it is a desk where Drake's boss is sitting. Drake is in front of the desk staring at the monitor shocked. The camera turns around to face the monitor to show a smiling Shadow. There's also another window with the General on it and he looks very annoyed.**

Shadow: Hi Drake

**Drake is still shock. Drake's boss has his hands folded on the desk and he's trying to contain his irritation.**

Joey (Drake's Boss): Is this the Gundam Team you're currently managing Drake?

**Drake sighs, and rubs his temples with his finger.**

Drake: Unfortunately.

**Shadow turns to the General gloating**

Shadow: HA, I told you we weren't a threat!

**Drake snaps**

Drake: Shadow shut up; do you realize how much trouble you're in, or more importantly how much trouble you caused me, and I swear that if you bought that ship on my credit THERE WILL NOT BE WORDS TO DESRIBE THE HELL I WILL PUT YOU THROUGH!

**Nick, Cagalli, Jack, Kenny, and Roxas are intimidated but Shadow is just surprise**

Shadow: Oh relax Drake, the ship came with the mechanic!

**Drake looks like he wants to yell at them more, but Joey is getting even more irritated.**

Joey: As much as I have all day Drake to watch you chew him out, I don't!

**He says the first part sarcastically. He now turns to the General**

Joey: General since you now have undisputable proof that these people, although stupid, are not a threat can you escort them to the dock.

**Shadow is offended, and he's about to say something when Nick, Jack, Kenny and Cagalli grab him and cover his mouth.**

Cagalli: Shadow for the love of god stop talking!

**The General nods his head**

General: That's fine, just make sure they have a verification number install so we don't have to go through this again.

**Joey nods his head then hits a button on his desk and the monitor goes blank.**

Joey: Oh Drake, you're not thinking of leaving are you?

**While Joey had been talking to the General Drake had been trying to sneak out of the room. Drake now turns like a caught rat**

Drake: Well I just wanted to get down to the Dock to greet my Gundam Team.

**Joey nods his head**

Joey: Fine, but we will definitely have a discussion on this later, so have a nice day NEW MANAGER.

**Drake rolls his eyes**

Drake: Oh not you too.

**The camera cuts back outside to the Archangel look-a-like to see it be escorted into the City by 3 battleships. Also all the Gundams seem to have been called back to their respective ships. We see Jack's ship enter an indoor dock which is loaded with all different kinds of ships.**

**We see a platform extend from a catwalk that circles around the dock to Jack's ship, Jack's ship's doors open and Shadow and the others walk out. Drake is waiting for them on the catwalk which is narrow and can only fit three people walking side by side across it. Shadow smiles and waves at Drake**

Shadow: Hey Drake did you miss us?

**Drake rolls his eyes**

Drake: Like a thorn in my side.

**Shadow is slightly offended. Roxas pushes Shadow out of the way and charges Drake**

Roxas: OH MY GOD YOU'ER SO HOT!

**Roxas jumps at Drake intending to hug him. Drake is momentary surprise but he easily side steps Roxas, this causes Roxas to fall to the ground chest first. Roxas is deeply surprise it seems this is the first time anyone has ever dodge one of her hug attacks. Drake has gone back to looking bored as he points to Roxas and asks Shadow**

Drake: Who's the ugly chick?

**Roxas attitude changes instantly, her eyes look like that of an angry tiger.**

Roxas: Ugly! I'LL SHOW YOU UGLY WHEN I'M DONE WITH YOUR FACE!

**Needless to say Roxas is beyond mad at Drake, she puts on her gold claws and jumps at Drake intending to do an upward vertical claw slash. Drake without moving his body titles his head back causing Roxas to miss.**

Drake: Oh a Claw attack; it's been a while since I've seen that fighting style.

**While he's been talking Roxas has perform a left horizontal claw slash to the chest, a right diagonal claw slash to the right shoulder and a upward vertical claw slash to the head. Drake easily avoids the first two attacks and jumps away from the last attack. Roxas is shock, she turns to Drake to see he's jump onto the rails. Drake looks mildly entertain**

Drake: Not bad, your fighting style still needs a lot of work but it's defiantly better than those guys.

**When Drake says "those guys" he points towards Shadow and the others. Shadow is even more offended.**

Shadow: Hey!

**Roxas gets over her shock and becomes enrage. She charges at Drake again, Roxas does a downward vertical claw slash but Drake jumps up once again easily dodging the attack. **

**Roxas only hits the rail making a dull metal sound, the camera looks up to see Drake do a flip in the air and land directly on Roxas back. Roxas crumbles to the ground under Drake's weight, it should be pointed out that Drake has kept his hands in his pocket throughout this event.**

Drake: Now kitty it's time for you calm down!

**Drake doesn't move from atop of Roxas. Roxas tries to force him off but Drake's to heavily for her. Roxas looks like a wild animal that's been pin down. Cagalli looks at Drake shock**

Cagalli: Drake don't you think you're overdoing things!

**Drake turns to her looking bored**

Drake: Oh, and what do you suppose I do, let her keep attacking me; once she calms down I'll let her go.

**Cagalli goes to argue but Shadow steps in front, he has a very determine look in his eye. Cagalli surprise subconsciously takes a step back. Drake is also looking at Shadow surprise**

Shadow: Drake I understand that but Roxas is still a part of my team and my friend, and as Team Leader and her friend I will not stand by while she is in that position!

**Drake is looking at Shadow slightly annoyed but there is also a light of respect in his eyes. Roxas has calm down somewhat, Drake looks down at her**

Drake: Well she seems to have calmed down so fine.

**Drake gets off her, and offers her his hand.**

Drake: I didn't mean anything when I called you ugly, I was just trying to get you angry to test how good a fighter you are. In fact you are a very attractive young woman, and if I were 20 years younger I probably would sleep with you.

**Shadow grins at him**

Shadow: Don't you mean 30 years younger Drake.

**Nick, Kenny, Shadow, and Jack openly laugh and Cagalli giggles. Drake snaps**

Drake: Shut up!

**Roxas gets up and walks back over to the others, she's still very annoyed. Drake also walks towards them.**

Drake: So I take it the other new chick is your mechanic?

**Drake nods towards Jack. Cagalli is annoyed**

Cagalli: You know calling a girl a chick is very degrading, that's Roxas Nile and that's Jack Coldback.

**Cagalli points to each girl in turn. Drake rolls his eye**

Drake: Fine young woman, whatever, is that Jack your mechanic or not?

**Jack takes a brave step forward towards Drake**

Jack: Yea I am, so what?

**Jack asks challengingly. Drake eyes her evenly but instead of answering he starts walking towards her. Jack tenses and makes her hands into fist thinking Drake is going to hit her but Drake walks past her and heads towards the ship. Drake reaches the ship and puts his hand on it and begins to closely examine it.**

Drake (This armor was made by hand, and it's completely smooth, not a single detail has been overlook. She must have work on this endlessly, day in and day out.)

**Drake looks back at them**

Drake: I approve of your choice of mechanic!

**Shadow is surprise/annoyed**

Shadow: Right, because I was so looking for your approval.

**Shadow says the last part sarcastically. Jack is confused**

Jack: Wait you're not going to hit me?

**Drake rolls his eyes**

Drake: No I'm not going to hit you. That would be like testing a cook by asking him to build a stove; it would be completely pointless.

**Drake walks in front of them**

Drake: Alright come with me; I'll take you guys to the GCF guest building.

**The scene ends with Drake continuing to walk away; Shadow and the others looking at each surprise and confuse then they follow him. The next scene opens up with the camera looking at a building in the middle of the City; we cut inside to see a shock Shadow, Nick, Jack and Kenny.**

**The camera turns around to show a huge fancy living room, there's a big couch and a huge TV to the right. The lower left hand corner is a small kitchen area with a counter, fridge, stove, and sink. **

**Towards the back are two spiral staircases that seem to lead up to the second floor, there are two grand windows next to the staircases, the carpet is white and fluffy and looks comfortable enough to sleep on. Cagalli and Roxas are the only ones unimpressed. Drake is standing in the middle of the room.**

Drake: So what do you guys think?

**Shadow, Nick, Jack, Kenny are still open mouth**

Nick: Incredible mate!

Jack: Magnificent!

Kenny: Beautiful!

**Cagalli shrugs**

Cagalli: It's alright.

**Drake looks slightly annoyed at Cagalli. Roxas has walk over to the couch and hops on top of it laying down in her classic dog position. Roxas still looks slightly tick, Drake starts gesturing around**

Drake: The fridge is full, the TV gets all the channels, the staircases leads to a second floor where the bedrooms are and luckily for you there's just enough for everyone.

**Everyone has started looking around. Jack has got in over her shock and looks suspicious**

Jack: And who's paying for this place?

**Drake smirks**

Drake: You are, well to be more accurate it will come out of the money your Team makes when you start Gundam Fighting.

**Cagalli looks surprise**

Cagalli: Money?

**Drake rolls his eyes**

Drake: Yes Money; after every Gundam Fight both Teams are awarded money base on their performance, and don't bother asking me how much because there are a whole bunch of complex calculations involve in determining the amount of money a Gundam Team receives for a fight. No two money paychecks you receive for a fight will be alike but it normally works like this, the higher your rank and the better you perform the more money you make.

**Everyone nods there head. Shadow speaks up now**

Shadow: Speaking of Gundam Fights when is are first match?

**Drake looks at him surprise for a moment then burst out laughing**

Drake: HAHAHHAHAHAHAH

**Cagalli has walk over next to Shadow who looks very annoyed**

Shadow: I really wish he stops laughing every time I ask him that.

**He says to Cagalli, he then turns to face Drake**

Shadow: Oh come on, we have a mechanic and another Gundam Pilot now; we're ready to go.

**Drake manages to get his laugher under control**

Drake: That still leaves you short one Gundam Pilot, and four Gundams.

**Shadow looks away frustrated that Drake is right, Nick and Kenny look disappointed; Roxas looks like she is taking a nap and Cagalli and Jack look unfazed. Drake smiles at them**

Drake: However I have decided to schedule a Gundam Fight for you guys exactly 31 days away from today.

**Shadow, Nick, Kenny look surprise and happy by this news, Roxas even lifts her head up, Jack and Cagalli just look surprise. Shadow starts punching the air in joy**

Shadow: YES, YES, YES; we're finally going to be in an official Gundam Fight!

**Drake cuts off their celebration**

Drake: Hold on a minute, just because you've got a date for a fight doesn't mean you're ready right now.

**Shadow and the others turn to Drake confused**

Kenny: What does that mean?

**Drake sighs**

Drake: As you know I was known as Drake The Rejecter so needless to say the fact that I have pick a Gundam Team to manage has made a lot of people curious, so there's going to be a lot more people showing up to this fight then normal to see what kind of Team I pick.

**Drake suddenly gets a fierce look in his eyes**

Drake: And I will be damn if I let you idiots embarrass me out there!

**Shadow is slightly offended**

Shadow: And what is that supposed to mean?

**Drake snaps at him**

Drake: It means your piloting skills suck!

**Shadow and Cagalli are very offended, Nick shrugs**

Nick: Can't really argue with you their mate since I never piloted a Gundam before.

**Cagalli steps forward**

Cagalli: I'll have you know I piloted several mobile suits before!

**Drake snaps at her**

Drake: But these aren't mobile suits they're Gundams!

**Cagalli takes a step back, she looks frustrated.**

Cagalli (He's right the mobile suits on Earth and the Sora Gundams are completely different from each other.)

**Shadow takes a step forward**

Shadow: What about me? All the fights I've fought in with Nightwing I won!

**Drake was expecting this**

Drake: Only because you did something surprising that those amateurs couldn't react fast enough too. With the Warden you suddenly figure out how to take out your beam saber and before you even say anything I know about your battle in Junk City against the raider's ship. Jack's ship suddenly appear distracting the raiders, both of those fights were not won by skill but by dumb luck!

**Shadow is very insulted but he grits his teeth as he realizes Drake's right. Jack comes to Shadow's defense.**

Jack: Why don't you shut up asshole! It's true that Shadow may have had some help with luck in those fights but what about before the luck kick in, what about all those times when he was getting his ass kick and everyone kept telling him to quit but he just kept getting back up! He didn't just get lucky he earn that luck! Doesn't that count for anything!

**Everyone turns to Jack shock. Drake looks at her a moment slightly impressed then smiles.**

Drake: You're right that counts for everything, it is because of Shadow's endurance that I'm even bothering with this team in the first place, however in a real fight you can't just relied on your endurance and wait for something lucky to happen, do you understand?

**Drake asks Shadow, all eyes turn to Shadow. Shadow looks at Drake for a moment then looks to the ground.**

Shadow: You're right; I need to get my skill level up.

**Drake smiles at him**

Drake: Don't worry about it; remember everyone always starts at level 1, that is why tomorrow I'm going to start training all the Gundam Pilots of this team. And for the next 30 days I'll put you guys through the most intense training you have ever gone through, and assuming you don't die from it you'll be more than ready to go against the opposing Gundam Team on fight day, so get a goodnight's rest because tomorrow you're going to need it.

**With that Drake walks out of the house. The episode ends with a stun Cagalli turning to the others and asking**

Cagalli: He was kidding about the dying thing right?


	18. Episode 17

Episode 17

**The episode opens up with an overhead view of the city, it's still dark out. The camera is slowly going over all the buildings, it looks just like any other major city. The camera stops at the building Shadow and the others are staying at; in the right hand corner we see the words 6am Day 1 on the screen. **

**We cut inside each of their bedrooms to see that everyone is fast asleep, suddenly all the lights get turn on and some kind of loud horn starts blaring, everyone jumps up very startle.**

Shadow: Oh what the hell!

Cagalli: Damn it!

**The camera cuts to the living room to show Drake in the kitchen area finishing a bowl of cereal, everyone is slowly coming down the staircase. The only ones who don't look extremely irritated are Nick and Jack.**

Drake: Good morning.

**Shadow glaring at Drake**

Shadow: I didn't become a Gundam Fighter to have to wake up at 6 in the morning!

**Drake shrugs uncaringly**

Drake: Sorry, alright Jack and Kenny you got 5 minutes to get dress and come with me; the rest of you take a shower you've got full day of training ahead of you.

**Jack and Kenny go back upstairs to get dress. Shadow, Nick, Roxas, and Cagalli climb down and head over to the door that leads to the bathrooms. The camera cuts outside to show Drake leading Kenny and Jack to a car. Drake points to it**

Drake: Get in.

**All three of them get in and the car takes off. We cut inside the car**

Drake: Every morning you'll get up at 6am, you'll have 30 minutes to take a shower, brush your teeth, and get dress. At 6:30am you'll come down to the car and Tim will drive you down to the dock.

**The camera turns to show an annoyed Tim driving**

Tim: How again did you get me to agree to be the driver?

**Drake snaps**

Drake: Because you owe me a thousand favors and I threaten to beat you to death if you didn't help.

**Tim grunts still annoyed. Kenny awake now asks**

Kenny: I was under the impression that since you were going to train the Gundam Pilots for the next month Jack and I had the month off?

**Drake does a short laugh**

Drake: HA yea right, you guys got some hard work ahead of you.

**Jack is looking at Drake annoyed about being kept in the dark**

Jack: And what exactly are we doing?

**Drake looks bored again**

Drake: I thought that was obvious, your Gundam Team currently has 4 Gundam Pilots but only one Gundam; you're going to fix that.

**Jack eyes open wide as she realizes what he's asking**

Jack: Wait, you want me to build 3 Gundams from scratch!

**Drake adds**

Drake: And in 30 days, also you're not allow to hire anyone to help.

**Jack eyes open even wider**

Jack: Are you nuts! To build one Gundam from scratch in 30 days would take at least a team of 50 mechanics and even then it would be close, but you're asking me to build 3 Gundams by myself in that amount of time; it's impossible!

Drake: You'll have Kenny.

**Jack snaps**

Jack: He doesn't count he's not a mechanic!

**Kenny looks slightly offended. Drake sighs**

Drake: Look I'm not asking you to build some big fancy state of the art Gundam; all I'm asking for is three Basic Original Gundams, and if you're half a decent mechanic you should have no problems building a Basic Original.

**Jack is very offended**

Jack: I could build a Basic Original blind folded you

**Kenny cuts her off before she says something she might regret later**

Kenny: I think what Jack means is wouldn't it be more helpful if we hired a team of mechanics to help us build a more powerful Gundam then just settling for a Basic Original?

**Drake looks annoyed**

Drake: No, for two reasons. Reason one is that Shadow and the others wouldn't be able to handle some big and complex Gundam, so it's better for them if you make it small and simple to start off with, as they get better at piloting you can upgrade the Gundam with more complex parts and weapons. Like the saying goes to build a good house you need to make the base simple and strong.

**Jack nods her head in understanding**

Jack: Ok, I guess that makes sense but what's the second reason?

**Drake smiles at her**

Drake: You are, I saw the upgrades you put in Nightwing and I notice that you hadn't property tune the new parts and systems together.

**Jack's eyes open wide in surprise and she looks to the floor ashamed.**

Drake: Don't worry about it I didn't expect you to know how to do it, however it's time you learn. The only way you can tune new systems together is by knowing where every bolt, circuit, screw and nut is in the Gundam, and the only way you're going to know that is if you put them there yourself.

**Jack looks at him surprise then she smiles**

Jack: So this month isn't just training for the pilots it's also training for me.

**Drake smiles back at her**

Drake: Just because you're not a fighter doesn't mean you don't have your own skills you have to work on. In life you should constantly be training the skills you need to reach your goals.

**The car has come to a stop at the indoor dock**

Drake: You'll be building the Gundams on your ship so I've gotten all the materials you'll need and put them on your ship. Tim will come by at different times to give you food and water, and he'll pick you up and take you home when you're done working for the day.

**Jack still looks hesitant**

Drake: Oh course you are a woman so

**Jack goes off the deep end**

Jack: Oh so because I'm a WOMAN I can't be a good mechanic, I'LL SHOW YOU!

**Jack jumps out of the car and snaps**

Jack: Come on Kenny!

**Kenny quickly jumps out of the car, and they go inside the dock. After they leave the car turns around and starts driving back to the house. We cut back inside to show Tim fake crying.**

Tim: To think little Drake has grown into such a fine Master being able to give great speeches and able to motivate his disciples into action.

**Drake is annoyed**

Drake: Tim shut up before I decide to kill you.

**The camera cuts back to the apartment we see the time in the lower left hand corner 6:30am. We see Cagalli, Shadow, Nick and Roxas sitting around the counter dressed and showered. Shadow is awake and looks excited**

Shadow: So what kind of training do you think we're going to do?

**Cagalli looks bored, she shrugs**

Cagalli: We'll probably have to spend hours on some kind of simulator and then when we get good at that we'll practice using real Gundams.

Drake: Wrong on all counts.

**Drake seems to have come out of nowhere carrying a big box. Everyone jumps in surprise**

Shadow: How you do that!

Nick: Holy crap mate!

Cagalli: And I thought Roxas was scary.

**Drake puts the box on the table**

Drake: Yea I'm awesome, now back to businesses. Put these on.

**Drake begins to take out vests, gloves, and boots from the box only these clothes look metal and that the gloves go all the way up to the elbow and the boots go all the way up to the knee. He begins to hand them out to everyone**

Cagalli: What are these?

**Nick's breath gets knock out of him when he catches a vest**

Nick: Whoa how much do these things weigh?

**Drake answers while still passing them out**

Drake: They're weight suits. The Gloves are 20 pounds, the boots are 40 pounds, and the vests are 60 pounds.

**Everyone has begun to put them on. Cagalli looks annoyed**

Cagalli: And how is this supposed to help our piloting skills.

**Drake is annoyed**

Drake: It's to help with your muscle training and from this point on don't question your master's instructions.

**Nick looks up surprise**

Nick: Master?

**Drake shrugs**

Drake: Master, sensei, teacher, instructor; the point is I'm in charge of teaching you so just do what I say!

**Everyone has put on the weights. They have their hands to their side. Drake claps his hands.**

Drake: Good, from this point on till your first fight you're only allowed to take those weights off when you take a shower.

**Looks of outrage cross everyone's face**

Shadow: Oh come on!

Cagalli: What!

Nick: How come!

Roxas: Why!

**Drake lifts up a hand and cuts them off**

Drake: Whine all you want but you'll find that those weights suits need a 5 digit pass code to be taken off.

**Shocked everyone goes to take off their suits but find they can't. Cagalli is trying to take off her vest, Nick is trying to take off a boot, and Roxas is biting and clawing at her glove.**

Cagalli: I can't take it off!

**Drake rolls his eyes**

Drake: I just said that, don't worry I'll give you the pass code when you go to take a shower. This is to help build up your muscles so get over it already and come down stairs to start your training.

**Drake turns around without waiting for a reply and heads downstairs. Shadow doesn't seem to care, Nick and Roxas look annoyed but gradually accepting it, Cagalli is the only one still outrage. Nick sigh**

Nick: Well we've better get going mate.

**Cagalli looks at him like he's nuts**

Cagalli: Wait you're not going to do what that lunatic says, are you! How is muscle training going to help us Pilot Gundams!

**Roxas does a cat stretch then answers**

Roxas: Drake maybe an asshole lunatic but he's a smart asshole lunatic, I doubt that he make us do something that wouldn't help us in the long haul.

**Cagalli and Nick are surprise again by Roxas thoughtful comment. Shadow is surprise for a different reason.**

Shadow: Asshole? You're still mad at him for yesterday?

**Roxas snaps**

Roxas: He called me ugly!

**Nick laughs**

Nick: HAHAHHAH, you know what they say mate, women have long memories.

**Cagalli still hesitates. Shadow sensing her hesitation smiles**

Shadow: Aww is the poor little princess not use to having to do real physical work?

**Cagalli turns to Shadow offended**

Cagalli: What!

**Cagalli starts to glare at Shadow. Shadow still smiling continues**

Shadow: Tell you what, how about we call Orb and have your servants sent here to do all the physical work your poor girly princess muscles can't do.

**Cagalli highly insulted now gets in Shadow's face**

Cagalli: You're one to talk about weak muscles; I bet I can go longer then you without taking a break!

**Shadow starts glaring at Cagalli**

Shadow: You're on!

**Shadow and Cagalli turn around and run downstairs. Nick and Roxas chase after them**

Nick: Hey wait for us mates!

**The camera cuts outside to show Drake waiting for Shadow and co. outside the building. Shadow and Cagalli burst out the doors at full speed with Roxas and Nick right behind them. The additional weight though is making them already start to pant, Drake is slightly surprise by their rush entrance.**

Shadow: These weights are throwing off my balance.

**Cagalli also panting adds**

Cagalli: They're also heavier than I thought they'd be.

**Drake smiles at that comment**

Drake: Don't worry by the time the day is up those weights are going to feel 5 times heavier than they are now.

**Cagalli looks at him wide eyed**

Cagalli: You're joking right?

**Drake doesn't answer, he turns around and claps.**

Drake: Alright we'll start the day with a light jog.

**Drake starts jogging in place**

Drake: Follow me and keep pace.

**Drake turns around and takes off at a good pace. Shadow and the others follow him. Shadow and Cagalli are in the lead behind Drake, Nick and Roxas are right behind them. The screen goes black and the words "15 minutes later" come up. We cut back to a normal screen to see that the pace has slow considerably. **

**Shadow and Cagalli are in last place, they're both sweating and panting heavily, Nick is in the lead with Roxas close behind, both are also sweating but they seem to be in better physical condition then Cagalli and Shadow. Roxas is jogging on all fours, Drake is still leading them and he shows no signs of being tired at all in fact he looks annoyed.**

Drake: Come on you slowpokes pick up the pace!

**Cagalli panting heavily**

Cagalli: I thought *pant* you said *pant* this was *pant* a light jog.

**Drake really annoyed now slows his pace till he's behind Cagalli and Shadow. He comments to Nick as he slows down**

Drake: Keep going straight!

**He gets behind Cagalli and Shadow and says**

Drake: This is a light jog. You two are just weak, now move faster!

**Shadow turns to grin at Cagalli**

Shadow: Need *pant* a break *pant* princess?

**Cagalli starts glaring at Shadow**

Cagalli: You're *pant* the one *pant* that looks like *pant* he's about to fall over!

Shadow: HA *pant* I could *pant* go on like *pant* this all day!

**Shadow and Cagalli start glaring at each other. Drake shouts**

Drake: If you have energy to glare at each other then you have the energy to run faster!

**Drake takes out a gun and begins to shoot at Cagalli and Shadow's feet. He doesn't hit them but they're still surprise**

Shadow: Holy Crap!

Cagalli: What the hell are you doing!

**Nick and Roxas turn their heads in surprise**

Nick: Whoa mate don't you think you're taking this too far?

Roxas: If you hit me with a bullet I'm going to kick your ass!

**Roxas says threateningly. Drake turns to face them**

Drake: If you don't want to get hit by a bullet then RUN FASTER!

**Drake opens fire on them again; Nick, Roxas, Shadow and Cagalli pick up the pace**

Drake: Come on move faster, I've got places to go people to see and you slowpokes are holding me up!

**Drake keeps shooting at their feet making them run faster. The camera cuts forward in time to show them turn down a residential area in the city. Drake has taken the lead again and slowed the pace down. Nick and Roxas are starting to pant even harder, Shadow and Cagalli look like they might pass out.**

Cagalli: *pant, pant* How much *pant, pant* longer is *pant, pant* he going *pant, pant* to make us run?

**Nick shrugs**

Nick: No idea mate *pant* but at least he's *pant* not shooting at us anymore.

**Roxas adds**

Roxas: And he's slow *pant* the pace down.

**Shadow looks at Drake suspicious**

Shadow: I don't *pant, pant* like *pant, pant* it; Drake wouldn't *pant, pant* just give *pant, pant* us a break ARAG

**Shadow doesn't finish as a red rubber dodge ball nails him right in the face. He's thrown off balance by the weights and falls to the ground, everyone stops moving.**

Cagalli: Shadow!

**Nick and Roxas turn around to see where the attacker is. Shadow shakes his head and blinks his eyes and starts looking for the attacker as well, he looks pissed**

Shadow: Who the hell did that!

**Everyone's eyes open wide as they see that the streets are pack full of people of all ages holding dodge balls. The people on the streets take their dodge balls and unleash dodge ball furry on the Gundam Pilots. **

**Shadow, Cagalli, Nick and Roxas are trying to dodge the dodge balls but there are way too many of them. They're getting hit in the arms, legs, chest, even the head. Cagalli is holding her hands over her face trying to protect it.**

Cagalli: What OW is OW going OW on!

**Cagalli gets nail in the back of the head. The camera turns to show Drake easily dodging the dodge balls with very little movement, and he has an evil smile on his face.**

Drake: Oh did I forget to mention I paid this neighborhood to throw dodge balls at us?

**Cagalli still getting hit from all sides looks at him shocked.**

Cagalli: You did what!

**Roxas pissed screams**

Roxas: That's it I'm kicking your ass!

**Roxas charges at Drake on all fours but when she jumps she gets hit by at least a dozen dodge balls causing her to crash to the ground. Drake looks bored**

Drake: Yea I would worry about dodging the dodge balls first before coming at me; now come on slowpokes stop standing still and start moving, they're just a couple of dodge balls!

**Cagalli still guarding her face looks at him like's nuts, Nick has got his hands over his face and is trying to make himself as small as possible, Roxas is on all fours trying to dodge the dodge balls.**

**Shadow is the only one who isn't guarding his face instead he keeps his eyes on the crowd that's throwing the dodge balls. Regardless of their efforts the Gundam Pilots are still getting hit everywhere, in Shadow's case in the face by the dodge balls. Shadow says sarcastically**

Shadow: Right only a couple ARGAG

**Shadow just got nail in the face again by a dodge ball. Drake is watching them closely**

Drake (Shadow's got good instincts; most people would try to protect their face in this type of situation by placing their hands in front of their face. That's a mistake, by putting your hands in front of your face you limit your field of vision dramatically, and make it harder to react to incoming attacks. Nick and Roxas have greater reflexes then Shadow but since Shadow isn't covering his face he's able to react faster to incoming attacks; it's a shame that his reflexes suck; that's why he's doing about the same as Nick and Roxas.)

**Drake shouts**

Drake: Come on stop standing still, once you guys do 8 laps around this block you can leave!

**Cagalli is even more shocked**

Cagalli: You want us to do 8 laps in this ARAGAH!

**Cagalli has been hit in both legs at the same time causing her to collapses to the ground. The crowd shows no mercy and continues to hit her even while she's still on the ground, Drake claps his hands.**

Drake: Alright follow me!

**We have a quick slideshow; we basically see pictures of Shadow, Cagalli, Nick and Roxas getting hit with dodge balls in multiple places including arms, legs, chest, back, and the face. **

**The scene goes back to normal to show Shadow, Cagalli, Nick and Roxas collapse in front of a building, they're breathing heavily and drowning in sweat. Drake looks perfectly fine, in the lower corner of the screen we see the time 7am**

Nick: *pant, pant, pant, pant* we're *pant, pant, pant, pant* going *pant, pant, pant, pant* to be *pant, pant, pant, pant* purple *pant, pant, pant, pant* in the morning.

**Cagalli takes a big gulp of air then says**

Cagalli: What kind of people *pant, pant, pant, pant, pant* agree to throw a dodge ball *pant, pant, pant, pant, pant* at complete strangers for money?

**Shadow and Roxas answer at the same time**

Shadow and Roxas: I would!

**Cagalli looks annoyed, Shadow is beginning to recover**

Shadow: What I want *pant, pant, pant, pant, pant* to know is how *pant, pant, pant, pant, pant* they got so many dodge balls?

**Drake looks at his watch and answers. Shadow and the others are beginning to catch their breath.**

Drake: Oh I bought the dodge balls for them; there was a sale at a sports mall so I got them pretty cheap. I also bribed a couple of construction workers to close down the street until we finished.

**Shadow and the others are surprise. Drake goes on**

Drake: And besides it's cheaper and easier to pay someone to throw a dodge ball at you then making a machine to do it.

**Drake claps his hands**

Drake: Alright get up break time is over!

**Cagalli is looking at him shocked**

Cagalli: Wait there's more!

**Drake gives a short laugh**

Drake: hahahhah that was only the warm up, the real workout starts now!

**Cagalli looks terrified, Roxas moans, Nick groans**

Nick: You've got to be kidding mate!

**Shadow smiling gets up and says in a grand voice**

Shadow: HA you guys aren't tired are you? I could do this all day!

**Nick and Roxas are slightly annoyed**

Nick: I'm not that tired I was just worried about you mates.

**Nick and Roxas get off the ground**

Roxas: The Uthe Kangaroo can hop at full speeds without stopping for over 3 hours!

**(Should be noted that the Uthe Kangaroo is an animal on Sora not Earth), Cagalli sees everyone getting up sighs then gets up too. Drake looks up slightly impressed**

Drake: Good, alright our first workout exercise is going to be to jog again.

**Everyone groans; Drake gets annoyed**

Drake: Yea, yea groan all you want but you're still doing it; now I'm going to show you how I want you to run so watch closely.

**Shadow is confused**

Shadow: There're different ways of running?

**Drake snaps**

Drake: Yes now pay attention. You're going to take one step then punch with your right hand, take another step then punch with your left hand, step kick with your right leg, step kick with your left leg then repeat from the top.

**Drake demonstrates. Shadow, Cagalli, Nick and Roxas are looking at him like he's nuts.**

Shadow: And what's the point of this?

**Drake highly irritated snaps**

Drake: Don't worry about that just do it!

**Shadow, Cagalli, Nick and Roxas reluctantly do as Drake says. They first step and punch with their right hand, then step and punch with their left hand, then step and kick with their right leg, but they take two step before their next kick. Only Drake and Roxas were able to lift their leg above their shoulder, Nick, Cagalli and Shadow weren't even able to lift their legs above their waist. Drake shakes his head**

Drake: No, no, no you only take one step in-between your kicks.

**Cagalli annoyed asks**

Cagalli: And how are we supposed to keep our balance after the first kick?

**Drake irritated by Cagalli's attitude snaps**

Drake: Figure it out, I did it didn't I!

**Cagalli still looks annoyed by this but she realizes he's right. Drake sighs and says**

Drake: Look just do it again slower; right now technique is more important than speed.

**They start from the top again and do it slower, when they get to the second kick they manage to take only one step but they still have to slightly hop to keep their balance. Drake nods his head.**

Drake: Better, just make sure you watch for it as we go.

**Nick looks at him curious**

Nick: Go where mate?

**Drake just smiles**

Drake: You'll see, now come on I'll lead and set pace according to how well I think you can perform.

**Drake begins to lead as Shadow and the others continue doing the step punch step punch step kick step kick jog. They're going at a slow walking pace, the camera goes back to the slideshow thing only this time there's audio. The audio matches the slides and is basically Drake just correcting them on their technique.**

Drake: Shadow watch the step on your second kick, you're only supposed to take one!

Drake: Cagalli its step punch, step punch not punch punch punch step step step.

Drake: Nick you're taking too many steps, its one step per move.

Drake: Roxas get up and walk like a normal human!

**The slideshow end. We see Drake still doing the weird jog leading Shadow and the others who are sweating heavily again and they look like they're going to pass out any second. On the bright side it looks like they have master the technique. Drake still hasn't broken a sweat. On the corner of the screen we see the time 9am, Drake takes a look at his watch then stops in front of a 50 story building.**

Drake: Ok take another ten minute break.

**The way he says this seems to implied they've taken a lot of breaks along the way. Shadow, Cagalli, Nick and Roxas collapse on the stairs that lead up to the building.**

Shadow: Oh thank god!

Cagalli: I *pant, pant, pant* I'm *pant, pant, pant* going *pant, pant, pant* to die!

**They lay over on their backs breathing heavily. Drake looks annoyed**

Drake: God you guys are weak, counting this you've taken over 4, 4, ten minute breaks, and that's only going at about walking speed!

**He says the second 4 loudly. Shadow and the others are still too tired to answer. Drake sighs**

Drake: Well at least you seem to have gotten a hang of the technique, so tomorrow we'll pick up the pace.

**Roxas looks up shocked**

Roxas: Tomorrow?

**Drake once again looks annoyed**

Drake: Yes tomorrow, what'd you think; this was the only day you had to do this kind of training. The only way any of you are going to be ready for the Gundam Fight in a month is if you do this kind of training over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over again until you're doing it in your sleep! That's why I'm going to make you do this same regiment every day until your fight!

**Everyone is looking at Drake shock except Shadow**

Shadow: Yea whatever, when do we eat?

**Cagalli turns to Shadow very annoyed**

Cagalli: Is that all you care about!

**Roxas adds**

Roxas: I'm also hungry.

Nick: Me to mate.

**Cagalli looks at them shock then her stomach growls. She blushes as Shadow grins**

Shadow: Cagalli is hungry too.

**Cagalli snaps**

Cagalli: I can speak for myself!

**Drake looks at them for a moment then grins**

Drake: Actually you guys can have breakfast right now.

**Everyone looks happy by this news. Drake nods towards the building with his evil smile on.**

Drake: And since you seem to have recovered follow me.

**Drake walks inside the building. The others haven't notice his evil smile and eagerly follow him inside. The camera cuts inside the building to the staircase; the staircase is a spiral staircase with the spirals close together. It looks like it's about 60 flights; the camera zooms all the way down to show Shadow, Cagalli, Nick, and Roxas looking around confused.**

Shadow: Ok I'll humor you where's the food?

**Drake is standing close to the beginning of the staircase. He still has his evil smile on, he points up.**

Drake: On the roof.

All: The roof?

**Drake nods**

Drake: Yup

**Cagalli annoyed asks**

Cagalli: Why?

**Drake looks at her like she's an idiot**

Drake: Since when do I have to have a reason and if I did since when do I have to tell you?

**Cagalli gets pissed off by this comment. Nick shrugs**

Nick: I don't really care about that mates, I'm just hungry so tell me where the elevator is?

**Drake gives a short laugh**

Drake: HA, you guys don't get to use the elevator; you're going to climb the stairs.

**Everyone looks at him shocked**

Cagalli: What the stairs!

Roxas: Are you kidding me!

Nick: Oh come on!

Shadow: I'm hungry!

**Drake shouts**

Drake: All of you shut up, you guys can rest and eat when you get to the top, and if I catch you taking the elevator you don't get to eat till dinner!

**Still seeing their looks of outrage. Drake sighs**

Drake: Come on it shouldn't take you that long it's only about 60 flights.

**Cagalli even more shock asks**

Cagalli: 60 flights!

**Drake shrugs**

Drake: Maybe more.

**Roxas still shocked**

Roxas: More!

**Drake annoyed snaps**

Drake: Would you stop repeating everything I say, it's annoying!

**Shadow is the first to get over his shock**

Shadow: What about you, are you going to climb the stairs too?

**Drake's evil smile widens**

Drake: I guess you can say that, but I'm hungry and I don't feel like waiting for you guys so I'm going to go on ahead and wait for you guys on the roof.

**Nick looks at him curious**

Nick: You think you can climb those stairs that much faster than us mate?

**Drake still smiling says**

Drake: Just watch.

**Drake walks over to the stairs and begins to climb. He stops after 20 steps and then easily hops up on top of the rail which is made from solid cement. He turns to face the spiral cement rail across from him, and then he jumps.**

**Time slows down for a second as we see Drake land on side of the rail we zoom in on his feet to see him turn before he applies all of his weight on the rail. We see him bend his legs and then he jumps again. **

**Time goes back to normal to show Drake hopping form rail to rail back and forth, in under a minute he's climb 20 flights of stairs and he's still climbing all while keeping his hands in his pocket. Shadow and the others watch in shock as Drake climbs out of their range of sight.**

Nick: Holy cow!

Roxas: WOW!

Cagalli: He's got to be a coordinator!

**Shadow doesn't say anything; instead he goes over to the stairs and climbs to the spot Drake hop on top of the rail. Cagalli looks at him curious**

Cagalli: Shadow what are you

**Cagalli doesn't finish as Shadow hops on top of the rail and attempts to jump to the rail across from him. He doesn't even get half way to the first spiral before he falls to the ground like a bag of rocks. Cagalli, Nick and Roxas are surprise by his sudden action**

Cagalli: Shadow!

**Shadow groans and slowly gets up**

Shadow: Owwwwwwwwwwww

**Nick and Roxas burst out laughing**

Nick: HAHAHHHHAHAHAH, at least you know not to try that again mate.

Roxas: HAHAHAHAHHAHA, what an idiot.

**Cagalli sighs in relief when she sees him sit up, then she yells at him.**

Cagalli: Are you out of your mind what the hell were you thinking?

**Shadow gets up**

Shadow: Well Drake did it, so I figure I could do it!

**Cagalli looks at him like he's an idiot**

Cagalli: Drake is obvious a Coordinator and you're a natural; you can't possibly compete with him in physical abilities.

**That comment pisses Shadow off and he starts glaring at Cagalli**

Shadow: Says who!

**Cagalli doesn't like being yelled at and starts glaring at him**

Cagalli: Everyone!

**Nick steps in the middle of the two**

Nick: Now that's enough mates, now come on the sooner we start climbing the stairs the sooner we get to eat.

**Shadow turns away from Cagalli and nods his head and begins to climb the stairs. Cagalli follows, they both look pissed. Roxas and Nick look at each other than shrug, they turn and follow Shadow and Cagalli.**

**The camera cuts to the roof. Drake is sitting at a small table drinking a glass of coffee when the door to the roof burst open with Shadow and the others collapsing on the roof. Once again they're drowning in their own sweat**

Shadow: Made it!

**Shadow, Cagalli, Nick, and Roxas are on the floor desperately trying to get their breath back. Drake looks at his watch**

Drake: It took you guys 45 minutes to get up here, man you guys are weak and out of shape.

**Cagalli manages to spit out**

Cagalli: Can *pant, pant, pant, pant, pant, pant, pant,* it.

**Drake looks at them for a moment then decides to show some mercy.**

Drake: Your food is over by the door in the bags.

**Drake gestures towards the door, the camera focuses on some paper bags. Shadow and Roxas pounce on the bags and begin to savagely take out the food and eat; Nick and Cagalli are right behind them. Drake watches them for a moment and laughs.**

Drake: Hahahahah, I guess you guys were hungry.

**Roxas talks with her mouth full**

Roxas: After that training regiment you put us through can you blame us?

**Cagalli finish chewing before she talks.**

Cagalli: Isn't it unfair for you to put us through a coordinator training regiment when we're naturals?

**Drake looks at Cagalli confused.**

Drake: Coordinator training, wait do you think I'm coordinator?

**Cagalli nods her head**

Cagalli: Well yea, I mean I've suspected it since our fight but that jump you did confirmed it. No natural could have done something like that.

**Drake blinks**

Drake: I'm both flatter and insulted at the same time.

**Now Cagalli is confused**

Cagalli: Huh

**Drake goes on**

Drake: I'm a natural.

**Cagalli is shocked**

Cagalli: What!

**Drake nods his head**

Drake: Yup you'll find that I have had no genetic modifications whatsoever. You see I view coordinators like people born with natural talent, sure they start out at a level higher than yours but that doesn't mean you can't catch up to them. I got this power through blood sweat and hard work and as long as you guys continue this training you'll eventually get there as well.

**While he's been talking Shadow and the others have finished their food. Roxas licking her lips says.**

Roxas: So what you're saying is by doing this insane training we'll have the physical strength to take on coordinators?

**Drake laughs**

Drake: Hahahahahahah, no not only after a month but maybe after you start getting into Gundam Fights.

**Drake hops up from his chair and claps his hands**

Drake: But that's enough that, so get up your breaks over!

**Everyone groans**

Nick: Come on mate that break was a little short!

Drake: You have no one to blame but yourselves, I was going to give you guys an hour break but it took you 45 minutes to climb the stairs, so get up you lazy bums before I get you up.

**Shadow and the others get up. Drake turns around and walks to the edge of the roof. Shadow and the others expecting for Drake to lead them to the door are confuse, but nonetheless they follow him.**

**When they get to the edge of the roof their eyes open wide in surprise, on the side of the building there is a row of squares connected by a chain connecting to the building across the street. **

**Each square seems to be 5 feet apart from the other. Over top of the row of squares is a pole. Drake is standing at the edge of the roof hooking up a harness to the pole, as he's doing that he begins to talk**

Drake: Your next task is rather simple; all you have to do is hop from square to square to the next building without falling.

**Cagalli looks at him like he's nuts**

Cagalli: Are you nuts, what if we fall!

**Drake looks bored**

Drake: Oh relax, that's why I got the harnesses hooked up, so who's first?

**Shadow jumps forward, he and Roxas look excited**

Shadow: Oh me first!

**Cagalli looks at Shadow annoyed. Drake quickly puts the harness on Shadow.**

Drake: All set.

**Drake takes a step back giving Shadow room. Shadow turns to face the rows of squares takes a step back then does a running jump off the roof. Shadow manages to land on the corner of the first square but the square flips over and sends Shadow falling.**

Cagalli and Roxas: Shadow!

Nick: Mate!

**The rope attach to the harness tightens and stops Shadow's fall. Shadow is now upside down hanging by the harness.**

Shadow: OW!

**Drake looks at Cagalli and the others annoyed**

Drake: What are you guys so worried about, I told you about the harnesses.

**Drake turns to face Shadow and yells**

Drake: These platforms are only connected and held together by a single chain, so they're going to sway and flip like crazy. You not only have to worry about making the jump to each square you also have to watch your balance when you land on the square.

**Drake now turns to the others**

Drake: However Shadow falling does bring up a rule I forgot to mention; every time you fall you will do 100 sit-ups.

**Drake seeing the protest forming on their face adds**

Drake: And if you refuse I'll leave you hanging here all day.

**Drake smiling holds up what looks like a remote as a symbol of his power**

Drake: So Shadow get started and who's next!

**The camera cuts ahead in time. Shadow and the others have made it to the other building and once again are breathing heavily although not as heavily as before. In fact they're already starting to recover; Drake is shaking his head**

Drake: I suppose that was a good first attempt after all you guys have probably never done anything like this before, but still not a single one of you made it all the way across the squares without falling; that's kind of pathetic.

**Shadow has recover**

Shadow: Yea, yea, yea so we suck right now but isn't that why you're training us?

**Drake walks over to bamboo poles that have been set up on the roof. The bamboo poles are about a foot long with the tops cut off.**

Drake: Good point, which brings me to the next part of this exercise.

**Cagalli groans**

Cagalli: There's more!

**Drake snaps**

Drake: Yes there's more so shut up and stop interrupting; each time you make it to a roof top you're to do 50 push-ups on the bamboo poles.

**Shadow curious asks**

Shadow: Why on bamboo poles?

**Drake once again irritated**

Drake: Because I said so now get to it!

**Drake takes his gun out and shoots around them. Shadow, Cagalli and the others hop up and rush over to the poles. The camera cuts forward in time again, Shadow and the others are on the poles sweating and struggling to do there push-ups. Drake is yelling at them**

Drake: Come on you wimps you can't be tired already! Shadow and Cagalli you still got 25 more push-ups to go; Nick you've got 15 more and Roxas you have 7 more!

**Shadow going down on his push-up**

Shadow: That's impressive that you can keep track of our different push-up counts.

**Drake walks over and grabs an ice box, as he puts thick gloves on he says**

Drake: Stalling isn't going to work, so it's about time I show you why I'm making you do push-ups on bamboo poles.

**Drake begins to take out of the ice box large blocks of ice and puts them under Cagalli, Shadow, Roxas and Nick.**

Cagalli: What are you OW!

**The moment the ice touches Cagalli's skin she gasps in surprise and pushes up, the others reaction are the same. Drake wipes his hand and takes off his gloves, smiling he says**

Drake: There that should help move things along, now get push-upping!

**Once again we do the slideshow thing, we see pictures of Shadow, Cagalli, Nick, and Roxas, hopping on squares, falling off squares, doing sit-ups upside down in midair, and doing push-ups on bamboo poles while ice is under them. **

**Drake is also yelling at them to go faster, and giving them advice, the slideshow ends and once again Shadow and the others are on the ground breathing heavily. This time though their arms are hanging limply to their side, on the corner of the screen the time is shown 12pm.**

Shadow: *pant, pant, pant* can't *pant, pant, pant* feel *pant, pant, pant* my arms!

**Drake walks over to them, he looks annoyed**

Drake: Are you wimps going to collapse after every simple exercise I give you?

**They're too tired for a comeback. Drake sighs**

Drake: Fine come on it's time for your lunch break.

**Drake turns and begins to walk towards the edge of the roof. At the words of lunch break we hear the growls of angry stomachs. Shadow and the others struggle to get up and follow Drake.**

Roxas: *pant, pant* where are we *pant, pant* going?

**Drake smiles at her**

Drake: Don't you guys know where you are?

**Confuse they start looking around as Drake begins to climb down a fire escape ladder. The camera zooms out to show they're across the street of the dock Jack's ship is at. The camera cuts inside Jack's ship to the lunchroom. Jack and Kenny are inspecting the food Tim brought.**

Jack: Why'd you bring us so much food?

**Shadow walks fast in with Roxas right on his tail.**

Shadow: Because some of that food is for us!

**Shadow and Roxas charge the food bags and begin ripping it apart. Cagalli, Nick and Drake walk in behind them. Jack and Kenny are surprise**

Jack: Hey what are you guys doing here?

Kenny: I thought Drake was training you guys all day?

**Shadow shrugs as everyone begins to eat**

Shadow: He is but he told us to come to Jack's ship to eat lunch.

**Drake is annoyed**

Drake: Would you guys stop talking as if I'm not in the room; and as for why I brought you to the ship to eat it's simple. You guys maybe doing different jobs but you're still one team so it's important you have some bounding time every day.

**They're all quiet for a moment then Kenny smiles**

Kenny: Now all we need is a name and we'll be a real team.

**All eyes turn to Shadow, Shadow highly annoyed snaps**

Shadow: I'm working on it!

**Everyone laughs, and then Shadow and the others begin talking amongst themselves. Drake walks over to Tim**

Tim: You know I've been hearing some strange reports about some crazy people punching and kicking as they run while some nut job chases them with a gun but you won't know anything about that would you?

**Tim says smiling at Drake. Drake looks annoyed**

Drake: I was training their breathing patterns; a weakness most first time fighters have is they get winded when they fight because they forget to breath. I counter this by making them punch and kick as they run; I figure after 30 days of that their breathing will be subconsciously fixed.

**Tim nods his head**

Tim: I guess that could work.

**The camera goes over to the table Shadow and the others are sitting at. They seem to be talking about their day as they eat. The camera stops and focuses on Cagalli, her hands are shaking.**

Cagalli (What am I doing here, I'm a diplomat not some kind of warrior.)

**Cagalli has a flashback of when she said she be the third fighter against Drake.**

Cagalli (At that time Shadow had been doing a lot for me; first he saved my life, then he told me I could travel with them until I figure out how to get back to Earth. So when Drake ask me what I was doing for the team and called me useless I got so mad, not because of the insult but because he was right; Shadow had been giving me as much help as he could so in his time of need I didn't want to be useless.)

**Cagalli drops the food she was eating, her hands are shaking badly. She clenches them into fists.**

Cagalli (Damn it, my hands won't stop shaking! And from what I know of Drake there's still a half a day of training left. I shouldn't be here I should be trying to figure out how to get back to Earth back to Orb not wasting my time trying to get better at some stupid sport! My people need me!)

**Cagalli has another flashback, this time it's the Warden telling her the other politician think of her as an obstacle.**

Cagalli (No he was wrong the Warden was just trying to get under my skin, there's no way they think I'm an obstacle.)

**Cagalli's eyes take on a sad look**

Cagalli (And even if I did stay there's no way I could hope of finishing this type training; my hands are shaking this bad from just half a day's training and there's still another 29 and a half days left. If Kira or Athrun were here they could do it; but I'm not Kira or Athrun, I'm nowhere near as strong as they are, I should just quit.)

**Her eyes take on an even sadder look; suddenly we hear a crash sound. Shadow had drop the cup he was holding, the water is getting everywhere. Jack laughs**

Jack: HAHAHAH, nice butterfingers Shadow!

**Everyone laughs except Cagalli; they begin to lift their food up so that it doesn't get wet. Shadow uses a napkin to clean up the mess. Shadow sitting next to Cagalli is using his other hand to clean the table and not the hand that dropped the glass. Shadow grumbles**

Shadow: The stupid glass got too slippery from the moisture.

**Nick, Kenny, Jack and Roxas laugh at him some more buying his excuse but Cagalli notices that the hand Shadow was using to hold his glass is to his side underneath the table and is shaking pretty bad. Cagalli is surprise by this**

Cagalli (Shadow's hand is shaking just as bad as my hand, and yet he's not saying anything.)

**Cagalli smiles**

Cagalli (If that stubborn idiot can keep going without saying anything then so can I!)

**Nick noticing Cagalli's smile and asks**

Nick: So have your thoughts turn out ok mate?

**Cagalli blinks surprise**

Cagalli: Huh?

**Nick shrugs**

Nick: It's just that I notice you seem to be in deep thought mate, so I was kind of worried.

**Roxas jumps across the table and hugs Cagalli**

Roxas: If anything is troubling you or your lonely bosoms Cagalli then feel free to tell me about it!

**Cagalli annoyed pushes Roxas off herself**

Cagalli: How about your lack of personal space!

**Everyone laughs. Shadow after calming down says**

Shadow: Don't worry about her; the poor little princess is probably just tired.

**Cagalli starts glaring at Shadow**

Cagalli: Looks who's talking; you look like you're going to fall over from exhaustion any second!

**Shadow starts glaring back**

Shadow: HA for your information I could keep going like this all day!

**The episode ends with Drake walking up to the table unnoticed and saying with a smile**

Drake: Well that's good because mid-day break is over and we still got another half-a-day's training left.


	19. Episode 18

Episode 18

**The episode opens up with the camera looking at Jack's Archangel Class ship, in the corner of the screen the time is displayed 1pm. We cut inside to what looks like a small indoor gym, a shooting range has been set up. Nick, Roxas, Cagalli and Shadow are standing as Drake begins to give everyone a gun.**

Drake: From 1pm until 2pm you guys will work on your shooting.

**Drake gives everyone a semi-automatic pistol except Nick who takes out his own gun. Drake begins to demonstrate how to correctly hold a gun.**

Drake: Now pay attention; you put your dominant hand over your gun like this, keep the gun in-between your thumb and the index finger. You put three fingers on the grip, your index finger will be on the trigger when you fire but when you're not firing make sure you keep your finger on the side of the gun. You then take your non-dominant and put it over your dominant hand; you should slightly title your non-dominant.

**Drake nods towards the range**

Drake: Alright that's basically it so go get started and please don't shoot yourselves.

**He says this looking at Shadow, Shadow pretends not to notice. Cagalli asks**

Cagalli: Shouldn't you make sure we understand how to hold a gun first before we start shooting?

**Drake looks annoyed**

Drake: Who's the master and who's the student, now go and start shooting!

**Nick, Cagalli, Roxas and Shadow take their positions on the range and begin to open fire. Nick and Cagalli seem to know what they're doing, and Shadow and Roxas seem to have a good understanding of the basics.**

Drake: Cagalli you're holding the gun too tightly, Roxas title your non-dominant hand slightly.

**They empty their magazine and stop firing**

Drake: Let's see how you did.

**Drake hits a switch and the targets come forward. The targets are circular and not human shaped targets with not counting the center 5 rings. The outer most ring will be the first ring, the fifth ring is the closest to the bull's-eye. Everyone goes over to look at Nick's target first, all Nick's shots hit the bull's-eye. Everyone looks impressed but not surprise**

Cagalli: Good job Nick.

Shadow: As expected from the cowboy.

Roxas: Have you ever missed before?

**Nick tips his hat**

Nick: Thanks mates and yes I have miss before but it's been a while.

**Drake nods his head in approve**

Drake: Your form, aim and reloading was perfect. Who taught you how to shot?

**Drake asks curious**

Nick: Oh well my old man taught me the basics mate and since my folks have a lot of property me and my brothers practice every day after we finished the chores.

**Drake nods his head in understanding**

Drake: I see; I'll increase the distance of the target for your next round.

**Everyone walks over to Cagalli's target next. She hit mostly between the third and fourth rings with two hits on the fifth ring. Everyone looks surprise and slightly impressed**

Shadow: Wow, who knew the princess could shoot.

Nick: Not bad mate.

Roxas: Cagalli knowing you can shoot a gun turns me on even more!

**Cagalli grins with pride as she takes a step away from Roxas**

Cagalli: I told you guys I had fighting experience. My bodyguard taught me how to shoot.

**Drake comments**

Drake: That wasn't bad but your grip on your gun is too tight, make sure you loosen it slightly; I'll keep your target distance the same.

**They go over to Roxas target next, Roxas hit the first, second and third rings. Everyone looks surprise.**

Cagalli: I didn't know you could shoot.

**Roxas beaming with pride**

Roxas: I didn't until 5 minutes ago.

**Now everyone looks more surprise**

Shadow: Wait you did that good on your first attempt at shooting!

Nick: That's amazing mate!

Drake: Good job, you just need to work on your aim. I'll keep your target distance the same as well.

**Roxas smiles at Shadow**

Roxas: Don't be too jealous of my natural talent Shadow.

**Shadow snaps**

Shadow: We haven't seen my target yet so shut up; after all they save the best for last.

**Shadow says the last part in a grand voice. Roxas, Cagalli and Drake roll their eyes, they walk over to Shadow's target. Shadow has completely missed the target, not a single shot has even grazed the target.**

Cagalli: Wow talk about a crappy shot.

Roxas: Shouldn't you've hit the target at least once by dumb luck?

**Shadow embarrass snaps**

Shadow: The stupid gun must be broken!

**Drake insulted snaps back**

Drake: The guns are fine, I personally check them. You're just a crappy shot!

**Nick taking pity on Shadow**

Nick: Now come on mates give the guy a break; it was his first time after all.

**Drake gets his composer back**

Drake: Nick has a point; it is your first time so I'll just decrease your target distance. Everyone get back to your places and prepare for the next round.

**Everyone goes back to their places as Drake changes the target paper. He then hits a switch and the targets begin to move back, Nick's target is the furthest away, Cagalli's and Roxas's targets go back to where they were the first time.**

**Shadow's target is the closest maybe 12 feet away. They open fire again, we cut forward in time, everyone has gather around Shadow's target to see that once again he's missed every shot.**

Nick: Ok even I have to admit you're pretty bad shot mate.

Cagalli: Wow Shadow you are the worst shot I've ever seen.

Roxas: Seriously shouldn't you have hit the target at least once by now out of dumb luck?

**Shadow blushes deep red from embarrassment, then yells**

Shadow: Guns are stupid weapons! Now swords are the weapon of a true warrior!

**Cagalli rolls her eyes**

Cagalli: Well tell me how that goes when you try to fight a guy with a gun with just a sword.

**Shadow starts glaring at Cagalli. Drake is growing frustrated**

Drake: Alright Shadow since I can't figure out why you keep missing so badly you'll go again by yourself.

**Drake hits a switch and brings the target even closer to Shadow maybe 3 feet away. Shadow looks insulted**

Shadow: Oh come on!

**Drake snaps**

Drake: When you can hit the bull's-eye every time then I'll increase the distance of the target so shut up and shoot!

**Shadow still annoyed turns around and prepares to fire. Cagalli and the others take a step back to give him room. Shadow takes the correct stance and grip.**

Drake (He's taking the correct stance and grip so how the hell does he keep missing?)

**Shadow opens fire on the target; from this distance we can see that he's missing every shot, suddenly we focuses on one bullet. The bullet misses the target and rick-a-shays off the ground towards Cagalli. Drake grabs the collar of Cagalli's shirt and yanks her out of the way of the bullet.**

Drake: Shadow stop firing!

**Shadow stops firing. The target once again looks brand new, Cagalli, Nick, and Roxas are too stun for words. Drake pissed storms over to Shadow and snatches the gun out of his hands.**

Drake: Give me that before you shoot yourself!

**In less than a millisecond Drake disarms the gun and drops it on the ground.**

Drake: Are you missing on purpose!

**Drake accuses Shadow. Shadow is highly insulted**

Shadow: Of course not!

Drake: Then do you have some kind of mental block!

Shadow: Do I look like a nut job to you!

**Shadow says glaring at Drake. Drake takes a visible effort to calm down. Once he regains his composer, he says**

Drake: For whatever reason that only god knows you are physically incapable of shooting a gun, so from this point forward I hereby ban you from ever using or holding a gun again!

**Shadow outrage shouts**

Shadow: You can't do thaARAGA!

**Before he finishes talking Drake grabs Shadow by the throat and begins to forcibly drag him to the exit. Shadow struggles but Drake is way to strong compared to Shadow to even notice. Drake talks to the others as he walks away**

Drake: You guys go back to practicing your shooting. Until I get back Nick you're in charge so help Cagalli and Roxas out with their shooting.

**Nick tips his hat in understanding. Cagalli asks worried**

Cagalli: What are you going to do to Shadow?

**Drake still pissed says**

Drake: I'm going to give this idiot something else to work on while you guys train.

**Drake drags Shadow out of the gym/training room. The others look at each other for a moment then go back to training. The camera cuts outside to a deserted part of the beach next to the indoor dock, Drake has just set up a target.**

**The circler target is the same type of targets arches use to shoot arrows at. Drake takes a step back to admire his work, then he walks over to Shadow who seems depressed. Drake sighs**

Drake: Oh would you get over not being able to shoot already. We all have a weapon that just escapes us and no matter how hard we train with it we just can't seem to use it. In your case that just happens to be the single most used weapon in human history the gun.

**Shadow doesn't look that much better**

Shadow: Thanks

**He says sarcastically. Drake gives Shadow one of his knifes**

Drake: Since it's apparent that you won't be able to use a gun I'll skip that part of your training and go straight to knife throwing. Try to throw the knife at the target.

**Shadow takes on an extreme focus look; one can assume that he's determine not to suffer the same humiliation again. He's about 12 feet from the target, he throws the knife at the target and manages to hit the outer most circle of the target. Drake nods his head**

Drake: Good at least you hit the target. Everyday when everyone else goes to practice their shooting you'll come here and work on your knife throwing instead.

**Drake gives him four more knifes**

Drake: Keep practicing I'll come back to check on you later.

**The scene ends with Drake leaving Shadow practicing his knife throwing techniques. The next scene opens up with Shadow back in the gym/training room.**

**The shooting range equipment has been put up and in its place there are training mates, in the corner of the screen the time is displayed 2pm. Drake is standing in front of the group**

Drake: From 2pm to 4pm you guys will spare with each other.

**Drake turns to a rack with similar weapons to what the Gundam pilot's use. He begins to give each person their corresponding weapon.**

Drake: I've taken the literately of making replicas of your weapons; they're exactly the same but I've dull the blades so that they don't cut.

**Nick asks**

Nick: What about my gun mate, how'd you make it non-lethal?

**Drake takes Nick's replica gun and fires it at Shadow's knee, a paintball comes out and hits Shadow in the knee causing him to collapse to the ground.**

Shadow: OWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

**Shadow holds his knee; Drake looks unfazed while everyone else is shocked.**

Drake: I change it into paintball gun, but don't worry I made sure the weight and balance is the same as your own gun.

**Shadow still holding his knee is extreme pissed off**

Shadow: WHY THE HELL DID YOU SHOOT ME!

**Drake shrugs uncaringly**

Drake: Because I felt like it, now get up and go spare with Nick. Oh one more thing even though the blades are dull they can still crake open skulls so no attacks to the head.

**Shadow reluctantly gets up. Nick looks at him concern**

Nick: Are you sure you're ok mate?

**Shadow says stubbornly**

Shadow: I'm fine; I'll kick your ass with one leg!

**Nick smiles at him**

Nick: We'll see about that mate.

**Drake gestures to what looks like a car jack with a pad on it**

Drake: Since we only have one sparring mate you guys will alternate every ten minutes between sparring partners, the people not sparring will work on their stretching. Roxas you're the only one that doesn't have to do this?

**Shadow recovering and still pissed asks**

Shadow: Why doesn't she have to do this?

**Roxas replies in a seductive voice**

Roxas: Because I'm flexible.

**Roxas standing on two legs lifts one of her legs all the way to her head and begins to scratch behind her ears with her toes. Shadow has gotten over his anger**

Shadow: Ok that's really hot!

**Cagalli rolls her eyes**

Cagalli: Pervert!

**Drake starts yelling at them**

Drake: What are you guys doing wasting time! Shadow Nick start your sparring match, Cagalli get over here and start stretching!

**Shadow seems to have fully recovered**

Shadow: Fine

**Nick and Shadow step onto the mat and face each other**

Drake: Ready set go!

**Drake says this in kind of a rush voice. Nick is momentarily surprise by the rush start but Shadow takes that moment and charges at Nick with his sword. However he only gets half way to Nick before Nick recovers and takes out his gun and shoots Shadow in both knees. Shadow falls to the ground in pain**

Shadow: OWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

**Nick turns to Drake**

Nick: Isn't it unfair mate to have Shadow fight me since I use a gun?

**Drake is unmerciful**

Drake: Shadow is a swordsman and stats show that 90% of Gundam Fighters use a gun of some kind, so the faster he learns to fight against an opponent using a gun the better off he'll be. Shadow if you don't get off the ground in the next minute I'm going to be your sparring pattern and I don't show mercy when you're on the ground.

**As Shadow struggles to his feet Drake turns to face Cagalli**

Drake: Cagalli put your right leg on the car jack.

**Cagalli puts her right leg on the car jack; Drake begins to crank the car jack lifting Cagalli's leg in the air. Cagalli surprise starts to swing her arms to keep her balance.**

Cagalli: Whoa!

**Drake stops cranking the car jack when Cagalli's leg gets waist high. Cagalli hops a little but still manages to keep her balance. Drake nods his head**

Drake: Good, you'll stay like that for the next ten minutes until your sparring match with Roxas.

**Drake walks back over to see how Shadow's match is going as the camera goes black. We see the words 20 minutes later appear, and then the camera goes back to normal. We see that Shadow and Nick are now the ones that have their legs on the car jack elevated to their waist.**

**Shadow is cover in paintball spots, the camera goes over to show Roxas and Cagalli sparring. Cagalli is breathing heavily, Roxas is on all four legs moving in a wolf like fashion. Cagalli charges intending to do a spear stab attack. **

**Roxas jumps to the side easily avoiding the attack. Roxas moves forward under Cagalli's guard and performs and upward vertical claw slash. Roxas stops her attack short so that her golden claws are right under Cagalli's throat. Cagalli gulps as Roxas smiles**

Roxas: Got you again Cagalli.

**Drake sighs**

Drake: Alright that's enough. Roxas you stay in, Cagalli sub out with Nick.

**Cagalli moves off the mat. Nick however doesn't move**

Nick: No

**Drake surprise turns to face Nick**

Drake: What!

**Nick faces him evenly**

Nick: It's against my code to fight a lady mate!

**Everyone is surprise by this mark. Drake's surprise turns to anger**

Drake: What kind of stupid reason is that!

**He yells at Nick. Cagalli turns to Drake**

Cagalli: Well I think it's nice to see that there's one gentleman among you brutes.

**She says this eyeing Shadow and Drake, both of them look annoyed by the comment.**

Drake: Well I don't give a damn, sparring is an important part of any training regiment and if you don't give me the proper sparring time

**Shadow has heard enough and cuts Drake off in the middle of his threat**

Shadow: Leave him alone Drake I'll spar with him instead of the girls.

**All eyes turn to Shadow. Shadow goes on**

Shadow: I mean Nick seems to have been in plenty of fights with different people before so I don't think he needs to fight against different people but if you want him to have the same amount of sparring time as everyone else I'll spend extra time sparring with him.

**Nick goes to say something but Drake holds up a hand.**

Drake: You do realize that means you'll have to do an extra 20 minutes sparring with Nick and 10 minutes with each girl to make up Nick's time.

**Nick looking at Shadow concern**

Nick: Hey mate it's alright you don't have to

**Shadow doesn't let him finish**

Shadow: It's fine; I'm the weakest one here so it makes more sense for me to do extra sparring practice and besides this is the sort a thing Team Leaders are supposed to do.

**Drake grins at him**

Drake: Actually I say you're tied for weakest with Cagalli.

**Cagalli offended**

Cagalli: Hey

**Drake sighs**

Drake: Fine, if you want to work yourself to death for a friend then be my guest. Shadow you're up against Roxas now.

**Shadow walks up onto the mat, we once again enter slideshow mode. The pictures are of Shadow fighting Roxas, Nick and Cagalli. Shadow looks like he's getting his ass kick in his fights with Nick and Roxas but with Cagalli it looks like he's even.**

**The camera goes back to normal, in the corner of the screen we can see the words 4pm. Nick has his other foot on the car jack and Nick's foot is above his waist now. The camera moves over the mat to show that Shadow is fighting Cagalli. **

**Shadow and Cagalli are in a face off, Cagalli has her Guan Dao in a diagonal across her chest with the blade over her left shoulder and the pole over her right leg. Her hands are spread out evenly, and she's griping the pole tightly as she blocks Shadow's attack. **

**Shadow's katana is making contact with the Guan Dao in the middle of the pole, both of them are pushing at each other with all their might. We can see sweat dripping down their face, their muscles tensing as they put all their weight into their weapons.**

**They're gritting their teeth and glaring at each other as both of them refused to give ground. We can see their feet digging into the ground when suddenly Drake claps his hands.**

Drake: Alright that's enough its 4pm and Dinner time, so everyone head to the cafeteria.

**Shadow and Cagalli separate, both put their hands on their knees and start panting. Shadow is cover in even more paintball spots. Shadow looks up at Cagalli and grins**

Shadow: *pant* I almost *pant* had you *pant* that time.

**Cagalli looks up and grins at him**

Cagalli: *pant* what are *pant* you talking *pant* about, I was *pant* just about *pant* to beat you.

**Roxas is getting impatient**

Roxas: We're going to leave you behind if you two keep stalling!

**Cagalli and Shadow get up and walk over to Roxas and Nick. Drake gets in front of Shadow**

Drake: Hold on a second Shadow, aren't you forgetting something?

**Drake asks with his evil smile. Shadow sensing what's to come asks unease**

Shadow: What?

**The camera cuts to the lunchroom. Jack eating nods her head**

Jack: I see so that's why you've got your foot resting on that car jack.

**The camera turns around to show that Shadow sitting across from Jack has his left foot on the car jack and is slightly elevated above his waist. Everyone is sitting around the table eating, Shadow looks miserable.**

Shadow: Drake says I have to make up 40 minutes of stretching time now during my break.

**Nick looks at him guiltily**

Nick: I'm sorry mate; you don't have to do this.

**Jack cuts in angry**

Jack: Damn straight he doesn't; you two why don't you help him split the sparring time up so he doesn't get work to death!

**Jack demands from Roxas and Cagalli, both blink in surprise having not thought of that but Shadow jumps in.**

Shadow: That's enough Jack, look I'm fine, and don't worry about it Nick just make it up to me by winning your first Gundam Fight.

**Shadow says smiling at Nick, Nick is momentary surprise then smiles back**

Nick: Count on it mate!

**Jack still looks unhappy. Kenny says**

Kenny: Don't worry, Shadow maybe weak but his endurance is second to none.

**Shadow offended by the weak part**

Shadow: I'm not weak!

**Everyone else laughs. The camera looks up then looks down indicating a time skip. Jack and Kenny have left the eating area. Drake has brought in a projector, Shadow and the others are sitting in a chair facing Drake. At the corner of the screen the time says 5pm, Shadow looks bored**

Shadow: So what are we going to do now Drake, walk on fire, catch daggers blindfolded, or wrestle tigers?

**Drake looks at him slightly annoyed**

Drake: None of the above but that last part sounds interesting; I'll have to remember that. Anyway from 5pm to 7pm you'll do school work.

**Shadow and Roxas openly moan, Nick and Cagalli only look slightly annoyed.**

Shadow: Why?

**Drake doesn't like being question**

Drake: Because I said so!

**Everyone starts glaring at him. Drake seeing this answer isn't going to satisfied them sighs**

Drake: Look I'm mainly going to teach you medical information; how to treat gun and slash wounds, where the arteries and major organs are and so on.

**Cagalli looks skeptical**

Cagalli: And what does this have to do with Gundam Fighting?

**Drake is annoyed by her attitude**

Drake: Nothing, this will help you more if you get into human vs. human situations. If you or your teammate gets hurt in human combat and there's no medic around you'll have to know how to do a quick treatment right there and then. And you'll definitely need to know where the arteries and major organs are for several reasons, the first of them being so you can protect them from attacks, and second so you know where to aim.

**Cagalli eyes him coldly.**

Cagalli: So we can know the most effective way to kill?

**Drake replies her cold gaze with and even one.**

Drake: So you can choose whether or not to kill; in most fights when a person kills another the killer often claims ignorance, "I didn't mean to kill him, it was either him or me", but in truth it's very easy to incapacitate someone without killing them, all you need is the knowledge and skill. Knowing where the arteries and major organs are is the first step to gaining the knowledge and you're already on the path to gaining the skill.

**Cagalli looks at him straight in the eyes then lowers her head.**

Cagalli: Sorry

**Drake nods his head, then goes on**

Drake: As for the math, science and history stuff, I don't know how that will help you but in a fight you'd be surprise what seemingly random fact suddenly gives you a crazy idea that saves your life, so let's get started.

**Drake turns around and turns on the projector. Once again the camera looks up then fades into black. The camera goes back to normal and looks down to show Drake leading Shadow, Nick, Roxas and Cagalli out of the ship in the corner of the screen the time 7pm is displayed. Shadow looks tired, Cagalli grins at him**

Cagalli: You know I'm not surprise it was actual mental education that finally made you tired.

**Shadow glares at her**

Shadow: I'll have you know that I pass public school with all high marks!

**Nick turns to him and smiles**

Nick: Same here mate!

**They high-five, then Shadow turns to grin at Cagalli.**

Shadow: What about you princess?

**Cagalli glares back**

Cagalli: I didn't go to public school, my father hired private tutors for me. What about you Roxas?

**Roxas walking on four legs again looks up and says in a grand voice**

Roxas: I was home school by nature!

**Everyone looks at Roxas unsurprised, while they've been talking Drake has lead them to another ship. This ship looks big and bulky like a cargo ship (should be noted that even though I say ship, none of these look like regular ships and none of them are on water, one can assume that they are all capable of some level of flight). **

**The back has been lower to the ground to make some kind of ramp. Drake leads them over to a man standing by the ramp. He has what can best be described as an I-Pad in his hands and seems to be in the process of writing something down in it.**

Drake: Hello Aston.

**Aston looks up from what he's doing and sees Drake.**

Aston: Hi Drake.

**He looks over Drake's shoulder and nods towards Shadow and the others**

Aston: Are those the rookie pilots you're managing?

**Drake nods his head**

Drake: Yup

**Aston doesn't look please**

Aston: They look pretty weak.

**Shadow, Nick and Roxas are offended**

Nick: Hey!

Shadow: Who are you calling weak!

Roxas: I'll kick your ass!

**Aston looks unconcern by their threats. Cagalli annoyed turns to Drake and asks**

Cagalli: May I ask who your rude friend is Drake?

**Drake looks at Cagalli irritated**

Drake: Ok first off don't you ever talk to me in that snotty political voice again or I'll kick your ass and second this is Aston. Aston is in charge of the shipping docks in Arianna city.

**Aston nods his head**

Aston: Hello, don't bother telling me your names Drake has already told me all about you guys.

**Aston turns to face Drake**

Aston: Sorry Drake but I've got to run, there's a problem down in North Dock that I have to go deal with right away.

**Drake isn't bother**

Drake: Don't worry about it, see you later Aston.

**Aston begins to walk away**

Aston: See you Drake, and good luck rookies.

**He says this last part to Shadow and the others as he walks away. Nick turns to Drake**

Nick: What did he mean about North Dock mate?

**Drake bored answers**

Drake: Arianna has four shipping docks, North, South, East, and West; we're in East Dock right now. You'll see Aston in the docks most of the time; if you ever need information he's the one to talk too.

**Cagalli curious asks**

Cagalli: Why?

**Shadow answers**

Shadow: Because he runs the docks so he or his people probably overhear a lot of the conversations from crew members waiting for orders or their ship to be repair.

**Drake nods his head**

Drake: Very good Shadow, I see all those cop movies out their now a day's aren't a complete waste of money.

**Shadow grins with pride, Cagalli looks at him annoyed. Drake walks up the ramp and into the ship, Shadow and the others follow him. **

**There are people on the ship but their either working on something or just standing around doing nothing, either way they don't pay the Gundam Pilots much mind. Shadow and the others are looking around slightly curious as Drake leads them over to a pile of solid steel blocks.**

Drake: Aston also helps run a steel import company and that's where you guys come in.

**Shadow doesn't like where this is going**

Shadow: I don't like where this is going.

**Drake gestures to the steel blocks**

Drake: Your last exercise for the day is simple; all you have to do is move the steel blocks onto a truck outside the dock.

**Cagalli annoyed asks**

Cagalli: Aren't their mechanics that do that?

**Drake turns and smiles at her**

Drake: There are but it's cheaper to just make you guys do it, so get to it!

**Shadow and the others walk over to the pile of steel blocks. Shadow goes to lift one of the steel blocks; he manages to slightly lift it off the ground before he drops it.**

Shadow: Whoa those things are heavy!

**Cagalli rolls her eyes**

Cagalli: What did you expect, that's solid steel.

**Shadow starts glaring at Cagalli. Nick steps in-between the two.**

Nick: Come on mates; let's carry these in teams of two.

**Shadow, Cagalli, and Roxas nod their head in agreement. We enter slideshow mode, the pictures just show Cagalli, Shadow, Nick, and Roxas carrying the steel blocks to the truck while alternating partners. There are a couple of pictures of them dropping the blocks or resting on the ground.**

**The camera exits slideshow mode and we see the apartment Shadow and co are staying at. The lights are off and in the corner of the screen we see the time 10pm. The door opens and the lights come on as Shadow, Cagalli, Nick, Roxas, Kenny, and Jack walk in. They all look exhausted, Shadow, Roxas and Cagalli collapse on the couch.**

Cagalli: I've never been this sore and tired in my life.

**Shadow lifts his head and grins**

Shadow: Drake was right; these weights definitely feel 10 times heavier than they did at the beginning of the day.

**Jack gets a drink out of the fridge and begins to pour drinks for Nick, Kenny and herself. They're at the kitchen area,**

Jack: You guys think you had it rough; me and Kenny barely manage to finish one Gundam Frame today, and that's only one frame, tomorrow we've got to start installing the inner circuitry. At this rate I have no idea how we're going to make three Gundams in a month.

**Cagalli depress says**

Cagalli: At least you guys will still be alive at the end of your training, I'm not sure I'll survive anymore of this.

**There's a moment of tired silence and doubt, then Shadow gets up.**

Shadow: You guys worry too much everything will work out in the end, *yawn* I'm heading to bed.

**As Shadow begins to head to bed, Cagalli looks up and asks disbelievingly.**

Cagalli: Oh yea, then tell us how will everything work out Shadow?

**As Shadow begins to climb the stairs to the bedroom he turns to face her and grins.**

Shadow: I don't know it's a mystery!

**The scene ends with Cagalli rolling her eyes as Shadow heads to bed. The next scene opens up showing Shadow and the others sleeping, in the right hand corner of the screen we see 6am Day 2. The lights snap on and a horn starts blaring. Shadow jumps in the air and falls awkwardly to the ground, he looks pissed.**

Shadow: I swear to god I'm going to find that stupid horn and drown it in a river!

**We once again enter slideshow mode, this time there's inspirational training music going on in the background. We see pictures of Shadow, Nick, Roxas, Cagalli running and Drake yelling at them to go faster, getting hit by dodge balls.**

**Doing the step punch step kick jog, climbing stairs, jumping on the squares, falling off the squares, doing sit-ups and push-ups, eating with Jack and Kenny. Nick, Cagalli, and Roxas practicing their shooting, Shadow practicing his knife throwing, Shadow, Nick, Cagalli and Roxas sparing with each other although we never see Nick spar with any of the girls.**

**Of Drake teaching; Shadow, Nick, Roxas and Cagalli lifting and carrying steel blocks to the truck outside, and of Kenny and Jack working on the Gundams. All the pictures have the time and day in the lower right hand corner. The pictures are in order by day, day 2, day 3, day 4 etc. and none of them go past day 13.**

**In the later pictures we can see Shadow keeping pace with Nick and Roxas we can also see that they're not getting as tired as they were in the beginning. Shadow, Nick and Roxas are also getting better at dodging the dodge balls.**

**They're getting faster at doing the step punch and step kick, Nick and Shadow are able to lift their legs higher in their kicks; they're also not having as much trouble doing push-ups and sit-ups. Nick, Roxas and Shadow are able to jump from square to square easily and aren't falling as often. **

**Shadow is also doing better in his sparing matches with Roxas and Nick although he's still getting his ass kick. Shadow Nick and Roxas are able to carry an entire steel block by themselves now. **

**The only one that doesn't seem to be getting better is Cagalli and Drake seems to notice this. The slideshow ends and the camera goes back to normal to show Cagalli, Roxas and Nick practicing on the shooting range, in the lower right corner of the screen the time and day is displayed Day 14, 1:20pm. Drake walks in**

Drake: Nick and Roxas come with me. Cagalli you stay.

**Drake turns around and exits without waiting for an answer, confused Nick, Roxas, and Cagalli look at each. Nick shrugs then runs to catch up with Drake, Roxas is right behind him. **

**Cagalli watches them go then turns to face the shooting range then after a moment's pause turns back to face the door. The camera cuts to the lunchroom. Shadow, Jack and Kenny are already in there when Drake walks in with Nick and Roxas right behind him. Nick doesn't like being left in the dark.**

Nick: Alright mates what's going on?

**Shadow shrugs he also looks annoyed**

Shadow: Don't ask me Drake just said he wanted to talk to us.

**Nick and Roxas walk over to where Shadow, Jack and Kenny are sitting. Roxas walking on all fours quickly scans the room then asks**

Roxas: Why's Cagalli not here?

**All eyes turn to Roxas. Roxas staring at Drake narrows her eyes and goes on**

Roxas: You've got the whole team here except Cagalli who you specifically told not to come!

**The suspicion in her voice is clear. All eyes turn to Drake now; Drake gives a short laugh then grins slightly.**

Drake: Ha, you don't miss a beat. As you can all guess I gather everyone here to talk about Cagalli.

**No one likes were this is going**

Kenny: What about?

**Drake blinks and says simply**

Drake: I want her gone.

**Everyone is shocked**

Jack, Kenny, and Roxas: What!

Nick: Why!

**Drake starts yelling silencing them**

Drake: WHY, WHY, because out of all you guys she's the only one who hasn't progress in her training!

Jack: So you want to get rid of her because she's weak!

**Drake sighs. The camera zooms out momentary to show Cagalli hiding next to the door, she looks shocked. The camera zooms in back on Drake**

Drake: It's not the weakness I have a problem with; it's her lack of progress that's pissing me off!

**Nick shrugs**

Nick: So it takes the miss longer to get better at stuff, I don't see how that's a good enough reason to just get rid of her mate!

**Drake shakes his head**

Drake: You misunderstand, I didn't say she was progressing slowly, I said she wasn't progressing at all!

**Everyone is surprise. Drake goes on as he gestures at Shadow**

Drake: Shadow is progressing slowly but we can still see him getting slightly better whereas Cagalli isn't getting better at all! She's just a burden to the team; it be better if you get rid her now before your first fight!

**Jack is angry**

Jack: Who made you an expert on progress, how do you know that she isn't getting better at such a slow rate that you just can't notice!

**Drake yells back**

Drake: Because I've been doing this job before you were even a sparkle in your father's eye! If she had gotten even a 1/100 percent better at anything I would have notice!

**Seeing their looks of anger Drake sighs**

Drake: Look I know you guys like her and you think she's your friend but she's the only one that isn't putting 100% into her training and that's why she isn't progressing!

**Kenny asks**

Kenny: I hear what you're saying but our first match is 2 weeks away and we're already short one fighter, if we get rid of Cagalli we'll be short 2 fighters.

**Drake is unconcern**

Drake: Don't worry about that, I can find you 2 fighters in 2 weeks.

**There's a moment of pause as everyone works to think of something to say. Drake sees this hesitation**

Drake: I only agree to manage this team because I thought you guys were serious and determine to become a professional Gundam Team, and not some punk kids looking to get some kicks. Being a professional Gundam Team isn't something you just wake up when day and say "Oh I know, today I want to be a Gundam Fighter", it's something that you put your blood and sweat into and work yourself to the ground to become!

**Everyone is silent as they take this in, then Shadow speaks, as he speaks his voice grows in volume and anger.**

Shadow: We know this Drake, and if you think for one second that we haven't put everything we've got into this training then your

**Drake cuts him off**

Drake: I'm not questioning your guy's effort; it's obvious that you're putting everything you have into this training but it's just as obvious that Cagalli isn't. If it was the majorly of you guys not putting enough effort into the training then I would have stop managing you all together but it's just one person so it's simple. Just dump the person not pulling her weight!

**No one knows what to say. Drake once again sighs**

Drake: I know it may seem mean to just get rid of her but trust me a person like her doesn't have the drive to push themselves beyond their limit and that is an invaluable thing you need to have to become a successful Gundam Team.

**Nick and Kenny look to the ground defeated, Jack and Roxas are glaring at Drake but it looks like they're force to accept it. The camera zooms out a little to show Cagalli leaning against the outside wall next to the door; she's overheard everything and looks miserable.**

Shadow: You're wrong!

**Although Shadow doesn't raise his voice he says this firmly, all eyes turn to him surprise, even Cagalli looks up from herself pity surprise. Drake narrows his eyes on Shadow**

Drake: Listen brat I've got 40 years of experience reading people, are you saying that you can read people better than me!

**The threatening tone is his voice is clear but Shadow doesn't back down.**

Shadow: No, all I'm saying is that you're wrong about Cagalli. I can see a spark in her eyes!

**Now Drake is confused**

Drake: Spark?

**Shadow nods his head**

Shadow: It's been buried deep in there through years of politician upbringing and crappy rules of etiquette but it's there and I believe that one day that spark will grow into a great and powerful inferno!

**The camera zooms out to show a shock Cagalli. The camera zooms back in on Shadow to show that everyone else is shocked. Shadow and Drake are staring at each other seeming to have a battle of wills.**

Drake: A spark huh, well I don't see it! What if I say that either Cagalli goes or I go?

**Deep surprise crosses everyone's face as they begin to look back and forth between Shadow and Drake.**

Shadow: Then I would have to say thanks for everything and goodbye.

**Shadow and Drake resume their staring contest. A bullet would have trouble piercing the tension, after a tense moment Drake sighs.**

Drake: You really are a stubborn idiot aren't you? Go get back to your training.

**Nick, Roxas, Jack, Kenny and Shadow get up and begin to walk out of the cafeteria. Cagalli has duck down a hall and isn't seen by them. Drake is the last person to come out, he stops and looks in the direction of Cagalli. He alone is not fooled**

Drake: Don't think this is over; you and I are definitely going to have a talk about this later!

**The episode ends with Drake walking away and Cagalli just leaning on the wall once more looking miserable.**


	20. Episode 19

Episode 19

**The episode opens up at night showing the place Shadow and the others are staying at. We cut inside Cagalli's room to show her sleeping, in the corner of the screen the time and day is displayed 11pm Day 14. Drake walks in the room and kicks Cagalli still in her PJs out of the bed.**

Drake: Wake up!

**Cagalli crashes to the ground, very startle she looks around and focuses in on Drake, she becomes pissed.**

Cagalli: What the hell!

**Drake begins to walk out of the room**

Drake: Get dress, it's time we had our talk and if you go back to sleep I swear I'll throw you out the window!

**Drake walks out of the room, Cagalli glares at him a moment then goes to grab her clothes. The camera cuts outside to show Cagalli and Drake walking down a street. We can see the moon and the streetlights are on. Cagalli is following behind Drake, she looks nervous. Drake breaks the silence**

Drake: You know it's rude to eavesdrop on other people's conversation.

**Cagalli is slightly irritated**

Cagalli: You know it's rude to talk about people behind their back!

**Drake stops and turns to look at her**

Drake: Let's cut the crap, if I had my way you'd be kicked off the team but Shadow has got it in his head that you've got some kind of spark in your eyes and we both know how stubborn he can be.

**Cagalli and Drake are glaring at each other**

Cagalli: And what did I do during the training that caused you to dislike me so much?

**Cagalli doesn't raise her voice but the anger is clear**

Drake: I dislike you even before the training because in my opinion you're the worst type of person!

**Cagalli snaps**

Cagalli: You don't know anything about me!

**Drake snaps**

Drake: I know exactly who you are Miss Cagalli Yula Athha daughter of Uzumi Nara Athha.

**Cagalli blinks in surprise**

Cagalli: Y-you do?

**Drake nods still glaring at her**

Drake: You think I would just manage anyone without question, unlike you I have contacts and made some calls to find out more about you guys but imagine my surprise when I found out that you're the real Cagalli from Orb and not just some crazy nut-job. I made sure to get the file on you and that has everything you did during the wars in it.

**Cagalli doesn't know what to do now**

Cagalli: Then

**Drake cuts her off**

Drake: If you're going to ask for my help to get you back to earth you can forget it! I don't like you so there's no way in hell I'm going to help you!

**Cagalli's anger quickly comes back**

Cagalli: So you don't like me because in your opinion I'm the worst type of person but what type of person am I!

**Drake yells back**

Drake: You're a parasite! You can't do anything by yourself, you always have to leach off of others power!

**Cagalli is shocked**

Cagalli: Th-that's not true!

**Drake doesn't let up**

Drake: Oh really then tell me one thing you did by yourself to help end the Bloody Valentine wars!

**Cagalli gets even angrier**

Cagalli: I command a battleship during the first Bloody Valentine War!

**Drake laughs**

Drake: HAHAHAHHA, you actually think that, hahahhaha, no, no, no, Lacus Clyne took command of the battleships, she's the one who took charge and gave people hope and a target. As for you commanding the ship, that position was given to you out of polite courtesy because of your father. Face it, a monkey could do the job just as well as you did, oh here's an example when your ship got caught in some kind of wire you come up with the brilliant plan of cut it. I mean really you really thought that you were the best person to command the battleship?

**Cagalli hesitates before speaking. Drake sees this and pounces**

Drake: Having trouble thinking of something? Well to save time how about I start listing events you might try to use and then tell you why you're wrong. Let's start from the beginning and go with Desert Dawn, well first off you hardly ever went out to the front lines and when you did you had that bodyguard Ledonir Kisaka watching your every move. The only reason they held you in such high regards was because of the intel you gave them on the ZAFT mobile suits and that wasn't even your intel that was your fathers! Then you join the Archangel and let's face it the only thing you manage to do was break the record of most shot downs without dying. Then there was the battle of Orb against the Earth Alliance where you just sat in the command room and did nothing except rely on Kira, Athrun, and your father!

**Cagalli tries to defend herself**

Cagalli: I was commanding the Orb force and a commander doesn't leave her post!

**Drake rolls his eyes**

Drake: Please everyone in that room was three times more qualify then you to lead the Orb forces the only reason they had you in their was to give you the feeling of doing something without putting you in any real danger and like a sucker you bought it. Then you became the commander of the Kusanagi and we already went over how you suck at that.

Drake: Then you became a politician and the only way you were able to get away with half the stuff you did was because the other politicians look the other way out of respect of you father or because they knew the public loved you. Then came the second Bloody Valentine War, some will argue with me on this but it's my opinion it began with the Theft at Armory one.

Drake: Oh by the way are you really that naive that you thought you could talk the Plants out of using Orb technology on military projects or are you just that stupid? Then the fighting breaks out and what do you did, you follow Athrun around like a little lost puppy, I mean can you be any more of a burden and another thing when Athrun made the choice to get into that ZAKU Warrior to save both your lives why did you let him pilot it?

**While Drake's been talking Cagalli is becoming more and more frustrated as she struggles to think of something to say in her defense.**

Cagalli: It just sort of happen, there was no time to think

**Drake cuts her off**

Drake: So what you're saying is that instead of trying to get out of the situation by using your own power, you instinctively leach off of Athrun's power and you couldn't even do that right! The moment Athrun starts gaining the upper hand the poor little princess hits her head and blacks out forcing him to withdraw, talk about the very definition of a burden!

Drake: Then you got stuck on the Minerva while they pursued the thefts, now I can understand the reason for you not joining the fight if you wanted to keep a neutral stance for your nation but you and I both know that wasn't the real reason you didn't help them. The real reason was your own fear, your fear of conflict, your fear of fighting, and your fear of War, so while Athrun was growing more restless by doing nothing you were unable to do anything but sit and watch!

Drake: Then when Junius Seven was about to drop Athrun couldn't take it anymore and went out to help, but what did you do? You slept like a little baby while Athrun and the Minerva went ahead and save the day; even when you found out that Athrun had gone out you did nothing to help but just sat there once again leaching off his power. Then when you got to Orb you couldn't even do your job as politician right and your brother had to save you from your own incompetence again! While you were on board the Archangel you once again did nothing but take up space, moan and cry about how tough life is!

**Cagalli has had enough**

Cagalli: I try to help, I kept trying to stop the Orb forces but they wouldn't listen!

Drake: And whose fault do you think that was! YOURS, the reason your own men didn't listen to you was because of your own weakness, if you were a true commander then you would have try to force them to listen but instead you left that to Kira and the Archangel while you cry and did nothing but have a pity party! And what about when the Archangel was being pursued by the Minerva and it was obvious that Kira needed help, but no instead of helping him fight the Impulse you just sat and try to leach off his power, which almost got him killed!

**Cagalli's anger, frustration, and desperation all boils over**

Cagalli: But I made it up, I save Orb when they were under attack by ZAFT, I did that, ME!

**Drake screams**

Drake: Your father was the one who saved Orb not you!

**Cagalli blinks surprise**

Cagalli: What?

**Drake goes on**

Drake: I've got to give that guy credit, even though I don't agree with everything he said and did any man that can protect his nation even from the grave deserve the highest level of respect. It was the Akatsuki that save Orb; it wasn't your piloting skills that save Orb it was because you had one of the most advance mobile suits ever built. In fact it was because of your crappy piloting skills that you almost got it destroyed when you fought the Destiny, but world of wonders who once again comes to save you! Kira once again saved your sorry ass, and instead of continuing to try to fight you back out like the coward you are and let Kira take over!

Cagalli: The pilot of the Destiny was better than I was it made more sense to let Kira fight him while I go take command of the Orb forces at the command center!

Drake: So the moment a fight gets tough you back out and leach off Kira or Athrun to take care of it and don't give me some half ass accused like you had to take control at the command center because what did you do except sit on your ass and wait for Djibril to be found? Then after the battle was over and Kira and Athrun had won it for you, all you had to do was tell the people of the World that you were no longer with Djibril but you couldn't even do that, this time you had to leach off of Lacus's power to help you! Which brings me to my final point, why didn't you go with the Archangel to stop Durandal?

**Cagalli doesn't know what to say**

Cagalli: I-I had to tend to my responsibilities as Orb's leader.

Drake: Please you had over a dozen different people you could have left in charge that would have done a better job then you, in reality you had to leach off of Kira, Athrun, Lacus and the whole crew of the Archangel because you were too weak to do anything and that's why I don't like!

**There's a very sad silence as Cagalli fails to think of anything to say in her defense.**

Cagalli: If you thought this all along then why did you even bother putting me through the training regiment in the first place?

**She asks miserably. Drake looks at her and sighs**

Drake: Well in all honesty I expected you'd quit sometime in the first day of training, I thought you think along the lines of "I can't possibly continue, my hands are shaking this bad from just half-a-day's training, if Kira or Athrun were here they could do it but I'm nowhere near as strong as they are."

**Cagalli looks away**

Cagalli (He really is good at reading people, that's almost exactly what would have happen if I hadn't notice Shadow's hand shaking too.)

**Drake breaks Cagalli's chain of thought**

Drake: The fact that you didn't was a very big surprise to me, but just showing up to something and putting every fiber of your being into something are two completely different things!

**Cagalli is on the defensive**

Cagalli: I am putting all my effort into the training!

**Drake snaps**

Drake: No you're not! You're just going through the motions, you're not pushing yourself to your limit but since you can't seem to see that let me show you!

**While they've been talking Drake has lead Cagalli to the building where he makes them climb the stairs. Drake gestures to it then walks inside, Cagalli confused follows him inside.**

Cagalli: What did you want to show me here?

**Drake walks over to the door that leads to the stairs.**

Drake: What true effort looks like!

**Drake slightly opens the door and gestures for her to take a peek. He also puts a finger over his mouth to tell her to be quiet. Cagalli looks annoyed but takes a look anyway, we cut inside the spiral staircase room to see Shadow. He's about 20 steps up from the bottom of the staircase and has hop onto the rail. The camera cuts back to Cagalli and Drake, Cagalli looks confused.**

Cagalli: That's Shadow, what's he doing here this late?

**The camera goes back to Shadow to show him tense and then jump to the spiral rail across from him. We cut quickly back to Cagalli to show deep surprise**

Cagalli: What!

**We cut back to Shadow to show him actually make the jump to the side of the cement rail across from him this time. He turns before he applies all of his pressure then jumps to the other rail across from him in an upward zigzag fashion.**

**He manages to do this four more times but once he gets to the 5th spiral his feet slip and he loses his balance. Shadow swings his arms in an attempt to regain his balance but it's pointless. Shadow falls to the ground on his back, he lands hard but it doesn't look like he broke anything.**

Shadow: Owwwww

**He lays on the ground for a moment more then gets up and rubs his back.**

Shadow: Well that hurt, stupid feet slip!

**Shadow begins to climb the stairs again to restart the process. The camera cuts back to Drake and Cagalli; Cagalli is still surprise but Drake explains.**

Drake: This is the reason why Shadow is getting better and you're staying the same. Shadow has becoming here every night since the first day of training, he spends and extra 2 hours every night trying to jump to the top of the stairs.

**Cagalli still looks confused as she watches Shadow try again to jump to the top. He never seems able to pass the fourth spiral before falling but every time he falls he gets back up.**

Cagalli: Why, Why does he do it?

**Drake looks at her for a moment then answers**

Drake: Because he wants to get stronger, he wants to become a professional Gundam Fighter and it's not just him, Nick goes to a gun shop every night to get better at using different guns, Roxas runs around the city every night to improve her speed, and Jack and Kenny continue to work on the Gundams for an extra 2 hours every night. You're the only one who goes directly to bed after training, so don't turn around and tell me that you're training just as hard as they are!

**When Drake brings up the others the camera quickly cuts to where they are. We see Nick practicing at a shooting range with a different kind of gun, Roxas running in the dark on all fours at full speed and of Jack and Kenny working on the Gundams. We cut back to Cagalli to show her deeply shocked.**

Cagalli: Why, Why didn't they say anything?

**Drake shrugs**

Drake: They probably suspect each other of training every night but it's kind of like they have a silent agreement not to talk about it.

**Drake notices Cagalli looks even more miserable. Drake sighs**

Drake: However I guess it's not entirely your fault; after all you're the only one that doesn't have motivation.

**Cagalli doesn't understand**

Cagalli: Motivation?

**Drake looks at her then turns back to face Shadow**

Drake: Motivation, the reason we push ourselves to the absolute limit. Shadow and Jack are motivated by their dreams, Nick and Kenny are motivated by their own personal goals, and Roxas is training so that she can one day kick my ass. That girl cannot take insults well.

**Drake smiles at the last part, Cagalli slightly grins at the joke. Drake gets serious again**

Drake: But you never had motivation to push yourself to your limit did you. It makes sense when you think about it, you were ripped from Earth and drop onto a strange new planet which you knew nothing about, since then you been just following Shadow around not sure what to do. Shadow and the others had made it plainly clear that no one would believe you if you told them who you were, you need proof.

Drake: But how are you going to get proof, a DNA match would be the only undeniable proof any government official would accept, however that isn't as easy as it sounds. You would have to first find someone with access to your DNA, and by your DNA I mean the DNA of Cagalli Yula Athha that's on record, and trust me when I say that DNA recorders of Earth leaders are some of the most classified and hard to get information on Sora.

Drake: You'd have to be one of the top leaders in a well-informed nation to have that kind of information and anyone with that kind power isn't going to let you within 30 feet of them without an appointment and getting an appointment with them as you are now would be like trying to fight a bear unarm.

**Cagalli is looking at him extremely irritated**

Cagalli: So what are you trying to say, that it's impossible for me to ever get back to Earth to Orb, that I'm doom to spend the rest my days on Sora!

**Drake looks at her for a moment then says**

Drake: No it's not impossible; in fact you've already taken the first steps to getting to your goal.

**Cagalli blinks surprise**

Cagalli: Huh?

**Drake smiles as he goes on**

Drake: You see being a Gundam Team not associated with any nation has its advantages, when you get to a high rank nations will start doing background checks on you so they know how best to approach you whether you be an enemy, ally, or just someone they can use but that doesn't matter right now. What's important is that when the nations start doing background checks someone will realize that you're not crazy and that you really are Cagalli Yula Athha from Orb and when that happens I'm sure you'll be able to work out some sort of arrangement where you do them a favor and then they'll send you back to Orb.

**Cagalli has been taking all this in carefully she now asks a question.**

Cagalli: What rank will the team have to become before the nations start doing background checks?

**Drake once again takes a moment before answering**

Drake: Well it will depend on your battle and missions performances and bunch of other records but at the very least C rank.

**Cagalli looks at him suspicious**

Cagalli: Why are you giving me all of this information? I thought you said you wouldn't help because you don't like me and aren't you afraid that I might leach off of Shadow's power?

**Drake looks to Cagalli then back to Shadow. The camera quickly cuts to Shadow to show him once again falling and landing hard on his back, we cut back to Drake and Cagalli.**

Drake: I'm heavily invested in this team now, I want it to succeed but right now you're a large rock on this team's back that's weighing it down and since I can't get rid of you I have to motivate you to push yourself to your limit so that's why I told you how you can get back to Earth and Orb. I will warn you though if you think you can leach off of Shadow's power to get yourself to C rank you're sadly mistaken. Shadow isn't like Kira or Athrun, he's nowhere near as strong as they are, he barley has enough power to protect himself let alone another person, that's why he made sure every member of his team are on some level capable of self-defense, and if you're going to be a member of this team then you better learn how to fight.

**Cagalli hesitates, she avoids eye contact with Drake instead she looks back at Shadow. Her eyes open wide in surprise, Drake seeing this and turns back to look at Shadow too. The camera cuts back to Shadow to show him jumping back and forth on the cement spirals only this time he climbed 6 spirals and he's still going. **

**Shadow looks excited, but as he jumps to the 12th spiral his feet give out on him and he falls backward, he's a good distance off the ground. He lands harder than normal on the ground and doesn't move for a moment. Cagalli panicking rushes towards Shadow.**

Cagalli: Shadow!

**When Cagalli reaches Shadow she gets on her hands and knees and lifts his head up.**

Cagalli: Shadow can you hear me, Shadow, Shadow, Shadow!

**Cagalli begins to slightly shake Shadow, there's obvious panic in her voice. Shadow's eyes are open but they look glazed over, suddenly he blinks then moans.**

Shadow: Owwwwwwwwww that really hurt.

**Cagalli breathes a sigh relief then yells at Shadow**

Cagalli: You idiot are you trying to get yourself killed! What the hell were you thinking!

**Shadow still trying to get his sense of surroundings back sits up**

Shadow: Aw man you caught me doing my secret training.

**Cagalli still tick snaps**

Cagalli: Don't change the subject; what were you thinking doing this kind of dangerous training by yourself!

**Shadow rubs his back and smiles at her**

Shadow: I wanted to surprise you guys on the last day of training by showing you I could jump up the stairs the way Drake does but what are you doing here?

**Cagalli not sure how to answer that turns to look for Drake at the door but Drake has already disappear, she turns back to face Shadow then says carefully.**

Cagalli: I saw you leave the apartment tonight so I follow you to see if you're alright, have you been coming here every night?

**Shadow nods his head believing her lie**

Shadow: Yup, damn I thought I was being sneaky, I supposed you're going to tell the others about this.

**Shadow looks sadden by this. Cagalli hesitates for a moment then gets up and rubs dust off her pants.**

Cagalli: Tell them about what it's not like you actually made it to the top.

**Shadow looks at Cagalli surprise and happy at the same time. Cagalli turns away and begins to look up at the spiral cement staircase.**

Cagalli: Why do you do this to yourself, most coordinators can't even jump to the top of the stairs the way Drake does?

**Shadow looks confused**

Shadow: What does that have to do with anything?

**Cagalli is growing frustrated; she begins to talk slowly as if to a child who doesn't understand.**

Cagalli: Look you and I are naturals it's nothing personal but something like this is impossible for us to do, are genes just aren't program for it.

**Shadow looks pissed**

Shadow: Drake did it!

**Cagalli snaps**

Cagalli: Drake is a freak of nature!

**Shadow yells**

Shadow: How do you know I'm not too!

**Cagalli takes a quick glance at Shadow's un-athletic and non-muscular body and then looks at Shadow like he's an idiot.**

Cagalli: Yea you're not.

**Shadow and Cagalli glare at each other for a moment then Shadow turns around and begins to climb the stairs again.**

Shadow: Believe what you want but my dream is to become the greatest Gundam Fighter this world has ever seen and if I can't even do this then I have no hope of my dream ever coming true. So I'm going to get to the top of these stairs by jumping on the rails even if it breaks every bone in my body!

**He says the last sentence with such determination that Cagalli is momentary stun. Shadow begins to jump up the stair rails. He only gets to the 4th spiral before falling again but he gets right back up and tries again, he does about the same. Cagalli watches him attempt 3 more jumps with little or no progress.**

Cagalli (So this is what Drake meant when he said people with motivation can push themselves to their limit.)

**Cagalli eyes take on a determine look**

Cagalli (Well I have my own motivation now, if the only way to get back to Orb is to play this stupid game then I'll do it, I'll get stronger so I can rise through the ranks until I reach C rank!)

**Cagalli gets on the ground and starts doing push-ups as Shadow attempts more jumps. The camera cuts forward in time to show Cagalli and Shadow walking home, in the corner of the screen the time and day is shown, 12am Day 15.**

**Both Cagalli and Shadow look sore it looks like they spent the whole time training. There's also an awkward angry silence. Shadow still annoyed with Cagalli from the earlier incident breaks the tension.**

Shadow: Why'd you stay, if my training is so pointless why didn't you leave?

**Cagalli also annoyed with Shadow**

Cagalli: I stayed to make sure you didn't kill yourself that kind of training is too dangerous for you to do by yourself.

**Shadow getting over his anger of Cagalli, smiles**

Shadow: Then why were you doing push-ups and sit-ups?

**Cagalli even more annoyed by Shadow's smug attitude says**

Cagalli: I was bored so I figure I do some realistic training why you're doing your stupid training!

**The scene ends with Shadow being offended and shouting back**

Shadow: My training is way better than yours!

**The next scene opens up in the eating area of Jack's ship. Nick, Jack, Kenny, Roxas, Shadow and Cagalli are sitting at 2 tables close to each other, in the corner of the screen the time and day is displayed 12pm Day 15. Jack seems to have asked the Gundam Pilots a question**

Cagalli: What do you mean what weapons do we use in a Gundam Fight?

**Jack looks annoyed**

Jack: It's exactly what I said, what weapons do you guys want for your Gundams?

**Roxas eating a chicken leg asks**

Roxas: What does it matter doesn't the Gundam come with a set of weapons that we just have to get use to?

**Drake walks over and answers**

Drake: That'd be true if you guys were buying mass produce factory sold Gundams but Jack is making these things from scratch so you get your choice of weapon. Of course that's only if Jack can make them on time for your Gundam fight.

**Everyone seems to accept this. Nick goes first**

Nick: A beam rifle will be fine for me mate.

**Roxas very excited now goes next**

Roxas: Oh, Oh, Oh, can you make something that will imitate my gold claws, like, like beam claws or something like that!

**Jack has been writing everything down in her PDA, she nods her head.**

Jack: Yup I'm pretty sure I can do something like that.

**Jack looks to Shadow next**

Shadow: You don't have to worry about me; the beam saber that comes with Nightwing is perfect for me.

**Jack nods her head, she seems to have already expected this. Kenny grins at Shadow**

Kenny: It's not like you have any other weapon your good at.

**Shadow annoyed at Kenny snaps**

Shadow: Shut up!

**While Shadow is glaring at Kenny Jack looks to Cagalli**

Jack: What about you Cagalli, what do you want?

**Cagalli thinks about this for a moment, we have a quick flashback of when Cagalli piloted the Akatsuki against the Destiny when she activated the twin beam saber.**

Cagalli: A beam rifle for long range combat and a twin beam saber for close range combat.

**Drake suddenly shouts**

Drake: Absolutely not!

**Everyone turns around surprise by Drake's sudden outburst**

Drake: The twin beam saber is the stupidest weapon on the planet and the man who invented it should be shot!

**Everyone is really surprise now, it's not like Drake to lose his composer over something like this. Shadow curious asks**

Shadow: How do you figure that?

**Drake still pissed says**

Drake: Well for starters because there's a blade at both ends your defense stance is very limit, if you're doing a stabbing attack your opponent can just grab the blade and thrust forward and suddenly you're the one getting stab, plus you can't twist your wrist to change your blades angle because you'll end up slicing your own arm off, overall it sucks as a weapon!

**Kenny looks at Drake skeptical**

Kenny: What about the whole flow of motion thing?

**Drake snaps**

Drake: It's a load of crap and as long as I'm manager of this team none of you guys we be caught dead or alive using that weapon so pick another god damn weapon!

**With that Drake storms out, everyone is still surprise by Drake's sudden collapse of composer. Tim walks up to them smiling kindly and explains**

Tim: Sorry about that, don't take it personal it's just that the twin beam saber is the only weapon Drake has failed to master.

**Everyone looks at him surprise**

Kenny: Really?

**Tim nods his head**

Tim: Yup Drake is to the twin beam saber like Shadow is to guns, he just can't use it.

**Shadow looks slightly annoyed by this comment but everyone else nods their head in understanding. Tim turns to Cagalli**

Tim: You'll have to forgive me for saying this but I don't think the twin beam saber is a good weapon for you to use. I don't believe what Drake said about it being a bad weapon but it is a weapon that takes a large amount of practice to even begin to use it correctly and frankly you don't have that kind time left until your first Gundam fight.

**Cagalli blushes in embarrassment as she realizes Tim is right. Shadow looks at her bored**

Shadow: Why'd you even want that weapon in the first place your weapon is the Guan Dao.

**Cagalli looks at Shadow like he's an idiot**

Cagalli: You moron they don't make a weapon like the Guan Dao for Gundams!

**Jack eyes open wide**

Jack: Well actually I think can.

**Cagalli looks at Jack surprise**

Cagalli: What, really!

**Jack has stop paying attention to her surroundings, she's quickly writing stuff down in her PDA.**

Jack: Let's see if I do this, and combined this and do that and then rewired this

**Shadow starts waving his hand in front of Jack's face**

Shadow: Hey Jack come back down to Sora.

**Jack blinks as she refocuses on what's going on**

Jack: Huh? Oh sorry about that but yes I'm 100% positive I can make a beam Guan Dao for you!

**Jack says this proudly. Cagalli is both surprise and slightly happy by this news. Tim claps his hands.**

Tim: Great now that's settle, Oh by the way you no longer have to do stretching excises after your sparing matches instead everyone except Shadow will be using an NS system simulator.

**Cagalli looks at him confused**

Cagalli: NS system simulator?

**Tim examples**

Tim: It's basically a portable Gundam cockpit that's attach to a computer and simulates battles, it doesn't really help for battle experience but it's great if you just want to get use to the NS system. Anyway I was just giving you fair warning so see you guys later.

**Tim waves goodbye as he walks away. Everyone waves back**

Everyone: Bye/see you.

**Shadow wipes his hands, he's finish eating.**

Shadow: Well I guess it's about time we get back to training.

**The inspiration training music comes back on as we reenter slideshow mode. All the pictures have the time and day on them and they go in order with no picture going over Day 29. The pictures show Shadow, Nick, Roxas and Cagalli training. **

**We can see that Shadow and Cagalli are getting better, and towards the end of the slideshow we see Shadow and Cagalli keeping up with Nick and Roxas as they jog at a pretty fast speed. We see all four of them almost dodge every single dodge ball, they're doing their step punch and step kick a lot faster now and it doesn't look like they're getting tired much.**

**They're easily hopping from square to square now and they're doing push-ups fast and easily. We can see that Shadow can now hold his own in his sparing matches with Roxas and Nick although they still beat him by a little. Cagalli is also doing better in her sparing matches with Roxas although Roxas still slightly wins. **

**Shadow and Cagalli are perfectly even in their sparing matches. We also see Cagalli, Nick and Roxas taking turns using the NS system simulator, Drake teaching, moving the steel blocks to the truck outside the dock. Shadow and Cagalli can now lift 2 steel blocks by themselves, Nick and Roxas can lift 3.**

**We also see Kenny and Jack working on the Gundams although we never see a Gundam in its entirety. The slideshow ends and the screen goes black. The camera goes back to normal to show the apartments, this time we're in Jack's room. Jack is lying face down on her bed.**

**We can see sunlight coming in from a window; Jack twitches then gets up and yawns. She has bed head and she still looks drowsy. She scratches her head then grabs her PDA from one of the pockets of her jean jacket. She turns it on and her eyes go wide and she yells**

Jack: Oh my god you assholes!

**She jumps out of bed and grabs her jacket and a pair of blue jeans on the floor and rushes out of the room. She curses along the way**

Jack: Douchebags, assholes, jerks; I'm going to pay you all back for this!

**She shouts this as she puts on her clothes while running to the stairs. The camera cuts to each of the rooms to show Cagalli, Roxas, Nick, Kenny and Shadow getting woken up by Jack's shouting. **

**Jack manages to get her clothes on while jumping down the stairs. She rushes to the kitchen area grabs a cup and pours water from the sink into it. She then gurgles the water and spits it out into the sink. She's just about to leave when Shadow and the others come down the stairs.**

Shadow: Jack what are you doing?

**Jack stops and turns around surprise**

Cagalli: Why were you yelling?

**Roxas annoyed**

Roxas: I was sleeping!

**Nick worried**

Nick: Is everything ok mate?

**Kenny also annoyed**

Kenny: Now you guys know what I have to deal with.

**Jack getting irritated**

Jack: Its 10am, I thought you guys had somehow gotten me to oversleep.

**Confused looks crosses everyone's faces as they come down the stairs.**

Kenny: Wait its 10am?

Cagalli: Why didn't the alarms go off?

**All eyes turn to Shadow for a moment. Shadow looks annoyed**

Shadow: What!

**Roxas says slowly**

Roxas: Well no offence but don't you always wake up every morning and say "I swear to god I'm going to find that horn and drown it in a river"?

**Shadow slightly offended**

Shadow: I didn't actually do that; I could never find where Drake hid that stupid horn.

**While they've been talking Nick has walk over to the table and pick up a letter. He opens it and quickly scans the letter inside.**

Nick: Hey mates, I think Drake left us a letter.

**Jack still slightly tick grabs the letter from Nick.**

Jack: Give me that!

**She scans the letter then begins to read aloud**

Jack: Dear Rookies, congratulations you've somehow manage to survive 29 days of my training regiment. Tomorrow is your first Gundam Fight as an official Gundam team so today is your day of rest before the big fight. I've enclosed the codes for your weight suits, you can leave them off since you'll no longer be using them, and your body will need at least a day to get readjusted to its own natural weight. When you've gotten up get dress and meet me on Jack's ship. PS: Shadow you've had better come up with a name for your team by the time you've get here or I'll pick it! From Drake.

**Jack begins to pass around the letter**

Kenny: Well that's pretty nice of Drake.

**Shadow, Nick, Roxas and Cagalli have taken off their weight suits and put them on the table. Shadow grins**

Shadow: Wow this feels so weird, my whole body feels as light as a feather!

**Shadow jumps 2 feet into the air**

Shadow: Whoa did you see how high I jump!

**He asks excitedly. Roxas has also taken off her weights and started jumping up and down, she can jump 5 feet into the air, and she is also excited.**

Roxas: I know, I know, look at high I can jump, look at high I can jump!

**Shadow and Roxas start jumping around like a couple of excited rabbits. Jack and Kenny are looking at them pretty impressed.**

Kenny: That's incredible!

Jack: You guys really improved!

**Nick and Cagalli have taken off their weights and put them on the table, suddenly the table collapses. Everyone jumps back surprise**

Nick: I guess we must have put too much weigh on it mates.

**Jack starts to examine the table closely**

Jack: That's weird, that table is well made it should have been able to hold 600 pounds. The Vests are 60 pounds, the boots are 40 and the gloves are 20 which equal 120 pounds times 4 is 480 pounds. The table should have been able to hold it.

**Jack goes over to examine the weights. She picks up a vest, she's surprise by how much it weighs and has to use 2 hands to lift it up.**

Jack: There is no way this is 60 pounds, this is closer to 100 pounds.

**Shadow rolls his eyes**

Shadow: I don't think you're very good at judging weight Jack.

**Jack glares at him**

Jack: Back at Tom's warehouse I lifted heavily stuff each day; trust me when I say this is about 100 pounds.

**Kenny examines the vest while Jack looks at a glove. Kenny surprised can't lift it.**

Kenny: Jack's right this has got to be close to 100 pounds.

**Confused everyone gathers around**

Jack: These gloves are 60 pounds and the boots are 80 pounds.

**Shadow finally makes the connection**

Shadow: Son of a bitch Drake must have been adding a pound or 2 every day to our weight suits while we were taking a shower.

**Roxas has the everything makes sense look on her face.**

Roxas: I thought it was weird that the weights never felt lighter as the days went on.

**Everyone looks at the weights for a moment then Roxas and Shadow shrug.**

Shadow and Roxas: Oh well.

**Shadow and Roxas start jumping up and down again. Cagalli looks at them like they're nuts.**

Cagalli: What do you mean oh well!

**Shadow answer in an easy going manner**

Shadow: Well it's not like we can do anything about it now besides Drake only did that to make us stronger.

**Nick, Jack and Kenny seem fine with this answer but Cagalli still looks unhappy.**

Cagalli: Fine but will you guys stop jumping around, god you guys are acting like a bunch of little kids. Will you start acting your own age already.

**Shadow stops jumping and turns and grins playfully at Cagalli.**

Shadow: I'll stop acting like a kid when you'll stop acting like an old hag.

**Shadow doesn't say this insultingly but more playfully which throws Cagalli off. She doesn't know how to react to this and while she's distracted Roxas jumps behind her and grabs her breasts from behind.**

Roxas: Cagalli stop being such a stick in the mud and jump with us!

**Roxas still holding Cagalli's breast jumps up into the air and pulls Cagalli with her**

Cagalli: Hey, put me down you perverted freak!

**Roxas ignores Cagalli and continues jumping up and down while pulling Cagalli with her. Nick claps his hands.**

Nick: Alright mates let's head to Jack's ship and see what Drake wants.

**Everyone nods their head and then the camera cuts to the Gundam Hanger inside Jack's ship. The camera does close ups of the 2 new Basic Originals, there's also a new type of Gundam that can best be describe as a tiger looking Gundam.**

**It's body looks slim but not too slim like a balance of speed and power. It has a tail, four legs each with a set of claws. It's head has a full mouth of teeth, the camera turns around to show a shock/impressed Cagalli, Nick, Roxas and Shadow. Kenny and Jack are grinning in pride.**

Shadow: Wow you guys are incredible; you made all this in just a month!

**Kenny still grinning scratches his head**

Kenny: Well it's all thanks to Jack, I didn't really do much.

Jack: Don't be stupid without your programming skills I would've never been able to operate some of the new machinery which would have forced me to do everything manually which would have taken 3 times longer.

**Cagalli gestures to the new type of Gundam**

Cagalli: What about that one, I've never seen a Gundam like that before?

**Shadow taking a closer look at it comments**

Shadow: It's defiantly an animal type Gundam.

**Kenny nods his head**

Kenny: It's the animal type tiger class Gundam.

**Nick titles his head slightly**

Nick: It looks more like a lion to me mate.

**Kenny shakes his head**

Kenny: The lion class is more bulky then the tiger class making it more powerful but less agile and fast. The leopard class is slimmer then the tiger class making it faster and agiler then the tiger class but it's less powerful.

**Drake comes out of nowhere and says**

Drake: What he's basically saying is that the tiger class is a good balance of speed and power.

**Everyone slightly jumps at Drake's sudden appearance but it's apparent that they're getting used to it. Drake seeing their reaction says**

Drake: Seriously you guys should start paying better attention to your surroundings. Anyway you did a good job building these Gundams in such a short amount of time Jack but I thought you said it would be impossible to build 3 Basic Originals in a month? Not only did you built 2 Basic Originals you also built an animal tiger class Gundam.

**Drake says smiling at Jack. Jack doesn't want to admit Drake was right.**

Jack: Yea well it looked like a lot more work than it really was, the Basic Original really is pretty simple

**Drake interrupts with a comment**

Drake: That's why they gave it the cleaver name of Basic Original.

**Drake says smiling. Jack ignores him and goes on**

Jack: I completed two Basic Originals in about two weeks so since I had a lot of time left I decided to build an animal type Gundam for Roxas.

**Throughout this conversation Roxas has been mesmerize by the tiger type Gundam, now she looks to Jack.**

Roxas: Wait that's my Gundam?

**She asks holding her breath. Jack not sure what to make of Roxas's attitude nods her head.**

Jack: Uh yea, you can find your Neon Gauntlet on the computer terminal in front of it.

**Roxas walks to the tiger Gundam on 2 legs. She looks at it for a moment then hugs it well attempts to hug the left leg but naturally her arms can't go all the way around.**

Roxas: So pretty, I love you my Gundam.

**Everyone except Shadow looks at Roxas like she's crazy.**

Jack: Uh Ok, anyway Cagalli your Gundam is next to Nightwing, Nick your Gundam is next to Roxas's Gundam.

**Cagalli looks confused**

Cagalli: They're both exactly the same so does it matter which one we get?

**Jack gets pissed**

Jack: They're not exactly the same!

**Everyone blinks in surprise**

Nick: They're not?

**Jack still pissed**

Jack: No the eyes are different colors!

**The camera turns around and zooms in on the eyes on the Basic Originals, one has amber eyes, the other has blue eyes. The camera turns back to Cagalli**

Cagalli: Oh, so did you install different sensors or something in them?

**Kenny answers**

Kenny: No, Jack just insisted that we match your eye colors?

**Nick, Shadow, and Cagalli are confused. Drake smiles as he makes the connection**

Drake: I see, Nightwing and Shadow have green eyes so you decided to have everyone's Gundam's eyes match their own eye color. Nick and his Gundam have blue eyes, Cagalli and her Gundam have amber eyes, ha even Roxas's animal Gundam has the same purple eyes.

**Jack beams in pride. Shadow turns and takes a closer look at Cagalli's eyes.**

Shadow: Cagalli looks like she has gold eyes to me.

**Jack gets tick off by this comment**

Jack: Gold isn't an eye color you idiot, its amber!

**Jack shouts at him**

Kenny: I still say she has hazel eyes.

**Jack snaps at him**

Jack: Are you blind, her eyes are obviously amber!

**Cagalli is getting annoyed**

Cagalli: Will you guys stop talking like I'm not in the room!

**Jack looks to Cagalli apologetic**

Jack: Oh sorry, anyway the Gundams aren't completed yet there're two more things we have to do.

**Shadow is confused**

Shadow: What do you still have to do?

**Jack grins at him**

Jack: We still have to paint and name them.

**Jack leads them over to one of the computer terminals.**

Jack: We're using an auto-paint machine which will paint the Gundams for us. All you have to do is pick the color and design, the computer will display what the Gundam will look like with color and design in case you want to change it. When you pick the color and design you want just hit enter and the machine will start painting your Gundam but be careful we're using Gundam paint which is impossible to get off so once you hit enter that's it. Also your Neon gauntlets are hook up to the computer so you can type in the name you want for your Gundam on the computer terminal.

**Shadow, Nick, Roxas and Cagalli nod their head in understanding then they walk over to the computer terminals in front of their respective Gundams. Nick, Roxas and Cagalli put on the Neon Gauntlets; the Gauntlets hum to life when they put them on. The camera turns to Shadow, Shadow hits a few keys then steps back satisfied as the machine starts to paint Nightwing. Jack looks at him curious**

Jack: That was awfully fast.

**Shadow turns to grin at her**

Shadow: I've been thinking about this since I first got Nightwing, I can't wait to see Nightwing when it's painted.

**Shadow walks over to wait with Drake, Jack, and Kenny. Shadow gestures to Nick and Roxas walking over to them**

Shadow: But it seems I wasn't the only one who's been thinking about this. What'd you guys pick!

**Roxas eagerly answers**

Roxas: My Gundam is to be called Quanlier (Note if you don't know what that is google it under mythology) and I'm painting it purple and silver!

**Nick goes next**

Nick: I name my Gundam Cowboy and I painted it the green camo pattern. What about you mate?

**Shadow says proudly**

Shadow: I'm painting it all shining black.

**Jack looks at him like he's weird**

Jack: What's shining black?

**Shadow looks at her annoyed**

Shadow: It's the black that's shiny looking not the dull grayish black; it's like the night's sky.

**While they've been talking Cagalli has been staring intensely at her computer terminal. Shadow gestures to her and the others nod, they walk up quietly behind her. The camera looks over her shoulder to show that she's using the same pink color scheme as the Strike Rouge, Strike Rouge is also what she has under the name of her Gundam.**

Shadow: Absolutely not, I refuse to allow any member of my team to use a pink Gundam!

**Cagalli jumps surprise by Shadow sneaking up on her; then she looks annoyed.**

Cagalli: Why not, and isn't it my decision anyway!

**Shadow explains**

Shadow: How a Gundam looks is just as important as how it performs, if a Gundam looks mean and menacing it will psych out or unnerved the opponent even before the fight and if it looks weird it might throw off your enemy's concentration but pink doesn't look menacing or weird. And no it isn't just your decision your part of my team which means it's also my decision.

**Cagalli looks irritated but she can't deny the logic in what he says. Shadow pushes her out of the way of terminal and begins typing.**

Cagalli: Hey

Shadow: Now red is a good threatening color.

**Kenny adds**

Kenny: Add some orange too, orange is a sweet color.

Roxas: OH put some yellow in to match her hair.

**Shadow does what he's asked. The Gundam on the monitor now has a red, orange and yellow color scheme, Cagalli getting very irritated now.**

Cagalli: Hey I didn't bother you guys when you were deciding your Gundam's colors so will you stop bothering me!

**Jack looking at the name Cagalli's written down asks**

Jack: Cagalli what's up with Strike Rouge for the name? That makes it sound like it's a knock off of a Gundam name Strike.

**Cagalli blushes but doesn't say anything not want to let the others know how right Jack is. Shadow comes up with an idea**

Shadow: I know how about La Rouge for the name.

**Every nods their head in approve**

Jack: La Rouge sounds like an awesome name!

Roxas: La Rouge I like it.

Nick: Good call mate.

Kenny: Not bad Shadow.

**Shadow turns to Cagalli**

Shadow: What do you think Cagalli?

**Shadow asks grinning. Cagalli reluctantly says**

Cagalli: It's not bad.

**Shadow nods his head retypes the name and hits enter. The auto-painting starts to work on Cagalli's Gundam. Drake walks over**

Drake: Speaking of names have you come up with a name for your team yet or am I going to pick one?

**All eyes turn to Shadow. Shadow grins**

Shadow: It came to me when I was picking Nightwing's color, The Shadow Knights.

**Drake nods his head thinking**

Drake: Is it The Shadow Knights, or Shadow's Knights?

**Shadow grins at him**

Shadow: The Shadow Knights, even I'm not that arrogant to name a team after myself.

**Everyone seems happy by his choice of name**

Jack: I like it; it's got that whole badass vibe to it.

Kenny: I think it give us a cool mysterious image.

**Nick adds**

Nick: But at the same time noble.

**Drake nods his head**

Drake: It's a good name, anyways it's going to take a couple of hours to paint your Gundams so how about you guys go to the mall and for the love of god buy some new clothes, your clothes look like and smell like shit!

**Cagalli says defensively**

Cagalli: That's not our fault Shadow, Kenny, Roxas and I have only one pair of clothes that we've been using for over a month.

**Drake bored already throws them a card and begins to walk away.**

Drake: I don't care; use whatever's left on that card to buy yourselves a couple of sets of clothes.

**Drake walks away; Shadow and the others watch him walk away. The episode ends with Shadow grinning as he turns around to face the others.**

Shadow: I guess we're going to the mall.


	21. Episode 20

Episode 20

**The episode opens up at the mall. We see Cagalli, Jack and Roxas shopping in a women's clothing shop. Jack and Roxas are looking at a jean rack. Jack takes a pair of jeans to show Roxas.**

Jack: Oh I call these!

**Roxas glances over at them but doesn't look too excited.**

Roxas: Those are nice, but I love these.

**Roxas takes a pair of jeans that have holes in them, you can tell by the design that the holes and rips on the jeans are on purpose. Jack eyes them skeptically**

Jack: They have holes in them.

**Roxas excited nods**

Roxas: I know awesome right!

**The camera moves over to show Cagalli looking at what can best be describe as business clothing, solid color shirts and pants. She's looking at a shirt when Roxas and Jack walk over each already carrying some clothing, both look disgusted with Cagalli's choice of clothing.**

Jack: Oh Cagalli your sense of fashion needs some serious help.

**Cagalli turns to Jack irritated.**

Cagalli: My sense of fashion is fine thank you!

**Roxas shakes her head**

Roxas: Cagalli sweetie I love you but these clothes you're picking out are just hideous. I mean look at them, solid green, solid white, solid blue, these are the type of clothes politicians and old people wear.

**Cagalli grins slightly taking this as a compliment.**

Cagalli (I am a politician)

Cagalli: Well excuse me for trying to look professional.

**Jack ignores Cagalli and turns to Roxas and asks**

Jack: You know what style I think would look good on Cagalli?

**Roxas is curious**

Roxas: What?

**Jack is getting excited**

Jack: Punk rock.

**Cagalli snaps**

Cagalli: Absolutely not!

**Roxas eyes open wide and she turns to look at Cagalli quickly calculating what she would look like with a punk rock style. Her eyes open even wider**

Roxas: Let's not only get her punk rock clothes let's also get her hair done.

**Cagalli tick says**

Cagalli: Don't just ignore me and I said NO!

**Jack and Roxas ignore her and nod in a silent agreement.**

Jack: Let's do it!

**Jack and Roxas move at once. Jack grabs Cagalli's left arm and Roxas grabs Cagalli's right arm taking her by surprise.**

Cagalli: What! Let me go!

**Roxas and Jack begin to drag the struggling Cagalli away.**

Jack: Come on Cagalli we're going to give you a makeover!

Roxas: I can't wait to see you in your new punk rock look!

**Jack and Roxas are excited. Cagalli still struggling is getting pissed.**

Cagalli: For the last time I'm not going for the punk rock look now let me go you jerks, LET ME GO RIGHT NOW!

**Cagalli is still struggling against their grip but it's useless.**

Jack: Don't worry Cagalli I'm sure someday you'll thank us for this.

**Cagalli really pissed now.**

Cagalli: No I will not, NOW LET ME GO YOU JACKASSSES!

**Roxas and Jack drag Cagalli away as the camera cuts to the cafeteria of the mall. Kenny, Shadow and Nick are sitting down at a table having a drink. Nick is wearing the same cowboy clothes he always wears, Kenny is wearing a new tie-dye T-shirt and gym shorts and sandals. **

**Shadow is wearing a new solid black T-shirt, black lose fitting jeans, a black windbreaker and black sneakers. All three of them have bags that one can assume is full of new clothes, Kenny also has a laptop. Shadow looks annoyed**

Shadow: What's taking them so long!

**Nick is leaning back in his chair with his hat tip low over his eyes. He lifts his hat and looks up at Shadow.**

Nick: Patience mate, it's a known fact that women take longer to shop then men do.

**Shadow is still annoyed**

Shadow: I did have patience for about 30 minutes but come on it's been 2 hours already how long can it take for women to pick out clothing?

**Kenny still working on his computer takes a sip of his drink then says**

Kenny: Well what are you going to do, barge in on them while they're in the dressing room? Roxas would claw you to death, Jack would hit you with a wrench to death and Cagalli would slap you to death so just get over it and wait.

**Shadow glares at him**

Shadow: Easy for you to say Mr. I have a computer!

**Kenny gloating says**

Kenny: Don't be jealous that I spent my share of the money wisely and was able to afford a laptop.

**Shadow tick snaps**

Shadow: Wisely my ass! Some guy practically gave it to you because he couldn't trade it in because it had a virus on it!

**Nick straightens up in the chair and looks at Kenny.**

Nick: I know it was dirt cheap mate but still why did you buy a computer with a virus in it?

**Kenny smiles as he hits a few more keys**

Kenny: Correction it had a virus in it, I just got rid of it.

**Nick looks impressed**

Nick: You got rid of a virus all by yourself mate?

**Kenny beaming**

Kenny: I have yet to meet a virus I haven't been able to get rid of, although I have to admit that virus did a lot of damage to the mainframe and a lot files have either been deleted or damage beyond repair. It's going to take me

**Kenny stops midsentence as the girls walk over to the table. His mouth drops open and his eyes pop out. Shadow and Nick see this and turn around to see what he's looking at, both of their mouths drop open and their eyes look like they're going to burst out of their sockets.**

**The camera turns around to show Roxas, Jack and Cagalli walking towards them. Roxas is wearing her new rip up jeans and a purple anime T-shirt. Jack is wearing new worker jeans, a green T-shirt with what looks like a monster on it, and her jean jacket. However that's not what they're staring at, Shadow, Nick and Kenny are starring at Cagalli.**

**Cagalli is wearing black sneakers, a female black leather jacket with a chain attach to the bottom, lose fitting black jeans also with chains, and a solid red T-shirt, her hair has been cut shorter and has been spike up (not a Mohawk), and she's not wearing any makeup. Cagalli can see them staring and blushes and looks away, Roxas and Jack are smiling proudly.**

Jack: What do you guys think?

Roxas: She looks awesome right!

**Roxas asks excitedly. Kenny, Nick and Shadow are still in shock. Cagalli goes to defend herself**

Cagalli: This wasn't my idea, these jerks dragged me against my will to the hair cutters then tied me to the chair and had my hair cut and restyled while they went and bought this ridiculous outfit! Then they threw me into a dressing room and stole my old clothes leaving me with the choice of either putting this on or going out only in my underwear!

**Roxas sighs**

Roxas: I was hoping you choice the underwear option.

**Jack is growing annoyed**

Jack: Are you guys just going to sit there and stare like idiots at her or are you going to tell us how you think she looks!

**Cagalli is very embarrass and turning red. Nick not sure what to say goes first**

Nick: Well, um, it's, um, defiantly a new look for you mate.

**Kenny also not sure what to say**

Kenny: It's um different.

**Roxas and Jack are glaring at Nick and Kenny. Cagalli face is a deep shade of red from embarrassment, Cagalli snaps**

Cagalli: Damn it Roxas Jack give me back my old clothes I look an idiot in this get up!

Shadow: No you don't.

**Shadow's comment takes everyone by surprise, all eyes turn to him. Shadow has gotten over his shock and is once again smiling. Shadow goes on**

Shadow: You're overreacting it doesn't look that bad, in fact I think this new look looks good on you.

**Shadow isn't kidding he means it. Everyone is still surprise but Nick and Kenny manage to get over their shock**

Nick: I'm sorry about earlier mate, it's just that such a drastic change caught me by surprise, but I agree with Shadow you look great.

**Kenny nods his head**

Kenny: I think you look better now than when you were wearing those crappy politician clothes.

**Jack and Roxas grin happy that their work is applauded. Cagalli calms down**

Cagalli: Yea well thanks, but I'm still not wearing this style. After I get something to eat I going to go get some real clothes.

**Roxas lifts up a bag she had been carrying.**

Roxas: Sorry but we already spent your share of the money on buying you punk rock style outfits.

**Cagalli explodes**

Cagalli: WHAT! WHAT AM I SUPPOSE TO DO FOR CLOTHING NOW YOU ASSHOLES!

**Jack is unfazed by the shouting, she shrugs**

Jack: Well you can either wear the clothes we bought or go naked.

**The scene ends with Cagalli shouting in frustration.**

Cagalli: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

**The next scene opens up in the bathroom back at the apartment Shadow and the others are staying at. Cagalli is washing her face in the sink. Her hair is wet and no longer spiked up and she's by herself. She turns off the water and looks at a bottle of hair gel that's sitting on the sink. We have a quick flashback of Roxas giving Cagalli the hair gel.**

Roxas: Oh Cagalli don't forget your hair gel.

**Cagalli looks annoyed**

Cagalli: Look just because you forced me into wearing this ridiculous outfit doesn't mean I'm going to do my hair in this stupid style every day!

**Roxas does the puppy dog eyes**

Roxas: But if you don't spike up your hair you won't complete the image!

**Roxas whines. Cagalli is thrown off by the puppy dog eyes and she reluctantly says**

Cagalli: Fine I'll do it.

**The flashback ends with Cagalli grabbing the hair gel from Roxas and Roxas jumping up and down in the air and saying excitedly.**

Roxas: Yay!

**We come back to the present, Cagalli sighs**

Cagalli (I can't believe I let her talk me into styling me hair this way, oh well I guess I'm just going to have to deal with it into I win some money in the Gundam Fights and can afford to buy some real clothes.)

**Cagalli takes the hair gel and pours some of it into her hands. She then runs her hands through her hair creating the spike hair look (I like to say this one more time in case you didn't hear the first time, she's NOT doing a MOHAWK). She takes a look at herself in the mirror then grins at her knew "clown" outfit.**

Cagalli (I guess I can be grateful that no one I know will see me like this. I wonder what the other leaders of Orb would say? Ha they'd probably ask me take a psych exam and then ask me to take a medical leave of absence, Kira would be too stun for words, and Athrun would faint from the shock.)

**Cagalli's eyes sadden for a moment**

Cagalli (Kira, Athrun I wonder what you guys are doing right now?)

**Cagalli sighs then she quickly washes her hands again and walks out of the bathroom into the main room. Only Kenny is in the main room, Kenny is sitting on the couch working on his computer while watching TV at the same time. Cagalli glances at the clock on the wall, it says 11pm. She looks back at Kenny.**

Cagalli: Hey Kenny where's everyone?

**Kenny looks up from what he's doing at Cagalli.**

Kenny: Oh Cagalli I didn't realize you were still here. Nick went to the range again to practice his shooting, Roxas went out for a run and Jack went to check on the Gundams for the 50th time.

**Kenny goes back to what he was doing**

Cagalli (Everyone must be nervous about the fight tomorrow.)

**We can see one of Kenny's fingers slip on the keyboard causing him to mess up on his reprogramming of the laptop. He curses quietly**

Kenny: Damn

**Cagalli sees this**

Cagalli (Kenny's nervous too, wait I'm nervous!)

**Cagalli realizes this last statement with shock. She then realizes something else**

Cagalli: Where's Shadow?

**Kenny nods upstairs**

Kenny: I last saw him going to his room and he hasn't come down.

**Cagalli nods her head and walks upstairs**

Cagalli (Shadow's got to be nervous too, I wonder what he's doing about it?)

**Cagalli knocks on the door**

Cagalli: Hey Shadow it's me Cagalli open up.

**There's no answer. Cagalli knocks again**

Cagalli: Shadow open the door!

**There's still no answer, Cagalli turns the door knob and opens the door and walks in. There's nobody in there the window is open though. Cagalli is surprise she begins to look around.**

Cagalli (Kenny said Shadow hasn't come downstairs so where is he?)

**A strong wind blows the curtain of the window. Cagalli notices this.**

Cagalli (No way he wouldn't!)

**The camera cuts outside to the roof of the apartment. Shadow is laying down looking at the stars, he has his hands behind his head. Cagalli's head appears on the edge of the roof as she begins to climb onto the rooftop.**

Cagalli: There you are!

**Shadow looks towards her then looks back to the night sky.**

Shadow: Oh hi Cagalli.

**Cagalli gets onto the roof and begins crawling towards him, she looks annoyed.**

Cagalli: I was looking for you, geez what are you some kind of danger addict going onto the roof in the middle of the night and not telling anyone. What would happen if you fell and no one would knew where you were?

**Cagalli gets to where Shadow is and sits down next to him. Shadow doesn't answer, Cagalli sighs**

Cagalli: What are you doing here anyways?

**Shadow still looking at the night says**

Shadow: I like looking up at the stars in the sky, it helps me relaxed.

**Cagalli turns to look at the night sky too.**

Cagalli: Because of their beauty?

**Shadow shakes his head**

Shadow: No, it relaxes me to know that there's something far greater than I am out there.

**Cagalli is confused**

Cagalli: Huh?

**Shadow explains**

Shadow: People always talk about leaving their mark on the world or making the future a better place and they spend their whole lives trying to reach that one goal and they sacrifice their happiness to attain it. That never made sense to me, don't get me wrong I don't mind helping people I run across but to live your whole life just to help others, I couldn't do it. Looking at the stars makes me realize how insignificant we really are. It doesn't matter what we do now because in a thousand or 2 thousand years no one will remember us, well except historians but that's beside the point, no one will remember what we did for them or why we did it so living for the future is pointless.

**Cagalli looks at him surprise then asks**

Cagalli: So you think living is pointless?

**Shadow looks at her and grins**

Shadow: I never said that I said living for the future is pointless; we should live for the present. Since our lives are so short we shouldn't waste them by trying to make others happy we should try to make ourselves happy. If it makes you happy to help others then that is what you should be doing but you shouldn't spend your life helping others just out of some sense of obligation or duty and if in the process of becoming happy you improve the future then all the better.

Shadow: If you live your life only to make others happy or improve the future out of some sense of obligation or duty and you end up giving up all the things that make you happy then at the end of your life you'll only have regrets. So I have decided to live my life taking all these stupid risks and chances because that's what makes me happy. If I help some people or improve the future along the way then that makes it all the more better, but still sometimes I can't help but feel like a selfish ass, but when I look at the stars and see how great they are and how small I am I remember why I live this way and that helps relaxed me.

**There's a moment of silence as Cagalli and Shadow both look at the stars. Cagalli is obviously thinking of what Shadow said. Shadow turns and grins at her**

Shadow: It's also a comfort to know that no matter how badly I might screw up tomorrow a thousand years from now no one will remember it.

**Cagalli laughs**

Cagalli: hahahahah, I guess that's a small comfort!

**They both start laughing. The camera looks up at the sky as time fast forwards. We see the sky get lighter and the sun comes up. The camera looks down to what can best be described as an indoor stadium.**

**There's a steady flow of people going in, the streets are full of people. The camera focuses on Drake standing in front of Shadow, Cagalli, Nick, Roxas, Kenny and Jack. They're all wearing the new clothes they bought the other day and they all look nervous. Drake looks at them and attempts to resist a smile.**

Drake (Ha rookies)

Drake: Alright let's go.

**Drake leads them into the stadium. The inside of the stadium looks just like any other sports stadium. Drake begins to show them around**

Drake: This is a basic E rank stadium, we're in the outer circle of the stadium if you want food or to place bets this is the place to be. The fighting arena is in the center of the stadium, the spectator stands are on the higher levels if you ever want to get to them you can take the elevators.

**Drake points to a series of elevators. We can also see a concession stand and a betting booth. Shadow and the others are looking around but it's obvious they're still nervous. Drake stops at a red elevator, up until now the other elevators were just a dull metal color.**

Drake: This is the planning elevator it will take you to the planning room, now pay attention there are only two planning rooms in an E rank stadium. One for each team, you'll only be able to use this elevator on days your fighting. Any other time you come here you'll have to watch from the spectator stands or be invited to a planning room by one of the Gundam teams that is fighting. The planning elevators have a lock on them; they can be open with your Neon gauntlet on the days you fight. Go ahead and try it.

**Shadow looks at Drake then takes a cable attach to his Neon Gauntlet and hooks it up to the lock on the elevator. The screen on his Neon Gauntlets blinks as a bunch of numbers and codes run across the screen, then a picture of Shadow appears on the screen of his Neon Gauntlet next to what looks like his stats.**

Elevator: Shadow Zoomarey Team leader of the Shadow Knights authorization granted.

**The elevator doors open. Shadow blinks**

Shadow: Cool

**Everyone steps inside the elevator. The doors close and the elevators take off, the camera cuts inside the elevator. Kenny appears really nervous he turns to Drake and asks**

Kenny: Um I'm not trying to be rude here Drake but last I check an official GFC team requires 5 Gundam Fighters and we still only have 4.

**Drake grins at him**

Drake: Relax I got you a fifth member for your team he's already in the planning room.

**Everyone is surprise by this**

Kenny: Really?

Jack: Who is he?

Roxas: Is he good looking?

Cagalli: Where's he from?

Shadow: Can he fight?

**Drake raises a hand to silence them**

Drake: You can find out all that stuff when you meet him yourself in a couple of minutes.

**The elevator stops and the door opens. The first thing we see is a couch with a person sitting on it. We can assume that this is the fifth pilot Drake was talking about; he's black with short hair and dark brown eyes. It's hard to tell since he's sitting down but he seems tall, he's also looks muscular.**

**He's wearing a blue and white stripe shirt and solid white pants. He gives off an air of one who's had military training but at the same time there's an arrogance about him. There's a big traveling bag next to him. He looks up when they walk in but he seems unimpressed. Drake nods towards him**

Drake: Everyone meet your fifth Gundam Fighter Zuke Garth. Zuke this is everyone.

**Nick steps forward first, he holds out a hand.**

Nick: Hello mate my names Nick Mu and let be the first to

**Zuke cuts him off**

Zuke: Save it I don't care.

**The way Zuke speaks implies a high level of intelligence but at the same time it's as if he's talking down to Nick. If you ever knew a person that's 10 times smarter then you and knows it and is constantly talking down to you that's how Zuke is talking to Nick. Nick looks insulted, Roxas walk towards him on all four legs seductively.**

Roxas: I'm Roxas Nile and you're not that bad looking are you sure you don't want to get to know me better?

**Roxas says this in her best seductive voice as she gets close to Zuke. Zuke is unfazed**

Zuke: Getting to know you better would be a complete and absolute waste of my valuable time and knowledge.

**Roxas looks like she just got slap which quickly gets replace by anger. Nick is also angry now; Cagalli, Shadow and Jack look annoyed by the rudeness.**

Nick: Now mate that's no way for a man to treat a lady!

**Zuke turns to Nick and still appears to be looking down on him.**

Zuke: The next time I want your worthless opinion I'll ask you.

**Nick looks even more pissed now. Jack takes a step forward**

Jack: Who do you think you are you

**Kenny cuts her off. He seems to be the only left trying to keep the peace.**

Kenny: Now everyone let's come down, I'm sure Zuke here is just nervous about meeting everyone plus we've also got our first team match today so I think we've gotten off to a bad start so let me introduce everyone, I'm Kenny Cyes, this Cagalli Yulu Athha, that's Jack Coldback

**Kenny points to each person in turn; Shadow steps forward and cuts him off**

Shadow: I am the great, the magnificent and the wonderful Shadow Zoomarey!

**Shadow says this in his grand voice and takes a bow. Zuke looks at him as if he's the biggest idiot in the room. Drake has grown bored of this and steps forward.**

Drake: Alright that's enough introductions for now.

**Drake gestures around the room. It's a single room with only two elevators for exits, behind the couch is a table with chairs, in front of the couch is a computer with a bunch of monitors on the wall. The elevator the team came out of is much bigger than the other elevator.**

Drake: You can have anyone in here you want. The computer is for your programmer. You'll wait in here until your fight, when you're fighting you're team mates can talk to you through those monitors. When it's your turn to fight you'll take the second elevator to the Gundam bay, from the Gundam bay you'll enter your Gundam then you'll enter the arena.

**Drake turns to Shadow**

Drake: Shadow you'll decide on the order your team fights in. Jack head down to the Gundam bay and double check your Gundams.

**Jack nods her head and enters the second elevator. Kenny walks over to the computer and begins to type away.**

Drake: Well see you guys later.

**Drake walks into the elevator, everyone turns to him surprise. Shadow asks**

Shadow: Wait you're not going to stay?

**Drake smirks**

Drake: Relax I'll be watching your fight in the spectators stand, however I'm not going to babysit you or hold your hand throughout the fight, you guys make the decides you make the calls. Oh one more thing anyone that loses will have to do 100 push-ups and 200 sit-ups after the fight.

**He says the last part with a smile as he waves goodbye. The camera cuts to the arena, the arena is a classic rock type fighting field, a rock valley cover with rock mounds, each rock mound is about 2 Gundams tall and they're all evenly spread out. **

**The spectator's stands are about 80 stories above the arena and we can see that it's pretty much a full house. The camera zooms in on Tim in the stands; he's in the back row eating a bag of popcorn. He's also got what appears to be a high-tech binocular, Drake takes a seat next to him.**

Tim: You're late, what kind of manager would be almost late to his team's first Gundam Fight?

**Tim says annoyed**

Drake: Shut up Tim.

**Drake says this in a kind of a bored way, but his eyes are intent on the battlefield, suddenly a voice comes from behind them.**

Voice: Well, well, well if it isn't Diz Drake, what a surprise to see you here.

**Drake and Tim don't appear surprise**

Drake: Hello Rob how's your day going?

**Rob grinning sits down next to Drake**

Rob: Great, but probably nowhere near as exciting as yours being that this is your teams first Gundam Fight.

**Drake doesn't comment. Rob smiling goes on**

Rob: I must say though I really am honor that your team's first opponent is my team.

**Tim looks at Rob annoyed**

Tim: Yea me and Drake heard how there was a great fight amongst the E rank managers to decide who was going to be Drake's team's first opponent. You bunch of vultures couldn't beat Drake directly at anything so you jump at the chance to take advantage of beating a bunch of rookies he's agree to manage so you can say you beat him!

**Rob shrugs not insulted.**

Rob: I must admit beating Drake is the greatest outcome I could imagine, after all Drake you do inspire much envy being able to complete any assignment you're given in the fastest time know, plus you know all the top brass on a first name bases so yes if the only way to beat Drake is to have my team beat up on a bunch of rookies then I'll do it!

**Tim is glaring at Rob but Drake's eyes have never left the arena. Drake looks completely calm.**

Drake: My team hasn't lost yet Rob.

**Rob looks slightly annoyed**

Rob: Your confidence is admirable but your team probably hasn't even piloted their Gundams in a combat situation before were as my team is currently on a 20 fight winning streak so forgive me if I don't think the odds are in your favor.

**Drake finally glances at Rob he has a smirk on his face.**

Drake: I won't underestimate my team Rob.

**The camera cuts to the planning room. Shadow, Cagalli, Nick and Roxas are just waiting around nervously. Zuke looks bored, while Kenny is sitting at the computer terminal typing. We hear a beep sound and Kenny turns to face Shadow.**

Kenny: The Referee's box is calling us.

**Shadow steps forward**

Shadow: Put them on.

**Kenny nods his head and hits a few keys. One of the monitor's blinks then the Referee's face comes up.**

Referee: Shadow Knights are you ready to begin?

**Shadow nods his head**

Shadow: We're ready.

**The Referee nods**

Referee: Good please submit the order you'll be fighting in.

Shadow: Zuke, Cagalli, Nick, Roxas then Me.

**The Referee nods his head as he types this down**

Referee: Thank you, the first match will begin in 5 minutes good luck.

**The camera cuts back outside and focuses on a huge screen in the spectators stand. The screen blinks and the Referee's face pops up.**

Referee: Ladies and Gentlemen let me welcome you to the Gundam Fights!

**The Referee says this in a grand voice. There's a huge roar of applause from the excited spectators.**

Referee: Today we've got a great match for you, The Shadow Knights a brand new team making their first appearance today vs. The Gargoyles who are currently on a 20 fight winning streak. This will be a set of 5 one on one matches, the team that wines 3 of the 5 matches will win the team victory so without further ado let's get started!

**The Referee pauses for a moment as there's another huge roar of approve from the fans.**

Referee: For the first match representing The Shadow Knights is Zuke Garth piloting Selene vs. Ferrell Fathia piloting Bernard from The Gargoyles!

**The camera looks down to the arena to see a hatch open. A Gundam launches out and lands in the arena. The Gundam (Bernard) begins to run around doing flips, punching the air, kicks and beam saber slashes, and basically making a big show for the crowd.**

**The crowd is loving it, but confusion begins to sweep across the crowd as people realize that no one has launch yet from The Shadow Knight's side. The camera turns to Bernard and cuts inside it's cockpit to show a confused pilot. The camera then looks up to the monitor to show that the Referee is also confused.**

Referee: I'm sorry about this folks, there seems to be some kind of difficultly on The Shadow Knights side but if you wait a moment we'll get it all sort it out.

**The camera cuts to the planning room to show a pissed off Shadow**

Shadow: What do you mean you won't fight!

**Shadow shouts at Zuke. Looks of shock and outrage are on Cagalli, Nick and Roxas's face, Kenny looks nervous.**

Kenny: Guys the Referee is calling again, I don't think we can keep putting them off!

**Shadow is still glaring at Zuke. Zuke looks unfazed**

Zuke: It's just what I said I refused to fight.

**Cagalli looks annoyed**

Cagalli: Are you some kind of pacifist?

**Zuke looks at her like she's an idiot**

Zuke: Hardly, fighting such a weak and insignificant opponent is an insult and it's beneath me to even grace him with the presence of my Gundam.

**Nick pissed**

Nick: Then what's the point of you even being here!

**Zuke still looks bored**

Zuke: I'll fight when you can show me a real opponent.

**Shadow looks even more pissed**

Shadow: Look we already submitted your name first, if you don't go out there we'll have to forfeit the first match so as the leader of this team I'm telling you to get your ass out there!

**He shouts at Zuke. Zuke for the first time looks annoyed**

Zuke: Please, I'm a coordinator and you're a natural there hasn't been single second that I've thought of you as my superior!

**Nick is really pissed now**

Nick: So you're not just an ass you're a geneist _(someone who is prejudice of a person because of their genes and yes I just made that up_) too!

**Shadow charges at Zuke. He's taken out his sword and is about to do a horizontal slash to Zuke's left side, but Zuke without getting up easily catches Shadow's blade between two fingers of his left hand. Zuke's motion looks the same as if he lifted his hand to scratch his head. The bored look never leaves his face. Shadow is shock but he does spots a Neon Gauntlet on Zuke's left arm. Zuke's Neon Gauntlet is silver.**

Shadow (A silver Neon Gauntlet!)

**The bored look never leaves Zuke's face.**

Zuke: Please a natural could never even hope of beating a coordinator in any event including battle.

**Zuke suddenly kicks Shadow with his foot sending him straight into a wall surprising everyone.**

Cagalli and Kenny: Shadow!

**Nick and Roxas hop back and tense preparing for a fight.**

Zuke: I'm a coordinator and you're a natural which means no matter what you do or how long you train I will always be better then you at everything.

**Nick is enrage**

Nick: I've had enough of you!

**Nick is just about to take out his gun when Shadow's voice cuts him off.**

Shadow: Nobody touch him!

**Everyone turns to Shadow and are deeply surprise to find him smiling. Shadow is using his sword as a stick to help himself up, his black Neon Gauntlet is slightly glowing. Zuke notices this.**

Zuke (His Neon Gauntlet is black and it's slightly glowing.)

**Shadow grins at Zuke**

Shadow: You're right Zuke right now you're way stronger than me and I can't force you to do anything but I warn you I only grow stronger and someday I'm going to become even stronger then you!

**Zuke looks at him unimpressed.**

Zuke: Foolish dreams of an insignificant person.

**Nick looks even more pissed but controls himself. Shadow unfazed turns to Kenny**

Shadow: Kenny tell the referee that we have to forfeit the first match and to just go on to the second match.

**Kenny nods his head and begins typing. Nick, Roxas and Cagalli still look unhappy**

Roxas: That means we've got one loss, if we get 2 more we'll lose the team victory.

**Shadow shrugs he's back in his good mood.**

Shadow: So we've lose one match we'll win the other 4 no problem!

**Nick nods towards Zuke**

Nick: What about him mate? If he wouldn't fight then he's useless to us; we should get rid of him.

**Cagalli adds**

Cagalli: He's also one of those coordinator extremist, he'll only bring and cause hatred. I agree with Nick we should get rid of him.

**Shadow smiles at them**

Shadow: You guys are right but two things, one is that he's really strong he could win that match if he wanted to and second I'm not getting rid of him until I beat him once in a fight!

**Nick is annoyed, Cagalli is looking at Shadow like he's an idiot and Roxas seems to have stop caring a while ago. Shadow turns to Cagalli.**

Shadow: But Cagalli don't you have more important things to worry about?

**Cagalli blinks confused**

Cagalli: Huh, what are you talking about?

**Shadow grinning goes on.**

Shadow: Now that the first match is technically over that means it's time for the second match, your match.

**Realization hits Cagalli like a bullet. Nick getting over his anger slaps Cagalli's back.**

Nick: That's right mate, good luck.

**Roxas hops up and down excitedly**

Roxas: Good luck my daring Cagalli.

**Nick and Roxas lead the still stun Cagalli to the Gundam bay elevator. Kenny still sitting turns to Cagalli and smiles**

Kenny: I just finish telling the referee of our forfeit of the first match, he says we'll go straight into the second match and to send out our fighter right away. Don't worry Cagalli I'll be here acting as your technical support, you won't be alone out there.

**Cagalli is no longer stun but instead is incredibly nervous**

Cagalli: Thanks guys.

**Cagalli looks towards the elevator but doesn't move**

Shadow: Hey Cagalli.

**Cagalli turns to Shadow**

Cagalli: Yes Shadow?

**Shadow grins at her and looks her straight in the eye.**

Shadow: Make sure you have fun in your first official Gundam Fight.

**Cagalli is momentary surprise by this comment but then smiles and nods her head.**

Cagalli: Right.

**With new found confidence she steps into the elevator. The camera cuts to outside, the spectators are talking and wondering what's going on, they look very annoyed now. The huge screen blinks and the Referee appears.**

Referee: Sorry about the wait ladies and gentlemen but it seems that The Shadow Knights fighter Zuke Garth has for unknown reasons decided to forfeit his match. So by default the first match goes to The Gargoyles, we'll begin the second match in five minutes; once again I like to apologize.

**The crowd's definitely unhappy by this news. We can hear a lot of complaining, the Gundam that's already out heads back in. The camera turns to look at Tim, Drake, and Rob; Rob is clapping his hands and laughing.**

Rob: hahahahhaha, not five minutes into the fight and there's already a forfeit, I guess one of your Gundam Fighters must have gotten cold feet. Do go easy on them Drake after all it is a common occurrence for Gundam Pilots to lose their nerve on their first fight and forfeit but I do hope that not all of your fighters forfeit that would make this match very boring.

**Tim looks annoyed at Rob. He gets closer to Drake and whispers**

Tim: Drake?

**The nervousness in his voice is clear. Drake is unconcern**

Drake: Relax Tim, this was expected.

**Tim turns to him shock**

Tim: It was!

**Drake sighs**

Drake: Tim Shut up and watch the fight, I'll explain later.

**The Screen blinks again, the Referee comes back on.**

Referee: Alright it's time now for the second match, representing The Shadow Knights is Cagalli Yulu Athha piloting La Rouge vs. Walter Wade piloting Rain for The Gargoyles!

**The camera cuts to the Gundam bay, we can see La Rouge with its new red, orange, and yellow color scheme. It's also been equip with a beam rift and a shield, there's also a pole across its back. The camera turns to Cagalli, Cagalli has gotten her red and white piloting suit on. Her hair is still spiked up and she's walking towards her Gundam, Jack working at a computer terminal runs to her when she sees her.**

Jack: Cagalli, you'll have to fill me in later about what the hell went on with the first fight but right now you have to get out there. I double checked your Gundam and all systems are good to go.

**Cagalli and Jack stop in front of the cockpit door of Cagalli's Gundam. Cagalli hits a few buttons on her Neon Gauntlet and the door opens.**

Cagalli: Thanks Jack.

**Cagalli puts her helmet on and is about to step into her Gundam when Jack stops her.**

Jack: Hey Cagalli kick some ass out there!

**Cagalli smiles at Jack**

Cagalli: You got it Jack.

**Cagalli steps into her Gundam, the cockpit door closes behind her. Cagalli walks into the sunken part of floor and takes a breath then shouts.**

Cagalli: La Rouge begin launching sequence!

**La Rouge turns on**

La Rouge: Beginning launching sequence, activating S-generator.

**The camera cuts into a metal room to show a crystal or something like it in the center. We see a bolt of eclectically hit it, creating a large boom, and then a mini sun appears. We cut back to Cagalli.**

La Rouge: Activating NS system.

**The black fog gets release from the floor and hits Cagalli's feet. Starting from the feet red lines appear and begin to spread upwards on Cagalli's body. Cagalli tenses and clenches her teeth but doesn't scream. The red lines get all the way to the helmet before they disappear. Her helmet screen lights up.**

La Rouge: Activating Zero-gravity.

**The Zero gravity bubble surrounds Cagalli as she is lifted into the air.**

La Rouge: All systems check all systems ready to go on pilots command.

**We switch to Cagalli's perceptive. We see Kenny appear in a new window in the upper right corner of the helmet screen.**

Kenny: Alright Cagalli I've establish a communication connection between La Rouge and the computer in the planning room. Everything is all green over here you're clear to launch.

**Cagalli nods her head**

Cagalli: Rodger that.

**The camera cuts outside, as La Rouge's eyes flash. La Rouge begins to move onto a catapult as the hatch in front of the catapult opens. The catapult's lights turn green, we cut inside La Rouge's cockpit to see Cagalli.**

Cagalli: Cagalli Yulu Athha in La Rouge launching!

**The episode ends with the catapult launching Cagalli into the arena.**


	22. Episode 21

Episode 21

**The episode opens up with a bird's eye view of the rock field arena. A hatch opens and La Rouge launches into the arena. La Rouge lands on the ground on two feet but slides a little. The camera looks up to the huge screen in the spectators stand, the referee grins.**

Referee: Well it looks like the Shadow Knights finally sent out a fighter and here I was thinking the Shadow Knights should be called the Shadows that don't show up.

**There's some laughter from the crowd at the referee's joke. The camera cuts to the planning room, Shadow, Nick and Roxas are standing around the computer terminal. Kenny is sitting down and working the computer terminal. One monitor has the referee on it, one has Cagalli, an another one shows La Rouge on the battle field. No one is laughing at the referee's joke.**

Roxas: What an ass.

**The camera cuts to the spectators stand and focuses on Tim, Drake and Rob. Rob is the only one laughing and clapping his hands.**

Rob: hahahhahahahah that was pretty cleaver.

**Tim is annoyed**

Tim: Laugh all you want now Rob but we'll see who'll be laughing after Cagalli wins the fight!

**Rob turns to grin at Tim**

Rob: Confident aren't you but I can assure you that Walter is no pushover.

**Drake Shhh them**

Drake: Shhhhhhhhhh, the fights starting.

**The camera goes back to La Rouge, La Rouge is just walking around. We cut inside La Rouge's cockpit to show Cagalli mimicking La Rouge's movement.**

Cagalli: This is so weird; this is nothing like the mobile suits back on Earth. I know I trained on it on the simulators but still it just still fields weird.

**We cut to Cagalli's perceptive to see Kenny in the upper right hand corner of her helmet screen. Shadow pushes Kenny out of the way**

Shadow: Hey Cagalli stay focus remember if you've launch then your opponent has probably launch too.

**The camera cuts outside to show the ground next to Cagalli suddenly explode as a beam bullet hits it. Cagalli surprise turns to face the attacker.**

Cagalli: What!

**The camera turns to show a new Gundam (Rain) on top of one of the rock mounds. It resembles the Basic Original but it looks slimmer, it also has a beam rifle and shield. The beam rifle is pointed at La Rouge. Rain opens fire on the La Rouge, we cut inside the cockpit to show the pilot grinning.**

Walter: HA rookies, don't you know that the first person out of the Gundam hanger has a strategic advantage in the battle! I've been waiting for you for the last 5 minutes!

**La Rouge has lifted up its shield in front of itself as the ground around itself explodes from the beam shots. Most of the shots are missing but a couple do hit the shield. La Rouge isn't moving. We cut to the planning room, we can see the referee on one of the monitors, Cagalli gritting her teeth on another, and the battle on the third.**

Referee: Oh it looks like Rain has made the first move and has already managed to pin down La Rouge!

**Shadow looks irritated. He once again moves in front of one of the monitors.**

Shadow: Cagalli what the hell are you doing! Don't just stand there, fire back!

**We cut inside La Rouge's cockpit, Cagalli looks at him angrily.**

Cagalli: How, if I lower my shield to take a shoot he'll shot me first and I can't move without him shooting me!

**We cut back to the planning room, Nick steps forward now.**

Nick: Cagalli most of his shots are missing mate which means he isn't that good of a shot. You should take the chance of lowering your shield and firing mate but remember to dive for cover the moment you do so that he won't hit you with return fire.

**We cut back to inside the cockpit to show Cagalli gritting her teeth, she nods her head.**

Cagalli: Ok

**We cut back outside to show Rain still firing on La Rouge. The camera focuses on Rain then does a split screen, the top half has Rain in it and the lower half has Walter grinning in it.**

Walter: You can keep hiding behind that shield you chicken but it won't last forever!

**The camera moves over to La Rouge now and does the split screen. The top half shows La Rouge and the lower half shows Cagalli, Cagalli looks tick.**

Cagalli: Who's hiding!

**La Rouge lowers its shield and takes a shot at Rain. If she was aiming for Rain then its shots off by a lot, but if she was aiming for the rock mound its standing on La Rouge is dead on. The rock mound Rain is standing on explodes.**

**We do the split screen thing again to show Walter is surprise. He grits his teeth as he jumps off the rock mound and onto the ground. The camera goes over to La Rouge to show it has its beam rifle pointed at Rain. We do the split screen thing again**

Cagalli: Take this!

**La Rouge opens fire at Rain. Rain holding the shield in front of itself dodges the beam bullets and begins to circle La Rouge weaving in and out of the rock mounds for cover. Rain begins to return fire. La Rouge holds the shield in front of itself and blocks the few beam bullets that come close to hitting it. We cut inside La Rouge's cockpit to see Cagalli gritting her teeth in frustration.**

Cagalli: Damn he's fast!

**We switch to Cagalli's perceptive, the camera turns to keep Rain in its field of vision. Rain is running in a circle around La Rouge while firing at it. Most of its shots miss but a few hit the shield. La Rouge is also returning fire making the whole effect look like a first person shooter game. In the top right hand corner Kenny's window is up, we can see him quickly typing on his computer.**

Kenny: Cagalli Walter is using a Basic Flash which is a speed type Gundam, and don't worry about your shield that first ambush only look bad but your shield is still functioning at 80% capability.

**Shadow pushes Kenny out of the way again**

Shadow: Cagalli don't just stand their run around too!

**Kenny tick snaps**

Kenny: Will you quit pushing me!

**We cut back to normal view to show Cagalli, Cagalli ignores Kenny and nods her head.**

Cagalli: Right.

**We cut back outside to see La Rouge start to run too. Rain and La Rouge start to weave in and out of the rock mounds while attempting to circle one another and shoot each other. Rain is faster than La Rouge but La Rouge is hitting Rain's shield a lot more often then Rain is hitting La Rouge's shield. The camera goes up to the spectators stand, the huge screen is showing the referee leaning forward in his seat excited.**

Referee: What a great an unexpected performance from the Shadow Knights, after getting out of those hails of bullets La Rouge is now going head to head with Rain!

**The camera moves over to Rob, Drake and Tim. Rob is smiling while Drake has his calm composer look on.**

Rob: Well it looks like your Gundam Pilot isn't completely worthless but it's pointless. Rain is a Basic Flash Gundam which gives him an advantage in evasion; he'll dodge most of your guy's shots.

**Drake raises an eyebrow**

Drake: That would make sense if both of them had the same skill level, but Cagalli's a much better shot then your guy.

**Rob smug smile disappears**

Rob: What!

**Drake goes on**

Drake: If you've been paying attention you'd notice that La Rouge is hitting Rain's shield more offend then Rain is hitting La Rouge's shield. If it goes on like this Rain's shield will fail long before La Rouge's shield.

**Rob tick looks back to the arena**

Rob (He's right, I haven't been paying attention to it before but his guy is definitely hitting Rain's shield more often than Rain is hitting his shield.)

**Rob suddenly starts to grin**

Rob (But even if that's the case Walter still has his secret weapon up his sleeve.)

**The camera looks back down on the battle. The two Gundams are still weaving in and out of the rock mounds shooting at each other. We cut inside Rain's cockpit to see a frustrated Walter.**

Walter: Don't get cocky because you got one lucky shot!

**We cut back outside to show Rain suddenly stop and charge La Rouge. The camera turns to La Rouge, and we do the split screen thing again. Cagalli is in the lower half of the screen**

Cagalli: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

**The screen goes back to normal to show La Rouge charge too. The camera quickly looks up to the huge screen.**

Referee: Rain and La Rouge are charging each other this could be it!

**The camera looks back down at the two charging Gundams; both of them have their shields raise high covering their head and chest section. Both are continuing to shoot at each other. All of La Rouge's shots are hitting Rain's shield whereas only 1 in every 3 of Rain's shots are hitting La Rouge's shield.**

**They get closer and closer and closer to each other until they're in point blank range of each other. When they get into point blank range they stop firing and side step each other to avoid collision. The second they pass each other they turn to try and face each other but because of their built up momentum they start sliding.**

**They're still facing each other but they're sliding backwards, the screen splits for a second to show Walter and Cagalli gritting their teeth as they struggle to regain control. The screen goes back to normal the camera zooms in on the Gundams' feet. **

**Dirt and rock are being pushed out of the way as the Gundams' legs brace themselves against the ground trying to stop themselves from sliding. La Rouge manages to stop itself first but Rain is still sliding. The camera quickly looks up to the spectator stands, the crowd is on the edge of their seat and Tim, Rob and Drake are no different.**

Tim: Rain's extra speed is against him now, because of his extra speed he's got more momentum and can't stop himself as quickly as La Rouge!

**The camera looks back down. Rain still sliding slams right into one of the rock mound. We cut inside Rain's cockpit to see Walter's head jerk back. We cut back outside to see that Rain has manage to hold onto its shield and weapon but both arms have been spread open by the force of impact leaving Rain wide open. The camera cuts to Drake, Tim and Rob**

Drake: He's wide open.

Rob: No!

Tim: This is it!

**The camera cuts to inside La Rouge's cockpit. Cagalli has an extreme focus look on, we can hear Shadow and the others voices over the communication line.**

Kenny: Cagalli this is your chance!

Shadow: Cagalli take the shot!

Cagalli: You're finish!

**We cut outside to see La Rouge take its beam rifle, aim, and fire. Time slows down as we see the beam bullet leave the beam rifle and travel through the air. Time goes back to normal, Cagalli's shot is too high and misses the Gundam. The camera cuts to Drake, Tim, Rob, Shadow, Kenny, Nick, Roxas and Cagalli to show looks of shock.**

Drake: She missed!

**The camera cut to Rain, we do the split screen thing again. Walter is in pain but he's recovering.**

Walter: HA you missed!

**Rain lifts its beam rifle and aims it at La Rouge intending to return fire but suddenly the top of the rock mound collapses and falls on top of the arm that's holding the beam rifle. We do another split screen to show a shock/frustrated Walter.**

Walter: What! Damn!

**Rain is forced to drop the beam rifle and jump away from the falling debris. The beam rifle is crushed by the debris. Cagalli is watching this with a stun expression. The camera looks up to the huge screen, the referee looks excited.**

Referee: Oh what great strategy, what great foresight instead of going for the kill shot like any other pilot would do La Rouge attacks the rock mound behind Rain and successfully takes out its offensive weapon!

**The crowd starts to go nuts and roar with applause. The camera cuts back inside La Rouge's cockpit, Cagalli has turn her head to look in the direction of the referee's voice. She looks confused**

Cagalli: huh?

**We cut to the planning room, Kenny is excited**

Kenny: That was awesome Cagalli, you did a great job!

**Shadow smiling nods his head**

Shadow: You had me worried there for a second. I thought you just missed the shot but wow collapsing the rock mound on top of him was a great idea.

**Nick also smiling**

Nick: Cagalli was thinking two moves ahead of us all mates.

**Cagalli does the nervous smile. The kind of smile you give when you guess at an answer and it turns out to be the right one but everyone thinks you did it on purpose.**

Cagalli: Um right.

Cagalli (I was actually aiming for his head; my shot was off by a couple of feet up.)

**The camera cuts to Drake, Rob and Tim in the spectator's stands. Tim is gloating at Rob**

Tim: Ha you're pretty quiet Rob, what ran out of trash talk!

**Rob smiles which confuses Tim**

Rob: If you think this fight is over then I would think again. We're about to enter the second phase of this fight right now.

**Tim suddenly looks nervous. He turns back to look at the battle, the camera looks down at Rain. We cut inside Rain's cockpit to see a very tick off pilot.**

Walter: Damn it I can't believe I let her get me like that!

**We hear Gundam size footsteps. Walter turns to the sound, as he turns we cut back outside to see La Rouge with its beam rifle pointed at Rain. We do the split screen thing, Rain is in the upper half of the screen and Walter is in the lower half of the screen. A bead of nervous sweat forms on his face.**

Walter: Crap!

**We hear Cagalli's voice come over the speakers**

Cagalli: Surrender now, you no longer have an offensive weapon so it's pointless to go on. I have no wish to hurt you any more than necessary.

**Walter looks pissed for a second but then he suddenly smiles**

Walter: Ha I wanted to save this for when we fought against a high ranking opponent but I'd be more humiliating if some first timer beat me. It's time I reveal my secret weapon!

**The camera cuts outside to see Rain throw away its shield. The camera moves over to La Rouge, the screen splits into multiply parts, Shadow, Kenny, Nick, Roxas and Cagalli are in the surrounding parts of the screen while La Rouge is in the center. They all look shock**

Kenny: He threw away his shield!

Shadow: Is he surrendering!

Nick: No something's up mates!

**The camera looks to Rain to see him reach behind his back and grab the top of a pole.**

Kenny: He's reaching for a second weapon!

Shadow: Is it a beam spear!

Nick: Is it a beam rifle!

Roxas: Cagalli watch out!

**The screen goes back to normal, La Rouge braces itself for an attack. Rain takes out its second weapon. This new weapon looks like a Gundam size umbrella. The camera cuts inside La Rouge's cockpit to show a confused Cagalli.**

Cagalli: An umbrella?

**The camera cuts to the planning room, Kenny, Nick, Roxas and Shadow are also confused.**

Shadow: What kind secret weapon is an umbrella?

**The camera cuts to the spectator stands, the referee looks just as confused as everyone else.**

Referee: It looks like Rain's secret weapon is an umbrella; well at least we know how it got its name.

**The camera moves over to Drake, Tim and Rob. For the first time since the fight began Drake looks surprise.**

Drake: Wait that's!

**Rob is smiling**

Rob: An Ungli.

**The camera looks down at Rain. It's beginning to spin the umbrella which is closed. The camera goes over to La Rouge and does the split screen thing again. Cagalli is looking at him unconcern.**

Cagalli: An umbrella that's your secret weapon?

**The camera goes over to Rain and does the split screen thing. Walter is smiling**

Walter: I wouldn't be so quick to judge if I were you.

**The screen goes back to normal to show Rain stop spinning the umbrella. Rain grabs it with both hands and points it at La Rouge. The camera cuts to the planning room**

Shadow: Cagalli he's planning something hurry up and finish him!

**We cut inside La Rouge's cockpit**

Cagalli: Right!

**We cut outside to see La Rouge take its beam rifle aim and fire it at Rain. The camera cuts to Walter to show him smile. He was waiting for this, we cut out side to see Rain open the umbrella just as the beam bullet hits. **

**The beam bullet hits the umbrella; the umbrella absorbs the beam bullet and discharges it out of the end of its tips. The camera goes over to La Rouge and does the split screen thing to show a shock Cagalli.**

Cagalli: What!

**Rain charges at La Rouge. The screen splits momentary to show a triumphed Walter.**

Walter: HA!

**La Rouge begins to run backwards while continuing to fire at Rain. The beam bullets that do hit the umbrella get absorb and discharge out of the end tips. The camera cuts inside the La Rouge's cockpit to show a panicking Cagalli.**

Cagalli: What the heck is going on!

**The camera looks up to the spectators stand to Tim, Rob and Drake. Tim looks frustrated**

Tim: The Ungli was a prototype weapon that was discontinued years ago, how the hell did your team get one!

**Tim says accusingly at Rob. Rob smiles back**

Rob: Don't get your panties in a bunch Tim, it was all done through official GFC rules. Don't blame me that my team was able to afford better weapons then your team.

**Tim looks pissed**

Tim: Who the hell are you trying to kid, your team just happens to find a rare prototype weapon that there's only a handful left!

**Rob is still grinning**

Rob: I may have recommended some people to them to go see about a weapon but once again I didn't break any GFC rules.

**Tim still looks pissed. He's about to say something when Drake cuts him off.**

Drake: Relax Tim.

**Drake has regain his calm composer. Tim looks at him**

Tim: But Drake Ungli is a prototype weapon that means they won't be able to find any information on it. It gives Rob's team a distinct unfair advantage.

**Rob looks at Tim annoyed**

Rob: You guys obvious found some information on it.

**Tim snaps**

Tim: That's because thanks to years of experience Drake and I know where to look, plus we have a lot higher clearance then they do. Even if they did know where to look they wouldn't have the clearance to access the information.

**Drake is still watching the fight intensely**

Drake: Which is why this makes this great training.

**Tim and Rob turn to Drake confused.**

Tim and Rob: Huh?

**Drake smiles at them**

Drake: Everyone knows that the higher the rank of the Gundam Fighter the more likely he's customized his weapon and the chance of finding information on a customize weapon is slim to none, so it is essential for a Gundam Fighter to be able to figure how an unknown weapon works in the middle of battle.

**Tim looks at Drake worried**

Tim: Drake don't you think you're being kind of tough on them. After all that kind of skill really won't be needed till they get to C rank?

**Drake does his evil grin**

Drake: It's like the saying goes, if you throw a person who doesn't know how to swim into Shark infested waters not only will they learn how to swim they'll learn how to swim fast.

**The camera looks back down to La Rouge. La Rouge is continuing to retreat while firing at the charging Rain but it's useless. The umbrella is continuing to absorb and discharge the beam bullets. The camera cuts to the planning room, we can see Cagalli on one of the monitors panicking.**

Cagalli: Guys!

**Shadow is looking frustrated**

Shadow: Just keep firing and keeping your distance Cagalli. Kenny don't you have anything on this weapon yet?

**Kenny is rapidly typing on his computer**

Kenny: I'm looking I'm looking but I'm not finding anything!

**Suddenly one of the blank monitors blinks and Jack comes up. Shadow and the others look at Jack surprise.**

Shadow: Jack?

**Jack talks fast**

Jack: Sorry I'm late but it took me forever to figure out how these damn computers work!

**Kenny grins**

Kenny: Technology impaired person!

**Jack snaps**

Jack: Shut up, anyway I've been watching the fight in the Gundam bay and I think I have a pretty good understanding of that umbrella weapon.

**The camera quickly cuts to the battle to show La Rouge still running backwards while firing at Rain. Rain is gaining on La Rouge. We cut inside La Rouge's cockpit to see a panicking Cagalli.**

Cagalli: Great now tell me what's up with this shield, is it some kind of energy shield!

**Jack shakes her head**

Jack: No worst I'm afraid, it's an energy redirecting device.

**Shadow looks confused (should be noted that we can see Shadow and Jack on Cagalli's helmet screen).**

Shadow: What?

**Jack sighs**

Jack: Ok think of it like a lightning rod. A lightning rod doesn't block lightning it redirects it, and that's what's going on with your beam bullets the umbrella is just redirecting it in a new direction.

**Nick is the first to figure out what all this means**

Nick: That means that no matter how long Cagalli spends firing at that Umbrella it won't break or weaken.

**We cut outside to see that Rain has reach La Rouge. Rain crouches and takes it's umbrella like it's about to swing a bat. We cut inside Rain's cockpit to see a grinning Walter**

Walter: This isn't just a defensive weapon!

**We cut back outside to see the umbrella go completely flat and start to spin like a saw. Rain swings its saw (umbrella) at La Rouge. La Rouge at the last second raises it's shield to block the attack, but it doesn't have time to pull its beam rifle out of the way. **

**The force of the saw hitting the shield causes the shield to bash into the beam rifle and send it flying. We quickly cut into La Rouge's cockpit to see Cagalli gritting her teeth**

Cagalli: Argarhg

**We cut back outside to see La Rouge jump back dodging a second swing from Rain's saw. La Rouge has gripped its shield with both hands now and is holding it in front of itself. Rain charges again and begins to hack at La Rouge's shield with its saw. La Rouge is force backwards by the power of each swing.**

**The saw makes a metal cutting metal sound each time it makes contact with the shield, and it's all La Rouge can do to keep hold of the shield and stop it from being rip out of its hands. We cut inside La Rouge's cockpit to see Cagalli sweating bullets, the strain of the fight is beginning to take its toll.**

Cagalli: Guys some help please!

**We cut to the planning room. Everyone looks a cross between nervous and frustrated**

Shadow: That thing can also transform into a saw!

**Jack looks frustrated**

Jack: It's a weapon design to be both offensive and defensively sound. Cagalli your shield is operating at 55% and dropping, it won't last much longer!

**Shadow leans forward**

Shadow: Cagalli remember you have a second weapon too.

**The camera cuts to inside La Rouge. Cagalli looks at Shadow momentary confused then she remembers.**

Cagalli: That's right I still have my Guan Dao!

**We cut outside to see Rain hit La Rouge's shield. Rain jumps back and prepares to perform a more powerful swing. The screen splits and we see Walter**

Walter: HA this is it!

**At the same time Rain is preparing to swing its saw La Rouge goes to grab the pole on its back. La Rouge pulls the pole out activating the beam and performs a downward vertical swing at the same time as Rain swings his saw at La Rouge. La Rouge manages to block the saw swing with its shield at the same time as its Guan Dao clips the tip of Rain's right shoulder.**

**La Rouge's Guan Dao is identical to Cagalli's with the exception that it's Gundam size and instead of a metal blade it has a beam blade. The damage to Rain's shoulder doesn't look that bad. We do a split screen of Rain with Walter in the lower half, Walter is in pain and shocked.**

Walter: OWWWWWW

**The screen goes back to normal to show Rain jump back and change its weapon back to its umbrella mode. We do a split screen over La Rouge; we see Cagalli on the lower half of the screen.**

Cagalli: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

**The screen goes back to normal to show La Rouge change its grip on its beam Guan Dao and charge Rain. La Rouge holds its shield directly in front of itself protecting the chest and head. La Rouge begins to perform stab attacks at Rain. La Rouge is stabbing from behind its shield.**

**Rain is holding its umbrella in front of itself but the umbrella isn't absorbing the beam blade. Each time the blade connects to the umbrella it makes an electrical clang sound. Rain is force backwards with each stab. The camera looks back up to the spectators stand, the crowd is even more on the edge of their seats.**

Referee: Unbelievable folks, just when we think it's over for La Rouge she manages to do another reversal and now Rain is the one on the defensive!

**The camera moves over to Tim, Rob and Drake. Rob is shocked**

Rob: What she has a beam spear!

**Drake's lips twitch slightly as he tries to resisted a smile.**

Drake: Well to be more precise it's a beam Guan Dao.

**Rob snaps at Drake**

Rob: That's not the point!

**Rob tries to force himself to calm down.**

Rob: No just because she has another weapon doesn't mean anything, Walter still has Ungli.

**Drake now does smile at Rob**

Drake: I'm afraid your situation is much worse than you think Rob. You see there's a reason the Ungli never left the prototype stage, the Ungli's umbrella shield is perfect for beam rifles but it reacts the same as any normal shield would to melee beam weapons. The creators never figure out how to get it to absorb melee beam weapons so the project was scratch.

Drake: You probably never notice because almost all of the E rank fighter had beam rifles and beam sabers, when a person goes to do a slash with a beam saber they have to move their shield out of the way leaving themselves open. All your Pilot had to do was step out of the way then cut the exposed limb off but you can't do that here because spear weapons are design to compensate for that. A spear can be used while staying behind the shield which means she has no openings and your pilot is in some seriously trouble.

**Rob is looking really panic now he turns to look back at the battle. Drake's smile drops from his face as he begins to think.**

Drake (But I've never taught Cagalli that, I was planning on waiting until her muscles and reflexes were more develop before I started teaching them weapon techniques but for her to figure it out subconsciously and imply it into battle; she's a more natural fighter then I originally thought.)

**The camera looks back down onto the battle. La Rouge is continuing to stab at Rain's umbrella shield forcing Rain backwards. We can start to see some actual damage on the umbrella. We cut inside Rain's cockpit to see Walter gritting his teeth in frustration.**

Walter (This is impossible, Ungli is supposed to be my ultimate secret weapon. I was going to use this when we challenge a D rank team but she not only force me to use it she's beating me with it!)

**Suddenly the anger and frustrated boils over in Walter.**

Walter: I'm not going to lose!

**The camera cuts back outside to see Rain's umbrella turn inside out, ike when it's really windy out and your umbrella flips inside out, only this seems to be done on purpose, and catches La Rouge's Guan Dao in it. The camera cuts quickly inside of La Rogue to show a shocked Cagalli.**

Cagalli: What!

**We cut outside and do a split screen on Rain to show Walter**

Walter: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

**The screen goes back to normal to show Rain twist its flipped umbrella and rip La Rouge's Guan Dao out of its hand. La Rouge's Guan Dao goes flying. We do the split screen on La Rouge.**

Cagalli: Crap!

**Rain transforms its weapon back into its saw mode and begins to savagely hack at La Rouge's shield. We can hear the referee voice over the loud speaker.**

Referee: Incredible folks how many times can a reversal happen in one match! Rain once again has La Rouge on the edge!

**We cut inside La Rouge's cockpit. We can see a couple of red lights blinking.**

La Rouge: Warning shield reaching critical damage.

**Cagalli is looking nervous/frustrated/panic**

Cagalli: Damn!

**We can see Jack on Cagalli's helmet screen, Jack is panicking.**

Jack: Cagalli you've got to get out of there your shield can only take a couple more blows!

**The camera cuts outside to see La Rouge's shield getting hit by Rain's saw again, suddenly we see La Rouge's beam rifle a few feet away. We do the split screen over La Rouge to see Cagalli notice this with surprise. We do the split screen over Rain to show Walter smiling thinking he's won.**

Walter: Now I've got you!

**Walter shouts this as he swings his saw. La Rouge lets go of the shield and dives for the beam rifle just as the saw hits its shield. The saw cuts the shield in half. **

**As La Rouge passes Rain the screen splits into 3 parts. Walter is in the top, the Gundams are in the middle and Cagalli is on the bottom. Walter looks shock, Cagalli looks determine/desperate.**

Walter: What!

**As La Rouge passes Rain, Rain turns around and chases after it. Rain takes its saw and prepares to swing it down for the finishing blow at the same time La Rouge lands on the ground grabs the beam rifle and begins to flip onto its back. **

**Time slows down as we watch and wait to see if Rain's saw will hit La Rouge before she can point her beam rift at Rain and fire. La Rouge gets its beam rifle pointed at Rain before Rain hits La Rouge with its saw. We cut inside La Rouge's cockpit to see Cagalli aiming, she has a point blank shot of Rain she can't miss. **

**Cagalli suddenly hesitates pulling the trigger, that hesitation cost her. We cut outside to see Rain's saw hit La Rouge square in the chest. We cut back inside La Rouge's cockpit to see 4 metal walls pop up from the floor and surround Cagalli, think escape pod, and ejects out of the La Rouge before she even has time to blink.**

**We cut outside to see La Rouge fall backwards and land on its back. There's a big cut running across its chest. We can see into its cockpit, the camera turns to the side to see Cagalli's escape pod land with a crash. We cut inside to see Cagalli get thrown around like a ragdoll in a washer lucky the inside of the escape pod is padded down completely like a loony cell.**

Cagalli: Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

**Suddenly Cagalli falls to one side of the escape pod hard. The escape pod also stops moving. We cut outside to the spectators stand, the crowd is stun into silence. The referee also stun is the first person to talk.**

Referee: It-it's over, it's over folks Rain has won! Rain has beaten La Rouge the win goes to the Gargoyles! What a great match folks, what an awesome fight!

**The crowd goes nuts with applause and cheering. The camera moves over to Rob, Drake and Tim. Rob sighs with relief**

Rob: Ha, I got to admit that was pretty nerve racking but I should have had more faith in my team. Don't feel too bad Drake the faster pilot won!

**Rob is grinning his arrogant smile. Tim glaring at Rob leans towards Drake and begins to whisper.**

Tim: What happen? I'm positive Cagalli was faster at getting her gun and pointing it at him then he was at hitting her with a saw. Did her gun jam or something?

**Drake has remain calm throughout this event**

Drake: Her gun was fine; she hesitated at the last second and it caused her the match.

**Tim is confused**

Tim: Why'd she hesitate?

**Drake still in his calm voice says**

Drake: You'd have to ask her.

**Tim looks at Drake annoyed. The camera cuts to inside the escape pod, we watch Cagalli sit up and take her helmet off and rub her head.**

Cagalli: Ow

**Cagalli looks confused and disoriented**

Cagalli: Where am I?

**She shakes her head and then remembers**

Cagalli: Oh right this is the safely device Drake said was built into every Sora Gundam, it activates instantly the moment the head of a Gundam is destroyed or the second layer of armor on the chest is breach.

**She says this to herself in order to help rearrange her thoughts. The top part of the escape opens, to show Shadow looking in on her. He smiles at her**

Shadow: How's it going Cagalli?

**Cagalli looks at him annoyed. She throws her helmet at him; Shadow surprise catches the helmet.**

Cagalli: Well let me think Shadow, I feel like a doll that was put in the washer so you tell me how you think it's going!

**Cagalli climbs out of the escape pod. We can see that someone must have brought the escape pod into the Gundam bay. We can also see that La Rouge has been brought back into the Gundam bay. Kenny, Nick, Roxas and Jack are standing by the escape pod. Jack tick walks up to Cagalli and hits her with a wrench.**

Cagalli: OWWWWWWW

Jack: You've got no right to be pissed at Shadow; just look at what you've done to my beautiful Gundam. It's going to take me a week to fix the chest section plus I've got to make you a whole new shield to replace the one you let get destroyed!

**Nick steps up coming to Cagalli's defense**

Nick: Take it easy mate; I'm sure Cagalli is just upset about losing her first fight.

**Cagalli looks to the floor embarrass, suddenly Roxas jumps up and gropes/hugs Cagalli from behind.**

Roxas: It's okay Cagalli it was still a great fight!

**Cagalli begins struggling to get Roxas off herself**

Cagalli: Get off me pervert and what do you mean it was a great fight!

**While Cagalli is struggling to get Roxas off herself Kenny steps forward, he's excited.**

Kenny: No it really was a great Gundam match Cagalli, first you were pin down, then you were both even, then he gets pin down, then you get pin down again, then you pin him down then he pins you down and that ending was just unbelievable!

**Cagalli manages to get Roxas off herself; she now blushes from the compliment.**

Cagalli: Well I wasn't that great I mean I did lose.

**Nick smiling at Cagalli**

Nick: But not by much mate, you were just a half second slower than the other guy but next time you'll be faster.

**Jack still annoyed about her damage Gundam says reluctantly**

Jack: That was pretty cleaver how you let go of your shield and dived for your beam rifle! Ha you should have seen the look on that other pilot's face.

**Cagalli is still blushing from embarrassment. Shadow grinning slaps her on the back.**

Shadow: I knew there was a reason I let you join my Gundam team!

**Cagalli turns to glare at him. Kenny looks at his watch.**

Kenny: Oh we've got to get going the third match is getting ready to start, you ready Nick?

**Nick seems to be preparing himself mentally, at Kenny's comment he tips his hat and smiles.**

Nick: You bet mate.

**Kenny smiles back**

Kenny: Well good luck cowboy.

**Cagalli turns to Nick and also smiles**

Cagalli: Good luck Nick.

**Roxas gets in Nick's personal space.**

Roxas: How about I give you a good luck kiss cowboy.

**Nick steps back and blushes**

Nick: Um thanks for the offer miss but I'm ok.

**Cagalli grabs the collar of Roxas's shirt and begins to drag her to the elevator. Cagalli seems annoyed.**

Cagalli: God don't you have any self-control, come on you pervert we've got to get going.

**Kenny, Cagalli and Roxas begin to walk towards the elevator; Jack begins to walk away too.**

Jack: I'll be right back I want to double check on your Gundam.

**After Cagalli takes a few more steps she realizes something and turns around confused**

Cagalli: Hey Shadow aren't you coming?

**Shadow smiles and waves at her**

Shadow: Hold the elevator for me; I'll be there in minute.

**Cagalli still looks confused, and she looks like she's going to say something else when Kenny grabs her should and waves back.**

Kenny: Sure see you in a minute Shadow.

**Kenny begins pulling Cagalli towards the elevator, Cagalli is still confused.**

Cagalli: Hey wait why are we just leaving Shadow?

**Kenny has a determine look in his eye**

Kenny: Because he wants to talk to Nick alone.

**Cagalli looks even more confused. Roxas walking next to them answers her unspoken question.**

Roxas: I know you tried your best but the fact is that we've lost 2 out of our 5 matches so far. If we lose one more match then we lose the team victory. You have to remember that this isn't just Shadow's first official GFC match this is his first match as team leader so he's probably feeling the pressure more than us.

**Understanding dawns on Cagalli.**

Cagalli: Oh I never thought about that, I never really thought of Shadow as team leader.

**Kenny smiles**

Kenny: I know Shadow doesn't really act like any normal leader, ha most of the time he acts like a fighting loving idiot but the fact remains that he is team leader. Even though he doesn't act like a normal commander he still has the responsibilities of one.

**The camera looks over to Nick and Shadow. There's a moment of awkward silence then Nick tips his hat and smiles at Shadow.**

Nick: So mate is this the part where you tell me it's all up to me now and that I can't lose and some other motivation speech?

**Shadow grins back**

Shadow: Now we both know that's not really my style.

**Nick looks at him for a moment surprise then laughs**

Nick: hahahhahahahaha, yea I guess you're right mate.

**Shadow eyes suddenly get serious**

Shadow: Hey Nick, you remember when I first said that I'd do all your sparring time Drake required because you didn't want to fight against girls? Well I'm calling in that favor, don't lose.

**Shadow says the don't lose part while looking directly into Nick's eyes, Nick smiles.**

Nick: You don't want our team to lose mate?

**Shadow still acting serious shakes his head**

Shadow: I don't want the Shadow Knights to ever lose but it's naïve to think that we won't lose a single team victory ever, however with that being said I don't want to lose this one. I don't want to lose our first team match.

Shadow: Our first team match is like we're shouting out to the world for the first time and everyone is turning to look at us and see what we've got, and I don't want to show everyone that we're another bunch of rookies playing around. I want to show everyone that even though we're not that strong right now, someday we're going to be a force to be reckoned with! That's why I don't want to lose!

**This is the most serious we've ever seen Shadow. Nick is very surprise but then he smiles**

Nick: Shadow I give you my word as a man that I will not lose this fight!

**Shadow smiles now**

Shadow: You don't have to promise me anything but just know that if you do lose I'll kick your ass.

**Nick laughs**

Nick: Hahahhaha, you mean you'll try to kick my ass mate anyway I'll see you after I win.

**Shadow turns and begins to walk away**

Shadow: See you then Nick.

**As Shadow walks away Jack walks up to Nick.**

Jack: Cowboy is ready to go Nick.

**Nick turns to Jack and smiles**

Nick: Thanks mate.

**Nick now turns to look at Cowboy. Cowboy looks exactly like La Rouge and Nightwing only it's got a green camo color scheme. It's been equipped with a beam rifle and a shield.**

Nick (Shadow's right I can't lose this match, not while for this brief moment the world is looking at us!)

**The camera cuts to the elevator to show Cagalli, Kenny and Roxas waiting for Shadow. Shadow hops in the elevator. The elevator's door closes and they take off. The camera cuts to inside the elevator to show Cagalli waiting for something.**

Cagalli: Well?

**Shadow looks at her confused**

Shadow: Well what?

**Cagalli looks annoyed now**

Cagalli: How did your talk go with Nick?

**Shadow smiles**

Shadow: Don't worry Nick will win.

**Kenny worried**

Kenny: How do you know?

**Shadow gives Kenny a thumbs-up**

Shadow: Because I believe!

**Cagalli and Kenny look at Shadow like he's an idiot, suddenly Shadow remembers something.**

Shadow: Oh yea Cagalli I almost forgot to ask did you enjoy your first Gundam fight?

**Shadow asks this with a smile. Cagalli is surprise by the question then she puffs and folds her hands.**

Cagalli: I can think of more constructive ways of spending the day.

**The elevator stops and opens to the planning room. Kenny and Roxas get out, Cagalli also moves to get out of the elevator but Shadow gets in her way. Shadow smiles at her**

Shadow: I didn't ask you if you did something constructive I asked you if you had fun.

**Cagalli blinks in surprise. Shadow seems self-satisfy and walks away without waiting for an answer. The camera cuts to the spectators stand.**

Referee: As we make our way into the third match the Gargoyles are up by two wins, one more and they win the team victory can the Shadow Knights break their losing streak? We'll find out here in the third match right now. Representing the Shadow Knights is Nick Mu piloting Cowboy vs. Gael Ocean piloting Odysseus for the Gargoyles!

**The camera cuts to inside Cowboy's cockpit. We can see Nick in the center with his helmet and pilot suit on. The NS system has already been activated and we come in just as the red lines hit his helmet, the lines disappear.**

Cowboy: Activating zero gravity.

**The zero gravity bubble surrounds Nick and lifts him into the air.**

Cowboy: All systems check all systems ready to go on pilot's command.

**We see Kenny appear on Nick's helmet screen.**

Kenny: Alright Nick you're all clear to launch.

**Nick smiles**

Nick: Got you mate. Nick Mu taking off in Cowboy, Yee haw!

**The episode ends with Cowboy being launch into the arena.**


	23. Episode 22

Episode 22

**The episode opens up to show Cowboy land on the rock arena square on its feet. The moment Cowboy lands on the ground it takes off at a steady jog. We can see its head moving slightly side to side scanning the area. We cut inside the cockpit to show Nick looking focus, we can see Kenny on his helmet screen.**

Kenny: Nick be careful, there's a good chance that your opponent launch into the arena before you and is now waiting to ambush you like Cagalli.

**Nick knows his head**

Nick: Good point mate.

Nick (So what should I do now? If I keep going there's a good chance I'll get ambush since I don't the land as we as my opponent and I can't just wait for him to come to me so what should I do?)

**Nick suddenly gets a light bulb moment**

Nick: Wait that's it!

**The camera cuts to Rob, Tim and Drake in the spectator stand. Rob looks smug enough to punch, Tim looks nervous and Drake looks perfectly calm.**

Rob: You seem unusually calm Drake since your team is about to lose.

**Drake glances at Rob**

Drake: Oh are you sure about that Rob?

**Rob looks annoyed**

Rob: Bluffing at such a late stage in the game Drake is unlike you. My team is up by 2 wins 1 more and we win the team victory. You can't possibly expect a bunch of first time fighters to win 3 battles in a row can you?

**Drake doesn't answer Rob. Tim really nervous now leans close to Drake and whispers.**

Tim: Drake?

**The nervousness and fear is evident in his voice. Drake smiles**

Drake: Relax Tim I expected us to lose those matches but now is the time we start winning and make are ultimate comeback.

**The camera looks back to the battle, we can see a new Gundam (Odysseus) hiding behind a rock mound. The new Gundam resembles the Basic Original only it's bigger and bulkier.**

**It's holding a Gundam size Gatling gun. The Gatling gun requires two hands to hold so Odysseus isn't carrying a shield. We can also see a box on one of its shoulders, we cut inside Odysseus cockpit to see a confident pilot.**

Gael (I'll win this in one shot, the moment that other pilot walks into my line of sight I'll nail him with my beam Gatling gun!)

**Suddenly we hear gasps of surprise coming from the audience. Gael hears this and becomes confused and curious. We cut outside to see Odysseus peek its head out of its hiding spot. We do the split screen, we see Gael in the lower half of the screen; he looks shocked.**

Gael: What!

**The camera turns to look in the direction Gael is looking at to show that Cowboy has hop on top of one of the rock mounds about 200 yards away completely exposing itself. The camera looks up to the huge screen in the spectators stand.**

Referee: Unbelievable folks Cowboy has just hop on top of one of the rock mounds completely exposing himself to the enemy! What in the world could the pilot be thinking!

**The camera looks to Rob, Tim and Drake. Rob is laughing**

Rob: Hahahahahah, I know they're rookies but still what an idiot, what kind of Gundam Fighter would make such a stupid mistake!

**Drake slightly grins**

Drake (Rob you're the idiot, what you perceive as a mistake is in fact a strategic move towards victory.)

**The camera cuts to the planning room. We now see Nick on one of the monitors, Jack is also on one of the monitors. Jack, Kenny, and Cagalli are panicking. Roxas seems to have lost interest and is on the ground curl up taking a nap. Zuke is just sitting on the couch looking bored. Shadow is watching one of the monitors closely.**

Jack: Nick what are you doing?

Cagalli: Are you out of your mind you're completely exposing yourself to the enemy!

**Shadow puts a hand on Cagalli's shoulder, confused Cagalli turns to look at him to find him smiling.**

Shadow: Relax Cagalli Nick knows what he's doing.

**Cagalli goes to argue**

Cagalli: But

**Shadow cut her off**

Shadow: Cagalli you're looking at this the wrong way, instead of thinking that he exposed himself to the enemy think that he can now see the enemy.

**Cagalli blinks in surprise having never thought of it like that before. The camera cuts back outside to the battle, we can see Cowboy looking left and right. We cut inside to see Nick scanning the area, he's talking low to himself.**

Nick: Now where are you mate? Where are you?

**His eyes open wide, we quickly switch to his perspective to show Odysseus peeking out from behind a rock mound.**

Nick: Got you mate!

**We cut to the inside of Odysseus's cockpit to see Gael getting over his surprise.**

Gael (No this is a good thing; now that he's completely out in the open I'll just empty my Gatling gun at him. From this distance at least one bullet will hit him although I can't be certain it will be a kill shot.)

**We cut back outside to see Odysseus lift its Gatling gun and point it at Cowboy. We cut back inside the cockpit to see Gael brimming with self-confidence aiming.**

Gael (I got you.)

**We cut outside to see one of the rock mounds next to Odysseus suddenly explode from being hit with a beam bullet. We do the split screen over Odysseus to see a shocked Gael.**

Gael: What!

**The camera turns around and zooms in to show the shot came from Cowboy's beam rifle, Cowboy's beam rifle is still smoking. We cut inside to the cockpit to see a slightly annoyed Nick.**

Nick: Damn my shot was a little off to the right.

**The camera cuts back outside to see Cowboy take its beam rifle and open fire on Odysseus. We do the split screen over Odysseus to show Gael gritting his teeth as Odysseus jumps back to avoid the shots.**

**The screen goes back to normal to show Odysseus continuing to jump back as more shots are fire at it. Odysseus doesn't seem to be that fast and is relying heavily on its thrusters to jump. All of Cowboy's shots are within a 1 foot radius of Odysseus but none hit it. **

**It looks like the only thing that is keeping Odysseus from getting shot is its constant movement but that's also preventing it from returning fire. We cut inside Odysseus to see Gael frustrated/nervous/scare/angry.**

Gael: Damn it what the hell! He's got to be over 200 yards away and yet he's firing within a foot radius of me with just a beam rifle! What the hell is he!

**The camera looks up to the huge screen in the spectators stand to show the referee once again on the edge of his seat.**

Referee: Oh my god someone call the world records holder because I am positive that this pilot Nick of the Shadow Knights has got to be breaking some kind of record! From over 200 yards away he's shooting at Odysseus with a standard beam rifle, now I've been an official GFC referee for 20 years and I have never seen anything like this!

**The camera looks over to Rob, Tim, and Drake. Rob is shock**

Rob: What kind of E rank pilot can shoot like that!

**Tim boasting says with a smile**

Tim: Nick was already a good shot when he became a Gundam Fighter but now after Drake's training he's become a great shot. One day he's definitely going to become a first class marksman.

**Rob turns to glare at Tim.**

Rob: Your Gundam Fighter might be a better pilot then my Gundam Fighter but at the end of the day the better equip Gundam always wins and Odysseus is way better equip then your Gundam!

**The camera looks back down at Odysseus, beam bullets are still flying all around it. One beam bullet grazes the left shoulder. The right shoulder has the big box on it. We cut inside Odysseus's cockpit to see Gael gritting his teeth. He looks frustrated and panic is starting to creep in.**

Gael (Damn it his shots are starting to get more accurate!)

**Suddenly red warning lights start blinking**

Odysseus: Warning thrusters starting to overheat.

**Gael looks even more pissed**

Gael: Damn it, I didn't want to use this so early in the fight but you're not leaving me much choice so taste my missile!

**The camera cuts back outside to see the box on Odysseus's right shoulder open up to reveal 12 missiles. One of the missiles launches towards Cowboy, we quickly do a split screen over Cowboy to show a shock/surprise/scare Nick.**

Nick: Crap!

**The screen goes back to normal to show Cowboy hop off the rock mound while at the same time moving its shield in front of itself. It's impossible for Cowboy to avoid the missile, the missile hits Cowboy square on the shield and explodes. Cowboy comes flying/falling out of the dust cloud and crashes into one of the rock mounds.**

**The rock mound shatters from the force of impact causing Cowboy to start to spin as it continues falling straight into the ground. It skips once like a stone then continues rolling on the ground until it gradually stops and lays unmoving on its back. **

**Throughout this event it never lets go of its beam rifle and shield. The camera looks up to the spectator stands to see that everyone has gone silent.**

Referee: What a hit folks what a hit, Cowboy has just been hit with what I believe to be a GX-U36 missile. Although small those babies pack quite a punch; Cowboy is down and unmoving but from are readouts it seems that the safety device has yet to be activated however it is quite possible that the pilot has lost consciousness due to the force of impact from the explosion. According to official GFC rules the Shadow Knights have 2 minutes to prove that their pilot is still conscious, able and willing to fight. During this time both fighters are forbidden from attacking one another until I give the green light to continue the fight.

**We can see some genuine concern from most of the crowd, although they like to watch Gundam Fights they're not monsters they don't want to see anyone get killed or seriously hurt. Rob however shows no such sympathy.**

Rob: HA K.O. after only one missile blast and here I was expecting something more from your team Drake.

**Tim looks pissed and looks like he might hit Rob but Drake puts a hand on his shoulder and prevents him from getting up.**

Tim: You asshole is that all you can think about! Nick could be serious hurt in there!

**Rob looks at Tim bored and slightly annoyed.**

Rob: A GX-U36 isn't capable of causing damage to inside a cockpit. Your pilot probably lost consciousness because of the sudden acceleration of his Gundam by the explosion. Any other reason would be caused by poor maintenance or mechanic error. Which would not be my fault so don't blame me if your pilot is dead because you hired a crappy mechanic, ha after all I did say that at the end of the day the better equip Gundam would win.

**Tim is even more pissed and struggles under Drake's grip to attack Rob.**

Drake: Tim calm down! We both know that there's no maintenance or mechanic error, Rob is most likely right when he said Nick lost consciousness because of the sudden acceleration in which case he will be fine when he wakes up.

**Tim begins to calm down and stops' struggling under Drake's grip. Rob looks smug enough to punch.**

Rob: Thank you Drake for stopping your lackey from doing something completely foolish.

**Drake suddenly turns to glare at Rob and trust me when I say that Drake glaring is equal to a thousand nightmares.**

Drake: Rob shut up now before I decide to _**KILL YOU**_!

**The threat turns Rob white and shuts him up. Drake satisfied turns back to look at the battle.**

Drake (Nick was smart in jumping off the rock mound at the last second, if he had stay he would have taken the full force of the blast instead of rolling with it like he did when it hit him in midair. It didn't do much for him but still the little it did could be the difference of him getting back up and him staying out cold.)

**The camera cuts to the planning room, Cagalli, Jack, Kenny, Roxas and Shadow are very worried. The monitor where Nick was has the snow effect going on.**

Cagalli: Nick, Nick, Nick come in do you read us!

Roxas: Come on cowboy answer us!

**The referee on one of the other monitors is starting to look impatient.**

Referee: Shadow Knights you have a minute and 23 seconds to prove your pilot is conscious and still capable of fighting.

**Shadow annoyed snaps**

Shadow: Thank you for feeling the need to state the obvious now shut up and let us get a hold of Nick!

**The referee is insulted by Shadow's attitude but maintains self-control.**

Referee: You now have a minute and 14 seconds.

**The monitor the referee was on goes black as if the referee cut communication. Shadow still annoyed now turns back to the others.**

Shadow: Will someone please tell me what's going on!

**Kenny rapidly typing on his computer shakes his head**

Kenny: I don't know, the shield took most of the damage from the missile but the back and right arm are also damage to some extent.

**We look up to the monitor Jack is on to see that she's also typing on a computer but nowhere near as fast as Kenny.**

Jack: There's no way in hell that missile manage to cause damage to the cockpit or to Nick directly.

**Shadow growing more frustrated.**

Shadow: Ok then why are we getting snow on his monitor, is there something wrong with his helmet screen!

**Kenny shakes his head**

Kenny: No there's nothing mechanically wrong with his helmet screen but the helmet screen is connected to the neurons in his brain so if he falls unconscious the helmet screen stops working.

**This doesn't make Shadow feel any better.**

Shadow: Ok so he's unconscious but how did he get that way?

**Cagalli suddenly remembers something**

Cagalli: The sudden acceleration; when the missile hit him his Gundam must have accelerated beyond his tolerance and knock him out. The same thing happen in Orb when the Flight pack was first develop for the Astray series, the sudden acceleration from takeoff to full speed used to knock out the test pilots before they develop a system to protect against it.

**Jack rolls her eyes and says in a non-believe voice**

Jack: Right and you know this all from your time as chief representative of Orb on Earth.

**Jack is being sarcastic. Cagalli despite the situation finds herself getting annoyed.**

Cagalli: Orb does exist and I'm its chief representative!

**Kenny cuts into the argument before Jack replies**

Kenny: Whether or not Orb exists doesn't matter. I think Cagalli's right about the sudden acceleration knocking Nick out; I remember reading about something like that in an article about G-force on the web.

**Shadow processing the information**

Shadow: Alright so what can we do to help him?

**There's a moment's pause as nobody knows what to say. Zuke still sitting on the couch looking bored says in a voice as if they're all idiots.**

Zuke: There's nothing you can do, you obviously don't have enough time to establish a new communication link to wake him up and you can't accuse the Gundam remotely which means he has to regain consciousness by himself and the chances of that happening are 7.65 percent or to put in more simple terms for people of your intelligence the chances of him waking up is slim to none.

**Cagalli, Roxas, Jack and Kenny look at Zuke very annoyed and pissed, but Shadow is smiling at him.**

Shadow: But there is a 7 percent chance that he could wake up.

**For the first time Zuke looks annoyed**

Zuke: 7.65 percent but yes there is a chance and there's also a 2.35 percent chance that you'll get hit by lightning when you walk outside at any given time.

**Shadow turns around to look at the monitor ignoring Zuke's additional comment. He's smiling.**

Shadow: But there's still a chance and I'm feeling lucky today!

**Zuke frowns. The camera cuts inside Cowboy's cockpit, the cockpit is still functioning, the lights are on and the zero gravity bubble is still working. Nick is on his back floating in mid-air. **

**As the camera moves over Nick, the picture of Nick becomes translucent and we begin to see pictures behind him his memories and dreams. The pictures are of Nick riding a horse on a range in what we can assume be his home farm. Nick herding cattle, Nick hanging out at a local bar in his home town.**

Nick (I can't lose!)

**Just to be clear Nick is still unconscious. The thoughts he's currently thinking are the result of his unconscious mind trying to process information his conscious mind couldn't accept. The camera cuts quickly to his hand to see his finger twitch and then goes back to where it was before.**

**We now see more recent images of Nick; Nick hanging out with Shadow, Kenny and Cagalli before they met Drake, Nick chilling in the hospital with Shadow and the others, Nick traveling to Junk City, Nick hanging out in Junk City and other pictures of Nick hanging out with Shadow and co.**

Nick (I made a promise! I gave him my word!)

**The pictures are now of Nick training with Shadow, Cagalli and Roxas. Nick talking with Shadow just before his fight, and the final picture we see is of young women most likely the same age as Nick, she looks quite beautiful.**

Nick (And a man never goes back on his word!)

**Nick's eyes pop open as he forces himself to regain consciousness. The camera quickly looks down to his Neon Gauntlet to show it turn grass green and start to slightly glow. The camera goes back to normal and cuts outside to show Cowboy starting to get up.**

**Odysseus by this point had come closer to Cowboy to get a better look now jumps back in surprise or as surprise as a Gundam can look getting some distance between itself and Cowboy. We do a split screen over Odysseus to show Gael gritting his teeth looking annoyed.**

Gael: Argh

**The camera looks up to spectators stand to see many people gasp with shock and surprise, apparently many people thought he wouldn't get up.**

Referee: He's getting up, he's getting up; Cowboy is getting back up!

**The crowd begins to applaud and cheer admiring Nick's fighting spirit. The camera looks over to Rob, Tim and Drake. Tim is clapping, cheering, and whistling; Rob looks highly annoyed and Drake is slightly grinning.**

**The camera cuts to the planning room to show that Nick's monitor is back up and running, everyone except Zuke who never cared is relieve.**

Cagalli: Nick you're ok!

**Roxas sighs**

Roxas: You had us worry there for moment cowboy.

**Nick looks like he's still recovering but he manages a faint smile.**

Nick: Sorry about that mates.

**Zuke is looking at Nick now with some interest. Shadow notices this and smiles**

Shadow: He woke up.

**Zuke looks annoyed again**

Zuke: So what, I didn't say it was impossible I said it was improbable. Congratulations you should try your luck at the slots now.

**Shadow just continues to smile at Zuke then turns to look back at Nick**

Shadow: Can you still fight?

**Cagalli shock and annoyed snaps at Shadow.**

Cagalli: Shadow, Nick just regain consciousness, he shouldn't be fighting any more in some stupid game he needs to be look over by a doctor in case he has a series head injury, RIGHT!

**Cagalli says the right part at Roxas, Kenny and Jack looking for support. Roxas looks away pretending to be thinking about something us. Cagalli turns her glaring eyes to Jack who says reluctantly**

Jack: The Gundam may not have been that badly damage but Nick could still have gotten a concession, we should have Nick come in and get a checkup; it's better safe than sorry.

**Cagalli nods self-satisfied, but Kenny adds.**

Kenny: But if Nick leaves the battle field for any reason it's counted as a lost and we've already lost 2 matches, if we lose this one we lose the team victory.

**Cagalli angry again snaps**

Cagalli: Are you saying that winning this stupid game is more important than Nick's life!

**Kenny looks to the floor ashamed.**

Nick: Cagalli don't worry about me mate, I'm fine.

**Nick says gently to Cagalli. Cagalli looks at Nick concern and she's about to say something when Shadow speaks.**

Shadow: Are you sure?

**Shadow asks with genuine concern. Cagalli looks at Shadow surprise, Nick nods his head**

Nick: Positive.

**The monitor the referee was on suddenly blinks on. The referee appears and he seems to be in a better mood then when he left.**

Referee: Shadow Knights is your Gundam Pilot still capable and willing to continue the match?

**Shadow looks at Nick for a moment longer then nods his head.**

Shadow: Yes.

**The referee nods his head**

Referee: Alright I will give the ok to resume the match momentarily.

**The camera cuts to inside Cowboy's cockpit. Nick sighs then begins to rotate his neck to work his sore muscles, suddenly Gael pops up in a new window on his helmet screen. Nick is mildly surprise, Gael is smiling.**

Gael: Hello there I hope I didn't hurt you too bad with that missile attack.

**The way Gael says this implies otherwise. The camera quickly cuts outside to show Odysseus and Cowboy facing each other than cuts back inside. Nick smiles back**

Nick: I'm ok mate but thanks for the concern.

**The camera cuts outside to the referee's screen.**

Referee: Alright just a reminder both Gundam Fighters are forbidden to attack each other until I say go, if either one attacks prematurely that fighter will be disqualified no exceptions.

**The camera cuts back inside Cowboy's cockpit, Gael and Nick are still talking.**

Gael: You should have just stay down it would've saved your Gundam from suffering a lot of damage.

**Gael and Nick are both fake smiling at each other.**

Nick: Oh and how do you figure that mate?

**We quickly cut outside to see Odysseus gesture to his Gatling gun then we cut back inside the cockpit.**

Gael: My guns bigger.

**Gael says with confidence but Nick is unmoved.**

Nick: Didn't your mother ever teach you mate that size doesn't matter it's the user.

**The referee has started the countdown**

Referee: 10

Gael: Aren't you going to hide?

Referee: 9

Gael: We can't attack one another until he says go but we can still move.

Referee: 8

Nick: I'm fine

Referee: 7

Nick: I'm a pretty quick draw mate.

**The camera quickly cuts outside to see both Gundams with their guns at the ready; we cut back inside Cowboy's cockpit.**

Referee: 6

Gael: So am I, I could be faster.

Referee: 5

**Nick nods his head**

Nick: True but your Gatling as you so kindly pointed out mate has a delay between the pulling of the trigger and firing.

Referee: 4

Nick: My beam rifle doesn't.

**Gael isn't concern**

Gael: We'll see.

Referee: 3

**Nick looks confused for moment about Gael's confidence.**

Referee: 2

**Nick blinks and refocuses. The camera cuts back outside.**

Referee: 1 FIGHT!

**Both Gundams fire at each other at the same time. There is no delay for Odysseus's beam Gatling gun. Cowboy gets off one shot and that one shot hits Odysseus's right shoulder. Odysseus's right arm is the arm that's only holding the Gatling gun, the left arm is the one that is pulling the trigger and controlling where the gun fires.**

**At the same time at the last second Cowboy lifts its shield in front of itself blocking the tidal wave of beam bullets from Odysseus's beam Gatling gun from hitting him but the force knocks Cowboy back on the ground. Cowboy still holding its weapons begins to roll away as more beam bullets come flying at it.**

**Cowboy rolls behind a rock mound for cover and hops back onto its legs. Odysseus takes a step towards the rock mound Cowboy is using for cover and never taking its finger off the trigger points its Gatling gun at the rock mound.**

**Other than a big hole in its right shoulder Odysseus is working just fine. The camera cuts to the spectator stands, to show Tim looking nervous and Rob grinning. Rob seems to have gotten over Drake's threat.**

Rob: Your guys in trouble now Drake. Too bad his shot was off because thanks to Odysseus's Gatling gun he's not going to get another chance to shoot!

**Drake is watching the battle intensely**

Drake (Nick didn't miss his shot; he hit exactly where he was aiming at. Nick always aims for the shoulder of his opponent so that he doesn't kill them, and because he's been doing this for years it's become part of his instinct as a gunman the same way a baseball player's instinct is to catch a ball that's thrown to them. The high stressed of the draw made him revert back to his most natural instinctual target the shoulder, looks like I'll have to work with him on suppressing that instinct during a Gundam Fight.)

**The camera cuts to inside Odysseus's cockpit, we can still hear the Gatling gun firing in the background.**

Gael: Odysseus reroute enough power to the right arm so that you can lock it in place.

Odysseus: Understood, rerouting power now.

**Gael focuses back on Cowboy**

Gael: That shot to my right shoulder hurt a lot so let me pay you back!

**The camera cuts back outside to show Cowboy try to inch its head out of the rock mound so it can take a shot but it has to quickly duck behind the rock mound again as Odysseus continues to fire at it with its beam Gatling gun. We cut to inside Cowboy's cockpit**

Nick (Crap I aim for his shoulder by reflex; I got to remember that I'm in a Gundam fight now and that I don't have to worry about his safety thanks to the safety devices built into the Gundams.)

**The camera cuts outside to show the rock mound Cowboy is hiding behind start to crack and break as the beam bullets hit it. It's going to collapse in minutes, the camera cuts inside Odysseus's cockpit to show a grinning Gael.**

Gael: Oh did I forget to mention that my Gatling gun has been modified so that it doesn't have the delay between pulling the trigger and firing!

**The rock mound shatters from the beam bullets. Cowboy holding its shield in front itself begins to run to another rock mound. A good number of beam bullets hit Cowboy's shield and it's clear that it is all Cowboy can do to keep itself from being knock down again. We cut inside the cockpit to see Nick gritting his teeth.**

Nick (Damn I can't get a shot in)

**We can see Jack and Kenny on his helmet screen**

Jack: Nick you have to keep ducking behind the rock mounds your shield suffered major damage from that missile; it's now only working at 45% ability.

**Kenny goes next, they're both talking fast.**

Kenny: He has a GX missile launcher on his shoulder that carries 12 GX-U36 missiles, the good news is that he's down to 11 missiles now.

**Nick doesn't look too thrilled about the good news. The camera cuts back outside to show Cowboy duck behind another rock mound. We quickly cut back inside Cowboy's cockpit**

Nick (I need to get some distance from him and then I'll snipe him.)

**We cut back outside to see Cowboy begin to run away from Odysseus. The rock mound it was using for a shield hasn't been destroyed yet. Cowboy is running to another rock mound farther away.**

**Odysseus begins to chase after it but it's obvious that Cowboy is faster and quickly putting distance between itself and Odysseus. We do a split screen over Odysseus to show Gael in the lower half of the screen.**

Gael: Oh no you don't, you're not getting away from me!

**The screen goes back to normal to show Odysseus launch another missile at Cowboy. We do another split screen over Cowboy to show Nick panicking.**

Nick: Crap not again!

**The screen goes back to normal as Cowboy jumps back avoiding getting hit by the missile. The missile hits the rock mound Cowboy was running towards and explodes obliterating the rock mound. Cowboy doesn't have time to process this as Odysseus comes right in front of it and fires its Gatling gun at Cowboy.**

**Cowboy lifts its shield in front of itself as it once again retreats behind a rock mound. The rock mound quickly begins to crumble under the force of the beam bullets from Odysseus Gatling gun, we enter a quick slideshow mode. **

**The pictures are of Odysseus firing its Gatling gun at Cowboy, Odysseus destroying the rock mounds Cowboy is hiding behind, and Odysseus firing a missile at Cowboy whenever Cowboy gets too far away. The camera goes back to normal to show the referee's screen.**

Referee: Odysseus seems to have Cowboy on the run, how much longer can Cowboy evade Odysseus's beam Gatling gun!

**The camera looks over to Tim, Rob and Drake. Rob is once again smug**

Rob: Not much longer.

**Tim turns to glare at him**

Tim: Says you, Nick can keep this up all day!

**Drake says evenly**

Drake: No he can't.

**Tim looks at Drake shock**

Tim: Drake!

**Drake glances at Tim slightly annoyed then looks back to the battle**

Drake: Tim you have to stop getting so emotional about these fights it's clouding your judgment. Rob's Gundam Pilot is laying down a solid strategy, if Nick doesn't see it and do something about it he's done for.

**The camera looks back down to the battle to show Cowboy ducking behind another rock mound. We can see cracks appearing and small pieces of the rock mound breaking off as the beam bullets from Odysseus's Gatling gun rip into it. The camera cuts into Cowboy's cockpit, to show Nick looking annoyed and frustrated and it's only getting worst.**

Cowboy: Gundam power levels at 77 percent.

Nick (Damn it all I need is one shot and I can nail him from this distance but it seems he knows that and he's not going to give me an opening. Plus every time I try to get some distance between us he fires a missile at me. According to my count he's got 5 missiles left; I can try to force him to use up all his remaining missiles and then make a brake for it.)

**The camera quickly cuts outside to see the rock mound Cowboy is hiding behind shatter. Cowboy runs once again to a new rock mound to hid behind while Odysseus keeps firing its beam Gatling gun at Cowboy. We cut back inside Cowboy's cockpit**

Nick (Still something doesn't feel right, I can't quite put my finger on it but this feels like what me and my mates do to cattle back on the range. We create noise in order to scare the cattle to go in the direction we want them to go in so if I'm the cattle then where is he trying to get me to go?)

**The camera cuts outside again to see another rock mound Cowboy is hiding behind shatter. Cowboy once again moves to hide behind another rock mound, as Cowboy is running we look over its shoulder to see the rock mound battle field.**

**We can see that there's now a gap between the rock mounds behind Odysseus and in front of Odysseus. At the beginning of the match the rock mounds were all spread out evenly. The camera cuts inside Cowboy's cockpit to show a shock Nick**

Nick (No it couldn't be, he's making a clearing!)

**The camera cuts back outside and does a bird's eye view of the battle field to show that there's now a circle clearing surrounding the rock mound area Nick is using for cover. **

**We can see rubble piles in the circle clearing where rock mounds once stood before being blown down by Odysseus's Gatling gun. The camera cuts to Tim, Rob and Drake in the stands. Tim has just figure out what's going on.**

Tim: He's making a clearing!

**Drake nods his head**

Drake: Yup Rob's fighter first destroyed the rock mounds circling a small area of other rock mounds Nick was using for cover, separating the area Nick has been using from the rest of the battle field. He's made the gap so big now that Nick can't make it to the other part of the battle field without getting shot down by the beam Gatling gun first. It's actually very impressive that he's done that while keeping Nick moving and making it look like he was aiming for him.

**Tim looks worried**

Tim: Well what can Nick do now?

**Rob with confidence says**

Rob: There's nothing he can do, Gael will keep destroying the surrounding rock mounds until there's only one left in the middle of a clearing. The distance between the last rock mound in the clearing and the other rock mounds in the battle field will be too great for your Gundam Pilot to make it without getting mowed down by Odysseus's Gatling gun, the trap has already been sprung.

**Tim goes back to watching the battle very nervous now. Drake still looks calm**

Drake (Just because we know about the trap doesn't mean it's been sprung. Nick still has time to set a counter-trap but let's see if he's smart enough to do it.)

**The camera cuts back to inside Cowboy's cockpit to see Nick gritting his teeth**

Nick (My shield has 15 percent power left, if I run across the clearing now I might make it but my shield would be done for but what else can I do?)

**The camera cuts outside to see another rock mound bite the dust. Cowboy begins running to one of the few remain rock mounds in his area. Odysseus takes a step towards him, we see Odysseus foot hit the ground, the ground begins to slightly crake and break and Odysseus's foot slightly sinks into it. The camera cuts inside Cowboy's cockpit to see Nick notice this.**

Nick: His foot sank.

**Jack still on his helmet screen takes this as a question**

Jack: Well yea, it's not call a Basic Heavy for nothing, the Basic Heavy is 3 times heavier than the Basic Original.

**Nick suddenly gets an idea**

Nick: That's it mate!

**Jack is confused**

Jack: What's it?

**Nick smiles**

Nick: I have a plan mate.

**The camera cuts back outside to show Cowboy still hiding behind a rock mound turn and fire its beam rifle at the opposite direction Odysseus. The camera moves over to Odysseus and does a split screen to show Gael almost laughing.**

Gael: HAHAHA, what are you aim at!

**The camera goes back to normal to show Odysseus destroying the rock mound Cowboy was using for cover. Cowboy runs over to another rock mound and fires another shot in a direction nowhere near Odysseus. Odysseus destroys that rock mound too. **

**They continue to repeat this process until there's only one rock mound left standing in the clearing. We can see other rock mounds in the distance but it's obvious that Cowboy wouldn't be able to reach them without first getting mowed down by Odysseus beam Gatling gun.**

**Cowboy is hiding behind the last rock mound. The camera cuts to inside Cowboy's cockpit to show Nick looking nervous.**

Nick (This is it; I've done all I could now it's up to lady luck.)

**The camera looks up to the referee's screen**

Referee: What a well thought out trap, it looks like this is the end for Cowboy and the Shadow Knights folks.

**The camera moves over to Tim, Rob and Drake. Tim looks really worried, Rob looks like he's already won and Drake still looks cool and collected.**

Rob: Well this is the official end but we already knew how it would end from the beginning didn't we Drake. Don't be too hard on your team for losing they are rookies after all.

**Drake tunes Rob out**

Drake (Looks like nobodies notice the counter-trap Nick's put into place. I got to say though that it is a risky move even for me, it relies a lot on luck but it's not over yet.)

**The camera cuts into the planning room. Jack and Kenny look frustrated at not being able to think of anything to do to help. Roxas is pretending not to care but we can see her keep glancing back at the screen. Cagalli seems defeated**

Cagalli: It was a good try, Nick did the best he could there's no one to blame for this lost.

**Shadow is watching the monitor closely, he smiles at her.**

Shadow: Why are you talking like he's lost?

**Cagalli begins to talk to Shadow like she's talking to someone in denial.**

Cagalli: Shadow

**Shadow still smiling at her**

Shadow: Nick's not done yet Cagalli, like the saying goes it's not over till the fat lady sings.

**Zuke has remain quiet throughout this talk and is now watching the battle closely. The camera cuts back outside to Odysseus, the camera then cuts into Odysseus cockpit, Gael is enjoying prolonging this moment.**

Gael: I got to admit you were one tough opponent, but in the end my better equipment and superior battle experience gave me the win in this battle. I wish you better luck next time but now it's time to finish you!

**The camera cuts outside to see Odysseus preparing to fire at the last rock mound and Nick. Odysseus takes a step towards the rock mound, when Odysseus steps his foot falls into a ditch and sinks deep into the ground causing Odysseus to lose its balance. We do a split screen over Odysseus to show a shock Gael.**

Gael: What!

**The screen goes back to normal to show Odysseus lean forward in a poor attempt to regain its balance. By leaning forward Odysseus's Gatling gun is pointed all the way to the ground. The camera cuts to inside Cowboy's cockpit**

Nick: NOW!

**The camera cuts outside to show Cowboy climb to the top of the rock mound and jump off towards Odysseus. Cowboy has ditch its shield and is gripping its beam rifle with two hands aiming at Odysseus.**

**We do a three way split screen, Nick is in the top panel, the Gundams are in the middle and Gael is at the bottom. Nick looks determine and Gael looks panic, at the same time they both say**

Nick: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Gael: Crapppppppppppppppppppppp

**In the middle panel we see Odysseus struggle to lift its Gatling gun and point it at Cowboy but it's too late. Cowboy is overhead of Odysseus and has the shot. Cowboy shoots and hits Odysseus directly in the head.**

**The screen goes back to normal to show Cowboy fly over Odysseus and crash to the ground as Odysseus falls backwards with its head blown off. Cowboy with some effort gets back up. The camera looks to the crowd to see them all stun silent then the referee starts going nuts.**

Referee: Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god he did it, he did it Cowboy has just won the match he manage to come back from an impossible situation and win the match!

**The crowd goes nuts with applause and cheering. The camera does a split screen over Cowboy to show a tired Nick wave back to the crowd. The camera goes back to normal and looks up to Rob, Tim and Drake. Tim is going nuts with cheering, clapping and whistling while Rob is shocked.**

Rob: How, how could this have happen, what happen!

**Drake with a growing smile turns to look at Rob**

Drake: Oh you don't know? While your guy was setting a trap Nick was setting a counter-trap.

**Rob's shock gets replace with anger**

Rob: What the hell is that supposed to mean!

**Drake still smiling explains**

Drake: Did you think those shots Nick fired when he was pinned down by your guy's beam Gatling gun were random acts of a desperate man. Nick realize what was happening so he pick a rock mound where he would make his last stand and created ditches in the ground where he thought his opponent would stand to finish him off with his beam Gatling gun. When Odysseus lost its balance its Gatling gun fell all the way to the ground. The Gatling gun was too heavy to lift up fast enough to point at Nick before Nick shot him.

**Rob is still pissed**

Rob: How the hell could he have known where Odysseus would step!

**Drake answers calmly**

Drake: He didn't, this plan relied largely on luck to work.

**Rob forces himself to calm down**

Rob: It doesn't matter. Your team was bound to win at least 1 match, and we're still up by 2 wins all my team has to do is win 1 of the next 2 matches to win the team victory.

**The camera cuts to the planning room Nick walks in with Jack right behind him. Nick has his helmet off. Everyone except Zuke is celebrating, slapping Nick on the back and giving him high-fives.**

Shadow: I knew you could do it Nick!

Cagalli: Way to go Nick!

Kenny: Nick you rock!

Roxas: Way to go cowboy!

Jack: Never doubted you for a second man!

**Zuke is just standing there looking bored**

Zuke (That strategy, no that fight was nothing special, although I will say that he's got a good amount of luck but luck only wins so many fights.)

**Nick nodding and smiling says**

Nick: Thanks mates.

**Nick then turns to Roxas. Nick looks Roxas directly in the eye and high-fives her. Roxas looks a little confused.**

Nick: You're up mate; good luck and make sure to keep our winning streak going.

**Roxas smiles and nods her head.**

Roxas: No problem, I've been waiting to take out Quanlier for a spin!

**Everyone turns to Roxas now.**

Cagalli: Well good luck Roxas.

**Roxas gets in Cagalli's personal space bubble.**

Roxas: Cagalli if I win this fight will you sleep with me?

**Cagalli goes from happy to piss in seconds**

Cagalli: Absolutely not you pervert!

**Shadow steps in eagerly**

Shadow: I'll sleep with!

**Roxas sighs depressed**

Roxas: But I'm not interested in you.

**Shadow becomes depressed. Jack annoyed now grabs Roxas's shirt collar and begins to drag her towards the Gundam bay elevator.**

Jack: Come on you animal, we better get you into your Gundam before you completely forget why you're here.

**The elevator shuts behind them. The camera cuts outside to the referee's screen**

Referee: The Gargoyles are still up with 2 wins but the Shadow Knights with 1 win aren't giving up without a fight. Can they make a comeback we'll find out right now in the 4th match! Fighting for the Shadow Knights is Roxas Nile in Quanlier and Fighting for the Gargoyles is Ida Macaulay in Orchard.

**The camera cuts to the Gundam bay, we see Jack leaning Roxas who at least has her pilot suit on except the helmet and is walking on all fours, on a catwalk over Quanlier's back.**

Jack: Because Quanlier is an animal type Gundam the hatch to the cockpit is located on its back.

**Roxas gets distracted by another mechanic using a blow touch on another Gundam a little ways away.**

Roxas: Oh shiny.

**Jack annoyed whacks Roxas on the head with her wrench.**

Roxas: Owwwwwwwww

Jack: Pay attention, if you lose this match we lose the team victory so for once try to have an attention span for longer than minute.

**Roxas sitting on two legs now rubs her head and glares at Jack for a moment then sighs.**

Roxas: Fine

**Jack nods then throws a helmet at Roxas. Roxas surprise catches the helmet.**

Jack: Good now put your helmet on and get going!

**Roxas sticks her tongue out at Jack as Jack walks away. Roxas sighs again then puts on her helmet. She lifts up her Neon Gauntlet and hits a few buttons on it. The camera looks down to show the hatch on Quanlier's back open. Roxas smiles as she takes a step back and then runs forward and jumps off the catwalk towards the cockpit.**

**There's a ladder from the hatch to the cockpit and as Roxas falls she grabs onto the ladder and proceeds to slid down into the cockpit slowing her decent. Roxas lets go of the ladder and lands lightly on her feet in the cockpit. She then walks to the sunken part of the floor and says**

Roxas: Quanlier my beautiful Gundam please begin the launching sequence.

**We hear the motors start up**

Quanlier: Beginning launching sequence. Activating S-generator.

**The camera cuts into a metal room to show a crystal or something like it in the center. We see a bolt of electrically hit it, creating a large boom, and then a mini sun appears. We cut outside to see Quanlier's eyes flash then we cut back to Roxas.**

Quanlier: Activating NS system.

**We see the black fog being release from the floor. When the black fog touches Roxas's feet the red lines start to appear. The camera begins to circle Roxas, starting from her feet the red lines begin to spread all over Roxas. Roxas gives a yup when the fog first hits her feet but after that she only grits her teeth, once the red lines hit her helmet they disappear.**

Quanlier: Activating Zero-gravity.

**The Zero-gravity bubble surrounds Roxas and lifts her off her feet, however unlike the other Gundam Pilots we've seen so far who stand straight up Roxas gets down on all fours. To us watching it, it seems like she's standing on an invisible floor.**

Quanlier: All systems check, all systems ready to go on pilot's command.

**We see Kenny appear on Roxas's helmet screen**

Kenny: Alright I'm getting all green lights over here Roxas you're good to launch.

**Roxas does a wet dog shake, the camera cuts outside to show Quanlier mimic her moves. We can also Quanlier's tail beginning to wag side to side. The camera cuts back to an excited Roxas.**

Roxas: Roxas Nile piloting the awesome Quanlier let's do this thing!

**The episode ends with Quanlier launching into the arena.**


	24. Episode 23

Episode 23

**The episode opens up with Quanlier landing on the battlefield and taking off at full speeds in one swift motion. The camera looks up to the referee's screen.**

Referee: Well this is certainly interesting, it seems Quanlier is an animal type Gundam. I've got to say it's been a while since I've seen an E rank team with that kind of Gundam.

**The camera looks over to Tim, Rob and Drake.**

Rob: And here I was thinking your team was so poor that you could barely afford the Basic Originals but any animal type Gundam isn't cheap.

**Tim insulted replies**

Tim: Our team may not be the richest but at least our people are skilled!

**Rob gives a short laugh**

Rob: HA, your pilots may be slightly more skilled then mine but our better equipment more than makes up for that. It's a known fact that the Gundam Team that can afforded the best and newest equipment will do the best in the Gundam Fights.

**Tim counters**

Tim: But what about the last fight huh, Odysseus was better equipped then Cowboy but Nick still won because he was the better pilot!

**Rob looks annoyed**

Rob: He won because he was luckily nothing more nothing less.

**Tim irritated snaps**

Tim: Bullshit!

**Drake is growing annoyed**

Drake: Will you idiots shut up; I'm trying to watch the match!

**Tim and Rob grow silent and turn to watch the match too. The camera looks down to show Orchard, Orchard looks identical to the Basic Original except the head looks different and there's something on its back but we can't quite make it out. Orchard is moving with purpose already knowing where it wants to go. We cut inside the cockpit to see Ida grinning with confidence.**

Ida (That first timer pilot probably has no idea where he's going, but thanks to all the battles I've been in I know this battlefield like the back of my hand. I also know where the perfect place to set up and ambush is.)

**We hear a grrrrr sound coming from behind. Ida confuse turns her head around, at the same time the camera cuts back outside to show Quanlier charging at full speeds at Orchard. We do a split screen over Orchard to show a shocked Ida**

Ida: What!

**The camera goes back to normal to show Orchard dodge a pouncing attack. Both Gundams begin to circle one another slowly. Orchard has its shield up and beam rifle pointed at Quanlier. Quanlier's tail is moving slowly back and forth and Quanlier's jaws are moving up and down slightly as it growls. **

**Thanks to the speakers in Quanlier's throat Quanlier can even mimic Roxas's animal noises. The camera does a three way split screen, this time the panels are arrange horizontally. Ida is in the left panel, the Gundams are in the middle and Roxas is in the right panel. Ida looks angry.**

Ida: How did you find me so fast, you don't even know the layout of the battlefield and yet you found faster than I've ever been found!

**Roxas looks confused as if the answer would be obvious.**

Roxas: Duh I heard and smelled you a mile away.

**Ida looks even more confused.**

Ida: Huh?

**We have a quick flashback to when Roxas first enter the arena. Kenny is on her helmet screen, he's typing really fast and he looks excited.**

Kenny: Your opponent is probably waiting to ambush you Roxas just like Cagalli's and Nick's opponents try to do but don't worry I'm writing a kick ass program that will use the radar in your Gundam and an advance algorithm to pinpoint the exact location of your opponent just give me five minutes and I'll

**Roxas looking bored interrupts**

Roxas: He's about 20 meters south east of here traveling north east.

**Kenny stops typing and looks shocked**

Kenny: B-but how do you know that?

**Roxas looks at him like's obvious**

Roxas: Duh with all that racket he's making I can hear him from a mile away plus they use some kind of stinky polished on their Gundam so even without sound I can smell the exact location of their Gundam.

**The camera cuts to the planning room to see Cagalli looking at Roxas unbelievingly.**

Cagalli: How can you smell and hear another Gundam over 20 meters away while inside another Gundam?

**Roxas looks at Cagalli confused.**

Roxas: Pretty easily actually, why can't you do it?

**Cagalli annoyed snaps**

Cagalli: No I can't, it's not even possible for a coordinator to do it!

**Shadow smiling says in a grand voice**

Shadow: HA, don't underestimate Roxas's animalistic abilities. Her sense of smell and her hearing are second to none!

**Cagalli rolls her eyes and shakes her head at Shadow's comment**

Cagalli: How did I end up with such idiots?

**Shadow turns to glare at Cagalli, but we can see Roxas puff her chest out with pride at Shadow's comment.**

Roxas: That's right!

**Roxas notices that Kenny looks depress.**

Roxas: Um are you ok?

**Roxas asks a little confused, Kenny depressed sighs.**

Kenny: Yea just give me a minute to cry about all the hard work I put into this awesome program to only find out that it was all pointless.

**Kenny fakes cries, while Roxas actually looks guilty. The flashback ends with her saying**

Roxas: Oh, um, sorry about that.

**We come back to the present to see Orchard and Quanlier still circling each other slowly. The camera does a split screen over Orchard to show a confused/scared Ida**

Ida (What a freak)

**The camera cuts to the planning room, Shadow is excited and cheering. Nick is also cheering but in a more gentleman cowboy way and Cagalli is a cross between happy and creep ou.t**

Shadow: Yea way to go Roxas now kick his ass!

**Nick looks at Shadow and says politely**

Nick: Roxas is fighting a girl mate.

**Shadow is momentary surprise.**

Shadow: Oh really, well Roxas kick her ass then!

**Cagalli a little freak out asks**

Cagalli: Is anyone besides me just a little freak out that she was able pinpoint the exacted location of her opponent with just her noise and ears?

**Shadow looks at her like she's nuts**

Shadow: Are you kidding that was awesome, I wish I could do that and to think you doubted her!

**Cagalli annoyed looks at Shadow like's nuts. The camera cuts back outside to the battle to show both Gundams still circling one another waiting for the other to make the first move. We cut inside Orchard's cockpit to see that Ida has had enough of this staring contest.**

Ida: If you're not going to make the first move then I am!

**The camera cuts back outside to show Orchard lift its beam rifle, point it at Quanlier and fire. Quanlier jumps to the side dodging the beam bullet, then turns around and runs as more beam bullets come flying at it. The camera does a split screen over Orchard to show Ida in the lower half of the screen.**

Ida: You're not getting away!

**The screen goes back to normal to show Orchard chase after Quanlier while continuing to fire at it. They're running parallel to each other with a row of rock mounds in-between them. **

**Orchard is continuing to shoot at Quanlier but none of its shots hit it. Some of the beam bullets hit the rock mounds while others miss completely because of Quanlier's speed. The camera looks up to the referee's screen.**

Referee: And after a prolonged face off it looks like Orchard has taken the first move. Personally I feel like I'm watching a poacher hunt a tiger.

**The camera moves over to Tim, Rob and Drake. Rob looks annoyed**

Rob: Well I have to say Drake that Quanlier Gundam of yours is certainly an annoyingly fast bugger but as the referee said this isn't so much as a fight as it is a poacher taking out at tiger.

**Drake never taking his eyes off the battle smiles**

Drake: But the poacher doesn't always win, if the poacher drops his guard for a second the tiger will destroy him.

**The camera looks back down to the battle, Quanlier is still in the lead with Orchard firing and shooting behind it. The camera cuts into Orchard's cockpit to show Ida grinning.**

Ida: Your Gundam may be fast and pretty but that's about it. Against a Gundam that can actually hold a gun your Gundam is useless!

**The camera cuts outside to see Orchard fire another shot. Quanlier jumps and turns sideways so that it's facing left. The beam bullet flies over Quanlier's body completely missing it. The camera cuts inside Quanlier's cockpit to show a pissed off Roxas.**

Roxas: Useless! I'll show you useless!

**The camera cuts outside to show Quanlier start to circle Orchard only this time it's going full speed. Orchard has also stop and is shooting at Quanlier but Quanlier is a blur. Quanlier has seem to have gotten faster and is weaving in and out of surrounding rock mounds easily avoiding the beam bullets.**

**Quanlier then hops onto a rock mound then back onto the ground dodging beam bullets. Quanlier continues to do this occasionally as it circles Orchard. Orchard is turning in a circle while standing in one spot trying to keep Quanlier in its line of sight.**

**It's a wonder why Ida isn't getting dizzy. The camera cuts inside Orchard's cockpit; we can see a growing panic in Ida.**

Ida (What the hell is this, I've never seen a Gundam move this fast before, it's even faster than the Basic Flash!)

**The camera cuts outside to see Quanlier still moving at incredible speeds circling Orchard. Orchard is struggling to keep Quanlier in front of itself. Orchard's shooting is starting to get worse. The camera looks up to the referee's screen.**

Referee: Quanlier is now circling Orchard, now I remember why people use animal type Gundams. Quanlier is moving at 80mph which is an average speed level for four legged animal type Gundams and just to let you all know a Basic Flash's average is about 65mph!

**The camera looks over to Rob, Drake and Tim. Rob looks annoyed now**

Rob: Arrrrr stupid referee, speed isn't everything!

**Tim smiling gloats**

Tim: No but it is one of the most important factors in a fight like this!

**Rob glares at Tim**

Rob: You can go ahead and keep smirking for now but I'll have you know that Orchard still has a card up its sleeve!

**The camera cuts to the planning room, Shadow is still cheering Roxas on like an idiot, Kenny excitedly exclaims.**

Kenny: This is great; Roxas is too fast for her opponent to hit!

**Nick nods his head**

Nick: Yup at this rate Roxas's opponent won't ever hit her.

**Shadow really excited**

Shadow: Yea, Roxas was always the fastest one of us

**Shadow suddenly feels like he insulted himself**

Shadow: But only because she runs on all four limbs!

**Cagalli annoyed at Shadow's easy going attitude and slightly nervous says**

Cagalli: Roxas may be able to dodge her enemy's attacks but you can't win a fight just playing defense.

**Shadow annoyed at Cagalli says**

Shadow: You know you're very pessimistic.

**Cagalli snaps**

Cagalli: I am not! I'm just being realistic!

**Shadow and Cagalli start glaring at each other. Nick cuts in the middle**

Nick: Cagalli's right mate, Roxas can't win this battle just relying on her speed.

**Cagalli happy that someone agrees with her nods her head eagerly**

Cagalli: Thank you, and besides Quanlier doesn't have any weapons because it doesn't have hands!

**Shadow grins at her which surprises Cagalli.**

Shadow: Just because Roxas's Gundam doesn't have hands doesn't mean it doesn't have any weapons, and besides Roxas is just starting to get work up. This battle is about to go up a level.

**Shadow turns to look back at the monitor. The camera cuts outside and focuses on Quanlier who is now hopping from rock mound to rock mound. The scenery around it is a blur. The camera cuts inside Quanlier's cockpit to see an excited Roxas.**

Roxas (I've always loved animals and I've spent years studying them and mimicking them but this, this is the first time I've ever truly felt like an animal!)

**The camera looks down to Roxas's Neon Gauntlet to see it turn purple and start to slightly glow. The camera cuts back outside to see Roxas still moving at incredible speeds while Orchard is starting to look like a spinning top trying to keep Quanlier in its line of sight.**

**Orchard is still shooting at Quanlier but Quanlier is long gone by the time the beam bullets come. The camera switches to Orchards perspective, the camera is turning very fast trying to keep up with Quanlier. The camera cuts to inside Orchard's cockpit to see Ida on the brink of full scale panic.**

Ida (This is nuts, how the hell did I lose control of this fight so fast!)

**The camera switches back to Orchards perspective to see Quanlier suddenly disappear. The camera stops moving and then turns back to where Quanlier disappear. The camera cuts back to a shock Ida.**

Ida: What where is she!

**The camera cuts back outside to see Orchard start to look wildly around for Quanlier. Quanlier comes out from hiding behind a rock mound and charges Orchard from behind. Quanlier lets lose a mighty roar**

Roxas/Quanlier: ROAR!

**Orchard turns around. The camera does a quick split screen with Ida in the lower half of the screen.**

Ida: What behind me how!

**The camera goes back to normal to show Orchard lift up its shield for defense just as Quanlier jumps at it. Quanlier hits Orchard's shield full force. Orchard gets pushed back but manages to stay on its feet. Quanlier bites the top of the shield and begins to claw at Orchards head with its front legs and kicks at Orchard's legs with its hind legs.**

**The claws on Quanlier's front legs look like mini beam sabers, while the claws on Quanlier's hind legs and teeth are made out of regular anti-beam coating steel. Orchard is backing up and bending at awkward angles trying to dodge Quanlier. The weight on the shield and the attacks are too much for Orchard and Orchard is forced to let go of its shield.**

**Orchard jumps back as its shield along with Quanlier falls to the ground. The moment Quanlier's legs touch the ground Quanlier jumps towards Orchard intending to do a piercing claw attack with its left claw. **

**Quanlier is aiming at Orchard's head but Orchard dodges at the last second but Quanlier manages to scratch Orchard's cheek. The camera cuts into Orchard's cockpit to see Ida throw her head back and howl in pain.**

Ida: Owwwwwwwwwwwwwww!

**The camera cuts back outside to see Orchard put a hand over the cut on its face. The camera looks up to Rob, Tim, and Drake. Tim is cheering like a lunatic while Rob is outrage.**

Rob: What the hell just happen! How the hell did your pilot just do that, how the hell did that Gundam just disappear and then reappear behind Orchard!

**Drake smirks**

Drake: Oh was that too fast for you Rob well I'll explain for you. Quanlier was circling Orchard so fast that Orchard had to spin like a top to keep it in sight. All Quanlier had to do was stop and hide behind a rock mound while Orchard's own spinning momentum cause it to turn all the way around confusing Orchard. To your pilot it must have looked like Quanlier just disappear and Roxas use that advantage to take out Orchard's shield although if she was a better pilot she would of finish her then and there.

**The camera cuts to the planning room to show Shadow still cheering.**

Shadow: Yea Roxas way to kick some ass!

**Nick smiling says**

Nick: Way to go mate that was a great strategy!

**Shadow turns to Cagalli and gloats**

Shadow: And you didn't think Roxas could attack.

**Cagalli glares at Shadow and snaps**

Cagalli: Can it!

**Kenny looks like he's thinking about something.**

Kenny: Still what's up with the claws in Quanlier's front legs. I mean it's pretty obvious that Quanlier's teeth and the claws in the hind legs are just regular pieces of steel with anti-beam coating but the claws in Quanlier's front legs look closer to mini beam sabers.

**Nick nods his head agreeing**

Nick: Yea and I could of sworn mate that I saw her with just regular steel claws in her front legs at the beginning of the match.

**We can see Jack on one of the monitors beaming with pride**

Jack: That was my idea, you see I wanted Quanlier to have beam claws for its front legs but I realize that if Quanlier kept them on for long periods of time it would act as too much of a power drain and it's not like they could be turn off because Quanlier needs claws on its front legs in order to move correctly. That's when I came up with the idea of using a two layer system.

**Shadow confused asks**

Shadow: What's a two layer system?

**Jack explains**

Jack: Think of it like the human body, first you got the skeleton and then you got the skin.

**Cagalli annoyed asks**

Cagalli: Aren't you forgetting the muscles and organs?

**Jack irritated snaps**

Jack: For the purpose of this demonstration they don't matter anyway the skeleton gives the skin shape and structure while the skin protects the skeleton. Well Quanlier's claws are setup just like that. The anti-beam coated steel claws "skeleton" will provide support for the layer of beam "skin" covering it will give that extra boast of cutting power to Quanlier. The only difference is that the beam layer can be turn off and on at the will of the pilot. It took my forever to get it down so that the layer of beam didn't destroy the steel claws plus I was also worry that it wouldn't be as effective as a solid beam saber but when I try it, it turn out to be slightly more effective.

**Everyone even Cagalli looks impressed.**

Shadow: I couldn't understand about half of that but it still sounds amazing Jack.

**Nick nods his head**

Nick: You did a great job mate.

**Cagalli slightly smiles**

Cagalli: I agree with Nick you did a great job Jack, ha I bet you could even give some of the mechanics in Orb a run for their money.

**Jack blushes from the complements.**

Jack: Thanks it was nothing!

**The camera cuts outside to see Orchard still with a hand on its face. Quanlier is facing Orchard but isn't moving towards it although we can see its tail still moving. **

**The camera cuts inside Orchard's cockpit to show Ida still in pain. She's got her hand over the corresponding spot where Orchard got cut. Her eyes are closed tight and she's gritting her teeth.**

Ida: Ow, ow, ow, damn stupid NS pain simulator! When I get my hands on that stupid animal chick

**Roxas appears on Ida's helmet screen. She's smiling as she says**

Roxas: So do you still think my Gundam's useless because in my opinion that human type Gundam you're using is the useless one!

**Ida looks really pissed off for a moment but then she laughs.**

Ida: hahahahhaha, I guess you're right, in some situations a tiger type Gundam can beat a human type Gundam.

**Roxas looks confused she clearly wasn't expecting this response.**

Roxas: Um

**Ida still grinning goes on**

Ida: So I guess that means that my Gundam and I will have to stop acting like a ground human type Gundam and show what we truly are!

**Roxas now looks deeply surprise and confused by this. The camera cuts outside to show the things on Orchard's back unfold to reveal wings. The wings are solid with feathers painted on them almost like a glider's wings.**

**We can also see flight thrusters on Orchard's back now the folded wings had blocked them from view. The screen splits into the multiple parts, we can see Shadow, Cagalli, Nick, Jack, Kenny, and Tim all looking surprise.**

Shadow: What the hell!

Nick: They had another trick up their sleeve mate!

Cagalli: Wings can that Gundam fly!

Jack: That's a Basic Wing Gundam!

Tim: Using a Basic Wing Gundam on the ground, she completely had us fooled!

**Drake is the only one who doesn't look surprise although he does look interested. The camera goes back to normal to focus on him**

Drake: Speak for yourself Tim I could tell that it was a Basic Wing right when I first saw it, although I have to admit that trying to hide your Gundam's true ability wasn't a bad plan. In fact that's a basic strategy use by most Gundam teams.

**The camera cuts to inside Quanlier's cockpit to see a stun Roxas. Kenny reappears**

Kenny: Roxas a Basic Wing specializes in aerial combat! You can't let it take off or you'll be at a disadvantage so finish it off now!

**Roxas's blinks and snaps back to focus**

Roxas: Right!

**The camera cuts outside to see Quanlier charge Orchard but it's too late. The camera does a spilt screen over Orchard to show Ida grinning with confidence in the lower half of the screen.**

Ida: You're too late!

**The screen goes back to normal to show the thrusters on Orchard's back kick on and launch Orchard straight into the air. Quanlier stops and looks up to the sky. The camera does a split screen over Quanlier to show a frustrated Roxas gritting her teeth.**

Roxas: Damn I was too slow!

**The screen goes back to normal. The camera looks up to show that Orchard has climb high into the sky. The camera cuts into Orchard's cockpit to show Ida still grinning with confidence.**

Ida: So you manage to get my shield but that doesn't mean crap because you don't have any distance weapons and as long as I'm up here there's no way you can attack!

**The camera cuts back outside to show Orchard lift its beam rifle, point it at Quanlier and open fire. The camera does a split screen over Quanlier to show Roxas gritting her teeth then goes back to normal as Quanlier side jumps to avoid the beam bullets.**

**Quanlier turns around and starts running at full speeds. Orchard follows Quanlier overhead while still shooting at it. The camera looks up to the referee's screen**

Referee: Orchard has taken to the sky and is firing on Quanlier; this doesn't look good for Quanlier because from what I've seen Quanlier doesn't have any long range weapons!

**The camera moves over to Rob, Tim and Drake. Tim is looking nervous now and Rob is once again confident.**

Rob: I would say my Gundam Fighter has the advantage but that would be a major understatement. What's your Gundam Pilot going to do now Drake, his Gundam obviously doesn't have any long range weapons so he can't even fight back?

**Drake looks annoyed at Rob**

Drake: Ok first off the Gundam Pilot that's currently fighting is a woman and second that's the second time in a row that you said my Gundam Pilot doesn't have a chance and we both know what happen the first time.

**Rob is now pissed**

Rob: Luck, it was just luck that your last pilot managed to defeat mine and that kind of luck only happens once!

**Tim stands up pissed.**

Tim: Luck my ass, that was skilled and you know it!

**Rob turns to glare at Tim**

Rob: That wasn't skill that was dumb luck and nothing else!

**Drake grins**

Drake: Maybe, I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

**Rob is still angry**

Rob: Yes we'll see.

**The camera looks back down onto the battle. Orchard still in the air is firing on Quanlier. Quanlier is weaving in and out of the rock mounds but that seems to be doing little to help. The camera cuts into Quanlier's cockpit to show Roxas gritting her teeth in frustration.**

Roxas (Damn this is bad, I can't think of a single situation where a tiger won against a bird, especially a bird with a gun!)

**The camera cuts to Orchard's cockpit to show Ida grinning excitedly.**

Ida: What good will weaving in-between rock mounds do for you when I have a bird's eye view of you!

**The camera cuts outside to see Orchard fire another shot at Quanlier, and despite Quanlier evasive movements the beam bullet almost hits it. The camera cuts back into Quanlier's cockpit, Roxas is still gritting her teeth.**

Roxas: Crap that was close!

**We cut to the planning room; we can see Roxas on one of the monitors. Shadow looks mad**

Shadow: Roxas don't let that crocodile beat you!

**Roxas blinks in surprise**

Roxas: Crocodile?

**Shadow takes this as a question**

Shadow: It's a proven fact that calling a woman a crocodile is the greatest insult you can give them.

**Cagalli becomes extremely irritated by Shadow's comment.**

Cagalli: It is not, what kind of moron are you!

**Shadow and Cagalli start glaring at each other as the camera turns to look at Roxas. Roxas isn't paying attention to them anymore and we can see the gears in her head turning. Roxas gets an idea.**

Roxas: Wait that's it!

**Shadow and Cagalli stop glaring at each other and look at Roxas confused.**

Shadow: What's it?

**Roxas grins an animal like grin**

Roxas: I know how I'm going to defeat her!

**The camera cuts back outside to show Quanlier no longer bothering to weave in and out of the rock mounds instead Quanlier is running in the straightest line it can. Orchard is still flying overhead while firing at Quanlier. The camera does a split screen over Orchard to show Ida enjoying the way this fight is going.**

Ida: HAHAH Feel free to give up any time you want!

**The screen goes back to normal to show Orchard shoot another shot at Quanlier. The beam bullet hits the rock mound Quanlier was currently running next to. The rock mound explodes and momentary covers Quanlier in a dust cloud.**

**Time seems to slow down as Quanlier doesn't come out of the dust cloud. Orchard stops moving and hovers over top of the dust cloud. The camera looks up to the referee's screen**

Referee: And it looks like that shot was the one folks! Quanlier isn't coming out of the dust cloud however according to our computers it doesn't look like her safety device has been activated but since I can't see if the Gundam is down or not because of the dust cloud I can't give the call to stop fighting.

**The camera looks over to Tim, Rob and Drake. Drake and Tim have an unusual focus look on the battle but Rob is leaning back in his chair completely relax. It's pretty clear that he thinks he's already won.**

Rob: HAHAHA defeat by mechanic error looks like I was right when I said in the last fight that the fighter with the best equipment will win.

**Tim and Drake ignored Rob and continue to watch the match. The camera looks back down to the battlefield to see the dust clear. When the dust clears we can see Quanlier lying down on its side unmoving.**

**The camera looks up to Orchard and then does a split screen to show Ida in the lower half of the screen looking triumphed.**

Ida: Ha I win!

**Ida moves in closer to Quanlier. Ida gets too close, the moment Orchard gets in range of Quanlier the camera cuts into Quanlier's cockpit to see Roxas's eyes pop open and jump up towards her opponent.**

Roxas: Crocodile ambush!

**The camera cuts outside to see Quanlier's eyes flash and then Quanlier jumps up and jumps towards Orchard. We can see the image of a crocodile behind Quanlier as it bites Orchard's legs. We see Quanlier's teeth sink deep into Orchard's leg. **

**Orchard immediately tries to fly up into the sky but Quanlier braces itself against the ground and pulls in the opposite direction not letting go of its pray. The camera looks up to the referee's screen.**

Referee: Unbelievable folks it looks like Quanlier was just playing dead to draw in her opponent and now she's got Orchard's leg. It looks like both fighters are in a deadly game of tug of war with Orchard's leg at stake!

**The camera cuts to the planning room to see Shadow jumping up and down cheering.**

Shadow: Yea Roxas that's the way to kick her ass!

**The camera has a quick flashback to 5 minutes earlier. We can see Roxas on one of the monitors, we can also see the dust could from the exploded rock mound on another.**

Kenny: Roxas what are you doing lying down?

**Roxas pretending to be knock out says.**

Roxas: I'm playing dead!

**Shadow gets it and exclaims.**

Shadow: Oh I see you're trying to get your opponent to come in closer so you can attack.

**Cagalli rolls her eyes**

Cagalli: There's no way anyone is stupid enough to get close to an enemy that they haven't confirmed dead.

**Shadow glares at Cagalli**

Shadow: You really need to start thinking more positive thoughts.

**Before Cagalli can say anything to this Kenny buts in**

Kenny: Assuming Cagalli's wrong and your opponent is that stupid what about the referee, the moment he sees you down an unmoving he's going to pause the fight until you get up or forfeit?

**Roxas still pretending to be knocked out says**

Roxas: Well I guess that I'll have to hope that my opponent gets in close before the referee stops the fight.

**The camera comes back to the present to see Shadow still cheering. He turns to Cagalli grinning and says**

Shadow: You see the power of positive thinking Cagalli?

**Cagalli glares at Shadow**

Cagalli: This only proves that Roxas's enemy is an idiot nothing else.

**Shadow and Cagalli start glaring at each other again. Nick ignoring them, comments to Kenny**

Nick: Roxas's opponent maybe an idiot mate but that was still a good plan.

**The camera cuts to the spectator's stand to see Rob's jaw drop to the ground.**

Rob: Damn it that stupid cheap possum strategy! Come on Ida shake that stupid Gundam's teeth off your leg!

**Drake struggling to resist a grin says**

Drake: It's more of a crocodile ambush then a possum playing dead.

**Rob turns his anger at Drake**

Rob: What!

**Drake is unfazed**

Drake: A possum will play dead so that a predator will pass over him but a crocodile waits patiently until its pray comes into range then bites down with lighting speed, plus a crocodile's bite force is 5,000 pounds per square inch so once it gets its teeth into something the chances of shaking it off are less than slim to none.

**Rob is really angry now**

Rob: But I'm not talking about a crocodile I'm talking about a single human being!

**The camera looks back down to the battle to see that the two Gundams are still in the middle of their tug of war match. The camera cuts inside Orchard's cockpit to see Ida screaming in pain, we can see the red lines on her right leg.**

Ida: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, Orchard turn off the pain sensors in the right leg!

**Ida goes back to screaming**

Orchard: Pain sensors in right leg disable.

**Ida stops screaming and takes a deep breath, she now looks really pissed off.**

Ida: That's it I'm going to kill you bitch!

**The camera cuts outside to show Orchard turn and point its beam rifle at Quanlier, big mistake. Orchard lets off on its thrusters so that it can turn to point its weapon at Quanlier, and the moment it does Quanlier yanks Orchard to one side and then slams Orchard into a rock mound on the other side. **

**Orchard hits the rock mound wings first. We see that the thrusters and wings receive the most damage. We quickly cut inside Orchard's cockpit to see Ida have whiplash.**

Ida: Arhgf!

**The camera then cuts back outside to see Quanlier pull Orchard back and slam it against the rock mound again, and then it does it a third time. After the third time Quanlier lets go of Orchard and lets it drop to the ground. Orchard drops like a bag of rocks and lands on its back hard. The camera cuts back inside Orchard's cockpit to see Ida looking dazed.**

Ida: Ughhhhh

**Ida's eyes suddenly pop open in surprise and fear.**

Ida: Ahhhhhhhhhhh

**The camera cuts back outside to see Quanlier jump on top of Orchard's chest and quickly bite down on Orchard's neck. Quanlier rips Orchard's neck out; and then puts its paw on top of Orchard's head and let's lose a fierce roar that would rival any real tiger's.**

Quanlier/Roxas: ROAR!

**The camera looks up to the Referee's screen to see him once again on the edge of his seat.**

Referee: Amazing, just amazing folks, first with that ambush and then with Quanlier's brutal slamming on Orchard and to top it all off Quanlier rips Orchard's neck out! The Shadow Knights just keep coming out with more surprises! This fight is over the win goes to Roxas and the Shadow Knights!

**The camera looks over to the spectators stands to see Tim cheering and Rob in absolute compete shock.**

Rob: No way, it's not possible, not possible.

**Drake is calmly analyzing the fight.**

Drake: Your Gundam Fighter was right when she went to point her beam rifle at Quanlier in order to make Roxas let go but she let off on the thrusters when she turn around to aim. She must have turn off the pain sensors in her leg. If she had kept them on she would've notice the decrease in her thrusters faster. It was also smart of Roxas to slam Orchard's back into the rock mound first taking out its wings. Overall I'd have to say that both fighters performed decently.

**Tim is nowhere near as humble as Drake and turns to gloat at Rob.**

Tim: Tell me Rob what's more shocking to you, the fact that you were proven wrong for the second time in a row or the fact that there's a real chance now that Drake's team could win this!

**Rob's shock gets turn into pure rage and he directs it at Tim.**

Rob: Don't get cockily you little shit, your team may have beaten those two pathetic losers but the last fighter for my team is the strongest among them all!

**Tim is surprise by Rob's sudden outburst and Drake raises an eyebrow.**

Drake (Strongest?)

**The camera cuts to the Gundam bay to see Roxas hop out of Quanlier's cockpit and take off her helmet, her hair is wet with sweat.**

Shadow: Roxas!

**Roxas surprise turns to see Shadow, Cagalli, Nick, Kenny and Jack walking over towards her. Shadow is excited**

Shadow: Roxas that was awesome, you have got to tell me all about it!

**Roxas gets excited too and begins to talk fast**

Roxas: I know right, I wasn't so worry about fighting Orchard on ground even though it had a beam rifle and a shield; I knew that all I had to do was by my time! But when Orchard took off into the air and started shooting at me I was like "Oh crap" because I couldn't think of situation where a tiger won against a bird!

**Nick has been listening to the story and is very interest**

Nick: So what gave you the idea for the ambush mate?

**Roxas answers excitedly**

Roxas: When Shadow said crocodile it all just click, I realize that just because my Gundam is a tiger Gundam doesn't mean I just have to act like a tiger, I can act like other animals too.

**Everyone nods their head to this. Cagalli smiling says**

Cagalli: Well that was a great fight Roxas you did a good job.

**Roxas looks annoyed at Cagalli.**

Roxas: Why are you talking like that?

**Cagalli looks surprise**

Cagalli: Like what?

**Roxas still slightly annoyed says**

Roxas: You know like you're my superior or something.

**Cagalli is still surprise**

Cagalli: I am?

**Jack nods her head in agreement**

Jack: Yea you kind of are; have you served in the military or something?

**Kenny looks at Jack confused**

Kenny: What does that have to do with anything?

**Jack shrugs**

Jack: Back at Junk City I help work on a couple of military ships and I notice that Cagalli talks a lot like them.

**Nick nods his head**

Nick: I see that would make sense mate.

**Cagalli is starting to get slightly annoyed**

Cagalli: I told you I'm the Chief Representative of Orb and in Orb the Chief Representative is in charge of the military during times of war!

**Kenny, Nick, Roxas and Jack look at Cagalli like she's nuts. Jack replies sarcastically**

Jack: Right, anyway you do realize that there is no official command setup in a Gundam team?

**Shadow annoyed coughs**

Shadow: Ah-hum!

**Jack corrects herself**

Jack: Except for Shadow whose team leader.

**Cagalli is now irritated**

Cagalli: Yes I know that and I wasn't speaking like Roxas's superior!

**Roxas, Kenny, Jack and Nick are surprise by Cagalli's outburst but Shadow isn't. Shadow steps forward**

Shadow: Yes you were.

**Cagalli turns to glare at Shadow**

Cagalli: No I wasn't it!

**Shadow grinning now as if this is one big joke**

Shadow: Ha yes you were!

**Cagalli getting pissed now**

Cagalli: No I wasn't I was congratulating Roxas just like you guys were!

**Shadow still smiling shakes his head**

Shadow: No you weren't.

**Cagalli really pissed now**

Cagalli: Yes I was, how was my congratulation any different than yours!

**Shadow smiling looks Cagalli directly in the eye.**

Shadow: Your congratulation wasn't sharing in any of the joy of Roxas's victory.

**Cagalli blinks in surprise**

Cagalli: Huh?

**Shadow goes on**

Shadow: That's how a military superior talks, he doesn't share in the joy of personnel victory or the sadness of defeat, all he cares about is results.

**Cagalli is beginning to deflate**

Cagalli: That's not true and I wasn't

**Shadow cuts her off**

Shadow: Yes you were, sure you were smiling but that was only a polite smile you give to a random person on the street if they found money or if you're a teacher and your student just got a 100 on a test, you might as well have said that it's sunny out in that same tone of voice.

**Cagalli looks like she wants to continue arguing but she's having trouble finding the words or a good argument to make. Kenny steps in**

Kenny: As interesting as this is I have to remind everyone that we still have one more match left.

**All eyes turn to Shadow**

Roxas: Yup it's your turn now Shadow.

Jack: It all comes down to you, don't chock.

**Jack says that last part smiling**

Nick: Good luck mate.

Kenny: Kick some ass out their Shadow.

**Shadow nods his head; we can see he's trying to contain his excitement.**

Shadow: Thanks guys. HA it only makes sense that the hero comes in at the end and wins it all!

**Jack slightly annoyed says**

Jack: Or loses and lets his entire team down and becomes the biggest douchebag ever.

**Shadow annoyed turns to Jack and fake laughs**

Shadow: Ha, ha, ha thanks Jack.

**Shadow turns to Cagalli**

Shadow: Aren't you going to wish me luck Cagalli?

**Cagalli still mad at Shadow looks away**

Cagalli: Good luck and goodbye!

**Cagalli storms away. Nick, Kenny, Roxas, and Jack watch her go. Shadow annoyed shouts after her**

Shadow: Meanie!

Nick: I think you made her mad mate.

**Shadow annoyed replies**

Shadow: Tis women.

**Roxas smiling says**

Roxas: Don't worry Shadow using my awesome seductive powers I'll have her forgive you by the time you win your match.

**Shadow smiles back**

Shadow: Thanks Roxas.

**Roxas turns and chases after Cagalli. Nick takes a step towards them and then turns to look back at Shadow.**

Nick: Oh yea mate if you lose I'll kick your ass.

**Nick smiles at Shadow as he says this. Shadow smiles back**

Shadow: You mean you'll try.

**Nick laughs then turns and follows after Cagalli and Roxas. Kenny also runs after them**

Kenny: I'll act as your support Shadow, see you in a minute.

**Shadow and Jack watch them go and then Jack nods towards Nightwing.**

Jack: Nightwing's over there Shadow and there's a changing room right next to it. Drake brought in your pilot suit and put it in there, although I don't understand why. There's already a bunch of stander pilot suits in there.

**Shadow walks towards the changing room, he smiles at her**

Shadow: A fighter's clothing is just as important as his Gundam.

**Jack looks at Shadow confused**

Jack: Huh?

**The camera cuts to what appears to be another Gundam bay. We can see Orchard being brought in. The camera looks over to an escape pod to see Ida hop out and take off her helmet. We can see Gael, Ferrell and Walter waiting next to the escape pod to see if she's alright.**

Gael: You alright Ida?

**Ida looking depressed nods her head**

Ida: Yea only my pride is wounded.

**Ida then turns to look at a fifth person. This new person is a black man with short black hair. He doesn't look big or muscular, in fact he looks just average.**

Ida: Sorry John.

**Ida says truly sorry. John smiles at her**

John: Don't worry about it Ida.

**John gets up from where he's sitting and walks over to what can clearly be seen as a Basic Heavy Gundam although not Odysseus. The others watch him**

John: Those guys really piss me off, they act just like those bullies.

**John clutches his feet and gets a hard look in his eye as he says this. The camera cuts outside to the referee's screen.**

Referee: I have to confess folks I thought I'd be getting out of here right about now, I even made dinner reservations. I thought the Gargoyles would win this fight no problem but no the Shadow Knights have shown us all they have no intention of going down without a fight. And boy what a fight they're giving. They manage to come back from a 2:0 lead and tie the score 2 all. I have to say folks they manage to convince me I'm now a believer. I think they can actually win this fight. Good thing I didn't put money on this match.

**The majority of the spectators laugh at the referee's joke.**

Referee: But enough of me blabbering it's time now for the final fight for the day. Fighting for the Shadow Knights is their Team Leader Shadow Zoomarey piloting Nightwing vs. the Gargoyle's Team Leader John Blitz piloting Fuerte.

**The camera cuts back to the Gundam bay to see Shadow standing on a catwalk right in front of Nightwing. Nightwing has its new shining black paint job done, and Shadow has his black pilot suit on.**

Shadow: Nightwing your new paint job looks awesome although I'm probably a little bias because you're my Gundam. This is it Nightwing, this is our time to show ourselves to the world so let's get out there and kick some ass buddy!

**Shadow steps into Nightwing's cockpit, and walks to the sunken floor. As he's walking he says**

Shadow: Nightwing begin laughing sequence!

**The lights in Nightwing's cockpit click on.**

Nightwing: Beginning launching sequence, activating S-generator.

**The camera cuts into a metal room to show a crystal or something like it in the center. We see a bolt of electrically hit it, creating a large boom, and then a mini sun appears. The camera cuts back to Shadow.**

Nightwing: Activating NS system.

**Shadow is standing in the sunken floor when the black fog is released. The black fog hits his feet and the red lines appear and spread across his body. Shadow tenses but it doesn't look like it bothers him anymore.**

Nightwing: Activating zero-gravity.

**The zero-gravity bubble appears and lifts Shadow into the air.**

Nightwing: All systems check all systems ready to go on pilot's command.

**Kenny appears on Shadow's helmet screen**

Kenny: I guess I don't have to worry too much about you since you are the only one here with actual Gundam Piloting experience.

**We can hear Cagalli's protest in the background.**

Cagalli: How many times do I have to tell you guys I've piloted a mobile suit before!

**Kenny rolls his eyes**

Kenny: Sora Gundams, anyway the catapults all good to go whenever you are Shadow.

**Shadow nods his head**

Shadow: Thanks Kenny.

**Shadow takes a deep calming breath, and then his eyes take on a focus look.**

Shadow: Shadow Zoomarey fighting in Nightwing and really to win this thing!

**The episode ends with the camera cutting outside of Nightwing into the Gundam bay to see Nightwing get launch from the catapult and into the arena.**


	25. Episode 24

Episode 24

**The episode opens up with a repeat of the referee's dialog.**

Referee: Fighting for the Shadow Knights is their Team Leader Shadow Zoomarey piloting Nightwing vs. the Gargoyle's Team Leader John Blitz piloting Fuerte.

**The camera cuts into the Gargoyle's Gundam bay, we see Fuerte on the catapult getting ready to launch. We cut inside Fuerte's cockpit to see John waiting for the ok to launch.**

John (I didn't think Ida and Gael would lose to some first timers, those bullies must be jocks, giving only half-ass effort and only relying on their natural talent. Plus they pick on weaker people just to get their kicks; bastards like that really piss me off!)

**The camera looks down to see John's Neon Gauntlet start to slightly glow, John's Neon Gauntlet is Cadet (yes it's a color Google it). We see John's support person appear on his helmet screen.**

Support person: John the catapults all set you can launch anytime you want.

**John nods his head**

John: Thank you, John Blitz in Fuerte taking off!

**We cut outside to see Fuerte get launch into the battle arena. Fuerte lands squarely on its feet. The ground cracks under its feet due to the weight and force of impact. Fuerte move already knowing where it's going. **

**With the sunlight we can finally get a good look at Fuerte. It looks identical to Odysseus except the paint color and design look different and instead of carrying one beam Gatling gun it's carrying 2.**

**The Gatling guns have been attached to Fuerte's arms forcing Fuerte to keep its arms at a constant 90 degree angle. Fuerte stops moving, it's about 40 meters away facing one of the walls of the arena. The camera cuts into Fuerte's cockpit to show John concentrating.**

John (I'll hit him with my duel Gatling gun the moment he lands in the arena.)

**The camera cuts back outside to look at Rob, Tim and Drake. Rob is brimming with even more confidence than he did with the other matches. He laughs**

Rob: Hahahah, it looks like John is going to try to finish this off in one shot!

**Drake nods his head in agreement**

Drake: It's a risky plan; he has to judge the distance the catapult will launch the Gundam exactly right. If he goes in too close the catapult will launch Nightwing over him and he'll be pin against the wall but if he's too far away Nightwing will have enough time to react to his attack.

**Rob nods his head**

Rob: You're right of course Drake but if he does judge the distance of the catapult correctly your fighter won't have time to react to the attack and he'll be finish in seconds.

**Tim looks nervous**

Tim: Shadow won't lose to some cheap trick like that!

**The nervousness in his voice contradicts himself. Rob grins**

Rob: We'll find out in a few seconds.

**The camera looks back down to the battlefield to show the hatch on the wall open. The camera cuts into Fuerte's cockpit to show John bracing himself.**

John (This is it, moment of truth time.)

**We cut back outside to see Nightwing being launch from the catapult. Time slows down as we see Nightwing traveling in a downward arc. John's judged the distance perfectly, we can tell Nightwing is going to land right in front of Fuerte. The camera quickly cuts to Rob, Tim and Drake. Drake is slightly surprise, Tim looks scare and Rob looks excited.**

Drake: He judged the distance correctly!

Tim: Oh crap!

Rob: He's finish!

**Nightwing's right leg lands on the ground first and slips out from underneath it causing Nightwing to trip. The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show a surprise Shadow.**

Shadow: Huh!

**The camera cuts outside to show Nightwing fall to the ground and roll towards Fuerte. Nightwing stops right in front of Fuerte. Nightwing is laying on its back. **

**The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow looking dazed, confused and a little dizzy. The camera cuts back outside to see Fuerte looking down at Nightwing unmoving. The camera cuts inside Fuerte's cockpit to see a confused John.**

John: Um?

**The camera cuts back outside to the spectator stands to hear dead silence, a penny could fall and everyone would hear it then an eruption of laughter. There's so much laugher that it's deafening to anyone near it. The camera focuses on the referee's screen**

Referee: HAHAHHHAHAHHAHAHHAHHAHAH I take it back folks, the Shadow Knights are just another rookie team, HAHAHHAHAHAHA, in all my years of watching Gundam Fights I've never seen a Gundam trip from trying to land from being launch out of a catapult before! HAHAHAHHAHAH I kind of feel bad for the rookie but this is hilarious!

**The camera looks over to Rob, Tim and Drake. Rob is laughing his head off, Tim looks relieve and Drake looks a cross between pissed and embarrassed.**

Rob: HAHAHHAHAHAHAHHA

**Drake turning deep red**

Drake: I'm going to kill him!

**Tim looks at Drake a little sorry**

Tim: Look at it this way Drake if Shadow hadn't gone and trip he would be eating bullets right about now.

**Drake is pissed**

Drake: I think I'd rather have him eating bullets.

**Rob is still laughing and is trying to calm himself down**

Rob: HAHAHAHAHHAHA and to think I was a little worry.

**Tim insulted replies**

Tim: You better still be worry, Shadow may still have trouble landing but his fighting skills are great!

**Rob doesn't take this threat seriously.**

Rob: You mean assuming he can get back up, hahahahahah!

**The camera cuts back inside Nightwing's cockpit. Shadow has regain his senses and grumbles.**

Shadow: OW, stupid catapult.

**We can see Kenny being pushed out of the way by Cagalli.**

Cagalli: You moron! What the heck is wrong with you! You can't even land from being launch from a catapult right!

**The camera cuts into the planning room to show Nick and Roxas trying to resist laughing.**

Nick: Go easy on the mate Cagalli; what's easy to you might not be easy to him.

Roxas: And you got to admit it was pretty funny.

**Zuke who was actually watching the match now turns away.**

Zuke (Tis he's nothing special, just another idiot natural with a Gundam.)

**Cagalli groans**

Cagalli: Argh we're the laughing stock of the stadium now.

**The camera looks to the monitor Shadow is on to show an extremely irritated Shadow.**

Shadow: At least I haven't lost yet now shut up and you two stop laughing!

**He directs the second comment at Roxas and Nick. The camera cuts back to inside Shadow's cockpit, Shadow's eyes suddenly open wide in surprise. The camera cuts outside to show Fuerte still looking down at Shadow. There's an awkward pause then the camera does a spilt screen over Nightwing to show Shadow in the lower half of the screen.**

Shadow: Oh crap!

**The screen goes back to normal, Nightwing still laying on its back on the ground spins in an attempt to sweep out Fuerte's legs. Fuerte jumps' back dodging the attack, the camera does a spilt screen over Fuerte to show John annoyed with himself.**

John: Shit I got so distracted by him falling that I forgot to take the shot!

**The screen goes back to normal to show Nightwing getting up off the ground. Nightwing's beam saber gets launch from its secret compartment and Nightwing catches and activates it in one swift motion. Nightwing then charges Fuerte attempting to perform a downward vertical slash.**

**Fuerte titles its head back dodging the attack without moving. Fuerte then tries to point its bean Gatling gun at Nightwing but Nightwing's already move to Fuerte's left side and is attempting a left horizontal slash. Fuerte takes a step back dodging the attack by inches. The camera cuts to the planning room, Nick is smiling**

Nick: I got to say mate you're pretty lucky, if you haven't trip you would be eating bullets right about now.

**Roxas nods her head**

Roxas: That was a pretty sweet ambush Fuerte set up.

**We can see Shadow on one of the monitors looking annoyed, he snaps at Roxas**

Shadow: Whose side are you on! And for your information Nick I did that on purpose.

**Cagalli rolls her eyes**

Cagalli: Right, if you call stupidly a skill. I mean what kind of moron can't even land from being launch from the catapult!

**Shadow smiling says**

Shadow: The kind that wins battles!

**The camera cuts outside to see Nightwing perform a couple more slash attacks with its beam saber. Fuerte dodges the attacks with minimum moment. Fuerte is trying to point its duel beam Gatling guns at Nightwing but it's useless.**

**Nightwing is jumping around Fuerte trying to slash it with its beam saber making it impossible for Fuerte to get a lock on it. The camera looks up to Rob, Tim and Drake. Tim is cheering Shadow on.**

Tim: Go Shadow kick his ass!

**Rob is annoyed**

Rob: If you're going to cheer for that loser you call a Gundam Pilot then can you at least wait until he does something worth cheering about.

**Tim looks at Rob annoyed**

Tim: Oh and is this the part where you tell us the better equip Gundam always wins because you've been wrong about that twice and it's getting kind of old.

**Rob looks slightly annoyed but his confidence is still there.**

Rob: Normally but even if that wasn't the case there's still another factor that makes John the obvious winner.

**Tim asks challengingly**

Tim: Oh yea what!

**Drake watching the fight with intense focus answers without hesitation.**

Drake: Experience.

**Tim looks over at Drake confused. Rob smiles still brimming with self-confidence.**

Tim: Oh so you can admit it Drake.

**Drake is slightly annoyed but he conceals his emotion**

Drake: Of course, I'm not some emotion idiot that gets facts confused with feelings.

**Tim is insulted and still confused**

Tim: You've better not be talking about me and what do you mean by experience? Shadow has experience piloting a Gundam before.

**Drake sighs**

Drake: Shadow has only piloted a Gundam twice so far not counting this fight. The first time he fought against a rich idiot who only use a Gundam as a way to fatten his own ego. The second time he fought against a ship. Although both battles gave him some level of experience he's never actually fought against another Gundam Fighter with actual experience with fighting against other Gundams before.

**Tim still doesn't get it**

Tim: But that didn't bother Cagalli, Nick and Roxas during their fights and their opponents also had more experience than them.

**Rob snorts**

Rob: That's because Walter, Gael and Ida have only fought against rookies and amateurs so even though they have more experience it's such a small difference that it's not even worth considering.

**Tim is a little surprise at Rob trashing his own team.**

Tim: Um

**Rob goes on smiling**

Rob: But John is a different story, he's spent countless hours on the NS simulator.

**Tim confused turns to Drake**

Tim: Drake I thought you said the NS simulator was useless for combat training and was only good for getting newbie's used to the NS system!

**Drake is annoyed**

Drake: It is but if used in large amounts time it can help train your ability to read your opponents moves, take a look at the battle.

**The camera looks back to the battle but we can still hear Drake's voice. Nightwing is still trying to cut Fuerte with its beam saber but Fuerte is still dodging with very little movement while at the same time trying to point its beam Gatling gun at Nightwing.**

Drake: Shadow's attacks are awkward and he puts too much unnecessary movement into them, Fuerte is easily able to read them and dodge with minimum movement.

**The camera looks back to Rob, Tim and Drake. Tim comes to Shadow's defense**

Tim: But because of Shadow erratic movements Fuerte can't get a lock on him.

**Drake is unimpressed**

Drake: That's more due to John's inexperience than Shadow's skill, the NS simulator only taught John how to dodge and read opponents attacks not counterattack, there's some things that can only be learn from actual battle. Shadow is just jumping around randomly attacking; I bet he doesn't even know Fuerte has a Gatling gun.

**The camera looks back to the battle to see Nightwing still trying to slash Fuerte and Fuerte still trying to point its beam Gatling gun at Nightwing. The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to see Shadow beginning to sweat and grow tired. He's gritting his teeth in frustration.**

Shadow (Damn I can't hit this guy!)

**The camera cuts inside Fuerte's cockpit to see John also growing frustrated although unlike Shadow he doesn't look the slightest bit tired.**

John (I can't get a lock on this guy because he's jumping around like a freaking monkey!)

**The camera cuts back outside to see Shadow attempt a stab attack from Fuerte's left side. The camera does quick spilt screen over Fuerte to show John's eyes narrow as he sees his chance to attack.**

John: You're moves are obvious!

**The screen goes back to normal to show Fuerte take one step back with its left leg and pivots with its right leg. Fuerte turns so it's now facing Nightwing's left side. Nightwing is momentary thrown off balance as its beam saber meets no resistance. The camera does a split screen over Nightwing to show a surprise Shadow.**

Shadow: Huh?

**The screen goes back to normal to show Nightwing stumble. Fuerte takes the beam Gatling gun in its right hand and slams it into Nightwing's face. The camera does a quick split screen over Fuerte.**

John: Gatling gun punch!

**The screen goes back to normal to show Nightwing go flying. Nightwing lands on its back a good distance away well considering it was a punch. Nightwing sits up and rubs its cheek, the camera does a quick split screen to show Shadow also rubbing his cheek in pain.**

Shadow: Owwww

**Kenny suddenly shouts**

Kenny: Shadow watch out!

**Shadow surprise looks up. The camera cuts outside to show Fuerte lift up its duel beam Gatling guns and open fire at Nightwing. We have a quick split screen over Fuerte to see John shout.**

John: I finally got a lock on you bastard!

**The camera does a split screen over Nightwing to show Shadow gritting his teeth. The screen goes back to normal to show Nightwing jumping to its feet and running to the left effectively dodging the beam bullets. Fuerte continuing to fire at Nightwing and chases after it. **

**Nightwing tries to hide behind a rock mound but Fuerte's duel beam Gatling guns almost instantly destroys the rock mound. Nightwing begins running again, the camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow still gritting his teeth.**

Shadow: Kenny I can use some intel right about now!

**We can see Kenny typing fast on his computer**

Kenny: You got it, Fuerte is a Basic Heavy with 2 beam Gatling guns, it's also been known to carry beam ax. If you can get in close again he'll have a hard time firing his beam Gatling guns at you.

**Shadow is running, the zero gravity bubble is making Shadow appear to run in place.**

Shadow: Yea somehow I don't think he'll let me get in close again!

**The camera cuts back outside to show Nightwing running at full speeds while weaving in and out of the rock mounds. Weaving in and out of the rock mounds isn't doing much to protect Nightwing. Fuerte's duel beam Gatling gun is destroying the rock mounds as if they're nothing. The camera cuts inside Fuerte's cockpit to see John gloating excitedly.**

John: HAHAHAHHA, who's the strong one now you dumb jock!

**The camera cuts to the planning room to show a confused Cagalli.**

Cagalli: Jock; Shadow?

**Nick and Roxas also look confused. Kenny shakes his head and gives a short laugh.**

Kenny: Shadow told me he didn't play any sports when he was in school.

**Nick nods his head**

Nick: That doesn't surprise me mate, Shadow doesn't seem like the sport playing type.

**Roxas is confused**

Roxas: Then why did he call Shadow a Jock?

**No one has an answer. The camera cuts outside, Nightwing has run far ahead of Fuerte and is now hiding behind a rock mound. We can see Fuerte looking around for Nightwing, the camera looks up to the referee's screen.**

Referee: It seems Fuerte has Nightwing on the run with its duel beam Gatling guns and Nightwing is forced to hide like a corner rat!

**The camera looks down to where Nightwing is hiding. The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to see a very irritated Shadow. Shadow grumbles**

Shadow: I'm not hiding like a corner rat! This is strategy I'm a stealthy tiger waiting to ambush his pray.

**We can see on Shadow's helmet screen Roxas pushing Kenny out of the way**

Roxas: You are not a tiger!

**She's taken Shadow's comment personally. Cagalli comes into view as well and says in an unimpressed voice.**

Cagalli: And you're not very stealthy.

**Shadow is pissed**

Shadow: I am very stealthy and whose side are you jerks on anyway!

**The camera cuts outside and does a split screen over Fuerte to show John growing frustrated.**

John: Come on out you weakling, stop playing hide and seek and come and fight me you coward!

**Fuerte begins to shoot rock mounds at random. The camera looks over to Nightwing to see it clench its fist. The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow also clenching his fist and he looks really pissed.**

Shadow: COWARD, WEAKLING, I'm going to kick that guy's ass!

**Shadow looks like he's about to go charging in there but Kenny stops him.**

Kenny: Whoa, Whoa, Shadow calm down, I know that we were making fun of you and all but your ambush strategy is the best idea we have for winning at the moment. Don't let him bait you into revealing yourself!

**Shadow is forcefully restraining himself**

Shadow: Arrrr I know, but still I want to just throw something at him!

**Shadow gets a light bulb moment, then he smiles. Kenny notices this an asks**

Kenny: Hey Shadow what's up?

**We can see the gears in Shadow's head turning. Shadow's grin is growing.**

Shadow: I've got a plan!

**Kenny looks surprise. The camera cuts back outside to see Fuerte still randomly destroying rock mounds. The camera cuts inside Fuerte's cockpit to show John still making his cat calls.**

John: Coward, weakling, if you're too scared to fight me you might as well surrender now!

**We hear a noise, and Shadow.**

Shadow: Who's a coward!

**John turns around to see what the noise is and where Shadow's voice came from. The camera cuts back outside to show a rock mound come flying at Fuerte. The camera does a split screen over Fuerte to show a shock John.**

John: What!

**The screen goes back to normal to show Fuerte jump to the right to dodge the attack but because of Fuerte's size it can't jump far enough to completely avoid the attack. The rock mound hits the ground and shatters on impact. Rock fragments from the rock mound ricochet off the ground and hit Fuerte.**

**Fuerte can't lift up its arms to block because it's holding the Gatling guns so it's force to relied on its armor for protection. Fuerte doesn't have much time to process what happen as more rock mounds begin to fall from the sky. Fuerte looks up to the sky to see the rock mounds coming straight at it. **

**Fuerte jumps away from the first 2 rock mounds successfully dodging them but the one right after hits it square on the chest. Thanks to Fuerte's thick armor the damage Fuerte receives isn't too bad but Fuerte still has to take a couple of steps back to regain its balance. The camera does a split screen over Fuerte to show a pissed off John.**

John: That bastard!

**The screen goes back to normal as more rock mounds come flying at Fuerte. Fuerte begins to dodge again as the camera looks up to the referee's screen.**

Referee: Impressive, it looks like Nightwing is compensating for its lack of long range weapons by cutting off rock mounds and throwing them at Fuerte. There may be hope for the Shadow Knights yet.

**The camera takes a quick look back at Fuerte. Fuerte is still trying to dodge the rock mounds but it's not going so well. **

**Fuerte keeps getting hit by falling rock mounds and rock mound fragments and it's safe to say that if it wasn't for its armor Fuerte would have long since been destroyed. The camera looks to Rob, Tim and Drake. Rob looks pissed**

Rob: DODGE you idiot dodge, what the hell is the matter with you!

**Drake grinning turns to talk to Tim**

Drake: You see Tim that's another problem with using the NS simulator for combat training, you see it only gives you experience dodging basic attack, like a punch or beam saber slash but if you attack in weird unusual way then the pilot will have no idea what to do.

**Drake says this loud enough for Rob to hear and it's obvious that he does this on purpose. Rob still pissed snaps**

Rob: So what, Fuerte's armor is strong enough that it doesn't need to dodge all the rock mounds thrown at it, plus John can track the rock mounds to where they came from and find your pilot! Your pilot is just acting like an annoying fly and soon he's going to be swatted!

**Drake doesn't comment but continues watching the match. The camera looks back down to Fuerte. Fuerte has stop jumping away from the incoming rock mounds and is instead using its duel beam Gatling guns to destroyed the rock mounds before they come close to it.**

**Fuerte is beginning to advance to where the rock mounds are being thrown from. The camera cuts inside Fuerte's cockpit to see a grinning John.**

John: Throwing rock mounds at me sure caught me by surprise but it was a bad move by you because now I know where you are!

**The camera cuts outside to where Nightwing is hiding. We can see Nightwing cut a rock mound off the ground with its beam saber and throw it in the direction towards Fuerte. We can hear the beam bullets destroy the rock mounds in the back ground. **

**Nightwing doesn't pay attention to this and is already cutting another rock mound off the ground and throwing it in the direction of Fuerte. The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to see Shadow with an extremely focus look on. We can see Kenny on Shadow's helmet screen and he sounds nervous.**

Kenny: Um Shadow this idea was doing little to damage Fuerte before and now it's doing even less, I think it's time you came up with a better plan.

**Shadow gives one of his confident smiles.**

Shadow: Don't worry I still have part 2 of my master plan.

**Kenny is surprise**

Kenny: There's a part 2 to your plan?

**Shadow simile grows even wider**

Shadow: Just wait and see.

**The camera cuts back outside to Fuerte. There are no more rock mounds flying at Fuerte anymore. This has made Fuerte suspicious; Fuerte is moving slower now and is scanning the area being extra cautious, it's got its Gatling guns at the ready. The camera does a split over Fuerte to show John in the lower half of the screen looking focus.**

John: Where are you?

**John says this to himself in a low voice. The screen goes back to normal; suddenly another rock mound comes flying out of nowhere heading straight for Fuerte. Fuerte sees it coming and quickly turns to fire its duel Gatling guns at it. We do another quick split screen over Fuerte to show and annoyed John.**

John: That kind of lame attack doesn't work on me!

**The screen goes back to normal as Fuerte fires its duel Gatling guns at the rock mound. The rock mound breaks and crumbles under the hail of beam bullets. As the rock mound breaks it reveals Nightwing behind it. **

**Nightwing must have at some point jump behind the rock mound and is flying, or more like falling since Nightwing doesn't have flight capabilities, straight towards Fuerte. Time slows down; the camera looks up to Rob, Tim and Drake. Tim and Rob are shocked/surprise**

Rob: What behind the rock mound!

**Drake gives a short slightly impressed laugh**

Drake: HA, I see, Shadow threw the rock mound at Fuerte and then immediately after he chase after it and right when it reach the peak of its arch he jump onto it so that he could fall toward Fuerte hidden and protected. Not bad Shadow.

**The camera looks back to Fuerte. The camera does a split screen over Fuerte to show a panicking John.**

John: OH CRAP!

**The screen goes back to normal; the camera quickly turns to look at Nightwing. Nightwing is holding its beam saber with both hands over its head preparing to perform a jump attack on Fuerte. Fuerte at the last second lifts its Gatling guns and forms a cross guard with them.**

**Nightwing's beam saber hits the duel beam Gatling guns and cuts right through them. Nightwing lands behind Fuerte with its back facing Fuerte. There's a moment's pause as neither Gundam does anything.**

**The silent moment is broken by Fuerte's beam Gatling guns breaking. The top half of both of Fuerte's Gatling guns falls off and hits the ground with a bang. The camera looks up to the spectator stands to see the crowd go nuts with cheering. We can see the referee standing up excitedly shouting**

Referee: Incredible, unbelievable, amazing! Somehow Nightwing was able to catch up to the rock mound he threw at Fuerte and jump behind it using it for cover! I put back what I took back earlier; The Shadow Knights have a great chance winning this thing!

**The camera looks back down to Fuerte. Fuerte is examining its broken duel Gatling guns, the camera cuts inside Fuerte's cockpit to see John shocked. He's looking at his hands which correspond to Fuerte examining its beam Gatling guns.**

John: My beam Gatling guns.

**The camera cuts to the planning room. Roxas and Kenny are cheering Shadow on**

Roxas: Shadow that was awesome!

**Nick nods his head in agreement**

Nick: That entire event was amazing mate, from the planning to the strategy to the execution, it was all just amazing!

Kenny: I'm surprise you were able to pull it off!

**We can see Jack on one of the monitors. Jack has notice that Cagalli hasn't said anything yet.**

Jack: Hey Cagalli aren't you going to say anything to Shadow?

**Cagalli glares at Jack then reluctantly says**

Cagalli: That strategy was kind of impressive.

**We can see Shadow grinning in another monitor**

Shadow: HA thanks guys.

**The camera cuts back to inside Fuerte's cockpit to show John clenching his fist. His hands start to shake in growing rage.**

John: That bastard!

**The camera cuts outside to show Fuerte ejects its broken beam Gatling guns from its arms. With the beam Gatling guns gone Fuerte can now freely move its arms. A rode ejects from Fuerte's back and flips into the air above Fuerte. Fuerte grabs it and activates it in one swift motion, the rode actives and becomes a beam ax.**

**The rode part is metal but the blade is beam, Fuerte's ax has 2 ax blades, one on each side. Fuerte grabs its beam ax with both hands and charges Nightwing. Nightwing turns to face Fuerte. Fuerte performs a jump attack on Nightwing. Nightwing lifts up its beam saber and holds it horizontally over its head blocking Fuerte's beam ax. **

**We can see the ground underneath Nightwing's feet break apart from the force of impact. The camera does a three way split screen, Shadow in the right, the Gundams in the middle and John in the left. Both Shadow and John are gritting their teeth. The screen goes back to normal as Nightwing is forced back.**

**Fuerte follows up with a right horizontal ax slash, Nightwing blocks by turning its beam saber vertical with the tip pointed down. Fuerte quickly does three more attacks, a right horizontal ax slash to Nightwing's side, a downward vertical ax slash to Nightwing's head, and a left horizontal ax slash to Nightwing's chest.**

**Nightwing blocks all three attacks with its beam saber but is force further back with each blow. The camera cuts inside Fuerte's cockpit to see John still pissed off.**

John: Take that, and this and that, how do you like this you stupid jock!

**The camera cuts back outside to show Fuerte do another right horizontal ax slash to Nightwing's side. Nightwing blocks the attack with its beam saber again only this time Nightwing takes its right hand off its beam saber and still holding onto the beam saber with its left hand, punches Fuerte in the face.**

**At the same time the camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show an extremely irritated Shadow.**

Shadow: Will you stop calling me a jock! I've never been on a sports team in my entire life well not counting Gundams!

**The camera cuts outside to show that Nightwing's punch had little effect on Fuerte. Fuerte responds with a downward diagonal ax slash to Nightwing's right shoulder. Nightwing jumps back dodging the attack. The camera cuts inside Fuerte's cockpit to show John still pissed off.**

John: Jock or not it doesn't matter you bullies are all the same!

**The camera cuts outside again to show Fuerte charge Nightwing. Nightwing moves back and dodges another ax slash. The camera looks up to the referee's screen**

Referee: Fuerte and Nightwing are engage in close quarters combat! Fuerte seems to have the edge since it's a Basic Heavily type Gundam but Nightwing is once again proving it's not going down without a fight!

**The camera looks over to Tim, Rob and Drake. Drake has an ipod looking thing attach to his right ear, he's listing to something. Tim sees this and is confused.**

Tim: Drake what is that and where did you get it?

**Drake still listing answers Tim**

Drake: It's a listening scanner; it picks up the Gundam's communication frequency. I'm able to hear the Gundam Pilot's conversation between each other; it's good for telling what kind of mood the pilots are in.

**Tim is annoyed**

Tim: Well where did you get it, you didn't have it before!

**The camera looks over to Rob who also has a listening scanner. Rob is annoyed**

Rob: There was a guy selling them a little while ago but you were too busy watching the fight to notice!

**Tim now looks slightly embarrass**

Tim: Oh

**Drake is thinking about something and he turns to Rob**

Drake: I see now.

**Rob smiles at Drake**

Rob: You see what Drake?

**Drake is eyeing Rob angrily**

Drake: Ever since you told me about the NS simulator I've been wondering what kind of Gundam Pilot would practice for so long on the NS simulator that it borders on obsession.

**Rob smiles back**

Rob: And now you know?

**Drake still eyeing Rob coldly**

Drake: I have a good idea.

**The camera looks back down to the fight. Fuerte seems to have lost all control and is just randomly trying to hack at Nightwing. Nightwing is managing to either block or dodge the attacks but it's still being pushed back. The camera cuts inside Fuerte's cockpit to show John still enraged.**

John: You bullies acting all high and mightily because you're good looking or because you've got natural athletic talent! Always picking on the weak or people who were different, well I'm not going to take it anymore!

**The camera cuts outside to show Fuerte do a downward diagonal attack to Nightwing's left shoulder. Nightwing manages to block the attack with its beam saber but it's still sent back by the force of impact. The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow struggling against Fuerte's attack.**

Shadow: Let me guess you were bullied when you went to school?

**The camera cuts back to Tim, Rob and Drake. Rob is explaining something to Tim and Drake.**

Rob: As you probably already figured out John comes from a wealthy family but for whatever reason his parents decided to send him to a public school. Needless to say the kids there were jealous of his wealth and constantly bullied him.

**The camera cuts back to inside Fuerte's cockpit to show John also giving the same explanation to Shadow.**

John: Everyday was a living hell for me, they call me names, stole my lunch money, threw my stuff around; gave me wedgies. The teachers couldn't do anything about it and whenever I try to fight back they just beat me up!

**While John's talking we enter slideshow mode. We see pictures of a younger John getting beat up, having his stuff thrown, and getting wedgies. The slideshow mode ends and the camera cuts back to Tim, Rob, and Drake.**

Rob: And that's when he got the idea.

**Tim is confused**

Tim: Idea?

**Rob smiles back at him**

Rob: The idea that he needed more power, power to defend himself, power to get revenge against those that tormented him, but how does one get that power?

**The camera cuts back inside Fuerte's cockpit**

John: So I decided to join a weight lifting class to get stronger but do you want to know what happen? I was laugh at! I was the weakest one in the class I couldn't lift anything, some of the weights I consider way to heavily they were lifting as if they were nothing but the worst part was the laughing! Every day when I showed up to class they laugh at me, they were always laughing at me!

**We do a quick flashback, John is in a weight lifting class attempting to lift a weight. He's not very successful. We can see 2 other guys standing a little ways off. They're lifting even heavier weights easily. They're looking at John**

Guy1: God John can't even lift that weight yet?

Guy2: Man I could lift twice that size weight my first day here.

Guy1: HAHAHA, yea so could I, HAHHAHAH I wonder why he even bothers.

Guy2: HAHHAHAH, yea the rich boy should of just pay someone to lift the weight for him HAHAHAH.

**They walk away laughing. The camera turns to look at John, from the hurt look on his face we can see that he's heard every word. We come back to the present to see John still going on with his explanation.**

John: The laughing was the worst, I just couldn't stand the laughing but I guess I should be grateful to them because it was in the weight lifting class that I first heard about the Gundams.

**The camera cuts back to Rob, Tim and Drake.**

Rob: It makes sense really, people who weight lift obvious want more power and what's more powerful than a Gundam, so it's only logical that some people in the weight lifting class would be following the Gundam Fights, HA and some would even be thinking about joining them.

**The camera cuts back to John**

John: But the people in my weight lifting class didn't have the money or connections to become a Gundam Pilot but I realize I did.

**The camera cuts back to Rob**

Rob: So he quit his weight lifting class and came to me. I instantly saw that John had the motivation to become a great Gundam Fighter plus thanks to his family money he can afford the best equipment and that's why John is going to win this fight.

**The camera cuts back to John**

John: That's why I bought the Basic Heavily for my Gundam, because it's the strongest of the Basic series, and now I won't lose to you bullies ever again!

**The camera looks down for a moment to show John's Neon gauntlet start to slightly glow then cuts outside to show Fuerte charging Nightwing. Nightwing has been back up against a rock mound. Fuerte holding its ax with both hands does a jump attack on Nightwing.**

**Nightwing blocks the blow with its beam saber but the force of the blow knocks Nightwing straight into the rock mound behind it. The rock mound cracks as Nightwing is forced to its knees. The camera quickly cuts to the planning room to see everyone surprise and scared.**

Cagalli, Roxas, Kenny: Shadow!

Nick: Mate!

**We can see Jack on one of the monitors**

Jack: This isn't good Fuerte is a Basic Heavy Gundam, and Nightwing is a Basic Original. A Basic Heavy is a lot stronger than a Basic Original in a face off Nightwing is going to lose! Shadow get out of there!

**The camera cuts back outside, Fuerte isn't lifting up its beam ax but instead is implying more pressure into it. Nightwing is struggling to push Fuerte back with its beam saber. The camera cuts back inside Fuerte's cockpit, John is in the same position as Fuerte.**

**We can see him putting all his weight and strength into his ax although we don't actually see an ax. John is grinning thinking he's already won**

John: And now thanks to my new strength I'll never lose to you Jocks ever again!

Shadow: Enough!

**We hear Shadow over John's helmet screen, John looks surprise. We can hear metal grinding sounds and we can see John's hand being forced up by and unseen force. The camera cuts outside to show Nightwing starting to push Fuerte back with its beam saber.**

**Nightwing has gotten one leg up and is now only on one knee. Nightwing is still forcing Fuerte back as it slowly rises to its feet. The camera quickly cuts back into Fuerte's cockpit to show an even more shocked John.**

John (What's going on! Fuerte's a Basic Heavy it's supposed to be twice as strong as the Basic Original so how the hell am I being pushed back!)

**Shadow starts talking to John again**

Shadow: You think you've gotten stronger, you think you've proven those bullies wrong about you; well it's time for your wakeup call!

**The camera cuts to Nightwing's cockpit to show a determine Shadow. We can see his Neon Gauntlet is slightly glowing again.**

Shadow: Wake up, you're not any stronger then when you were in your weight lifting class and you haven't proven anyone wrong! In fact you've proven them right; when weight lifting got too hard you just quit and try to use your money to buy strength! But true strength can only be gain through hard work, blood and sweat but since you can't tell the difference between true strength and your fake strength I'll show you!

**The camera cuts outside to show Nightwing now fully standing up and pushing Fuerte back. Nightwing pulls its beam saber back, Fuerte stumbles for a moment from the sudden absence of pressure. **

**Nightwing charges Fuerte and performs a left horizontal beam saber slash. Fuerte manages to block the attack with its beam ax but the force of impact still knocks Fuerte back. The camera cuts to the planning room to show a confused Cagalli.**

Cagalli: What's going on, I thought the Basic Heavy Gundam was supposed to be stronger than a Basic Original Gundam so how is Shadow winning in a contest of strength?

**Nick and Roxas also look confused by this but Kenny knows the answer.**

Kenny: It's because of the NS system.

**Kenny says this as if it's obvious; Cagalli, Roxas and Nick still look confused.**

Cagalli: Doesn't the NS system just allow the Gundam to mimic our moves?

**Kenny nods his head**

Kenny: Exactly but it also proportions the Gundams stats relative to its human fighter.

**Cagalli, Roxas and Nick still look confused. Kenny sees this and sighs**

Kenny: Ok let's say that Shadow's physical strength is a 6, well Nightwing being a Basic Original x2 that number, so Nightwing's total physical strength would be a 12.

**Cagalli starting to get it nods her head**

Cagalli: Ok but that still doesn't explain why Shadow's Basic Original is now stronger then the Basic Heavy.

**Kenny explains**

Kenny: You see that's normally true because the proportions are different. A Basic Original x2 to its pilot's strength while a Basic Heavy x5, and normally the pilot's strengths are about equal but John's physical strength is much weaker then Shadow's. Let's go back to the example I said early, if Shadow's strength is a 6 then you x2 that number because Nightwing is a Basic Original and that gets you a total strength value of 12, but if John's strength is only a 2 then you x5 because Fuerte is a Basic Heavy and you get a total strength of 10, so you see even though Fuerte is stronger than Nightwing Shadow is so strong that it compensates for that and makes the total physical strength higher than that of Fuerte's. That's why Nightwing is winning.

**Nick nods his head**

Nick: Ok I get it now.

**The others seem to understand too, Cagalli realizes something.**

Cagalli: So that's why Drake had us do a bunch of physical training, he wanted us to get our physical strength up so that when we piloted the Gundams our overall stats would be a lot higher than if we just piloted our Gundams without any physical training.

**Roxas smiling at Cagalli says**

Roxas: And you thought all that training was pointless.

**Cagalli glares at Roxas but then turns to look back at the monitor. The camera cuts back outside, Fuerte is still stumbling trying to regain its footing from being thrown back by the impact of Nightwing's attack. Nightwing isn't going to give Fuerte the chance to recover.**

**Nightwing charges again and this time performs a downward diagonal slash to Fuerte's right shoulder. As Nightwing is charging Fuerte the camera does a split screen over Nightwing. In the lower half of the screen we can see Shadow determine.**

Shadow: Oh and by the way I'm no Jock, I'm never been naturally gifted with athletic skills so this strength you're fighting against right now is the one achieved through hard work, blood and sweat! This is true strength!

**The screen goes back to normal; Fuerte is still off balance and can't block or dodge the attack. Nightwing's attack hits Fuerte square on cutting Fuerte diagonally in half. Fuerte falls backwards, as Fuerte falls backwards it breaks into two parts. Time slows down, the camera cuts inside Fuerte's safety pod. John looks close to passing out**

John (So this is true strength. I guess in the end my fake strength couldn't come close to true strength.)

**The camera cuts outside to show Fuerte hitting the ground. Fuerte is now in two pieces, there's a moment's pause then the crowd goes nuts.**

Referee: Nightwing wins, Nightwing wins; the Shadow Knights beat the Gargoyles and win the team victory! This underdog team has won!

**The camera cuts to the spectator stand to show everyone cheering and going nuts. The camera looks over to Rob, Tim and Drake. Tim is also going nuts, Rob looks shocked. Drake gets up and begins to walk away as he passes Rob he says**

Drake: Rob you focus too much on the little details like what kind of weapons you or your opponents have, or how much each weapon cost, but at the end of the day nothing beats hard work and training.

**Drake leaves Rob to ponder those words. The camera cuts to the Gundam bay, Shadow is getting out of Nightwing; he looks a little tired.**

Jack: Shadow!

**Shadow looks over to see Jack, Roxas, Nick, Kenny and Cagalli running over to him. Jack and Roxas hug him.**

Jack: That was amazing Shadow!

Roxas: That was incredible Shadow; you have to tell me how you did that trick with the rock mound!

**Nick and Kenny high-five Shadow**

Kenny: Way to go Shadow

Nick: Yea mate, now I don't have to kick your ass.

**Shadow laughs**

Shadow: HA like you could.

**Shadow turns to look at Cagalli. Cagalli doesn't want to say anything and looks away, Jack annoyed elbows Cagalli.**

Cagalli: Ow!

Jack: Cagalli get over being mad at Shadow and say something!

**Cagalli glares at Jack for a moment then reluctantly says**

Cagalli: You didn't do a bad job Shadow.

**Shadow smiling puts an arm around Cagalli's shoulder. Cagalli is surprise by this gesture**

Cagalli: Hey what!

Shadow: You're still talking like you're our superior but I know you're not doing it on purpose so we'll work on it!

**Cagalli now mad again pushes Shadow off her**

Cagalli: I am not!

**Shadow ignores Cagalli and turns to face the others and says in a grand voice.**

Shadow: Anyway I the leader of the Shadow Knights say that in honor of our first team victory we go out and celebrate at a club, who's with me!

**Nick, Roxas, Kenny, and Jack cheer yes in response. Shadow begins to run towards the exit**

Shadow: Then follow me!

**Nick, Roxas, Kenny and Jack follow Shadow. Roxas and Jack grab a hold of Cagalli and begin to drag her with them.**

Cagalli: Hey wait a minute!

**The camera cuts to the other Gundam bay; we can see John sitting down and drinking a bottle of water. The other members of the Gargoyles are sitting down with him, Rob walks over to them, they all look tired and miserable.**

Rob: Is everyone ok?

**Rob's face is hard to read**

Walter: Yea we're all ok we're just tired.

**Rob nods his head he then turns around and begins to walk away.**

John: Rob I'm sorry.

**Rob stops and turns to face John**

Rob: What?

**John goes on, he looks tired and sad.**

John: I know how much you wanted to win this fight in order to show that other perfect manage up, I'm sorry we lost.

**Rob looks at John for a moment then smiles**

Rob: Don't worry about it, you know how the saying about you should thank the opponent who defeated you guys goes, I think we all learn something today and got a little bit stronger.

**John smiles a little**

John: Thanks Rob.

**The scene ends. The next scene opens up at a club, we can tell some time has passed, we can see people dancing and we can hear music in the background. The camera looks over to a table where Shadow and the others are sitting. A waitress passes by and puts drinks on the table.**

Waitress: Here's the beer you guys order.

All: Thank you.

**The waitress walks away, Shadow, Nick, Roxas, Jack and Kenny begin to drink there beer. Cagalli eyes them coldly, she's drinking water.**

Cagalli: You guys do realize that the legal drinking age is 23?

**Shadow smiling says**

Shadow: Of course luckily we're all 23 or at least that's what our IDs say.

**Shadow holds up his fake ID. Cagalli grabs the ID from Shadow, she looks surprise.**

Cagalli: Where did you get this fake ID?

**Kenny smiling proudly says**

Kenny: I made them.

**Cagalli isn't surprise**

Cagalli: Of course you did.

**Kenny holds up a fake ID with Cagalli's name and picture on it. We can see the age has been change to 23.**

Kenny: I also made one for you too.

**Cagalli snaps**

Cagalli: I don't want it; unlike you criminals I obey and respect the law!

**Roxas sticks her tongue out**

Roxas: Party pooper.

**Jack says playfully**

Jack: Don't mind Cagalli she's just sore because she's the only one that lost her match today.

**Cagalli blushes when she hears this. Nick comes to her defense**

Nick: Hey cut the mate some slack at least she tried unlike some other spoiled snotty stuck up know it all.

**It's clear that Nick's talking about Zuke**

Jack: Speaking of Zuke where did he go?

**Roxas shrugs**

Roxas: I don't know, after the fight he just walked away.

**Kenny sighs**

Kenny: Some fifth fighter.

**Cagalli looks a little annoyed and angry**

Cagalli: Speaking of the fight can you believe that guy Shadow fought, there are so many problems in the world, and so many died because of them and all that guy could do was complain how tough his life was because he got bully. Selfish people like that just piss me off.

**We can tell that Cagalli is remembering the first and second bloody Valentine wars; everyone is quiet for a moment no one knows what to say after Cagalli's statement. Shadow takes another sip of his beer then says in an unusual sober voice.**

Shadow: John complained about it because it matter to him. We as individual humans decide what mattes to us and what is important. Just because it didn't matter to you Cagalli doesn't make it any less important because it matters to John and it's wrong of you to say it isn't important at all because it does matter because John decided it does.

**Everyone is stun by Shadow's thoughtful comment. They're all staring at him expecting a second head to come out. Shadow goes on**

Shadow: Besides I know what it feels like to be the weakest in a weightlifting class.

**Cagalli is surprise**

Cagalli: You were in a weightlifting class?

**Shadow nods his head**

Shadow: Yea, I was the weakest one there. I was luckily though, everyone in my class was nice and always encouraging me but still trust when I say that there's no worst feeling in the world then being the weakest in a room full of strong people.

**Everyone is looking at Shadow still surprise but Cagalli is looking at Shadow surprise for a different reason**

Cagalli (Being the weakest in a room full of strong people.)

**Cagalli has a brief flashback of Kira and Athrun on board the Archangel. Cagalli shakes her head to get rid of those thoughts, as she shakes her head Shadow spots Drake.**

Shadow: Drake!

**All eyes turn to Drake, Drake nods his head**

Drake: Hello guys and loser.

**Drake says the loser part at Cagalli. Cagalli's face twitches in annoyance**

Cagalli: haha, very funny Drake.

**Drake turns back to face them, he sighs**

Drake: *big sigh* you guys did a great job out there.

**It sounds like the words are being force out him. Shadow looks slightly annoyed**

Shadow: Tim forced you to say that to us didn't he?

**Now everyone looks annoyed, Drake doesn't seem to care.**

Drake: That guy just wouldn't shut up; he kept going on about how I should congratulate you guys for winning your first match.

**Cagalli now very irritated**

Cagalli: Wait you weren't going to congratulate us after all that hard work we did to beat that team!

**Drake still doesn't seem to care**

Drake: Ok first off you lost so you don't get to talk and second they weren't that strong of a Gundam team. When you guys beat a real Gundam team then I'll give you a real congratulation.

**Drake turns around and begins to walk away**

Drake: Anyway I'll stop by the apartment tomorrow to tell you when your next fight is.

**Shadow calls out**

Shadow: Oh wait Drake what about the money we won?

**Drake stops and turns around to look at Shadow.**

Drake: Money?

**Shadow nods his head**

Shadow: Well yea, this place isn't cheap so I could really use the money we won right about now.

**The others nod their head in agreement**

Nick: It'll be nice to get my first pay check mate.

Jack: I could use the money for some new Gundam parts and tools.

Kenny: I could use the money for equipment for my laptop.

**Cagalli taking a look at her punk rock outfit**

Cagalli: I could use some money for new clothes.

**Drake looks at them for a moment and laughs**

Drake: HAHAHHAHHA, you guys actually thought you were going to make money off that fight! Ok for starters you guys still owe me money, remember the Gundam parts I got for your Gundams plus the apartment you're staying at isn't free nor are the meals Tim brings you. So you guys currently owe me a crap load of money and second the money you guys earn from that fight wasn't even enough to scratch the debt you owe.

**Drake walks away still laughing to himself. Everyone looks shocked by this news.**

Nick: *sigh* I guess we aren't getting paid for a while.

Jack: *sigh* I guess no new tools for me.

Kenny: *sigh* or new computer equipment for me.

**Cagalli fighting growing panic**

Cagalli: So wait I'm stuck with these stupid outfits!

**Roxas smiling at Cagalli**

Roxas: With so many problems in the world how can you think just about your clothes?

**Roxas says this making fun of Cagalli. Cagalli glares at Roxas, the episode ends with the camera on Shadow also fighting growing panic.**

Shadow: Um guys, how am I going to pay for the bill to this club!


	26. Episode 25

Episode 25

**The episode opens up in a dark room. We can see a young girl maybe 16 typing on a computer.**

Man: I don't like this Ms. Kabira, he's taking too long. I think we should leave.

**The camera turns to show the man who spoke, because of the darkness we can't get a good look at him but we can still tell he's muscular just by making out his frame. The man is standing by a door, there's a little window and curtains on the door. **

**The man pulls the curtains back slightly and peeks through. From his stance we can tell he's been in the military. The camera looks back to the girl (Kabira).**

Kabira: Just give me one more second Raheem, I'm almost there!

**Kabira says "there" in triumph, but her smile quickly fads as she reads whatever it is she found. Raheem turns and sees the look on Kabira's face.**

Raheem: Ms. Kabira what is it, what did you find?

**Raheem walks over to Kabira. He looks over her shoulder and reads what Kabira found. His face also falls; he looks shocked.**

Raheem: No, this can't be, this is impossible!

**Kabira clenches her fist in anger.**

Kabira: But it is; now we know who's responsible for the problems in our country Raheem!

**Suddenly we hear a ticking sound. Raheem notices it and starts to scan the area. Kabira doesn't notice and goes on still excited.**

Kabira: Ok now all I have to do is transfer the data onto my MK so I can show everyone undeniable proof of his treachery!

**The MK is a future version of a flash drive or any portable memory storage device. Kabira takes something out of her pocket (MK) and is about to put it into the computer when Raheem grabs her shoulder and begins to forcefully drag Kabira to a window.**

Raheem: I'm afraid we don't have time for that Ms. Kabira!

**Raheem is trying to hide it but there's fear in his voice. Raheem is now running at full speed towards the window. Kabira is struggling desperately under Raheem's grip. She's reaching towards the MK she drop.**

Kabira: Raheem hold on a moment!

**Raheem doesn't stop. He gets to the window and without stopping he takes out a knife from his pocket and breaks the window. Raheem without breaking stride then jumps out of the window and onto a fire escape rail.**

**He's still dragging Kabira with him. He begins to slide down the rail while still pulling Kabira.**

Kabira: Hey Raheem stop pulling me, what's the big hurry?

**It's nighttime, we can see the stars in the sky and the moon. The building Raheem and Kabira where in looks like a small office building, suddenly the floor Raheem and Kabira were on explodes. We can see fire shooting out of the window they escape from. Kabira screams**

Kabira: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

**Raheem protectively covers Kabira with his body. The fire recedes and Kabira stops screaming.**

Raheem: Ms. Kabira are you ok?

**Raheem and Kabira have made it to the street. Kabira is a little shaken up.**

Kabira: Y-yes I think so.

**Kabira and Raheem look up to the window they jump out of. Smoke is coming out of the window. The camera looks back to Raheem; he looks grim.**

Raheem: It looks like our enemies know about us, getting back to Haben won't be as easy as leaving.

**The scene ends with Kabira getting a focus look on her face.**

Kabira: We're going to need a Gundam team.

**The next scene opens up during the middle of a Gundam Fight. The camera starts out showing the outside of the stadium. The top of the stadium has been open to show the night sky. **

**We can see lights on coming from the stadium; the camera zooms in to show the crowd of spectators cheering. The camera looks down into the arena just as Nightwing does a downward vertical beam saber slash on a Gundam. The Gundam wasn't able to block and was cut in half. The camera looks up to the referee's screen**

Referee: And the Shadow Knights do it again folks! The Shadow knights have just won their 12th consecutive team victory, so come on folks let's give a hand to this rookie team that's off to a great start!

**The crowd goes nuts. The camera cuts forward in time, Shadow and the others are back at the same club they celebrated at last time. They're toasting**

Shadow: Here's to our 12th consecutive team victory!

All: Cheers!

**Everyone except Cagalli takes a sip of their beer. Cagalli is drinking a soda instead again, and Shadow is jumping up and down and punching the air excitedly.**

Shadow: Man are we on a roll, hahahha. I've won every single one of my matches. I'm going to go undefeated!

**Kenny sitting down in a chair at the table laughs at Shadow.**

Kenny: HAHAHHA, Shadow you do realize that no one in Gundam Fight history has gone undefeated. Everyone loses some time or another; it's only a question of when.

**Nick also chilling nods his head in agreement**

Nick: He's right mate, there's no reason to get cocky after all; all we've been fighting against is other rookie and newbie teams and that's nothing to be too excited over.

**Cagalli also sitting down comments**

Cagalli: Shadow I think you should set some goals more in your reach like I don't know maybe finally landing square on your feet when you're launch from the Gundam catapult?

**Shadow blushes; Jack joins in**

Jack: Yea it was funny when you trip the first 3 times, after that it got old. The 4th through 6th time people were wondering if you were doing it on purpose in order to be either funny or to get your opponent to drop your guard. Now most people just think your stupid and have accepted this as part of your signature.

**Roxas cuts in**

Roxas: I have to disagree I still think it's funny; my favorite trip up would have to be the sideways barrel roll!

**We have a quick flashback to show Nightwing trip and fall to ground and start rolling on its side. We come back to the present; Kenny also nods his head and laughs a little.**

Kenny: HAHAH, I prefer the classic summersault.

**We have another flashback of Nightwing only this time when it trips it does summersaults. We come back to the present**

Cagalli: HAHAHA, My favorite would be the falling on his behind.

**We have one last flashback this time Nightwing sticks both its legs out in and attempt to finally land square on its feet, but because of the angle of Nightwing's fall Nightwing falls backwards and lands on its ass hard. We come back to the present to see that Shadow has had enough.**

Shadow: Shut up at least I haven't lost all 12 of my fights!

**Cagalli blushes in embarrassment. Nick comes to her defense**

Nick: Hey cut her some slack mate, Cagalli's is just a late bloomer. Just you wait sooner or later she'll start winning every fight she gets in.

**Shadow realizes he's hurt her feelings. Getting over his anger he jumps across the table and traps Cagalli in a headlock and begins to rub her hair.**

Shadow: Yea I guess you're right Nick. Don't worry Cagalli we'll keep you, besides my great instincts tell me you're going to become a great Gundam Fighter!

**Cagalli pushes Shadow off**

Cagalli: Get off me!

**As Shadow takes a seat Cagalli runs her hand through her hair which successfully respikes her hair, although it's unclear if she did this on purpose. The camera turns back to Shadow he's still excited.**

Shadow: Yea anyway on to more important matters whose going to stay and pick up chicks with me!

**Cagalli looks at Shadow disapprovingly.**

Cagalli: Pervert.

**Shadow ignores Cagalli. Jack shakes her head**

Jack: Sorry but I've got to fix the Gundams you damage.

**Jack is glaring at Shadow. Shadow embarrassed turns away and rubs the back of his head. Kenny sighs**

Kenny: And I promise to help.

**Shadow turns to Nick**

Nick: Sorry mate but I'm beat. I'm going to head home and go to bed.

**Shadow is annoyed**

Shadow: Oh come on how am I going to pick up chicks without a wingman?

**Roxas comes to Shadow's aid**

Roxas: Don't worry Shadow I'll be your wingman, and I'll even give you some tips on how to pick up women.

**Shadow is slightly insulted**

Shadow: You'll give me advice? You think you're that much better at picking up women then I am?

**Cagalli and Nick get up**

Cagalli: This conversation is getting too perverted for me, I'm leaving.

Nick: I'll walk you home.

**Cagalli and Nick leave**

Roxas: Well not to brag.

**Jack gets up to and begins to drag Kenny away, Kenny complains.**

Kenny: No wait I want to see Roxas pick up girls!

**Jack shakes her head**

Jack: No way, if you stay any longer you won't want to leave and I am not fixing those Gundams by myself!

**Jack drags Kenny out of the club. Shadow quickly says**

Shadow: See you guys later.

**Shadow eyes Roxas**

Shadow: You wouldn't mind proving that?

**Roxas slightly offended**

Roxas: Sit back little boy and watch how it's done.

**Shadow's face twitches a little at the "little boy" comment.**

Shadow: I'm 19!

**The scene ends with Roxas walking over to a group of girls and saying in a seductive voice.**

Roxas: Hi

**The next scene opens up in the morning at the GFC building. Drake is standing near a water cooler taking a sip of water when Tim appears.**

Tim: Hey Drake, how are you doing you big time manager.

**Drake looks at Tim slightly annoyed**

Drake: Big time manager?

**Tim nods his head**

Tim: The Shadow Knights are the talk of building. It's been 3 years since the last rookie team went over 10 victories without a single lost. The record is 36 wins and no loses by the Hound dogs. They finally lost though in there 37th match but anyway are you going to go and try to break the record.

**Drake doesn't look pleased**

Drake: You do realize that the 36 teams they beat were all E rank teams and that the first team they lost to was there first D rank opponent?

**Tim looks at Drake annoyed.**

Tim: What's wrong with you Drake, if anything you should be jumping with joy. I heard the Shadow Knights moved up in rank?

**Drake still doesn't look happy. He starts walking away, but Tim walks alongside him.**

Drake: Yea the Shadow Knights are now E-9.

**Tim doesn't get it**

Tim: So?

**Drake sighs**

Drake: Shadow, Nick, and Roxas are already fighting on a D rank level and I know Zuke can fight on D rank level if not higher. E rank is really just so that new Gundam teams can get use to the NS system and how the Gundam Fights work. There's no real challenge in E rank so for Shadow and the others to continue fighting in E rank would be a waste of their time and mine.

**Tim still doesn't get it and is annoyed.**

Tim: So what, if you're right wouldn't that mean they'll advance through the ranks quickly?

**Drake shakes his head**

Drake: No team rank is determine by more than just team victories, it is also effect by individual wins and losses and because Zuke keeps forfeiting and Cagalli keeps losing it's causing them to progress very slowly. By the time they get to D rank I'll be an old man.

**Tim looks at Drake still annoyed**

Tim: Don't you think you're exaggerating a little bit?

**Drake looks at Tim annoyed**

Drake: Well maybe a little but the point is I don't feel like waiting.

**Tim sighs**

Tim: Well it's not like you can do anything about it.

**Drake looks frustrated. As Drake and Tim walk they pass by the GFC help center, we see Raheem and Kabira talking with the Desk person. We can see them clearly now thanks to the light. Their skin is tan from spending a long time under the sun, there also wearing lose fitting clothes, brown eyes of different shades and black hair. Kabira and Raheem seem upset**

Kabira: How much trouble could it be to found at least one D rank team to escort us to Azize?

**Raheem looks a little embarrass at Kabira's attitude, the Desk person is unfazed.**

Desk Person: I'm sorry miss but I'm afraid that there aren't many D rank teams in Arianna at the moment and the ones that are here are currently busy with other task. However I can recommend a few C rank teams for you.

**Raheem eyes the Desk person**

Raheem: For double the amount of money of a D rank team.

**Once again the Desk person is unfazed**

Desk person: It's only natural that a more experience team would want more money.

**Kabira and Raheem still look unhappy. Drake has been watching this conversation, Tim noticing Drake staring asks**

Tim: Hey Drake what's up?

**Drake doesn't replied instead he walks over to Kabira and Raheem.**

Drake: Hey you there, I couldn't help but overhear that you wanted a Gundam Team to escort you to Azize.

**Kabira and Raheem look at Drake suspicious.**

Kabira: Yea so what?

**Drake goes on**

Drake: That's the capital city of Haben right?

**Raheem speaks first before Kabira can do another mouthy comment.**

Raheem: You are correct sir but may I ask why you are so interested?

**Drake smiles. The scene ends with Drake saying**

Drake: Because I happen to know a very inexpensive Gundam team that would be more than happy to take the job.

**The next scene opens up at the apartment the Shadow Knights are staying at. Nick, Kenny and Jack are sitting down on the couch watching TV while Cagalli is getting a glass of Orange Juice. **

**You can tell they've only gotten up recently because they're all wearing the clothes they went to bed in, lose fitting T-shirts and shorts and PJs. Cagalli still looks half asleep, when an attractive blond girl walks down the stairs and walks over to the fridge and pours herself a glass of water.**

**Nick, Kenny and Jack turn around and stare at the girl. Cagalli doesn't notice her until she drinks the water. Cagalli's eyes pop open when she sees her, the girl is only wearing a huge oversize T-shirt (sorry guys but like I said early this is no hentai, you don't see anything). Cagalli is in shocked**

Cagalli: Um who are you?

**The girl is about to turn around and answer when Shadow comes down the stairs. He's only wearing a black T-shirt and black jeans, he's holding pants.**

Shadow: Hey I finally found your pants, here.

**Shadow hands the girl her pants**

Girl: Oh thanks.

**The girl takes the pants and puts them on, once again sorry guys but the camera looks away while she puts her pants on and we don't see anything. The camera looks over to Kenny, Nick, Jack and Cagalli to see looks of shock. The camera looks back to the girl to see she's put her pants back on. She turns back to Shadow**

Girl: I have to get going, thanks for the wonderful night if I run into you again at the Club maybe we can have another.

**The girl and Shadow share a kiss**

Shadow: See you around.

**The girl leaves. Shadow finally notices the others staring at him still in deep shock**

Shadow: Um guys?

**Cagalli still shocked points to the door then to the bedroom**

Cagalli: You…her…bedroom?

**Nick, Jack, and Kenny look like they can't form words either. Shadow looks annoyed**

Shadow: Yes I got laid, why is that so hard for everyone to accept?

**Everyone finally comes out of there shock. Nick whistles**

Nick: Not bad mate, that miss was hot.

**Kenny turns to Jack angrily**

Kenny: That could have been me, if you hadn't made me help you with fixing the Gundams!

**Jack over her shock is unconcern**

Jack: Oh boo who why don't you cry me a river?

**The camera looks over to Cagalli who looks pissed.**

Cagalli: You stupid pervert! Don't you have any sense decency? Were you raised in a jungle or a zoo?

**Shadow looks very annoyed**

Shadow: I don't get why you're so mad?

**Cagalli is still pissed and shouts**

Cagalli: Because I don't like waking up first thing in the morning to see some half naked women I've never seen before! You insensitive prick; you do know there are other people living here too?

**Shadow still eyeing Cagalli irritated**

Shadow: I don't see what the problem is, we took a vote on whether or not it was ok to bring people we picked up back to the apartment to sleep with and when I ask you, you laugh and said sure.

**Cagalli blushes and stutters**

Cagalli: W-well, you see, when you asked me that.

**Nick laughing walks over and slaps Cagalli on the back**

Nick: HAHAHAHA, you see mate Cagalli didn't think you could actually pick up a chick.

**Shadow is insulted and turns to Cagalli pissed**

Shadow: What, I'll have you know that after you left the club last night women were tripping over themselves to get a chance to hook up with me!

**Cagalli gives a sarcastic laugh**

Cagalli: HA yea right.

**Shadow and Cagalli start glaring at each other. Jack walks up and breaks up their fight**

Jack: We've got to get going, Drake gave me a call this morning; he said something about a job he wanted us to do. Shadow can you go wake up Roxas while the rest of us get dress?

**Shadow stops glaring at Cagalli and turns to Jack**

Shadow: Sure.

**Shadow walks away. The camera cuts outside Roxas's room. Shadow knocks on the door.**

Shadow: Hey Roxas get up, Drake wants to see us!

**The door opens just enough for Roxas to stick her head out, her hair is sweaty and she looks annoyed.**

Roxas: Do you know what Drake wants because I'm busy at the moment?

**Shadow shrugs**

Shadow: No idea.

**Roxas doesn't look happy with that answer, she lets go of the door.**

Roxas: Of course he didn't say, this just gives me another good reason to kick his ass.

**Roxas distracted by her anger of Drake doesn't notice the door swinging open. We can see that Roxas has on a sleeveless shirt and boxers. We can see 3 very attractive young ladies in Roxas bed, there under a sheet sleeping so we don't see anything but you can still tell there naked underneath the cover. Shadow's eyes almost pop out of their socket/**

Shadow: You got 3 girls!

**Roxas is uncaring about Shadow's discovery**

Roxas: Yea, I thought you knew.

**Shadow still surprise corrects Roxas**

Shadow: No I only saw you leave the club with 2 girls last night.

**Roxas suddenly remembers**

Roxas: Oh yea that's right I pick up the last girl on my way back to the apartment.

**Shadow looks upset, but he tries to hid it**

Shadow: You better get them out of here the back way. Cagalli is apparently shy around this subject and that causes her to get angry. If she sees them she'll exploded.

**Roxas does a thinking pose**

Roxas: Hmmm this is going to affect my seduction strategy of Cagalli. Thanks for the information Shadow?

**Roxas finally notices Shadow is upset, she then smiles at him.**

Roxas: Don't feel too bad Shadow, I am older but don't worry someday you'll reach my level of skill. Well anyway I've better go change.

**Roxas quickly closes the door before Shadow has a chance to reply which pisses Shadow off.**

Shadow: What is with everyone doubting my ability to pickup women!

**The camera cuts back to the GFC, we're back in the boss's office. Joey is sitting behind his desk staring at Drake, and Drake is sitting down becoming annoyed.**

Drake: Are you seriously going to try the sit and wait game with me because we both know that the only thing that will do is piss me off.

**Joey smiles**

Joey: No I suppose a little trick like that wouldn't work on someone of your level but since we're on the subject of levels I must say I am surprise that someone of your capabilities can't see the foolishness of what you're purposing.

**Drake rolls his eyes and says underneath his breath**

Drake: I can't believe that little weasel Tim ratted me out to Joey; when I get my hands on him.

**Joey goes on pretending not to hear Drake**

Joey: There is a reason why only D rank or higher teams get selected for missions. You don't ask a ten year old to do advance algebra, you don't ask a new born bird who doesn't even have feathers to fly and you don't ask an E rank team to take on a mission.

**Drake annoyed says**

Drake: Your metaphors are noted but it's not unheard of for an E rank team to take on a mission, it has happen before.

**Joey is unimpressed**

Joey: You do realize that the last time that happen was over 3 years ago.

**Drake has had enough**

Drake: Look Joey thanks for the advice but there's no rule in GFC rule book that says an E rank team can't take a mission. There's nothing you can do to stop me, in the end it's up to the Gundam Team manager and client to decided who takes a mission.

**Drake walks over to the door and is about to leave when Joey turns around and says**

Joey: And what happens if they all get killed?

**Drake stops and stands still, Joey eyes Drake coldly**

Joey: Since you brought them up, I assume you know what happen to the E rank team that went on a mission 3 years ago. 3 out of the 5 Gundam Pilots ended up dead, the other 2 Gundam Pilots lost several of their limbs. You see it's a common misconception that Gundam Pilots are in the safest position on a battlefield because of the safety pod install in all Gundams.

Joey: It's true that they most likely won't be hurt in a Gundam fight but they'll be at the mercy of whoever picks up the pod, which means whoever wins the battle controls there life. In the case of the E rank team who went on a mission 3 years ago that was a group of violent raiders. After all 5 of the Gundam Pilots were defeated there ship was easily destroyed by the raiders.

Joey: The raiders then went around and collected the safety pods and brought them onto their ship. They open them up and tied up the 5 Gundam Pilots and made them stand in a straight line. They then executed 3 of the Gundam Pilots by shooting them in the head, the other 2 manage to survive by jumping off the raiders ship while it was still in midair, although they survive the fall cost them several of their limbs.

**Drake has turn to look at Joey. Joey gets up and walks around his desk.**

Joey: Being a Gundam Pilot regardless of how safe we try to make it is still the most dangerous job on Sora. Out there, there is no referee to make sure both fighters play fair, nor to stop the winning team from taking the lives of the losing team. There are a lot of dangerous people out there that will kill for Gundam parts, money, pride, or just for the fun of it and unfortunately some of them are very skilled Gundam Pilots equip with very good Gundams so listen to me Drake when I ask you to wait until your team is better train and more skilled before you send them on a mission.

**Drake looks swayed for a moment but the moment passes.**

Drake: Joey I know what you're saying and I've taken every precaution but I'm still going through with it, goodbye and thank you for your input.

**With that Drake leaves. Joey stares at the door.**

Joey: I hope you know what you're doing Drake for sake of those rookies.

**The camera cuts outside the door to Joey's office. Drake is leaning against the door in deep thought.**

Drake (They won't die, even if I have kicked the ass of an entire army and train them so that they can fight raiders in their sleep. I won't let a single one of them die!)

**Drake doesn't notice Tim walking up to him. Tim looks a little nervous**

Tim: Drake the Shadow Knights are here waiting for you in the office, oh and about ratting on you to Joey.

**Drake cuts Tim off**

Drake: Don't worry about it Tim, you were only worried about Shadow and the others.

**Drake begins to walk away leaving a surprise Tim. The camera cuts into the office Shadow and the others are waiting in. They're all sitting at a table looking annoyed**

Roxas: First he calls us and tells us to come straight over and now he makes us wait, that stupid jerk!

**Shadow, Jack and Kenny nod their head in agreement. Nick is the only one that's calm; he's leaning back in a chair relaxed.**

Nick: You all need to learn some patience.

**Cagalli nods her head in agreement with Nick. Cagalli is also sitting in a chair with her arms folded perfectly relaxed.**

Cagalli: This is the same type of game some of the politicians back in Orb use; it's supposed to assert superiority.

**Shadow still annoyed and fidgeting**

Shadow: Well I don't like it and if Drake doesn't come here in the next 5 minutes I'm going to go find him and drag him here.

**Suddenly the door opens and Zuke walks in, everyone is surprise.**

Kenny: Zuke!

**Zuke ignores Kenny and goes to sit down which pisses Nick off.**

Nick: What are you too good to talk to us mate?

**Zuke sitting down and folding his arms looks at Nick bored.**

Zuke: Obviously.

**Zuke says this in a bored voice. Nick, Jack and Roxas get up angrily, Zuke looks at them unimpressed.**

Nick: Listen hear mate I don't know who raised you but you could definitely use an attitude adjustment.

**Jack nods her**

Jack: That's right show some god damn respect to your fellow team mates!

**Roxas adds**

Roxas: Or we'll make you.

**Roxas growls at him. Zuke looks at them a moment more then turns away ignoring there threats.**

Zuke: Tis.

**This sends Nick over the edge**

Nick: That's it!

**Nick goes to take a step forward but Cagalli blocks him**

Cagalli: Alright everyone let's take a breath, there's no reason to fight.

**Cagalli turns to Zuke and holds out her hand and smiles.**

Cagalli: We kind of got off to a bad start, let's start over. I'm Cagalli Yula Athha.

**Zuke looks at her hand for a moment then turns away**

Zuke: If I wanted to get to know a bunch of weaklings I go outside and look for some ants.

**Cagalli looks shocked at this comment. She withdraws her hand, and Nick is even more outraged.**

Nick: Why you!

**Nick is about to attack but this time Shadow stops him. Shadow shouts**

Shadow: Nick stop!

**Nick stops but he looks frustrated.**

Nick: Why god damn it, why should I stop, this guy has been nothing but trouble since he got here why shouldn't I kick his ass mate!

**Kenny nods his head in agreement**

Kenny: He's forfeit every match refusing to fight because he doesn't think his opponent is worth his time.

**Jack gets up and also starts shouting at Shadow**

Jack: And his bad attitude just brings the whole team morale down.

**Roxas growls**

Roxas: I say we forget that Drake hired this guy to be our fifth pilot and just attack!

**Shadow surprisingly the calm one gets up and walks in front of Zuke. Zuke looks at him and for the first time we see a glint of interest in his eyes. Shadow is grinning**

Shadow: We're not getting rid of Zuke into I beat him in a Gundam Fight!

**Everyone stares at Shadow like he's an idiot. Zuke laughs**

Zuke: HAHAHAHA, don't make me laugh a natural like you could never hope of beating me. My genes have been engineer specially for battle, so there's no way a natural like you could even dream of beating me.

**Shadow is still smiling unfazed by Zuke's insult**

Shadow: You may be stronger than me now Zuke but I'm only getting stronger and you're staying at the same level so be careful Zuke because if you don't get any stronger I'll catch up to you.

**Zuke glares at Shadow**

Zuke: I see you must have heard stories about how some naturals were able to beat coordinators through intense training but let me tell you a secret; those coordinators didn't have any physical gene modification.

Zuke: You see although all coordinators have some level of physical and mental gene modification they don't all have the same level of gene modification in the exact same areas, for example some coordinators are better at sports while others are better at school work. This is because they have different levels of gene modification throughout their body.

Zuke: The coordinators that lost to those naturals didn't have a high level of gene modification in their physical strength but even still the naturals that beat them had to train incredibly hard in order to reach what we coordinators consider a low level of physical power.

Zuke: But I want to assure you that I'm not like that, my genes have been engineer for the sole purpose of battle so you can train and fight as long and as hard as you like while I sit on the couch and do nothing and you'll still never beat me because that is your limitation as a natural.

**Shadow is unmoved by Zuke's speech and he's still smiling.**

Shadow: You believe what you want and I'll believe in what I want to and eventually we'll see who's right.

**Zuke looks at Shadow annoyed, while Zuke's been talking he's anger Cagalli. Cagalli glares at Zuke and snaps**

Cagalli: Don't you know that it's because of comments like that, that wars are started!

**Zuke looks at her bored**

Zuke: Like I care, if there's a war between naturals and coordinators the coordinators would wipe out the naturals so there's nothing for me to worry about.

**Cagalli's eyes almost pop out of there socket. She looks like she's about to attack but Shadow holds her back.**

Cagalli: How can you say that, do you have any idea how many lives would be lost in a war or how many lives have already been lost, do there sacrifice mean nothing to you!

**Zuke answers without hesitation**

Zuke: Yes, I couldn't care less about the feelings of losers.

**Cagalli is enraged and would attack if Shadow wasn't holding her back.**

Cagalli: Why you bastard!

**Nick, Kenny, Jack, and Roxas also look really to attack but Drake walks in.**

Drake: If you guys have to fight then do it outside, until then stop!

**Everyone stops except Cagalli. Cagalli directs her anger at Drake, Cagalli breaks free of Shadow's grip and marches over to him and starts yelling in his face.**

Cagalli: And you how could you hire someone like him to be our fifth Gundam Pilot!

**Drake eyes harden and without hesitation he slaps Cagalli hard. Cagalli goes flying to the ground.**

Kenny: Cagalli!

**Nick, Jack, Kenny and Roxas are surprise, Cagalli is shocked. She's got a hand on the cheek Drake hit. Drake takes a step forward and he looks pissed.**

Drake: Will you get over yourself, this is the real world and sometimes you won't like the person you have to work with but shouting at me about it is only going to piss me off!

**Cagalli gets over her shock and her anger comes rushing back.**

Cagalli: Did you not hear what he said, I refuse to work with someone like him, or are you just like him Drake in not caring about those who die in order to bring peace to this world!

**Drake grabs Cagalli by the throat and then slams her into the wall. He stares in her eyes and we can see genuine anger. Cagalli is a crossed between scare and surprise. He leans forward and whispers in her ear, although he's whispering there's a very cold edge to his voice.**

Drake: Little girl don't you dare think that you know more about how the world works then I do, you've barely scratch the surface on what the real world looks like and just because you've been in 2 wars and lost some friends doesn't mean you know more about how the real world works than anyone else in this room.

**Cagalli is not sure how to reply to this. Drake tosses her to the ground.**

Drake: Now why don't you do us all a favor and just shut up and listen and who knows you might even learn something.

**Shadow has had enough**

Shadow: Drake that's enough, I know this is a personal matter between you and Cagalli but don't push it!

**Shadow is glaring at Drake and his fingers are twitching towards the hilt of his sword. Nick is also glaring at Drake.**

Nick: I agree with Shadow mate, I can respect your personal matters but only to a certain extent. I will no longer stand by and watch as you hurt a lady!

**Nick unbuckles the strap on his gun pouch. Roxas also tenses ready to spring at Drake to attack, Drake eyes them for a moment then folds.**

Drake: Fine, I've made my point. Anyway let's get back to the matter in which I have gathered you all here for.

**Drake walks up to the front. Nick, Shadow, and Roxas relaxed and sit back down. Cagalli dazed gets up and sits down. Drake goes on talking as if nothing happen.**

Drake: There are 2 things I have to discus with you. The first is that you all have moved up in rank.

**Shadow, Roxas, Jack and Kenny openly cheer, Nick does the silent pride thing but we can still see a smile on his face, Zuke looks bored and Cagalli is thinking about other things.**

Shadow: Yes, Yes, Yes!

Roxas: Well it's about damn time!

Kenny: I knew we were about to move up in rank, 12 consecutive wins definitely guaranties we're going up in the ranks!

Jack: It's all thanks to my excellent Gundams.

**Shadow looks at Jack slightly annoyed**

Shadow: Don't you mean it's all thanks to the excellent Gundam Pilots?

**Jack shakes her head**

Jack: No I meant it's all thanks to my Gundams, you guys did alright.

**Shadow, Nick, and Roxas look slightly annoyed by this comment. Drake is getting annoyed just in general.**

Drake: I hate to break this to you but you've only become an E-9.

**Shadow looks at Drake confused**

Shadow: Wait we're still an E rank team; I thought you said we went up in rank?

**Drake still annoyed**

Drake: You did, you went from an E-10 to an E-9.

**Jack is also confused**

Jack: Ok so what changes, do we get more money, do we fight harder teams, and are we going to get Gundam parts?

**Drake sighs**

Drake: Nothing, you get a slight pay increased to fights you win but it's so insufficient that it might as well have never happen. The only thing you really get is the right to say you're an E-9 and not an E-10.

**Shadow complaining**

Shadow: Well do we at least get to fight harder opponents?

**Drake is becoming irritated**

Drake: Ok since you guys obviously don't know how these Gundam Fights work I'll break it down for you. Ranks are broken down into letters, A, B, C, D, and E; obviously A is the best and E is the worst, within each letter rank the rankers are broken down in numeric rank 1 through 10, 1 being the highest and 10 being the lowest.

**Kenny comments sadly**

Kenny: So if we were an E-10 that means we were the lowest of the low.

**Drake ignores Kenny and goes on**

Drake: Gundam Teams are decided at random to fight each other within their letter rank, for example the Gargoyles were an E-5 Gundam team. The only exception to this rule is if you have a numeric rank of 1 or 10. For instants a D-1 team can be randomly assigned to fight against a C-10 team, which also works in reverse. Of course managers can also request there team to fight against a specific other team but it has to follow the same rules.

**Kenny looks even more depressed**

Kenny: So that means we can't fight against any team that has a higher letter rank then us until we're an E-1 rank Gundam team.

**Drake shakes his head**

Drake: Not necessarily, you could always challenge a Gundam team with a higher letter rank then you.

**Shadow looks excited by this**

Shadow: Great that means all we have to do is challenge a D or C rank team and then we'll defiantly go up in letter rank.

**Drake breaks Shadow's hopes**

Drake: You didn't let me finish explaining the rules on challenging. A Gundam Team can challenge any team they want to but if you challenge a team that isn't in your letter rank then that team has the right to decline the challenge.

**Shadow doesn't get it**

Shadow: Why would they want to decline?

Drake: Because beating a team with a lower rank then yours doesn't get you much ranking points and beating a team that's a letter lower than yours gets you so few points that it's a complete waste of time.

**Shadow really annoyed now**

Shadow: That stinks!

**Cagalli finally coming out of her deep thought comments**

Cagalli: But it works in reverse too, if you lose to a team that is a letter higher then you, you won't lose much ranking points right?

**Cagalli asks Drake, Drake nods his head.**

Drake: You're correct.

**Nick asks**

Nick: What about if you challenge a team that's in your letter rank?

Drake: Then they have to accept or they'll lose ranking points. The only way a team with a higher letter rank would agree to fight you is out of curiosity or fighters pride. They have to hear stories of how great you are and want to find out for themselves what you can do.

**Shadow sees the dilemma**

Shadow: But how are we going to get a team with a higher letter rank to get interested in us, I mean we've only beaten other E rank teams and I doubt that's going to raise much interest, so how are we going to get them interested?

**Drake smiles, he was waiting for this**

Drake: You get there attention by completing missions.

**Shadow is once again confused**

Shadow: Missions?

**Drake is giving an explanation again**

Drake: Yes missions, you see being a Gundam Pilot isn't cheap, maintaining and upgrading Gundams is really expansive and the GFC top brass realize that the amount of money E through C rank made simply wasn't cutting it, so the GFC top brass open up a new program simply called mission. You see many people come to GFC buildings with problems and they're willing to pay Gundam Teams to help.

**Cagalli is eyeing Drake coldly**

Cagalli: So we're mercenaries going to help the highest bidder.

**Drake glares at Cagalli**

Drake: No, although there are some people who request Gundam teams to help with battles that's not all the missions. There are a lot of other mission types, like escort missions, body guarding missions, rescue missions, bounty hunting missions and there are even litter picking up missions and those are just a few of the many different kind of mission types there are. You get to decide what missions you want, so in a way you decide what kind of Gundam Team you become.

**Cagalli lowers her head as she realizes her mistake. Shadow once again excited**

Shadow: Great so now all we have to do is complete a couple of really hard missions and then the higher rank teams will take notice of us and agree to fight us.

**Drake shakes his head**

Drake: It's not that easy, you see missions are also classified into letter rank categories base on how dangerous or hard they are, plus the client also has to accept the Gundam team given their mission or they can request another team.

**Jack sighs depressed**

Jack: So basically we can only do the boring uninteresting mission because no one is going to trust us with an important mission because we're an E rank team.

**Zuke is getting impatient**

Zuke: Drake you didn't tell me to come here because you wanted to give me a lesson on how the Gundam Fights work, so can you quit wasting my time and get to the point!

**Drake looks at Zuke annoyed but lets it go.**

Drake: Yes, well thanks to my awesome skills I've manage to talk a client into agreeing to take you on for an escort job.

**Shadow getting tired of talking**

Shadow: Great let's go!

**Cagalli puts a hand on Shadow's shoulder and forcefully keeps him in his seat.**

Cagalli: God will you learn some patience and sit down so Drake can give us the details of the job; you are going to give us the details of the job aren't you?

**Cagalli asks Drake. Drake looks at her annoyed**

Drake: No I was just going to let you run around in circles because I'm an idiot.

**Drake says sarcastically. Now Cagalli looks annoyed**

Drake: Escort missions are simple, all you have to do is take the client from point A and bring them to point B, and of course you have to make sure they get there in one piece, you know protecting them from raiders or bandits. In this case point A is East Dock, and point B is Azize.

Cagalli: Azize?

**Cagalli asks, Kenny knows the answer to this**

Kenny: Azize is the capital City of Haben.

**Cagalli annoyed now asks**

Cagalli: Ok what's Haben and please don't say a country because I've already figure that out.

**Drake answers that one**

Drake: Haben is a small desert island nation near the equator, alright we've talk long enough you've got 3 hours to get to the apartment and pack up your things then meet me at the East Dock to meet your clients. Any questions?

**Nick has one**

Nick: Yea why do we need him?

**Nick says glaring at Zuke**

Zuke: This mission is beneath me anyways, I don't want to do it.

**Drake glaring at them**

Drake: A Gundam Team has to have all its members when performing a mission or else it won't count in the rankings.

**Shadow excited now asks**

Shadow: Wait so we get ranking points for completing missions?

**Drake nods his head**

Drake: Yes but how much is up to a different department of the GFC, and not the managing office, now would you guys stop wasting my time and get going!

**Drake pushes them out of his office, and slams the door in there face, which pisses Shadow off. The episode ends with Shadow shouting**

Shadow: Would you stop doing that!

_**Note from author: Hello guys it's been a while since my last word from author so I thought it was about time I gave another one. I wanted to start off by thanking everyone who has read my story, without you I would feel very depressed when writing this story. I also wanted to reinforce the point I said in my first word from author, if you guys have any comments, questions or suggestions about my story please feel free to post them, as I said in my first word from author I have a dream of making this fanfiction into a real manga or anime. I know this is a long shot, trust me I know in fact I thought about giving up on it on more than one occasion but my hopes were refueled when I finally got around to buying and reading the Gundam Seed Astray series, and in my honest opinion I think my story line is just as good as there's if not better (which would explain why it was so hard to find) but I realize that my opinion doesn't count so that's why I want you to comment and post and tell me what I can do to make this story better for you guys and if you guys like the story please tell your friends or other Gundam Seed fans about it and if you have any connection to anime or manga production networks please have them look at it and if it's not good enough then tell me how I can make it good enough. Now on to the main reason why I have decided on writing this word to author, I need your help, I have a dilemma I need to face in my story. My dilemma is what kind of currency should be used on Sora, as you know my characters in the story have talk about money but I haven't actually stated a type of currency, my first thought was to use the same currency then use in the Cosmic Era in the Gundam Seed series but I realize that I didn't know what type of currency they use, then I thought about just using US currency but I realize that might confused foreign readers, and finally I thought about just making up a Sora currency but since I have no idea on how to do that I'm lost, so please, please, please help. Right now I'm just trying to avoid the issue in the story but that can only go on for so long so the sooner I have an answer the better. The last thing I wanted to say before I go is that I wanted to point out that I don't consider this my story I consider it our story a story written by fans. Sure I may come up with the ideas and take the time to write it down in my busy life and then struggle to spell and grammar check it so it's perfect for you guys but you guys still have the most important job. You guys give it life, you guys bring energy into the story and give it power and meaning it never had before, before it was just words on my laptop but you guys have given it life and help it existed outside my own mind and as I hope more and more fans begin to read this series it will continue to grow and continue to live on. Some may said it is impossible for this to become and anime or manga because I don't have the copyrights to the original Gundam Seed series but I want to say that when an idea comes out it takes on a life of its own a life the creator can't control a life that you the fans breath into it. Never forget your power, for you are the strongest force that decided whether an anime lives or dies, and never let anyone tell you otherwise. In the end it won't be lawyers, producers, or even the author of the original Gundam Seed series that decided it this becomes an official part of the Gundam Seed universe, it will be you the fans that make the decision and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Goodbye for now.**_


	27. Episode 26

**Episode 26**

**The episode opens up at the apartment building Shadow and the others are staying at. Shadow is in his room and has just finish packing his bag, and he's wiping his hands in triumph.**

Shadow: There all done.

**The camera cuts to the living room, Shadow tosses his bag with Cagalli, Kenny, Roxas, and Nick's bag. Everyone else also has only one bag. Kenny comments sadly**

Kenny: Does anyone besides me find it sad that every single item we own can be put into one duffle bag?

**Shadow smiles at Kenny**

Shadow: Hey look on the bright side; it's one more bag then what we own when we were in that prison.

**Nick also trying to cheer up Kenny**

Nick: Don't worry about it mate, once we finish this mission we'll get some money and be able to actually buy some things.

**Cagalli looks at her punk rock clothes and sighs**

Cagalli: And hopefully I can get some real clothes.

**Shadow turns and grins at Cagalli**

Shadow: I thought you were starting to like the punk rock look.

**Cagalli turns around and glares at Shadow**

Cagalli: Never. I still can't understand why people in their right mind would dress like this. How is anyone supposed to take me seriously when I look like some wannabe rockstar?

**Roxas smiling asks**

Roxas: Well what about the hair cut?

**Roxas is eyeing Cagalli's spike hair. Cagalli glares at Roxas.**

Cagalli: The hair cut was nice but only because I needed one. I've been so busy in Orb that I hadn't had chance to get one but I hate the spike hair style, the only reason I spike my hair is because you complain and bother me whenever I don't.

**Roxas does an evil pride smile; suddenly we hear metal banging noises. Everyone turns around to see Jack walking downstairs with three very full duffle bags. She's carrying one in each arm and one around her neck, she's obviously struggling. Jack notices them staring and says in a sarcastic voice.**

Jack: Oh no don't come and help me I'm obviously doing just fine.

**Shadow, Nick and Kenny snap to focus and rush over to take Jack's bags, as Kenny is handed Jack's bag it immediately drops to the ground. Shadow grunts when he's handed the bag and he needs 2 hands to hold it, Nick is able to hold the bag he's handed with only one hand but we can see his arm tense. Kenny grunting with effort as he tries to lift the bag asks**

Kenny: What's in these bags they way a ton?

**Jack says in an uncaring voice to Kenny**

Jack: Tools.

**Kenny looks upset by this. Nick and Shadow have carry Jack's bags to were the other bags are. Cagalli surprise asks**

Cagalli: If I recall correctly didn't you only have one bag of tools when you left Junk City?

**Kenny manages to take 2 steps with the bag. Jack sighs seeing this and picks up the bag with one hand and walks it over to the others.**

Jack: Drake gave me some money so I could buy some more tools.

**Shadow, Kenny, Roxas and Cagalli are outrage**

Shadow: Why did Drake give you money and not us!

**Jack smugly smiles at Shadow**

Jack: Because Drake knows I'm the money maker of this team and I need good tools to ensure the Gundams are in top performance or would you rather have one of those new game systems then a working Gundam.

**No one can denial Jack's logic. Shadow tries to change the subject.**

Shadow: Well we better get going Drake is waiting for us.

**Kenny sees a problem**

Kenny: Um one question how are we going to get to East Dock? We don't have a car and as far as I know Tim isn't coming to pick us up.

**Roxas doesn't seem concern**

Roxas: We'll just walk; I can carry my own bag.

**Jack looks at Roxas clearly unhappy**

Jack: Easy for you guys to say, you don't have 3 bags full of heavy tools!

**Nick takes a step towards Jack**

Nick: Don't worry mate me and Shadow we'll carry one of your bags.

**Jack happy asks**

Jack: Really?

**Shadow annoyed asks**

Shadow: Wait why do I have to carry one, it's not my stuff?

**Nick ignoring Shadow takes a step towards Jack and says with a smile**

Nick: Of course mate, a Gentleman always helps a lady in need.

**Shadow pissed that Nick ignored him says in a loud voice**

Shadow: That's nice for you Nick but I am not carrying Jack's bag!

**Cagalli gets a cunning smile on her face**

Cagalli: Yes Nick I wouldn't expect Shadow to help carry the bags after all you did say Gentlemen help ladies.

**Nick looks at Cagalli a moment confused then smiles as he gets her plan**

Nick: Oh yea I guess you're right mate.

**Shadow is looking back and forth between the two clearly annoyed and angry**

Shadow: What are you trying to say?

**Shadow demands. Cagalli still with the fox's smile on her face turns away and sighs**

Cagalli: Well Shadow it's just that we know that out of all the things in the world you're not a Gentleman, you have the social grace of a monkey.

**Shadow pissed now snaps**

Shadow: Says you I could act like a Gentleman if I wanted too!

**Nick also with the fox's smile on his face adds**

Nick: Plus I saw you struggling to carry the bag here; I don't want you to hurt yourself by trying to carry that bag all the way to East Dock.

**Shadow really pissed now**

Shadow: I wasn't struggling, I can defiantly carry that bag to East Dock no problem!

**Nick takes one of Jack's bags for himself and then hands another to Shadow, as he hands it to Shadow he says**

Nick: Good here you go then.

**Shadow takes the bag without thinking. Nick, Jack and Kenny begin to walk away each carrying one bag, except for Nick whose carrying 2 bags. Shadow stares at them for a moment confused then Cagalli also carrying her own bag passes Shadow. Cagalli still has on her fox smile, as she passes Shadow she says**

Cagalli: Oh Shadow if that bag gets too heavy for you let me know and I'll carry it for you.

**This is the final straw Shadow is enrage now.**

Shadow: I'll carry this to the East Dock no problem, just you wait and see.

**Cagalli has already walk away leaving only Shadow and Roxas. Roxas has pick up her bag and Shadow has 2. A sudden understanding dawns on Shadow and his face twitches in self-annoyance.**

Shadow: Wait why do I suddenly feel like I've been set up?

**We can't tell if Roxas heard Shadow's comment but she replies**

Roxas: Watching Cagalli act all cunning has just gotten me really hot!

**Shadow seeing sudden opportunity from ashes asks hopefully**

Shadow: Do you want me to help you with that?

**Roxas without even turning around to face Shadow replies in a matter of fact voice**

Roxas: No.

**The scene ends with Shadow looking like his hopes are crush and Roxas excitedly chasing after Cagalli.**

Roxas: Wait for me my darling bosoms-I mean Cagalli.

**The next scene opens up at the East Dock, Drake is waiting impatiently when Shadow and the others appear.**

Kenny: Hey Drake!

**Drake looks annoyed. Shadow is also out of breath and drops the bag as soon as they get to Drake. Cagalli looks at Shadow and grins**

Cagalli: What's the matter Shadow; did carrying Jack's bag tire you out?

**Shadow glares at Cagalli**

Shadow: *pant, pant, pant* HA, I could *pant, pant, pant* carry this bag *pant, pant, pant* all day.

**Before Cagalli can reply Drake asks**

Drake: Where have you guys been, you've kept the client and more importantly me waiting!

**Jack is annoyed by Drake's remark**

Jack: Well we would have gotten here faster if someone had given us money to buy a car or at least come and pick us up.

**Drake is unimpressed with this excuse**

Drake: No excuses; besides walking with weights is good training. Anyway Jack and Kenny I think it's time you show them what you've been working on in your spare time.

**Jack and Kenny look at Drake for a moment confused then understanding dawns on them**

Kenny: Oh yea that.

Jack: I can't wait to see the look on everyone's face when I show them it!

**Shadow, Roxas, Cagalli and Nick look at Kenny and Jack curious and confused.**

Cagalli: What are you guys talking about?

Shadow: Yea what is it?

Nick: Don't keep us in the dark mate.

**Jack grins at them**

Jack: I'll show you, follow me.

**Jack and Kenny begin to run off in another direction. Shadow and the others begin to follow. The camera cuts to another part of East Dock; the camera is looking directly at Shadow, Cagalli, Nick and Roxas. They're staring open mouth at something, Cagalli shocked exclaims.**

Cagalli: It's the Archangel!

**The camera turns around to show Jack's Archangel look-a-like ship only it's finally been painted. The camera shows different angles of the ship, the color scheme for Jack's ship is now black and neon green. **

**(note some of you Seed fans might be having flashbacks to the original Archangel's cousin the Dominion but I like to take a moment to tell you that they're 2 completely different color schemes. The Dominion has different shades of Navy blue and red for its color scheme whereas Jack's ship is completely pure black with bright neon green color scheme so for those of you who thought the Dominion was painted black you're wrong Google it if you don't believe me.)**

**The camera looks back to Shadow and the others, Jack looks at Cagalli annoyed.**

Jack: Actually its name is Dark-Angel but that was a good guess.

**Cagalli looks at Jack surprise and a little confused**

Cagalli: The Dark-Angel?

**Jack nods her head enthusiastically**

Jack: Yea at first I thought about calling it Archangel but I realize that name was too Saint like for a team run by him.

**Jack nods towards Shadow who's staring at the ship full of stun excitement. Cagalli looks at Shadow for a moment then smiles to herself. It's the type of smile someone has when they're thinking of a joke.**

Cagalli: True, out of all the things I could say to describe Shadow, Saint would defiantly not be one of them.

**Shadow finally gets over his shock and says in an excited voice.**

Shadow: Jack that paint job is freaking awesome!

**Nick thinking nods his head**

Nick: It's definitely a great paint job mate but it kind of reminds me of Nightwing's color scheme.

**Jack smiles at Nick**

Jack: Yup I figure since Shadow is technically the leader it would only make sense that the Shadow Knights main ship be base off his Gundam's color scheme.

**Shadow does a pose. Cagalli begins to shake her head annoyed.**

Cagalli: Great now you made his ego swell.

**Shadow just grins at Cagalli which just pisses her off.**

Cagalli: Stop grinning like an idiot!

**Roxas grinning thoughtfully**

Roxas: But why did you name your ship Dark-Angel, don't get me wrong it's an awesome name but you didn't just pick it out of thin air it had to come from somewhere.

**All eyes now turn to Jack. Jack gets a thoughtful faraway look in her eye.**

Jack: Well actually Shadow gave me the inspiration for that too; you see I was having trouble thinking of a name for my ship, so I started to think about how Shadow had trouble coming up with a name for our team which in turn made me think about our team name The Shadow Knights. As I began to think more and more about Shadow Knights it just kind of hit me. Who does a Shadow Knight pray to; a regular Knight would pray to angel but who does a Shadow Knight pray to? Then I got it, a Shadow Knight would pray to a dark angel, that's why I decided to name my ship Dark-Angel. The Dark Angel who watches over her beloved Shadow Knights as they do battle in the darkness.

**Jack notices that everyone is staring at her wide eye. Jack starts to blush in embarrassment.**

Jack: What; do I have oil on my face or something?

**Cagalli in shock says**

Cagalli: Jack that was really poetic.

**Jack turns even redder in a combination of embarrassment and anger**

Jack: What is that supposed to mean?

**Jack says this challengingly. Cagalli, Roxas, Kenny and Nick see that if they say anything else it will only cause Jack to get angry so they turn away and quickly mumble "nothing"**

Shadow: Well it's just that poetry is more for the soft smooth sweet type of people where as you're rough hard and a little mean sometimes.

**Shadow was never the smart one. The second after Shadow speaks Jack takes a wrench out of one of her pockets and slams it into Shadow's face. Shadow is knock off his feet and falls to the ground, he's got the "I see birdies" look on his face. Cagalli and the others look at this scene surprise and slightly afraid. Jack is pissed**

Jack: I can be soft and smooth when I feel like!

**Kenny tries to change the subject before Jack hits Shadow again**

Kenny: Anyway the name and paint job isn't the only thing we change; we also fully stock the missiles and added a verification number. In short both the offensive and defensive programs on the Dark-angel are now fully operational.

**Roxas is getting bored**

Roxas: As interesting as this is, why are you telling us now?

**Drake has been standing to the side this entire time now steps forward and answers Roxas's question.**

Drake: I thought that was obvious, you can't just walk to Azize it is on an island nation after all, you're going to be taking the client to Azize on board your ship the Dark-Angel.

**Everyone nods there head in understanding except Kenny.**

Kenny: Hold on a second even though the ship is fully operational we still don't have a crew to run it.

**Drake has already predicted this problem**

Drake: Yes you do.

**Everyone turns to look at him in surprise**

Everyone: Huh?

**Drake is smirking and we can see his pride and ego growing**

Drake: In foreseeing this problem I've token the liberty of hiring a crew for you, in fact they're all gather in the Dark-Angel right now, let's go see them.

**Everyone agrees with this plan. They all turn and begin to walk towards the Dark-Angel, Drake watches them walk away then looks at the still unconscious Shadow. **

**Shadow is still lying on the ground where Jack knock him out and after a moment more Drake sighs then walks over to him and picks him up by the collar. Drake then begins to lightly slap Shadow in the face.**

Drake: Come on wake up, wake up Shadow and for once try to at least act like the leader of this team.

**Shadow moans then blinks and wakes up**

Shadow: Ow, What hit me?

**Shadow is rubbing the cheek where Jack hit him. Drake drops him to ground and begins to walk towards the Dark-angel.**

Drake: Your stupidity, now come on and follow me.

**Shadow still dazed gets up and follows Drake. The camera cuts inside the Dark-angel to the Gundam Bay, we can see that Nightwing, Cowboy, La Rouge, and Quanlier have already been loaded onto the Dark-Angel. We can also see a new fifth Gundam that we've never seen before.**

**This Gundam is slim but at the same time gives the impression of having a lot of power, we can definitely tell that it's not a Basic series type Gundam, it's completely silver. The camera looks down to show the "crew" Drake hired. There seems to be about 30 people scatter all over the place.**

**We can see that a card table has been set up and there's some heavy gambling going on at the same time there's an arm wrestling match being held and we can see a large amount of betting going on over there as well. There's also a lot of drinking and flirting going on, the group is pretty evenly divided between men and women.**

**Someone has also brought a boom box and has the music going on at full blast. Everyone looks dirty and unclean. A lot of the men look like they haven't shaven in a while, the women have on old and rip clothes.**

**Overall the "crew" Drake hired looks like they mug you behind and ally without a second thought. The camera turns to look back at entrance to show a shocked Cagalli, Roxas, Nick, Kenny, and Jack. Drake is smiling proudly**

Drake: So what do you guys think?

**Cagalli's shock gets replace by anger**

Cagalli: You call this a crew!

**Drake looks at her annoyed**

Drake: Yes, why do you have a problem with the crew I hired?

**Cagalli replies without hesitation**

Cagalli: Yes, these people look like a bunch of thugs that would mug me in the street without a second thought, and do any of these thugs have a degree in engineering or mechanical science?

**Drake looks at her still annoyed**

Drake: Why would they need a degree in engineering or mechanical science?

**Cagalli is outraged and shock and shouts**

Cagalli: Why, because this is single handedly one of the most complicated ships in the world and what good are these people going to be if they have no training operating and repairing anything that has to do with machinery! I mean did you just go to some bar and shout out "I'm looking for a crew who wants to join?"?

**Drake is beginning to look bored**

Drake: Yea so what?

**Cagalli's outraged grows but before she can say anything, Drake cuts her off**

Drake: Look this isn't the military where you have the luxury to look at a huge list of people and pick the best person for the best job, so let me tell you a lifelong lesson. In life you just have to make do with what you've got, these people are the best crew you can afford so you'll just have to work with them and no amount of complaining is going to change that.

**Cagalli is clearly unhappy about this and is about to say something but Shadow slaps her on the back.**

Shadow: Cheer up Cagalli; I thought you out of all people would know how that old saying about not judging a book by its cover would go.

**Shadow is smiling. Cagalli gets annoyed**

Cagalli: This is completely different!

**Nick steps forward**

Nick: No it's not mate, I agree with Shadow on this one. I think we should give them a chance before we judge.

**Roxas is uncaring**

Roxas: It doesn't matter to me, although a couple of them do look cute.

**Roxas begins to wave seductively at one of the guy crew members, this pisses Cagalli off.**

Cagalli: This is serious you guys, who's going to train these people?

**Jack begins to wave her wrench around threateningly**

Jack: I will, you don't have to worry Cagalli I'll whip these guys into shape.

**Kenny getting excited now says**

Kenny: I can give them a crash course on how to operate the computer systems; it's not that hard I'm sure with a little practice they'll get it down in no time.

**Shadow satisfied**

Shadow: Great then it's decided, we'll keep these guys.

**Cagalli seeing she's outnumber sighs and reluctantly says**

Cagalli: Fine.

**Nick has been staring at the new Gundam for a bit now and asks Drake**

Nick: Hey mate what's up with that new Gundam over there, is it ours?

**He points to the new Gundam, before Drake answers a voice from behind calls out.**

Zuke: It's mine.

**Everyone turns around to see Zuke walking up to them. Nick looks at Zuke annoyed**

Nick: You're late.

**Zuke looks at Nick slightly annoyed**

Zuke: Actually I've been here since a half-hour ago. I've just been getting my Gundam settle in on this ship, and threatening those weak loser that if they place so much as one finger on my Gundam I'd rip there limbs off one at a time.

**The way Zuke says this implies that he isn't kidding. He most likely really would rip off their limbs. Jack thinks she hears a sarcastic tone in Zuke's voice when he says the word "ship".**

Jack: What you got something to say about my ship?

**Zuke answers in a matter of fact voice**

Zuke: Not at all, in fact I'm surprise that you bunch of insects were able to get such a decent ship.

**Everyone is surprise by Zuke's comment**

Shadow: I feel insulted and honor at the same time.

**The honor part quickly passes when Zuke says his next comment**

Zuke: But knowing your tiny intellects it's only a matter of time before you get this ship destroyed.

**Everyone now looks either annoyed or mad**

Shadow: Okay that time I'm sure he insulted us.

**Nick pissed says**

Nick: I'll show you who's stupid.

**Nick says challengingly. Zuke is uninterested**

Zuke: Sorry but fighting pathetic naturals is beneath my talents and a waste of my time.

**Nick is even more pissed off but before he can say anything Drake decides to get things back on track.**

Drake: Alright let's get back on point, now that you are all gather here it's time you address your crew.

**Kenny doesn't get it**

Kenny: Address the crew?

**Drake nods his head**

Drake: Yes it's traditional for the leader of a new crew to give a little speech when they set off for their first voyage.

**Roxas takes this all in, then looks to Shadow.**

Roxas: Team Leader huh, I guess that's you Shadow. You're going to have give a speech.

**Shadow is surprise for a moment, then a wide grin spreads across his face and he says in a boastful voice.**

Shadow: Well people have always said that I have a natural gift for public speaking.

**Kenny and Jack look at Shadow annoyed and ask at the same time**

Kenny and Jack: Since when?

**Shadow snaps back**

Shadow: Shut up!

**Cagalli smirks**

Cagalli: Well this should be good.

**Nick and Roxas nod their head in agreement and Zuke is doing the I'm too good for this pose. Shadow glares at Cagalli and is about to say something when Drake cuts him off. Drake is annoyed**

Drake: Shadow would you quit wasting time and get on with it.

**Shadow looks at Drake annoyed but decides to just go with it. He turns to look back at the crew and takes a step forward. It doesn't look like anyone has even notice them. Shadow coughs in a poor attempt to get their attention.**

**When that doesn't work he coughs again louder and then again louder. Drake rolls his eyes and Cagalli looks at him skeptically. Shadow is beginning to get irritated and coughs extremely loud. They still ignored him, Roxas can't resisted any longer.**

Roxas: Shadow would you like a cough drop?

**Roxas, Kenny and Jack begin to fight giggles of laugher. Zuke just looks at him bored**

Zuke: How pathetic even for a natural.

**Shadow is now full scale mad and he shouts at the top of his voice**

Shadow: HEY DUCHEBAGS SHUT UP AND LISTEN TO ME!

**No one even turns around. Shadow deflates. Drake is annoyed**

Drake: Shadow I have other things that I need to do today too so could you give your speech already.

**Shadow annoyed snaps back**

Shadow: I would if I could get them to listen to me!

**Drake is unsympathetic**

Drake: Getting your crew's attention is also part of the speech givers job; and if you can't even do this you have no hope of running this ship.

**Shadow looks frustrated but he knows Drake is right. Cagalli steps up to Shadow shaking her head.**

Cagalli: Honestly Shadow, coughing and shouting at the top of your lungs is that really the best you can do?

**Shadow turns and glares at Cagalli**

Shadow: I like to see you do better.

**Cagalli glares at Shadow now**

Cagalli: Fine I will.

**Shadow takes a step back as Cagalli takes a step forward; she coughs once to clear her throat then shouts in a voice full of military authority.**

Cagalli: Alright everyone quiet down, everyone fall in let's go, hurry up and get into order, move it people, that's an order!

**This time everyone turns to look at the source of the voice. Cagalli is pulling off the military leader pose quite nicely. There's a moment's pause as no one moves then everyone starts laughing.**

Crew: AHHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHHAHAH

**Cagalli is surprise and blushes; she tries to take control again.**

Cagalli: H-hey what are you guys laughing at, I told you to fall in that's an order.

**It's no use, Cagalli has become fluster and her voice no longer has the military tone she used earlier. The crew goes back to what they were doing before some still slightly laughing. Drake sighs**

Drake: Well I guess that was better than Shadow's attempt, it probability would have work too if these were regular soldiers but they're not.

**Shadow still offended by Cagalli's earlier comment says**

Shadow: Not so easy is it.

**Roxas tries to take advantage of Cagalli's embarrassment. She jumps on Cagalli from behind and begins to grope her breast.**

Roxas: Well at least you got their attention.

**Cagalli pissed begins to try and throw Roxas off.**

Cagalli: Get off me you pervert!

**Jack while Cagalli's distracted says to the others**

Jack: I don't know what's worst, being ignored or being laugh at?

**Nick, and Kenny nod their head. Zuke still bored says**

Zuke: Slightly less pathetic.

**Drake sighs again as Cagalli gets Roxas off**

Drake: I don't have time for this, alright since it's obvious you people can't do this I'll have to.

**Everyone turns to stare at Drake surprise. Cagalli is annoyed**

Cagalli: You will?

**Drake is now annoyed by her tone of voice**

Drake: Yes I will so shut up and watch how it's done because I'm only going to do this once.

**Drake then turns to face the crew, he draws his gun and fires so fast that to the naked eye his gun just appears in his hand. **

**Drake fires 5 shots in the blink of an eye, one goes right through a card that someone was about to play, another right over the hands of the arm wresters, the third hits the boom box. The other 2 hit in-between the people flirting. Everyone jumps up surprise and looks towards Drake. Drake is looking at them with a sharp eye**

Drake: Listen up, anyone who so much as makes a peep while I'm talking is going to find a bullet in there head got it.

**The way he talks makes him seem deadly serious. No one says anything; Drake slightly grins.**

Drake: Good, now I'm going to give you a quick rundown on how we're going to run this ship. On top of the food chain is me, second is him

**Drake points to Shadow**

Drake: Third are the rest of them.

**Drake points to everyone else**

Drake: And last is you guys, naturally you follow the orders of people higher up on the food chain then yourselves. If you don't then not only will I fire you, I may kill you depending on the issue, any questions?

**No one has a question. Drake is satisfied**

Drake: Good, then carry on with what you were doing.

**The crew turns and goes back to what they were doing before as if nothing happen. Drake turns to look at Shadow and the others. Cagalli is shocked, Zuke is bored, Roxas has found a lose screw and is now batting it back and forth between her hands on the ground similar to what a cat would do, everyone else looks surprise and impressed. Nick whistles**

Nick: Well that's one way of getting their attention mate.

Shadow: Okay I got to admit that was impressive.

**Cagalli is outraged**

Cagalli: Are you guys' nuts he shot at them and threaten them, what kind of leader does those things?

**Drake is annoyed with Cagalli**

Drake: The kind that gets results.

**Cagalli is about to say something but to her surprise Shadow cuts her off**

Shadow: Relax Cagalli this isn't about Drake being a gun happy lunatic, this is about dominance. All these guys and women are alpha males and females; there obvious people that won't take orders from just anyone there told to so Drake had to show them who's boss. By showing them his marksmanship he's proven to them that he's much stronger than they are so now they'll follow his orders because they respect him and fear him a little.

**Drake is genuinely surprise and impressed**

Drake: I'm surprise Shadow I didn't think you could comprehend that situation.

**Zuke isn't**

Zuke: Please a monkey could comprehend that.

**Shadow expecting something like that from Zuke ignores him and looks at Drake annoyed**

Shadow: Why does everyone here think I'm stupid!

**No one answers. Cagalli is still hesitant; Shadow sees this and smiles as he lightly teases her.**

Shadow: Aw is the princess not used to having to prove herself before others follow her rule?

**This pisses Cagalli off**

Cagalli: No, and Shadow would you stop calling me princess! I just don't want a crew to follow me out of fear!

**Drake looks at her and answers her in a voice without emotion**

Drake: That's not possible; fear is needed in the beginning to run this type of crew successfully. Cagalli you need to come to terms with the fact that these aren't soldiers and you need to do it quickly, now come with me so I can introduce you to them.

**Kenny is surprise**

Kenny: Wait you're going to introduce us to all of them.

**Drake has already started walking, the others are walking in pace with him.**

Drake: Don't be stupid, I'm only going to introduce you to the bridge crew; the other people are just maintenance workers here to keep the ship running smoothly you can meet them on your own time.

**They've left the Gundam bay and have enter the hallway. Roxas walking on all fours asks**

Roxas: So what's the difference between them and the rest of our crew and are they cute?

**Drake smiles**

Drake: The difference is for me to know and for you to figure out?

**They've enter and elevator and our going up. Jack is annoyed**

Jack: Isn't that a little childish Drake?

**Drake is unmoved**

Drake: Now what kind of master would I be if I just gave you all the answers?

**The camera cuts to the bridge, there're four people sitting down and waiting in the bridge. One guy is in a wheel chair, another has on a vest and tie, the third has on a musicians clothes, the fourth person is a women wearing all black, she's carrying something on her back but we can't tell what it is because she's covering it with some kind of cloth.**

**The door opens with Drake leading the others in. The four people waiting turn to look at him. Drake nods towards them**

Drake: Hello everyone, these people here are the Gundam Pilots and crew you will be working for as of this moment.

**Drake points towards Shadow and the others**

Drake: Alright let me introduce you

**Drake points to the girl first**

Drake: That's Rini Ugo.

**Drake points to the musician next**

Drake: That's Thomas Ina.

**Drake points to the vest guy next**

Drake: He's Ciro Deangelo.

**Drake points to the man in the wheel chair last**

Drake: And last is Alan Mace. Shadow Knights this is you bridge crew and bridge crew as of this moment you are the Shadow Knight Bridge crew.

**Alan, Ciro, and Rini look unhappy and unimpressed. Thomas is the only one who looks somewhat interested in meeting them and happy. Shadow and the others begin to introduce themselves.**

Kenny: I'm Kenny Cyes.

Jack: Jack Coldback.

Nick: Nick Mu, pleasure to meet you mates.

**Roxas sighs and says sadly**

Roxas: I'm Roxas Nile and none of you are my type.

Cagalli: I'm Cagalli Yulu Athha.

**Zuke looks bored and doesn't bother answering. Shadow excited steps forward**

Shadow: That's Zuke Garth and I am the great, the mighty, the team leader of the Shadow Knights, Shadow Zoomarey.

**Ciro, Rini, and Alan look at Shadow like he's an idiot. Cagalli, Jack and Kenny are embarrass by Shadow. Alan turns to address Drake**

Alan: Are you serious Drake, this guy is our leader?

**Before Drake can answer Shadow annoyed snaps**

Shadow: Hey buddy, you've got a problem with me?

**Alan also annoyed wheels his wheel chair to face Shadow**

Alan: Yes, I came here to work with what I thought to be a professional Gundam Team not some punk kid who looks like he just got a new puppy!

**Shadow is pissed off**

Shadow: I am a professional Gundam Pilot!

**Alan gives a short laugh**

Alan: HA not with that stupid introduction and if I'm caught with an idiot kid as my leader people are going to start to think I'm an idiot!

**Shadow is glaring at Alan and takes a threatening step forward**

Shadow: Stop calling me a kid I'm 19, and those are fighting words!

**Alan rolls his wheel chair forward**

Alan: Bring it on; I'll kick your ass!

**Shadow is about to take another step forward when Cagalli stops him. She grabs his shoulder and stops him from advancing. Cagalli is pissed at Shadow**

Cagalli: Shadow what the hell do you think you're doing!

**Shadow turns to her angry**

Shadow: What's it look like, the guy is starting a fight with me and I intend to finish it!

**Cagalli is outrage**

Cagalli: Shadow are you out of your mind you can't fight him, he's, he's…

**Cagalli suddenly hesitates and glances over uncomfortably at Alan. Shadow confused also looks over at Alan. The camera turns and focuses on Alan or to be more exact the wheel chair he's sitting in. Alan is now even madder**

Alan: What, you've got something to say then say it!

**Cagalli blushes and doesn't know what to say. Shadow still has the same look of confusion on. It's unclear if he understands the full situation. No one else seems to want to answer Alan's question which seems to enraged him further.**

Alan: What any of you bastard's got something to say!

**Thomas has something to say but not to Alan. He's looking at Shadow very please and happy, he begins to speak. It should be pointed out that Thomas speaks in almost a musical tone of voice and the reader should always assume he's talking like that unless told otherwise.**

Thomas: FA-FA-FA Actually I disagree with you Alan; I think Shadow's way of introducing himself was simply marvelous, and I am relieved to have such an interesting sounding person as my leader.

**Everyone looks at Thomas like he's nuts except for Shadow who's happy to finally have someone who likes his introduction. Shadow and Thomas shake hands smiling at each other.**

Shadow: Thanks and I got to tell you that outfit you're wearing is so cool.

**Thomas glances at his musician's outfit, please that someone notice it.**

Thomas: RAAAAAAAAA You think, I was worry it might be a little over the tooop?

**Shadow shakes his head**

Shadow: Not at all.

**As you can tell Shadow and Thomas have become instant friends. Zuke looks at him slightly disgusted.**

Zuke: Do you always talk like that?

**Zuke is referring to Thomas's musical tone of voice. Thomas looks at him confused**

Thomas: ME-ME-ME Like what?

**Before Zuke can answer Rini breaks into the conversation**

Rini: I hate to interrupt but I also share Alan's concerns with the leader and this so call team.

**This time she's got everyone's attention, and everyone looks annoyed.**

Roxas: Hey old hag I can understand if you've got a problem with Shadow's stupid introduction but if you've got something to say about the rest of us then spit it out!

**Rini becomes irritated at the old hag comment**

Rini: Fine, I don't want to work with snot nose amateur brats that don't know the first thing about combat, so what the hell makes you think I'll work under them!

**Cagalli is really annoyed now**

Cagalli: I'll have you know that I've been in several combat situations before and made it out okay!

**Ciro snorts and says in a thick Italian accent**

Ciro: Video games and books don't count girly.

**Cagalli turns and glares at Ciro. Ciro is unfazed, Cagalli's about to say something but Drake cuts her off.**

Drake: Look I understanding your concerns but you're not looking at this the right way.

**Rini asks skeptically**

Rini: Oh and how are we supposed to look at this?

**Drake looks at Rini slightly annoyed**

Drake: Well first I'll assume that all of you have heard of McDonalds before?

**Alan, Rini, Ciro and Thomas look surprise by the question**

Rini: Of course, who hasn't heard of McDonalds?

Alan: Yea, didn't they just win a reward for longest running fast-food restaurant in the world?

**Drake nods his head**

Drake: Yes, now if you had the chance to get in on the ground floor and I'm talking about when the very first McDonalds opening for the very first time wouldn't you do it?

**Ciro doesn't understand where this is going**

Ciro: Of course, the ancestors of founders of McDonalds are some of the riches people in the world, in fact I've heard they've gone 7 generators without a single member of their family working and they're still some of the riches people in the world.

**Drake sees his opening**

Drake: Well don't you see that this is just like that? The Shadow Knights may be amateurs now but they'll grow and get better and stronger. This is your chance to join this team right at the beginning, while they're still new and unknown.

**Ciro and Alan are becoming sway by Drake, Thomas has already decided to join the team, but Rini is still unconvinced.**

Rini: Yes but how many other fast-food joints talk people into buying there stock by saying the exact same thing and then went belly up?

**Ciro and Alan now switching sides turn to look at Drake. Drake answers smoothly**

Drake: With any choice you make there's a certain level of risk that it won't work out but unlike those stock holders that had to just sit and watch their money burn you can help keep this team afloat. If you join this team you'll be joining it as an active member, and besides it's not like you guys have anything else going for you right now.

**Drake has done it, Ciro, Alan, Rini and Thomas look down to the floor at the mention of not having anywhere else to go. Shadow and the others watch this curious but don't interrupt.**

Alan: Alright I'm in.

Ciro: Me too.

Rini: *sigh* guess I can't be too picky about my work; a job's a job after all.

**Thomas smiling says**

Thomas: LA-LA-LA I was already in.

**Drake is satisfied**

Drake: Great, now that's done I'll

**Kenny interrupts Drake mid-sentence**

Kenny: Wait Drake, the Dark-Angel Bridge has 5 computer terminals counting the helm, which means we're still one person short for the bridge crew.

**Drake is annoyed that Kenny interrupted him and implied that he made a mistake.**

Drake: No we're not, Kenny you're going to be the fifth member of the bridge crew.

**Kenny gulps nervously**

Kenny: Me?

**Nick nods his head thoughtfully**

Nick: It makes sense mate, Jack's obviously going to be the head mechanic, and me Shadow, Cagalli, Roxas and Zuke are going to be Gundam Pilots and besides Kenny is the only one with the actual computer skills that could do the job.

**Shadow, Roxas and Jack nod their head also agreeing with Nick's line of thinking. Ciro, Thomas, Rini, Alan, and Zuke don't seem to care, but Cagalli seems to have found another problem.**

Cagalli: Um guys I think you've overlook a very important position, the Captain.

**This gets everyone's attention all eyes now turn to Drake**

Drake: It wouldn't be my place to pick a Captain for this ship; it's the duty of the team leader. The Captain of a Gundam Team ship holds a lot of power and is traditionally equal in rank to the second-in-command that is why it has to be the responsibility of team leader to pick the Captain. Anyway you can worry more about that later Ciro, Rini, Alan, and Thomas you guys stay here and get set in the rest of you come with me, it's time you meet your first client.

**Drake turns around and walks out of the room. The others are right behind him, in the hallway Drake turns to face them.**

Drake: Leave your stuff here, it doesn't look professional walking in while carrying your bags.

**Shadow and the others do what they're told.**

Shadow: So Drake where is our client?

Drake: They're waiting in the conference room.

**Jack is surprise**

Jack: Wait they're already on the ship?

**Drake nods his head**

Drake: Yup so come on.

**The camera cuts to the conference room. Raheem is leaning against the wall; Kabira is sitting down in a chair. The door opens and Drake walks in leading Shadow and the others.**

Drake: Sorry to keep you waiting Mr. Raheem and Ms. Kabira.

**Kabira looks annoyed but before she can say anything Raheem answers.**

Raheem: Don't worry about it.

**Although Raheem speaks to Drake his eyes are on Shadow and the others. Raheem and Kabira are checking out Shadow and the others. The camera turns and focuses on Cagalli, Cagalli's eyes are open wide and we can see that she's surprise. Raheem speaks to Drake**

Raheem: So is this the Gundam Team you were telling us about?

**Drake nods his head**

Drake: It is.

**Kabira is unimpressed**

Kabira: They don't look like much.

**Shadow is offended**

Shadow: Hey, brat what's that supposed to mean!

**Shadow takes a threatening step forward. Kabira angry now gets up out of here chair and glares at Shadow.**

Kabira: It means that I don't want to trust my life to a bunch of amateur kids!

**Shadow even more offended and mad**

Shadow: I'm 19 and you're what 14 so what the hell are you talking about?

**Kabira snaps back**

Kabira: I'm 16!

**Raheem and Drake break up this fight before it goes any further. Raheem grabs Kabira and Drake grabs Shadow.**

Raheem: Ms. Kabira stop it.

Drake: Shadow quit being an idiot!

**Both Shadow and Kabira back off. Drake turns to apologize**

Drake: Sorry about that he's had a long day.

**Raheem nods his head**

Raheem: As have we.

**Drake nods his head**

Drake: Well the ship's already to go, now's the time if you want to back out and leave.

**Raheem considers this for a moment. He looks at Shadow then back at Kabira, he makes his decision.**

Raheem: We're already here so we might as well see how far this Gundam Team can take us.

**Drake nods his head approvingly.**

Drake: Good, your rooms aren't ready yet but feel free to look around the ship until they are. I wish you luck.

**Drake turns and leaves the room. Shadow and the others surprise chase after him.**

Cagalli: Wait Drake you can't expect us to just take off we don't even have a Captain yet, plus a new crew should spend at least a month together before they do any missions.

**Drake is unmoved**

Drake: Finding a Captain isn't my job, and you guys will get experience working with your new crew out in the field so good luck and I'll see you when you get back.

**With that Drake breaks into a sprint leaving them quickly behind. Shadow and the others watch him go.**

Shadow: Well I guess that's that, we better get up to the bridge and tell them to take off. Hey Jack since you know this ship best can you start giving work assignments to the guys in the Gundam Bay?

Jack: No problem, I'll be right back.

**Jack turns and leaves. Shadow focuses on the next task.**

Shadow: Well let's go.

**Cagalli shakes her head and sighs**

Cagalli: Why do I even bother?

**The camera cuts to the bridge, Ciro, Rini, and Thomas are sitting at their computer terminals typing away when Shadow walks in, Cagalli, Nick, Kenny, Roxas and Zuke are right behind him.**

Shadow: Alright let's get this show on the road; we're going to Azize people.

**Kenny goes and takes a seat at the empty computer terminal and starts typing.**

Ciro: I've already got the coordinates program in all I need is for someone to steer this puppy out of the Dock.

**Alan stretches his hands**

Alan: Well I guess that's me.

**Alan begins to roll his wheel chair to the empty helm seat.**

Cagalli: Wait a minute, you're the helmsman?

**Cagalli is shocked. Alan rolls his wheel chair to face her.**

Alan: Yea, you've got a problem with that?

**Cagalli reluctantly says**

Cagalli: Well yes, you're, you're…

**Alan is becoming extremely irritated**

Alan: I'm what!

**Cagalli is looking nervously around for help. Shadow is getting impatient.**

Shadow: Cagalli if you've got something to say then just say it.

**Cagalli turns to Shadow piss now. Cagalli walks up to him grabs the collar of his coat and begins to drag him away.**

Cagalli: Team meeting now!

**Cagalli drags him outside the bridge. Nick, Roxas, and Zuke follow, Kenny is busy typing on his computer, Ciro, Rini, and Thomas watch them go curious and Alan looks annoyed. The camera cuts outside.**

Cagalli: We can't let him be the helmsman he's crippled!

**Shadow doesn't get it**

Shadow: What does that matter, the Dark-Angel helmsman terminal has been redesigned so that there are no pedals. The thruster controls are now done all by the steering wheel so he doesn't need his feet.

**Cagalli glares at Shadow angrily**

Cagalli: You are forgetting the one critical fact that he's crippled! He's probably never driven a day in his life before.

**Nick cuts in**

Nick: You don't know that mate.

**Cagalli corrects herself**

Cagalli: Fine, he might have driven before but that was probably a long time ago, he's probably out of practice.

**Shadow jokingly says**

Shadow: Wow Cagalli I didn't know you had these kinds of issues with cripple people.

**Cagalli glares at him**

Cagalli: It's not like that, I'm not saying we should fire him just give him another job and find someone else to be the helmsman, it would be irresponsible to do otherwise.

**Shadow has heard enough**

Shadow: No, Drake picked him and I think there's reason for that.

**Cagalli is shocked**

Cagalli: What?

Nick: I have to agree with Shadow mate, we shouldn't judge him until we see what he can do.

**Cagalli turns to Nick**

Cagalli: Nick.

Roxas: Every person deserves a chance.

Cagalli: Roxas too.

**All eyes turn to Zuke for a moment. Zuke seeing they're waiting for him to say something sighs.**

Zuke: I could care less.

**Shadow nods his head**

Shadow: Good then it's decided.

**Shadow turns and walks back into the bridge, Roxas, Nick and Zuke follow. Cagalli is still outraged.**

Cagalli: So I'm the crazy one for thinking its nuts to let a cripple person act as the helmsman!

**The camera cuts to inside the bridge, Shadow nods towards Alan.**

Shadow: Carry on.

Alan: Finally.

**Alan turns around and rolls himself to the helmsmen terminal. He then lifts himself out of the wheel chair and into the terminal seat. He folds up his wheel chair and puts it to the side. He gently puts his hands on the wheel and begins to run his fingers up and down the wheel.**

Alan (Hello old friend, it's been a while.)

**Shadow is growing impatient**

Shadow: Sometime today Alan.

**Alan refocuses**

Alan: Right

**Alan tightens his hand on the steering wheel then takes one hand off and hits a few buttons. The camera cuts outside to show the engines of the Dark-Angel starting up. **

**The camera cuts inside to show Alan with 2 hands on the steering wheel pull the steering wheel back. The camera cuts outside to show the Dark-Angel lift off the ground, then slowly move out of the Dock. The camera looks down to Tim and Drake.**

Tim: So they're gone

**Drake nods his head**

Drake: Don't worry Tim it should be just a simple escort mission.

**The camera cuts outside to a hill in the forest. The camera switches view point to look like it's seeing through binoculars. We can see the Dark-Angel leaving the dock. The camera cuts back to original view point. We can see a rough looking man watching the Dark-Angel. He lowers his binoculars, and the episode ends with him saying.**

Man: So there she is.

The first concern I want to address is Cagalli being weak, now don't get me wrong people, I'm a Cagalli fan too but at the same time I want this story to one day become a real anime or manga so it's important that I follow her character design. Now don't get me wrong I'm not trying to say that Cagalli is design weak, it's just that her character development is still in process. In fact that's one of the reasons why I decided to put her in my story. It is my belief that a story has to have a lead character that develops or matures as the story goes on which is why I can't have Kira or Athrun be one of the lead characters in this story. Now I know must Cagalli fans would agree that Cagalli was portrayed better in GS then in GSD, now I can understand why the writers portrayed her that way but it still makes me unhappy, but I guess I should thank them because thanks to that Cagalli's character at the end of GSD still in my opinion had plenty of room to grow and mature. Now as much as I'd like to pretend that GSD never happen and use her character design from GS I can't, I have to start with where she was left off at in GSD, my goal is to get a Cagalli with the same fierce attuide and determination as in GS but with the maturity and wisdom of the Cagalli of GSD, but that will take time. If I were to show a Cagalli more similar to the GS Cagalli it would make the transition from GSD to Gundam Seed Shadow more awkward, which is why I have to portray Cagalli weak right now but don't worry I assure you she will get stronger, it just needs more time, don't blame me blame the writers of GSD. As for Cagalli Seed Factor, that's not going to happen for a while, why well think about it for a second we've only seen Cagalli use her Seed Factor once at the end of GS, nowhere in GSD did we see Cagalli activate it, not even in her fight with Shinn which leaves me to believe that Cagalli doesn't even no she has it let alone able to control it so it's going to be awhile before you see her use it. The second concern is what I like to call the cliff hanger concerns, Cagalli is trap on Sora now and has no idea what is going on in Orb so you guys aren't going to find at what's going on with the Orb conspiracy until much later in the story (well over halfway), as for the black cloak assassins that brought Cagalli to Sora they're part of a major story arc so although you'll see them sooner then the Orb conspiracy it will still be quite a while, but don't worry I have not forgotten about them and I must admit that I find it slightly insulting that you would think I did. I wanted to clear this up because pretty soon we're going to start to talking about some of the characters past, all of the characters in Gundam Seed Shadow have a pass and little by you'll find out about it, it's unrealistic that you'll found out someone's entire past in a single day, so I'm not going to do an entire episode where you found out about an entire characters past, instead you'll find out a little bit here and there over the course of the series, some examples of this are Jack's brother and the girl Nick saw when he was knock out in his Gundam, Jack's brother was murder (well he died fixing the S-generator but someone had sabotage it so it equals the same thing) although Jack doesn't know it yet, I swear that will come up again, and that girl Nick saw is a very important person to him and is the main reason he's become a Gundam Fighter, and Kenny, Roxas, Zuke, Drake and even some of the new characters, Ciro, Rini, Alan, and Thomas all have past that you're going to see in bits and pieces, so in the future when you see a cliff hanger like that know that it is there on purpose. That's all see you around.


	28. Episode 27

Episode 27

**The episode opens up over a grassy hill. We can see some type of cows grazing, when the Dark-Angel comes flying over the hill at full speed. The cows surprised and startled run off in all directions. **

**The camera cuts inside the bridge of the Dark-Angel to show Cagalli, Nick, Shadow and Roxas gripping the Captain's chair for dear life. Ciro, Rini, Kenny, and Thomas are bracing themselves against their own chairs. Zuke is leaning against a wall appearing to be unaffected. Cagalli mad/scare shouts at Alan**

Cagalli: Slow this thing down now!

**Shadow on the other hand looks excited**

Shadow: No way speed this baby up!

**Alan turns around and grins at Shadow**

Alan: You got it, hold on!

**Alan pushes the wheel forward. He then quickly hits a few buttons on his computer with one hand. We can see the force visibly push on the Shadow Knights. The camera cuts quickly outside to show that the Dark-Angel has indeed speeded up. Cagalli looks at Shadow like he's nuts.**

Cagalli: Are you out of your mind!

**Shadow looks at her obviously not understanding why she's mad.**

Shadow: What?

**Cagalli is now highly annoyed**

Cagalli: Do you have any idea how dangerous going at this speed is?

**Shadow doesn't seem to care**

Shadow: Oh relax princess this is just like a roller coaster.

**Cagalli very mad now**

Cagalli: How many times do I have to tell you not to call me a princess!

**Nick holding his hat in place with one hand speaks ignoring Cagalli's comment.**

Nick: Yea, only without the safety equipment and seats!

**Roxas is cheering Alan on**

Roxas: Yayyyyyyyy go faster, faster, faster, faster, faster, faster!

**Alan is grinning like a lunatic, suddenly a screen starts flashing on the Captain's chair, and Shadow sees it.**

Shadow: Oh someone's calling, I'll get it.

**Shadow let's go of the chair with one hand and slaps the button above the blinking screen and quickly re-grabs the chair. Jack's face appears on the screen, she looks like she's holding onto something too and she looks very annoyed.**

Jack: Shadow mind explaining to me why my ship is going at this ridiculous speed?

**Shadow quickly tries to think of an excuse**

Shadow: We're trying to out run ghost.

**Jack looks at him like he's an idiot**

Jack: Ok you have to the count of 3 to stop this ship before I stop it and then turn around and beat you till an inch of your life, oh and if you're thinking you can just hide somewhere until I cool off I like to remind you that I built this ship so I literary know where every single hiding spot is.

**The screen blinks off, Shadow sighs in defeat.**

Shadow: Alright Alan you heard the ladies.

**Alan also looks disappointed**

Alan: Alright but let me just try one more thing.

**Before anyone says anything Alan quickly turns the wheel to the left and angles it down. The camera quickly cuts outside to show the Dark-Angel turn left but something's wrong. There's too much thrust and the Dark-Angel starts to spin out of control.**

**The camera cuts inside the bridge of the Dark-Angel to show everyone screaming or gritting their teeth as they brace themselves against anything they can grab to stop themselves from being flung around like clothes in a drier. The camera focuses on Alan, his eyes have taken on an extremely focus look.**

**He's spinning the wheel left, right, then left again, he's also titling the wheel up, down, left, up, right, up, at the same time as he's turning the wheel. The camera cuts outside to show the Dark-Angel stop spinning, straighten up and come to a slow stop.**

**The camera cuts back inside to show that everyone has calmed down. Cagalli and several others are panting. Alan is the first to talk, he turns to look at them. Alan is smiling and he's slightly embarrassed.**

Alan: Sorry about that, I was putting out a lot more thrust then I thought.

**Cagalli turns to look at him pissed**

Cagalli: Sorry? Sorry is all you can say for almost getting us killed because you were joy riding?

**Shadow is completely unconcern**

Shadow: Relax Cagalli; no one was hurt, but Alan if you crash this ship

**Alan cuts him off**

Alan: Yea, yea, yea, you'll either fire me or kick my ass.

**Shadow smiles at him**

Shadow: Oh no I won't kick your ass but Jack will and trust me when I say Jack is 10 times scarier than me.

**Nick has recover from the spin cycle**

Nick: Speaking of Jack mate, I think we should go down and check on her.

**Roxas is still green**

Roxas: Right when the floor stops spinning.

**Cagalli is also regaining color to her face, she smiles at Nick.**

Cagalli: Are you worried about her Nick?

**The way Cagalli asks implies she thinks it's cute how Nick's eldest brother instincts have kicked in. Nick doesn't say anything; Shadow smiling slaps him on the back.**

Shadow: Don't worried Nick Jack is a big girl she can take care of herself, in fact I'm more worried about the people we left her there with.

**Roxas recovered says**

Roxas: There are more good looking guys there anyway so let's go.

**Ciro, Thomas, and Alan look annoyed by this comment. Shadow nods his head**

Shadow: Ok, Kenny you're in charge till we get back.

**Kenny lifts his head from the computer terminal he's working on.**

Kenny: Right.

**Shadow, Nick, Cagalli and Roxas begin to leave. Zuke is staring intently at Alan.**

Zuke (That guy was able to understanding that complex steering wheel, a completely new design steering wheel that has never been use before, in under an hour. Plus he was able to regain control when the ship was in that out of control spin. There's no way an amateur could have done that, just who is he?)

**Shadow is about to leave when he turns to Zuke.**

Shadow: Hey Zuke you coming?

**Zuke turns to look at him**

Zuke: Tis

**Zuke says in the same condensing tone of voice but he turns and follows Shadow anyway. Nick glares at Zuke clearly unhappy but lets it go.**

**The camera cuts to the hallway, Cagalli, Roxas, Nick, Zuke, and Shadow walk onto an elevator. Cagalli is last getting on and as the elevator closes one of the chains attach to her leather jacket gets caught in the closing door.**

Cagalli: Oh for the love of.

**Cagalli begins pulling on the chain to try and get it unstuck. Cagalli is pissed**

Cagalli: Damn it, this is why I hate this stupid clothing!

**Shadow looks at her bored but suddenly gets an idea**

Shadow: So what kind of clothes do you like?

**Cagalli turns to look at him confused by the question.**

Cagalli: Huh?

**Shadow goes on while the elevator opens a little letting Cagalli's chain go.**

Shadow: Well you always talk about how you can't wait to get some money and buy some new clothes but you never say what kind of new clothes you would actually buy?

**All eyes now turn to Cagalli curious. Cagalli hesitates not sure what to say**

Cagalli: Well, I mean it's not like I have a specific type of clothing I like to buy, I normally wear the Orb military uniform.

**Roxas quickly comments**

Roxas: But we're not in Orb now, so there's nowhere you can get a uniform like that plus that sounds to me like a copout.

**Cagalli glares at Roxas, but Nick is now pushing too.**

Nick: Roxas is right mate, but your smart you should know that already, come on mate you can't keep complaining about the clothes you're wearing without having something else in mind.

**Cagalli hesitates again, while she's thinking she asks a delay question**

Cagalli: Well what about you guys, what kind of clothes do you like?

**Roxas eager goes first**

Roxas: I like rip jeans, and shirts. You know showing enough skin to get people excited but not enough to give anything away. Plus I also like flashily clothes, the kind that gets people's attention.

**Nick goes next**

Nick: I like cowboy style clothes, no surprise mate since I've always been a fan of Cowboy movies plus I am a cowboy.

**All eyes turn to Zuke for a moment. Zuke seeing this sighs as he answers**

Zuke: I don't care as long as I can fight in them.

**Shadow is last but before he can answer Cagalli cuts in**

Cagalli: And Shadow's got that black Goth look.

**Roxas shakes her head**

Roxas: I have to disagree with you there Cagalli, Goth has more chains and leather, plus most wear black makeup. Shadow has short black hair and just plain black clothes, which makes it obviously not true Goth. In fact it's kind of weird, I can't think of any style like his.

**Shadow is getting annoyed**

Shadow: I like black; I think it's cool, is that so weird?

**Nick nods his head**

Nick: Just a little mate.

**Shadow glares at him**

Shadow: I think my outfit is awesome; in fact the only thing that would make my outfit even better would be a black cloak.

**Cagalli looks at him confused**

Cagalli: Cloak?

**Shadow rolls his eyes**

Shadow: A trench coat with a hood.

**Cagalli doesn't get it**

Cagalli: Why?

**Shadow is very annoyed**

Shadow: Because cloaks are awesome, I would get one too but they're impossible to find in any store, you have to get them custom made.

**Cagalli rolls her eyes**

Cagalli: Because they're stupid.

**Shadow glares at her**

Shadow: Well what about; you still haven't answered what kind of clothes you would get? Don't think you're getting out of the question.

**Cagalli hesitates having momentary forgotten about that**

Cagalli: Well, I mean I guess I'd get a white button collar shirt, a red formal coat, and red formal pants.

**Shadow shakes his head**

Shadow: But that's just politician's clothes.

**Cagalli is annoyed**

Cagalli: So what's wrong with that?

**Shadow shrugs**

Shadow: Nothing as long as you like it.

**Cagalli is confused**

Cagalli: Huh?

**Shadow explains further**

Shadow: It sounds to me like you only wear that kind of clothes because you're scare of what other people would think of you otherwise.

**Cagalli has moved up from annoyed to irritated.**

Cagalli: There's nothing wrong with considering how other people would think of you when you're buying clothes. I don't want people to think I'm an idiot because I wore a T-shirt with some kind of band logo on it to a meeting.

**Shadow looks at her sadly; it's unusual to see Shadow with such a sad look on.**

Shadow: In my opinion I think you hate that type of clothing, clothes are the reflection of wearer they help tell people around us what kind of person we are and more importantly what we think of ourselves so if you go around wearing clothes you hate just because you're scare of what other people would think all day, that's just really sad.

**Cagalli is surprise by this comment. The elevator doors open, Shadow, Nick, Roxas and Zuke walk out. Cagalli stands in the elevator alone for moment thinking then Shadow calls to her.**

Shadow: Hey Cagalli stop day dreaming and come on.

**Cagalli snaps back to focus**

Cagalli: Right.

**The camera cuts to the Gundam bay, we can see a group of 5 people unconscious on the floor. Shadow, Nick and Cagalli seeing this rush over to see if there alright.**

Cagalli: No one got hurt!

**Cagalli repeats what Shadow said on the bridge while glaring at him. Shadow doesn't say anything and begins to check for a pulse. Nick doing the same says to Shadow**

Nick: Don't worry mate they just seem to be knock out.

**Suddenly we hear Jack shout**

Jack: Shadow!

**Shadow looks up just as Jack hits him in the back of the head with her wrench. This time she didn't hit him hard enough to knock him out.**

Shadow: OW, what the hell?

**Jack is glaring angrily at Shadow**

Jack: I said stop the ship but what do you do, you put it into a death spin. If you had crashed my ship I would have beat you till a pulp.

**Shadow looks truly sorry**

Shadow: I'm sorry Jack; I didn't realize how many people got hurt because of my action.

**Jack looks at Shadow confused, and then she sees Cagalli and Nick crouching next to the unconscious people on the floor and connects the dots.**

Jack: Oh those guys were already unconscious before we went into the death spin.

**Everyone looks at her surprise**

Cagalli: Wait what?

**Jack explains**

Jack: Well you see even though Drake told these guys that we were there superiors some of them still had problems following orders from me, since I'm a girl and a lot younger than them.

**Jack begins to wave around her wrench threateningly**

Jack: So I had to knock a couple of them out to show everyone who's boss, after the fifth guy the rest of the crew gave up and started following my orders and did you know Drake that bastard didn't give them room assignments, so not only did I have to find a job for them all I also had to do that!

**Jack looks very angry about that. Cagalli and Nick are looking at Jack with surprise (surprise that she was able to knock out 5 guys, and they were pretty big too). **

**Roxas has found another screw and is bating it back and forth between her hands. Zuke looks bored. Shadow turns to Nick and says quickly**

Shadow: Told you she could take care of herself.

**Shadow then turns to Jack**

Shadow: Sorry about that Jack, do you need any help?

**Jack shakes her head**

Jack: Na it's okay, I've got most of it done anyway. All I need to do is tell those idiots there job and room numbers when they wake up.

**Cagalli is impressed**

Cagalli: Wow Jack that's pretty amazing you were able to do all that by yourself.

**Jack puffs out her chest**

Jack: Well I am a genius after all.

**We hear Kabira shout**

Kabira: A genius at getting played by her crew.

**All eyes turn to the catwalk to see Kabira and Raheem**

Raheem: Ms. Kabira!

**Raheem says in reprimanding tone of voice. Jack is glaring at Kabira. Kabira and Raheem climb down from the catwalk and walk over to Shadow and the others.**

Jack: How so?

**Raheem turns to her and says in an apologetic tone.**

Raheem: I'm sorry it's just that as we were looking around the ship we happen to notice several of your crew members playing a game of cards in the hallways, along with several other crew members romancing one another.

**Raheem is slightly blushing at this. Jack looks pissed.**

Jack: Those lazy bastards, when I get my hands on them.

**Raheem steps forward**

Raheem: Oh it's just occurred to me that we haven't formally introduce ourselves, I am Raheem Javen and this is the daughter of my friend that I am currently watching Kabira Reza.

**Roxas for the first time takes notice of Raheem's big muscular body. Shadow steps forward to shake Raheem hand.**

Shadow: I am

**Before he can get any further Roxas pushes him out of the way hard to the floor.**

Roxas: He's Shadow Zoomary, there Jack Coldback, Cagalli Yulu Athha, Nick Mu, and Zuke Garth but more importantly I'm Roxas Nile.

**Roxas gets in Raheem's personal space and lays on her seductive voice very heavily. Jack, Cagalli, and Nick look slightly annoyed at the way she rushed there introduction. Raheem is turning red a great feat since he's heavily tan from years of working under the hot sun.**

Raheem: Um well nice to meet you.

**Roxas is inching closer to him at the same time Raheem is inching further from her. Shadow gets up and he's very irritated.**

Shadow: Roxas what the hell, I'm the team leader!

**Roxas without even turning to look at him pushes him to the ground again.**

Roxas: Yea that's nice, now go bother someone else about that while me and Raheem get to know each other better.

**Roxas tries to get closer to Raheem. Raheem is becoming fluster and is trying to escape, Cagalli and Jack have become pissed at Roxas making them look like idiots. They walk up to her and grab one of her arms each.**

Cagalli: Come on you perverted freak let's go.

Jack: Yea before you get us fired from our first job for sexual harassment.

**Roxas is struggling to break free.**

Roxas: No come on let me go.

**Nick walks up to the confused Raheem**

Nick: Sorry about that mate she's a little

**Raheem answers for him**

Raheem: Weird.

Nick: Well I was going to say off-beat but yea that works.

**While this has been going on Kabira has walk over and found a lock door, curious and a little suspicious she asks**

Kabira: Hey what's behind this door? You guys smuggling something?

**All eyes turn to Kabira. Raheem once again says in a reprimanding tone of voice**

Raheem: Ms. Kabira!

**Jack slightly annoyed answers her question**

Jack: No we're not smuggling anything, that's the power core room, the reason it's lock is because I don't want some idiot who has no idea what they're doing going in there and blowing us all to kingdom Kong.

**Cagalli remembers something**

Cagalli: Oh yes that reminds me Jack I've been wondering why is the Dark-Angel so much faster than the Archangel?

**Jack looks at Cagalli confused**

Jack: Huh?

**Cagalli explains**

Cagalli: Well it's just that back on Earth I was on the Archangel and I've never seen it move that fast before.

**Raheem curious asks Nick in a low voice**

Raheem: She's been to Earth before?

**Nick hesitates a little then says**

Nick: Well she's a little

**Raheem finishes for him**

Raheem: Crazy.

**Nick doesn't replied. Roxas still trying to get close to Raheem adds**

Roxas: It's easier if you just play along.

**Jack is slightly offended by Cagalli's question.**

Jack: Well of course the Dark-Angel is faster than any other ship on Earth; you had me a little confused there because although I've made some tweaks to the engine design it shouldn't have been that much faster than the Original Archangel design but don't insult my ship by even suggesting the fact that a ship on Earth could be faster.

**Cagalli is confused**

Cagalli: But then why

**Zuke annoyed answers. The way he answers implies that he thinks the answer is obvious**

Zuke: Obviously because of the power source.

**Cagalli still looks confused. Zuke seeing this sighs and goes on**

Zuke: Honestly I know you're a natural but this level of small intelligence is really shocking and disturbing. The strongest power core on Earth is a type of nuclear reactor core whereas here on Sora the strongest is the S-generator and the S-generator is 10 times stronger than that type of nuclear reactor, therefore it's not the machine that's better it's the power core.

**Cagalli nods her head in understanding**

Cagalli: I see, so the Archangel would have that type of speed if it had an S-generator for a power core.

**Jack nods her head**

Jack: That's correct.

**Jack suddenly gets an idea**

Jack: Hey do you guys want me to show it to you?

**Cagalli is surprise and grateful**

Cagalli: Will you?

**Jack nods her head**

Jack: Sure.

**Raheem is also curious**

Raheem: Do you mind if we come along as well.

Jack: Not at all.

**Jack walks over to the lock door. The lock is a keypad; Kabira is looking at it unimpressed.**

Kabira: Really a keypad lock?

**Jack is slightly offended**

Jack: Like I said, this is manly to make sure that some drunken idiot doesn't stumble in here and screw something up.

**Jack puts the number code in. The door makes a click sound as the lock is unlocked. Jack opens the door and everyone walks in. The S-generator room is pretty big, about half the size of the Gundam bay. **

**The majority of the room is a half circle depression, there's poles spread out all over the half circle depression, in the center of the depression somehow floating dead center in the room is the S-generator.**

**Unlike the Gundam S-generator which is the size of a human the ship S-generator is the size of a car. The S-generator is like a mini sun, it's also discharging electrical currents which the poles are collecting.**

**The only place that appears safe enough for human presence is a catwalk that circles around the depression. Everyone is taking in the sight of the S-generator full of amazement except for Jack and Zuke. Nick whishes**

Nick: Whoa she's a beauty mate.

**Cagalli is also staring at the S-generator impressed.**

Cagalli: It is definitely breathtaking and extraordinary.

**Jack nods her head**

Jack: One of humans greatest achievements the Sun generator, solar panels along the depression collect the light energy, the poles collect the electric energy, and a really fancy devise which you probably never heard of and I'm not going to explain collects the heat energy. It collects all 3 energy sources at the same time which explains why it produces more energy then used when operating, it's created by a high voltage electrical current striking a number of different chemical elements at the same time.

**Shadow knows this one**

Shadow: That's the crystal container right?

**Jack nods her head**

Jack: Yup.

**Kabira is confused**

Kabira: Crystal container?

**She directs her question at Raheem. Raheem explains**

Raheem: Oh that's right, you wouldn't have learn that yet, it's taught in 12 grade science class. The crystal container is a type of container that stores different chemicals at the same time, it mixes some while at the same time keeping others separate and does it at exactly the right time. Which is good since the chemical elements need to be exactly right when struck by the electrical current, it gets its name from its crystal like shape. In fact did you know that Issaic Korah is the man who invented it?

**Cagalli remembers something**

Cagalli: Wait wasn't he the man that invented the S-generator?

**Jack nods her head**

Jack: Yup he also invented the first Gundam; he truly was one of the greatest scientists this universe has ever seen.

**The scene ends with everyone taking a moment of silence to either think about this great man or show respect. The next scene opens up from the top of a small hill; the man we saw at the end of the last episode is watching the Dark-Angel. We can see another ship behind him, a female walks up to him. From her stance we can tell the man is the one in charge.**

Female: Captain Zain, we're awaiting your orders Sir.

**The man (Zain) stops watching and turns to look at her, he smiles at her.**

Zain: This should be a piece of cake for us Haile, thanks to the intelligence we gather we know that our target is on board that ship and is currently being guarded by a new E-rank Gundam Team.

**Haile takes this all in**

Haile: So why don't we just attack, if they are an E-rank team it shouldn't be a problem to take them out?

**Zain still smiling shakes his head**

Zain: Patience Haile patience, even though they appear to be an E-rank we can't forgo the possibly that they're actually a higher rank team disguise as an E-rank team, so that we drop our guard and just attack thus revealing ourselves to them.

**Haile nods her head in understanding**

Haile: I see, you're completely right Sir, so what are we going to do?

**Zain pretends to think about this**

Zain: It certainly does present an interesting dilemma, we can't be positive that attacking is exactly what they want us to do but we can't just not attack, that would only piss our boss off so what should we do? The answer is simple we treat this team as if they were a high rank Gundam Team, we lay out a solid plain of action and we won't rush our attack instead we'll pin them in a trap.

**Haile looks at Zain already knowing what's coming.**

Haile: I suppose you have a plan already in mind Sir?

**Zain smiles**

Zain: You know me too well Haile. The plan is simple, judging from the path there taking they're going to hit an area of small but closely pack together mountains in about 10 minutes that's when we're going to make our move. Haile you'll fire the magnet energy disrupting missile at their ship with the bazooka

**Haile interrupts**

Haile: Why can't we fire it from the ship?

**Zain shakes his head**

Zain: There scanners will pick up our ship before we get in range, which will give them a chance to evade and counter-attack. This way they won't be able to detect the missile until it's too late, once the missile hits it will disrupt the power flow of the ship effectively taking out most of its systems. Once that happens we'll have our sniper team, which will have hidden in the mountains earlier open fire on the ship and turn it into Swiss cheese and just to be on the safe side we'll move our own ship in front and bombard the area with missiles to ensure there are no survivors.

**Haile nods her head**

Haile: An excellent plan as always Sir.

**Zain nods his head**

Zain: Thank you Haile, now I'll go send out the sniper team and get the ship in position, you go and get whatever you need to prepare for your assignment.

**Haile bows before him**

Haile: Right away Sir.

**Haile turns and begins to walk away. Zain turns to look at the Dark-Angel again**

Zain (Well I guess we'll see how good this Gundam Team really is in a few minutes.)

**The camera cuts back into the Dark-Angel. Shadow, Cagalli, Nick, Jack, Roxas, Zuke, Raheem and Kabira are walking down the hallways. Jack spots 2 crew members reading some kind of swim suit magazine in the corner. Jack marches over to them and begins to swing her wrench.**

Jack: What the hell do you guys think you're doing, get back to work!

**The crew members dodge her wrench swing attacks and run off. Jack shouts out to them**

Jack: Yea you better run!

**Jack shakes her head and complains to Shadow**

Jack: Unbelievable, that's the third time I caught crew members slacking off and I bet you there's even more of them slacking off right this minute.

**Shadow smiles at her and tries to make her feel better**

Shadow: Hey don't worry so much about it; I'm sure everything will work out in the end.

**Cagalli looks at him unbelieving**

Cagalli: How?

**Shadow still smiling shrugs his shoulders**

Shadow: I don't know it's a mystery but trust me it will.

**Cagalli still looks at Shadow doubtful. Kabira overhearing the conversation suggest**

Kabira: Why don't you just fire a couple of them, you know to make an example out of them, that way the others will know you're serious.

**Shadow stops and gets a serious look on his face**

Shadow: No, I won't fire anyone, I might yell at them, I might beat them up but I will never fire anyone.

**Everyone looks at Shadow like he's crazy. Zuke is unimpressed**

Zuke: Weak worms trying to protect other weak worms, how pointless.

**No one pays Zuke any attention. Roxas suddenly gets in Raheem's personal space again.**

Roxas: So anyway don't you think that the S-generator was very romantic, I could just melt in the arms of the first guy with muscles to pick me up and have his way with me.

**All eyes are now on Raheem and Roxas. It's hard to tell if Roxas is aware of this but Raheem is obvious feeling every eye burn into his skin. He's very red and tries to back up only to find that he's against the wall. **

**Roxas is inching ever closer. Raheem decides to go with plan B, he puts both his hands on Roxas's shoulders and forcefully keeps her at a distance.**

Raheem: Now listen I'm flatter and all but I'm almost twice your age, so could you just stop this.

**Roxas looks at him bored for a moment then she gives him one of her classic seductive smiles.**

Roxas: Oh I just love the way you get aggressive with me.

**Raheem immediately let's go of her as if she's on fire. Roxas takes this opening an advances on Raheem. **

**The camera cuts outside to show the Dark-Angel moving into an area of closely line together small mountains. The camera focuses on Haile, Haile is in black and has her bazooka at the ready. She begins to talk**

Haile: Target in sight ready to fire on command Sir.

**She's using an Ear plug communication device. It basically allows the person on the other end of the line to hear everything that is said out loud in the senders bubble and at the same time give orders that only the sender can hear.**

**It's not just Sora technology there are some people on Earth that have it too although it's more common on Sora. The camera quickly cuts to the enemy bridge to show Zain sitting comfortably in what can only be the captain's chair.**

Zain: Alright Haile fire at will, then get back to the ship as quickly as you can.

**The camera cuts back to Haile, Haile nods her head then fires her bazooka at the Dark-Angel. The camera cuts to the Dark-Angel bridge; everyone seems relax as they type away on their respective computer terminals. **

**Suddenly a red light starts blinking on Kenny's computer. Everyone turns to look at him, Kenny's typing speed increases as the color drains from his face.**

Kenny: Incoming missile!

**The camera cuts back outside to show the missile hit the bridge of the Dark-Angel. The camera cuts back to the bridge to see everyone get rock in their seat. **

**The camera cuts to Shadow and the others. They get rock as well but not as violently as the bridge crew. Red lights start flashing and sirens start going off. Roxas starts looking around angrily and Raheem breathes a sigh of relief.**

Kabira: What was that?

Jack: The warning lights are flashing so either we hit something or something hit us.

Nick: That felt like the shock wave of a missile mate.

Cagalli: Are we under attack?

Zuke: More than likely.

**Everyone is talking fast and with the exception of Zuke they all look different levels of scare and nervous. Shadow has a focus look on his face.**

Shadow: Whatever that was I don't like it, we better get to the bridge.

**Everyone takes off for the bridge. The camera cuts outside to show the Dark-Angel losing altitude and heading straight for the ground. The camera cuts back to the bridge to show Alan pulling the steering wheel back with all his might, everyone else is rapidly typing on their computer terminals.**

Alan: What the hell is going on my engines aren't getting any power to them!

**Rini with a very focus look on her face**

Rini: The Positron Blasters and High-energy beam cannons are down.

**Ciro is gritting his teeth in frustration**

Ciro: We've also lost the Linear Cannons and navigation systems.

**Thomas with an unusual cheerily smile says in a sing song voice**

Thomas: The CIW's have gone; gone away hopefully they will return one day-a-a-a-a!

**Kenny annoyed says**

Kenny: Is this really the best time for you to practice your singing?

**Before Thomas can say anything the door opens and Shadow with Cagalli right next to him lead everyone in. Cagalli and Shadow say at the same time**

Shadow: Kenny what's up?

Cagalli: Kenny status report!

**Shadow and Cagalli momentary stop and glare at each other. Kenny is able to figure out what they want.**

Kenny: We were hit with a single missile, but for some reason we're losing all are systems.

**Rini is becoming slightly annoyed as she types away on her computer.**

Rini: There's no way a single missile is causing all this.

**Ciro adds**

Ciro: Unless it's a magnetic energy disrupting missile.

**Before anyone can comment further Alan shouts out**

Alan: Everyone brace yourselves we're going to hit the ground in less than 30 seconds!

**The camera cuts outside to show the Dark-Angel crash into the ground. We cut back inside to show everyone get rock around. Alan, Ciro, Rini, Thomas and Kenny brace themselves against their seat.**

**Zuke stands unmoved by any action. Nick, Cagalli, Roxas, and Shadow grab onto the nearest seat and hold on for dear life. Raheem uses himself as a shield for Kabira, after the ship stops rocking Shadow looks around and asks**

Shadow: Everyone alright?

**He gets several annoyed and sarcastic nods and groans.**

Cagalli: Damage report.

**Kenny beginning to type on his computer again**

Kenny: Nothing too serious just some bumps and scrapes and of course all are system are still down.

**Shadow turns to Ciro and asks**

Shadow: Yea what was the missile thing you said before we crash?

**Ciro is looking at him like he's and idiot**

Ciro: You mean the magnetic energy disrupting missile.

**Shadow nods his head**

Shadow: Right that's it, now how does it work?

**Ciro explains as if it's common knowledge**

Ciro: When it explodes it sends out a magnetic impulse that screws up all electrical circuitry in the area.

**Shadow nods his head in understanding then turns to Kenny**

Shadow: So can you reprogram the systems to work around it?

**Kenny does some quick calculations in his head**

Kenny: I'm not sure, maybe if I had enough time.

**Rini terminal starts blinking, she begins to type**

Rini: Well you're not going to have much of that, I've manage to stop the radar and scanners from crashing and they're now picking up multiple Gundam signatures from the surrounding mountains.

**Rini doesn't get to say anymore as we start hearing explosions. The ship is once again getting rock. The camera cuts outside to show high power energy bullets hit the Dark-Angel and the areas around the Dark-Angel. The camera cuts back inside to show growing panic on everyone's face.**

Roxas: What the hell is that?

**Rini says in an unusually calm voice**

Rini: They've open fire on us.

**Nick asks**

Nick: Are they raiders?

Thomas: They could be bandits-da-da-da-diiiii.

**Ciro getting annoyed with this**

Ciro: It doesn't matter who they are, with are ship like this we're sitting ducks.

**Cagalli asks**

Cagalli: Is there any way we can contact them and ask them what they want; maybe this is all just a misunderstanding?

**Ciro rolls his eyes**

Ciro: Sure if our communication systems weren't down. Look I say we abandon ship, in our current state we can't even move let alone count-attack. Chances are these guys are just raiders in which case they just want our ship, plus if we all get out and scatter it will be hard for them to get us.

**Jack is beyond piss**

Jack: NEVER, I RATHER DIE THEN GIVE UP THE DARK-ANGEL!

**Shadow puts a hand on her shoulder to help calm her down.**

Shadow: Jack's right, there's no reason to talk about giving up the fight when it's just begun.

**Zuke walks up to Rini and asks**

Zuke: Can you tell what type of Gundam it is?

**Rini nods her head**

Rini: It appears to be the a Marksman type Sniper class Gundam, a good Gundam for long distance combat.

**Zuke is unimpressed**

Zuke: This type of opponent is still beneath me, you guys can deal with it.

**Everyone looks at him shocked.**

Ciro: What?

**Cagalli angrily asks**

Cagalli: What if the ship gets destroyed isn't that something you should be worried about?

**Zuke isn't**

Zuke: If it looks like this ship is about to be destroyed I'll escape on my Gundam.

**Nick looks at him pissed**

Nick: Why you selfish son of a

**Shadow cuts him off**

Shadow: That's enough Nick, we don't have time for this; Zuke can do whatever he wants.

**Rini has more bad news**

Rini: Guys we have another problem now, a ship has just appear on are radar and according to my estimates it should be in firing distance in about 5 minutes.

**That's the final straw for Ciro**

Ciro: You see it's hopeless, we have to abandon ship, think logically for a second we don't even have a captain.

**Shadow with budging pride**

Shadow: Well I guess if I had to I

**Zuke cuts him off**

Zuke: You do realize that the captain has to stay on the bridge at all times and can't go out and fight in a Gundam?

**Shadow didn't**

Shadow: Oh ok never mind then.

**Cagalli rolls her eyes and steps forward**

Cagalli: Fine since I'm the only one here with actual experience as a captain I'll act as captain of the Dark-Angel for this battle.

**Everyone just stares at her for a moment surprise then they burst out laughing.**

All: HAHHAHAHHAHAHHAHHAHA

**Cagalli blushes again and snaps**

Cagalli: What? What's so funny about that?

**Thomas coughs to clear his throat while everyone else calms down**

Thomas: To be a captain takes years of experience la-la-la-la, and you are far too young me-me-me.

**Rini nods her head**

Rini: Thomas is right and playing battleship doesn't count as experience.

**Cagalli is pissed but is biting her tongue. Nick takes pity on her.**

Nick: Besides mate you're a Gundam pilot and since someone isn't participating in the battle we're going to need you even more out there.

**Cagalli can't argue with that logic. Shadow suddenly gets and idea.**

Shadow: Well since we can't have any of the Gundam Pilots do it that leaves only one person, you Jack.

**Shadow points to Jack, everyone is surprise including Jack, and Cagalli is slightly offended.**

Cagalli: Wait how is Jack more qualified to be captain then I am?

**Jack nervous nods her head**

Jack: Yea Shadow, I'm just a simple mechanic I don't know the first thing about being a captain.

**Shadow is unmoved by everyone's concern**

Shadow: That's true but you built this ship from scratch that means you know how this ship runs better than anyone and since this battle is going to be about getting our ship up and running again that makes you the most qualified person to be the captain of this ship for this battle.

**Ciro, Rini, Thomas and Alan nod their head, Shadow's line of thinking makes some sense. Cagalli is still offended but Shadow doesn't give anyone much time to think.**

Shadow: Kenny get the Gundam catapult working so we can launch, you only have until we get there, and come on you.

**Shadow directs the "come on you" at Cagalli as he grabs her shoulder and drags her away.**

Cagalli: Hey wait!

**Nick and Roxas follow right after them. Kenny has started typing really fast on his terminal all eyes now turn to Jack.**

Rini: Well captain we're waiting for your orders.

**Rini's distaste is evident in her voice. Jack looks like a deer caught in headlights. Alan looks around and notices something.**

Alan: Hey where are the clients and that other Gundam Pilot?

**At some point in conversation Kabira, Raheem and Zuke have slip away. This question seems to have spark Jack into motion.**

Jack: Um I'm not sure, but that doesn't matter right now, everyone start trying to reprogram your respective systems around the magnetic impulse.

**Rini still unimpressed**

Rini: Do you realize how long that's going to take?

**Jack replies**

Jack: Less time than if Kenny had to do it all himself, now get started!

**Rini and Jack glare at each other for a moment then Rini turns around and begins typing on her terminal. Jack looks around to see that everyone else is doing what she asked. Jack takes a deep breath then promptly places herself in the captain's chair. The camera cuts to Shadow, Nick, Cagalli and Roxas running at full speed down the hallways.**

**They're jumping over things, turning left and right down hallways and sliding down stair rails. They burst into a locker room, Shadow, Roxas and Nick are about to run over to their lockers and get change when Cagalli realizes something.**

Cagalli: Wait a second; this is a unisex locker room?

**Shadow growing impatient since he can still hear the explosions and see the vibrations as they hit the ship.**

Shadow: Yea so?

**Shadow hasn't connected the dots yet. Cagalli is blushing deep red.**

Cagalli: I'm not changing in front of you!

**Shadow suddenly gets it. Roxas is also getting nervous about the explosions.**

Roxas: Is this really the best time to bring this up, the Dark-Angel only has one locker room.

**Cagalli isn't letting this one go**

Cagalli: Yes!

**Shadow getting over his shock**

Shadow: Well what do you want us to do? We don't have time to take turns using this room, look we're all adults here I think we can be mature about this, and besides you'll still have on your underwear so it's not like anyone that looks will see anything.

**Cagalli still pissed says**

Cagalli: Underwear is plenty for a pervert like you, and I rather die than show you anything.

**Shadow mock offended**

Shadow: Like I would purposely check you out while we're changing and about to engage in what could possibly be one of the deadliest battles we've ever been in.

**That's enough for Roxas**

Roxas: Alright.

**Roxas turns around and starts to take off her shirt. Shadow eyes her like a hawk, Cagalli interrupts before Roxas can even reveal her bra strap. Cagalli points at Shadow and shouts**

Cagalli: See, see, see, you're lying and I refused to change in front of you.

**Nick puts Shadow in a headlock and says in his friendly voice**

Nick: Well how about this mate, we'll divide the locker room in half. The row of lockers in the middle will be the divider, the boys will be on the right and the girls will be on the left and I'll make sure Shadow doesn't peek.

**Cagalli thinks about this for a moment then nods her head.**

Cagalli: Alright, thank you Nick.

**Nick nods his head then drags the unwilling Shadow to the other side of the locker room. the camera cuts forward about a minute, Cagalli has taken off her clothes. **

**She's put her clothes in the locker and is pulling out her Gundam suit when she notices Roxas fully dressed in her Gundam suit laying on the bench staring at her. The way Roxas is laying looks very similar to how a cat would lay. Cagalli shouts in surprise**

Cagalli: AH!

**We hear Shadow on the other side practice jump on the lockers.**

Shadow: Cagalli what's wrong?

**Then we hear a slamming noise which we can assume is Nick pulling him down.**

Nick: Nothing she's fine, now get dress you pervert.

**Cagalli over her shock says in a very angry whisper to Roxas**

Cagalli: How did you get dress so fast?

**Roxas says in a voice full of pride**

Roxas: There are many things in which I'm skilled at and getting dressed fast is one of them.

**Roxas notices Cagalli trying to cover herself with the Gundam Suit**

Roxas: You know there's no point in covering yourself now, I've already seen you in your underwear and I must say you are incredibly hot with that tone body of yours but if you want I can show you my underwear to make us even.

**Roxas sits up and begins to seductively unzip her Gundam suit. Cagalli immediately puts her hand in front of her blocking the view and turns around.**

Cagalli: Ew, NO, *sigh* I can't win can I?

**Roxas smiles and says in a cheerily voice**

Roxas: No, but look on the bright side, neither can Shadow.

**The camera moves to the boys side of the locker room, Shadow is fully dressed in his Gundam suit and is about to walk over to other side of the locker room when Nick grabs his shoulder.**

Nick: Whatcha doing mate?

**Shadow looks guilty**

Shadow: Um I was going to leave the locker room now that I'm fully dressed.

**Nick isn't fooled**

Nick: Oh really, hey ladies are you done changing yet?

**Nick taps on the locker and shouts the "hey ladies" part. We hear Cagalli's replied**

Cagalli: No, just a few more seconds Nick.

**Nick looks back at Shadow**

Nick: I guess you're going to have to wait a minute mate.

**Shadow looks depressed**

Shadow: You had to be a noble cowboy didn't you. Fine just let me go cry in a corner for a few minutes then.

**The camera cuts forward in time again, Shadow, Cagalli, Nick and Roxas are in the Gundam bay all fully dressed in their Gundam suits. They run to their respective Gundams and hop onto a lift. **

**The lift rises to their Gundam's chest and after they hit a few buttons on their Neon Gauntlets the chest opens and they run in. The camera splits into four screens to show each of the Gundam Pilots. They all say at the same time**

Shadow: Nightwing, begin launching sequence.

Cagalli: La Rouge, begin launching sequence.

Roxas: Quanlier, begin launching sequence.

Nick: Cowboy, begin launching sequence.

**The Gundam activation is the same as the previous episodes and is identical in all four frames. The screen goes back to normal to show all four Gundams being released from their locks and standing next to one another. The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show an excited Shadow. The episode ends with Shadow shouting**

Shadow: Alright let's do this thing!


	29. Episode 28

Episode 28

**The episode opens up showing the Dark-Angel under heavy fire. The camera turns to show the enemy ship heading straight for the Dark-Angel. The camera cuts to the enemy's bridge, the main monitor has the Dark-Angel on it. The camera turns around to show Zain sitting in the captain's chair. The door to the bridge opens and Haile comes walking in.**

Zain: Haile you did an excellent job as expect.

**Haile nods her head**

Haile: Thank you Sir. Sir may I ask what the status of the operation is?

**Zain gestures to the main monitor**

Zain: See for yourself, the sniper team has already open fire on them, and judging from the way there ship isn't moving the magnetic energy disrupting missile was a complete success.

**Haile is studying the screen closely**

Haile: Most of our sniper's shots are missing Sir.

**Zain shrugs uncaring**

Zain: True, the distance between the target's ship and the mountains was further then I expected and well good snipers are hard to found now a days but enough are hitting the ship and soon our own ship will be in firing range so there's nothing to worry about.

**Haile nods her**

Haile: So I guess they're just an E-rank team after all.

**Zain sighs**

Zain: So it seems although I have to say I was hoping for more of a challenge.

**The camera cuts to the Gundam bay on the Dark-Angel. Cowboy is leaning against a wall with its arms folded waiting, La Rogue is standing but taping its foot, Quanlier is pacing back and forth its tail waving impatiently side to side, and Nightwing is leaning against another wall a little ways away with its arms folded.**

**Both La Rouge and Cowboy have beam rifles attached to their hips, La Rouge is holding onto its shield while Cowboy is letting its shield rest against the wall within grabbing reach. The camera cuts into La Rogue's cockpit. Cagalli is gritting her teeth and suddenly snaps**

Cagalli: Roxas will you quick pacing, it's starting to drive me crazy!

**The camera cuts outside to show Quanlier stop pacing and turn and face La Rouge, but judging by the motion of its tail Quanlier is still antsy. The camera cuts inside Quanlier's cockpit to show a very impatient Roxas.**

Roxas: I can't help it, all this waiting is making me nuts, how long is Kenny going to take reprogramming the Gundam catapult?

**The camera cuts to Cowboy's cockpit, Nick seems to be perfectly calm and relaxed.**

Nick: You need to relaxed mate, most of the enemy fire is missing the Dark-Angel so we still have plenty of time to fight back and as long as the communication to the bridge is down there's no sense in getting all work up.

**The camera cuts back to Quanlier's cockpit, Roxas looks frustrated and is gritting her teeth.**

Roxas: I know, I know, it's just.

**Roxas lets the sentence hang in the air. The camera cuts to inside La Rouge's cockpit.**

Cagalli: Well at least we still have communications between the Gundams, that's something.

**The camera cuts back to Quanlier's cockpit, Roxas doesn't look pleased by this she suddenly turns, as she turns the camera cuts outside to show Quanlier turn and face Nightwing. The camera cuts back inside Quanlier's cockpit.**

Roxas: Shadow why don't you say something, why are you just standing there?

**Roxas demands. The camera cuts back outside to show that Nightwing doesn't respond. The camera cuts back to inside Cowboy's cockpit.**

Nick: Just leave the mate alone Roxas, the mate's obviously thinking of a plan.

**The camera cuts back outside to show La Rouge staring at Nightwing. The camera cuts inside La Rouge's cockpit to show a slightly concern Cagalli.**

Cagalli (No that's not right, Shadow isn't much of a planner but I have to admit it's unusual for him to be this quiet. You know now that I think about it this is really one of his first major battles, the Gundam Fights are more of a sport like boxing but here losing is the same as death. He's probably nervous and scare; I should say something to comfort him.)

**Cagalli is about to say something when Nightwing begins to move. The camera cuts outside to show Nightwing unfold its arms. The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow with his eyes closed seemingly in deep thought when his eyes pop open.**

**The screen does a vertical split screen, Shadow is on the left and Nightwing is on the right, Shadow/Nightwing clenches their fist and punches the air in sudden determination.**

Shadow: I have decided that the wrath of Jack isn't worth this waiting, so I'm going to break down the Gundam bay hatch and leave now!

**The screen goes back to normal, Nightwing turns to face the Gundam Bay door. Quanlier is jumping up and down excited and goes to stand next to him.**

Roxas: Yes, Yes, Yes, finally.

**The camera cuts to inside La Rouge's cockpit to show Cagalli gritting her teeth in self-annoyance.**

Cagalli (Shadow isn't nervous he was debating if breaking down the door and charging the enemy was worth the beating Jack would give him later.)

**While Cagalli is thinking Nick is trying to stop Roxas and Shadow**

Nick: Now hold your horses' mates this is no time to go off halfcocked.

**The camera cuts outside to show Nightwing and Quanlier preparing to charge. The screen splits; 90 percent of the screen is showing Nightwing and Quanlier, the top left hand corner is showing Shadow.**

Shadow: You ready Roxas?

**Shadow's part of the screen disappears and rejoins the main screen. The screen then splits again only this time it's the lower right hand corner that shows Roxas.**

Roxas: You bet.

**Both Roxas and Shadow look excited. The camera cuts to inside Nightwing's cockpit**

Shadow: Alright then let's do this thing!

**The camera cuts back outside. Nightwing and Quanlier are about to charge when the lights come on and engine noise starts running. The camera cuts to inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow looking around surprise and slightly confused. Kenny pops up on Shadow's helmet screen.**

Kenny: Sorry about the wait guys but I've finally manage to reprogram the Gundam catapult and I've even restored some of the communication systems. The catapult is ready to go whenever you guys are.

**Jack pushes Kenny out of the way and looks at Shadow suspicious**

Jack: Shadow you weren't just about to break down the Gundam door that I work very hard to make were you?

**Shadow lies**

Shadow: Of course not. Anyway let's get started who's first on the Gundam catapult?

**Shadow says quickly in order to change the subject. The camera cuts outside to show Quanlier advance towards the catapult.**

Roxas: Me, me, me first!

**The camera cuts inside La Rouge's cockpit, Cagalli rolls her eyes, then turns to look at Shadow.**

Cagalli: So Shadow I don't suppose you have a plan?

**Cagalli's tone of voice obviously implies she doesn't think Shadow has a plan. The camera cuts to inside Nightwing's cockpit to show a slightly annoyed Shadow.**

Shadow: Well actually I do.

**We can see Cagalli on Shadow's helmet screen. Cagalli looks surprise**

Cagalli: You do?

**Shadow now highly annoyed**

Shadow: Yes, since you and Nick are the only ones with beam rifles you'll stay back and give the Dark-Angel cover, and Roxas you'll go and take out the snipers.

**The camera cuts outside to show Nightwing look in turn to each of the Gundams he's talking to. Quanlier is waging its tail extremely pleased and excited. The camera cuts inside Quanlier's cockpit to show Roxas lick her lips.**

Roxas: Good, I was hoping to give those bastards some pay-back for ruining my perfect seduction scheme.

**The camera cuts back outside to show Cowboy nod its head, the camera cuts back inside Cowboy's cockpit.**

Nick: It's simple but I think it's a good solid plan mate.

**The camera cuts to inside La Rouge's cockpit to show an unimpressed Cagalli.**

Cagalli: Well I don't think it's much of a plan at all, and what are you going to do Shadow?

**The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit; Shadow has a big grin on his face.**

Shadow: I'm going to take the fight right to our opponents. I'm going to be attacking the enemy's ship.

**We can see Cagalli's eyes pop open in shock on Shadow's helmet screen.**

Cagalli: Wait what! Are you out of your mind, that's a battleship, you can't take that on with Nightwing, you'll get killed!

**Shadow looks annoyed**

Shadow: Well thanks for the vote of confidence princess.

**Cagalli snaps**

Cagalli: Stop calling me princess!

**Jack suddenly interrupts**

Jack: Look guys as much as we have time to argue about this, we don't. Every moment we waste doing nothing is another hole in my ship I'm going to have to fix so get out there and get going!

**The camera cuts outside to show Quanlier hop onto the catapult. The camera cuts inside Quanlier's cockpit to show a focus/excited Roxas.**

Roxas: Kenny I'm all set launch me!

**The camera cuts back to the bridge to show a surprise Kenny**

Kenny: Huh, um alright opening Gundam hatch, activating Gundam catapult launching Roxas Nile piloting Quanlier.

**The camera cuts outside to show the Dark-Angel opening its Gundam hatch/launching pad. The camera cuts to inside the enemy ship's bridge, one of the crew members turns around and tells Zain.**

Crew member: Sir, the targets ship is opening what appears to be its Gundam hatch.

**Zain looks surprise by this**

Zain: Oh really.

**The camera cuts back to the Gundam bay in the Dark-Angel. Quanlier is on the catapult and is bracing itself to be launch. La Rouge reaches towards Quanlier, the camera cuts inside La Rouge's cockpit.**

Cagalli: Wait hold on a moment, shouldn't we

**Whatever Cagalli is about to say is lost as the catapult launches Quanlier out onto the battlefield. Cagalli looks at a loss for words, the camera cuts back outside to show Cowboy slap La Rouge on the back. The camera then cuts into La Rouge's cockpit as Nick tells Cagalli.**

Nick: Don't worry mate, sometimes the simple plan is the best plan.

**Cagalli doesn't have time to respond as the camera cuts outside to show Cowboy hop onto the catapult. The camera cuts inside Cowboy's cockpit to show Nick with a sharp look in his eyes.**

Nick: Nick Mu in Cowboy launching!

**The camera cuts back outside to show Cowboy launch onto the battlefield. Nightwing begins to push La Rogue onto the catapult. La Rouge turns around to look at Nightwing, the camera cuts inside La Rogue's cockpit to show a surprise and slightly annoyed Cagalli.**

Cagalli: Hey what, Shadow what do you think you're doing?

**The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow with one of his crazy smiles on his face.**

Shadow: I'm making sure you're launching sometime today, instead of just stalling.

**Cagalli is offended**

Cagalli: You think I wouldn't launch right after you?

**The camera cuts quickly outside to show Nightwing push La Rouge onto the catapult then quickly take a step back. The camera cuts back into Nightwing's cockpit**

Shadow: No, but better safe than sorry. Kenny launch her!

**The camera cuts to Kenny on the bridge, Kenny nods his head.**

Kenny: Right!

**Kenny begins typing on his computer. The camera cuts back to Cagalli, Cagalli is slightly surprise and scared.**

Cagalli: Wait, what? Hold on a minute I'm not readyyyyyyyyy!

**The camera cuts back outside to show the catapult launch the unprepared Cagalli onto the battlefield. Nightwing hops on last, the camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show an excited Shadow.**

Shadow: Alright my turn at last!

**We can see Kenny look nervous on Shadow's helmet screen.**

Kenny: Um Shadow, why don't you just walk out?

**Kenny suggests. Shadow looks surprised**

Shadow: Huh, why?

**Kenny looks even more nervous now and is not sure how to say this.**

Kenny: Um well it's just that you've never landed squarely on your feet when launch from a catapult before and now you have to worry about enemy fire so it might be safer for you to just walk out.

**Shadow looks highly offended and pissed.**

Shadow: Kenny just launch the damn Gundam!

**Kenny sighs in defeat**

Kenny: Alright it's your funeral.

**The camera cut outside to show Nightwing brace itself for launch. The camera cuts to Kenny in the bridge.**

Kenny: Shadow Zoomarey piloting Nightwing launching.

**The camera cuts back to the Gundam bay to show Nightwing getting launch from the catapult. The camera follows Nightwing as its launch into the air onto the battlefield. Time slows down, the camera cuts into Nightwing's cockpit to show an extremely focus Shadow.**

Shadow (This time I'm going to do it, this time I'm going to land squarely on my feet!)

**The camera cuts to Shadow's point-of-view. We can see the ground coming up fast but it looks like Nightwing is going to hit it straight on like a pencil dive. The camera goes back to normal to show Shadow still with his focus look.**

Shadow (This is it!)

**The camera cuts outside to show Nightwing land on its feet but unfortunately for Shadow Nightwing's legs slip out from underneath it again causing Nightwing to fall face first in the dirt. The camera cuts to the Dark-Angel's bridge, Kenny flinches seeing Shadow's fall.**

Kenny: Oh Shadow just ate dirt.

**Jack rolls her eyes**

Jack: Well it's not the first time.

**The camera cuts back to Nightwing. Nightwing lifts its head off the ground and shakes its head to get all the dirt off. The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to see a self-annoyed Shadow. Shadow is mumbling to himself**

Shadow: Stupid catapult.

**Suddenly Shadow's eyes pop open and he shouts**

Shadow: Oh crap!

**The camera cuts back outside to show Nightwing roll to the right just as a beam bullet hits the area it was laying in moments before. Nightwing hops onto its legs, the camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow breathe a sigh of relief.**

Shadow: Man that was close.

**Shadow's eyes pop open again**

Shadow: Not again!

**The camera cuts outside to show Nightwing jump to the left dodging another beam bullet. This time Nightwing doesn't even get a moment to pause as a dozen more beam bullets come flying at it. Nightwing starts running to the Dark-angel, sometimes Nightwing jumps to the left to dodge other times it jumps to the right.**

**The camera momentary cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow gritting his teeth then cuts back outside. Nightwing dodges all the beam bullets although whether or not it would have actually hit it if it was standing still is debatable. Nightwing scrambles behind the Dark-Angel for cover.**

**Cowboy and La Rouge are already behind the Dark-Angel using it for cover. The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow breathe another sigh of relief. We can see Cagalli and Nick on Shadow's helmet screen. Cagalli smirks at Shadow.**

Cagalli: Still feel like taking on that battleship by yourself Shadow?

**Nick adds**

Nick: I like your landing by the way mate.

**Shadow glares at them, and snaps**

Shadow: Shut up! Huh where's Roxas?

**Shadow asks as he just notices the missing Quanlier. Nick shrugs**

Nick: No idea, the mate was already gone when we got here.

**Jack pops up on Shadow's helmet screen.**

Jack: Morons what the hell do you think you're doing using my ship for cover?

**Shadow flinches from the shouting that's going directly into his ear.**

Shadow: Ow my ears.

**The camera cuts to inside La Rouge's cockpit to show an annoyed Cagalli.**

Cagalli: Sorry if we don't feel like getting shot Jack.

**Jack still looks pissed**

Jack: Get on top of the legs of the Dark-Angel and start firing back at those snipers, use your shields to block any beam bullets that come close to hitting you.

**Cagalli looks skeptical**

Cagalli: And how are we supposed to get up there? These Gundams don't have enough thrust to allow us to jump up there.

**The camera cuts outside to show Cowboy and Nightwing look at each other. The camera does a vertical spit screen, Nick on the left and Shadow on the right. Both are grinning at each other with a wicked grin on their face. The screen goes back to normal and cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit.**

Shadow: Oh I think I have a solution for that problem.

**The camera cuts to La Rouge's cockpit to show Cagalli looking back and forth between them, she doesn't like the look on their face.**

Cagalli: I'm not going to like this idea am I?

**The camera cuts to the enemy ship's bridge. Zain is sitting in his chair obviously waiting for something. One of the crew members working on a computer terminal starts talking.**

Crew member A: It looks like 4 Gundams launch from the target's ship Sir.

**Haile looks ticked**

Haile: That's impossible, they shouldn't have been able to get their Gundam bay doors open let alone get the Gundam catapult working!

**Zain is thinking**

Zain: They must have gone back and reprogram their systems to work around the magnetic impulse.

**One of the other crew members looks nervous**

Crew member B: Does that mean they'll be able to get their ship online again?

**Zain still in thought shakes his head**

Zain: Not right away, a ship's programming is a complex thing; most of systems are interlocking and need one another in order to operate. The catapult and Gundam bay doors just happen to be one of the systems that don't need any other system to be fully functioning in order for it to work; that's why they were able to reprogram it so fast, but it's going to take them some time to reprogram the ship to the point where it's moving again. What type of Gundams are they?

**Crew member A still typing on his computer gives Zain the information**

Crew Member A: We've confirmed that 3 of them are Basic Originals.

**Zain looks slightly annoyed**

Zain: What about the fourth one?

**Crew member A shakes his head**

Crew Member A: The first Gundam they launch took off before we could get a good look at it with our scanners, and because of the mountains we can only pick up Gundams on our radar and scanners that are in our line of sight.

**Zain is still annoyed, he's in deep thought. Haile asks**

Haile: So what do you think Sir, are they an E-rank team or are they something more?

**Zain is still pondering that**

Zain: I'm not sure, the way they quickly took stock of the situation and quickly reprogrammed their Gundam bay door and catapult shouts an experience Gundam Team, but the fact that they have 3 Basic Originals type Gundams also says their poor and no high rank Gundam Team is that poor.

**Zain thinks about it a second longer than comes to a conclusion.**

Zain: No I don't think they're a high rank team, I think they're just a lucky E-rank team.

**Crew member B interrupts Zain's train of thought.**

Crew member B: Sir the 3 Gundams by the target's ship are doing something.

Zain: Bring it up on the monitor.

**Zain commands. The camera turns and shows the main monitor. The main monitor zooms in on the Dark-Angel. The camera cuts to the Dark-Angel to show Cowboy and Nightwing on either side of La Rouge. The camera cuts inside La Rouge's cockpit to show a very nervous Cagalli.**

Cagalli: Look guys I'm having second thoughts about this plan.

**We can see Shadow and Nick on Cagalli's helmet screen. Shadow is grinning excitedly**

Shadow: Don't worry Cagalli; everything is going to work out perfectly.

Nick: Yea have a little faith mate.

**Shadow and Nick aren't doing much to comfort Cagalli, in fact she looks more nervous now than ever. She tries to make one last attempt.**

Cagalli: Wait guys can't we talk about

**Cagalli doesn't get a chance to finish her sentence. The camera cuts outside to show Cowboy and Nightwing bend their legs as they each grab one of La Rouge's legs, then they jump straight up effectively throwing La Rouge into the air. **

**The camera cuts inside La Rouge's cockpit to show Cagalli wildly swinging her arms and legs, Cagalli is screaming.**

Cagalli: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

**The camera cuts outside to show La Rouge imitating Cagalli's movements only its carrying a shield. La Rouge is thrown straight up into the air and quickly flies above one of the legs of the Dark-Angel (just in case you don't know what I mean when I say leg of the Dark-Angel, I'm talking about the place where the Gundams are launch from).**

**Beam bullets are flying all around La Rouge and it's a wonder how they're all missing. Cowboy and Nightwing have thrown La Rouge in an arch like pattern, whether or not they did that on purpose is debatable. **

**This causes La Rouge to crash land face first on top of one of the Dark-Angel's legs. The camera cuts inside La Rouge's cockpit to show a dazed Cagalli lying on her stomach. Cagalli lifts and shakes her head still dazed, when Kenny's face pops up on Cagalli's helmet screen. He looks panicked.**

Kenny: Cagalli block!

**Cagalli's eyes pop open in alarm. The camera cuts outside to show La Rouge roll over onto its back while at the same time moving its shield in front of itself. La Rouge gets its shield in front of itself just in time.**

**A beam bullet hits La Rouge's shield dead center. The force of the blast pushes La Rouge back. La Rouge quickly gets on its feet still holding its shield in front of itself. Two more beam bullets hit La Rouge's shield and a lot more come close as beam bullets are flying all around La Rouge. **

**The camera cuts inside La Rouge's cockpit to show Cagalli breathing hard, you can tell she's definitely on edge.**

Cagalli (I know I should be used to this by now but this NS System is amazing. The mobile suits on Earth don't come close to this, when I was fighting in a mobile suit on Earth even though I knew that my life was in danger and how serious the battles were it still, and pains me to say this, felt like a video game. With the monitors and the controls and other then the G-force and shockwaves from getting hit it felt just like a complex video game but this NS system is completely different, it feels like I'm the one that's fighting.)

**The camera switches to Cagalli's point-of-view; we can see the mountains and incoming beam bullets over La Rouge's shield.**

Cagalli (I can feel the cool metal of my shield as I grip it tightly. I can feel the violent vibration of each beam bullet as it hits my shield and travels up my arm and into my body. I can feel the cool metal of the Dark-Angel underneath my feet as I try to stop myself from sliding across it from the force of the beam bullets. I can even feel the night's breeze on the back of my neck, and even though I know I'm probably safer in this Gundam then the mobile suits back on Earth, this NS system just brings a whole new level of reality to this battle and I've never been more scared.)

**Suddenly Jack's voice bring Cagalli out of her thoughts.**

Jack: Cagalli what the hell are you doing don't just stand their holding your shield in front yourself, fire back!

**Cagalli looks confused. Kenny tries a different approach.**

Kenny: Cagalli it's just like the Gundam Fights, just do what you've been taught.

**Shadow's grinning face comes up on Cagalli's helmet screen**

Shadow: What's the matter princess are you scared?

**That snaps Cagalli back into action**

Cagalli: No I was just deciding which target to fire at first!

**Cagalli gets a determine look in her eye as she grits her teeth. The camera cuts outside to show La Rouge reach for its beam rifle on its hip, time slows down as we listen to Cagalli's thoughts.**

Cagalli (Kenny's right, nothing's change this is just like the Gundam Fights, no it's just like the battles back on Earth. The loser of the fight still dies!)

**La Rouge has brought its beam rifle up and has fire a single shot (in slow motion). Time goes back to normal as La Rouge fires several more shots while blocking return fire with its shield. **

**The camera looks back down to Nightwing and Cowboy. Nightwing is leaning against one of the Dark-Angel's legs with its knee slightly bent. Nightwing also has its hands folded in a cup in front of itself. Cowboy is a good running distance away. The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show a focus/excited Shadow.**

Shadow: Ready!

**The camera cuts inside Cowboy's cockpit to show the same focus/excited look in Nick.**

Nick: Alright here I come mate!

**The camera cuts outside to show Cowboy run at Nightwing full speed. Cowboy uses Nightwing's cupped hands as a step. The moment Cowboy steps into Nightwing's cupped hands Nightwing pushes and stands up throwing Cowboy into the air. **

**Cowboy isn't thrown as high as La Rouge was but it's thrown high enough that it can grab onto the top of the Dark-Angel's leg with its right hand while its left hand holds its shield. Cowboy pulls itself up onto the top of the Dark-Angel's leg with only its right hand. **

**Cowboy rolls avoiding incoming fire and stands up puts its shield in front of itself, draws its beam rifle and returns fire. The camera cuts to the enemy Gundam snipers, 3 of them are hit by Cowboy's return fire, surprise the others quickly duck down for cover. They're carrying what appears to be a beam sniper rifles. **

**The camera cuts inside one of the enemy sniper Gundam's cockpit to show a surprise and slightly afraid pilot. We can hear the other enemy snipers talking on his helmet screen.**

Sniper B: What the hell was that, that guy just hit 3 Gundams from over 100 yards away with just a standard beam rifle!

Sniper C: Only a high ranking Gundam Fighter could do that, we've got to get out of here!

**The pilot we're looking at (we can assume he's the unit leader) finally starts to take action.**

Sniper A: No, that Gundam pilot was probably just lucky, besides it's not like he took them out he only hit the shoulder and knee. You guys can still pull the trigger on your beam sniper rifle right?

**We can see someone on Sniper's A helmet screen nod his head.**

Sniper D: Sure but our aims not going to be as good.

**Sniper A has made his decision**

Sniper A: It doesn't have to be, just keep firing and keeping the pressure on them and if any more shots come close just try to avoid them.

**The snipers look unsure for a moment then they nod their heads.**

Snipers: Right!

**The camera cuts back outside to show the sniper Gundams resume firing. The camera moves back to Nightwing. Nightwing is rubbing its hands in a job well done. The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow extremely satisfied with himself.**

Shadow: Alright, Nick and Cagalli are in position; Roxas is probably doing her job so I think it's about time to get going and do my job.

**Shadow looks exited. The camera cuts outside to show Nightwing looking at the approaching enemy ship. Nightwing's beam saber pops out of its secret hatch. Nightwing grabs and activates it in one swift motion.**

**Nightwing charges the enemy ship. The camera looks back up to Cowboy and La Rouge, Cowboy while firing walks up next to La Rouge. The camera cuts inside La Rouge's cockpit, Cagalli seems to be focusing on trying to shoot down the enemy Gundam snipers when Nick pops up on Cagalli's helmet screen.**

Nick: Hey mate looks like you could use a hand. Mind giving me a quick rundown of the situation mate?

**Cagalli still focusing on the enemy snipers answers**

Cagalli: I think there're 2 teams, one on the left side of the Dark-Angel and one on the right. They're using the mountain for cover.

**Nick nods his head in agreement**

Nick: I agree mate, and from my count each team seems to have 17 people.

**Cagalli looks over at Nick surprise. The camera quickly cuts outside to show La Rouge's shield get hit with another beam bullet then cuts back to inside La Rouge's cockpit. Cagalli quickly refocuses on the enemy snipers.**

Cagalli: So any idea how we should handle this, with our ship down and sniper teams on both sides plus the enemy ship closing in we're sitting ducks.

**Nick seems to think about this**

Nick: Well our main goal is just to buy time for our mates Jack and Kenny to get our ship up and running again, so we have to keep the enemy snipers busy. As for the enemy ship we'll just leave that for Shadow mate. Anyway since you've got the right side mate I'll take the left side.

**The camera cuts outside to show Cowboy starting to move back. La Rouge turns to look at him. The camera cuts inside La Rouge's cockpit to show a surprise Cagalli.**

Cagalli: Hey wait where are you

**Cagalli doesn't get a chance to finish. The camera cuts back outside as Cowboy suddenly turns around and start running at full speeds. Cowboy jumps off the edge of the Dark-Angel's right leg and jumps onto its left leg. **

**The moment Cowboy lands it starts opening fire on the enemy Gundam Snipers on left side. La Rouge still looking in Cowboy's direction quickly turns back to the enemy Gundam snipers on the right side when its shield gets hit with beam bullets. The camera cuts to the enemy bridge. Crew member A is giving Zain information on the Gundams current position.**

Crew member A: Two of the enemy Gundams have taken positions on top of the target's ship and are attempting to fight are sniper teams.

**Zain looks annoyed**

Zain: Damn now the sniper teams are going to be distracted, they're going to direct all of their fire at the enemy Gundams instead of the target's ship.

**Haile doesn't understand**

Haile: Why don't we just tell them to ignore the enemy Gundams and to just focus solely on the target's ship?

**Zain shakes his head**

Zain: Impossible, it would be like trying to tell someone to not block when you throw a ball at them, its instinct. No our best option is to just hope that our sniper teams are able to take out the enemy Gundams, so they can concentrate on the target's ship. In the meantime we'll advance our ship into firing distance and bombarding them with missiles.

**Crew member A suddenly shouts**

Crew Member A: Sir an enemy Gundam is fast approaching our ship!

**Zain snaps**

Zain: Bring it up on the main monitor!

**The camera turns to look at the main monitor, we can see Nightwing running straight towards them. Nightwing has its beam saber out and is holding it diagonally with the tip of the beam saber right next to its right shoulder. The camera turns to look back at Zain, Zain is biting his lip highly annoyed.**

Zain: Damn it, stop the ship and open fire with the missiles and if he's in range fire the beam CIWs.

**Haile looks confused**

Haile: Sir why don't we just run him over?

**Zain is still focusing on the battle**

Zain: First rule of warfare never let your enemy get too close.

**Haile still doesn't get it**

Haile: But we're bigger than him, if we just charge straight at him

**Zain is already shaking his head and cuts her off**

Zain: Being big is an advantage and a disadvantage, being big means most of our weapons are designed to fight large targets such as an enemy ship so against a small opponent such as that Gundam most of our weapons are going to be useless and if he gets in close he can do some series damage with that beam saber of his.

**Haile is beginning to understand the situation**

Haile: So what are we going do Sir?

**Zain is already thinking ahead**

Zain: We'll first try to take him out with our missile and beam CIWs and if that doesn't work I'll have to go with plan B.

**The camera cuts back outside to Nightwing. Nightwing is still just jogging along at a good pace, and is still holding its beam saber. The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow pacing himself, suddenly red lights start flashing.**

Nightwing: Incoming missiles.

**Shadow actually looks happy**

Shadow: Finally some action!

**The camera cuts outside to show a lot of missiles heading straight for Nightwing. Nightwing stop momentary to look at them all, then quickly burst into a full on sprint towards the enemy ship. Nightwing is no longer running in a straight line towards the enemy ship instead Nightwing is running in a zigzag pattern.**

**We can see its thrusters switch on, missiles start hitting all around Nightwing. 3 hit right behind it. Nightwing sidesteps left dodging another one, Nightwing turns itself sideways dodging 2 more missiles, then quickly ducks down dodging another one.**

**Nightwing is moving all around and twisting itself in all sorts of angels dodging missiles, however Nightwing never stops advancing forward. Soon beam bullets also join the bombardment as Nightwing gets in range of the enemy's beam CIWs, but they're having little luck of hitting Nightwing as well.**

**The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow slightly sweating**

Shadow (At times like this I'm thankful that Drake made us do all of those dodge ball sessions.)

**The camera switches to Shadow's point-of-view; we can see a ton of missiles and beam bullets heading straight for us. The missiles and beams fade and shimmer out like a mirage and are replace by dodge balls instead. The camera goes back to normal, Shadow is grinning.**

Shadow (I knew hiring Drake as our manager was a great idea.)

**The camera cuts back to the enemy ship's bridge. Zain now looks deeply irritated.**

Zain: Damn he certainly is nimble little pest.

**Haile nods her head**

Haile: And to think we didn't bring any homing missiles with us.

**Zain is gritting his teeth thinking**

Zain: Well I guess I've no choice it's time to go with plan B.

**Zain gets up from his captain's chair and begins to walk towards the exit. Haile looks at him surprise.**

Haile: Sir?

**Zain quickly says**

Zain: Haile you're in charge of the ship until I return, I'm going to go take care of our pest problem.

**Zain walks out before anyone can say a word. Haile getting over her shock snaps at the bridge crew.**

Haile: Well you heard him I'm in charge now so get back to work! Continue bombardment on that Gundam.

**The bridge crew quickly turns around and gets back to work**

Bridge crew: Yes Ma'am.

**Haile with an air of authority quickly takes a seat in the captain's chair. The camera cuts back outside to show La Rouge and Cowboy still firing at the enemy Gundam snipers. The camera looks towards the right side mountain first, the one La Rouge is firing at, to show La Rouge's shots going all over the place.**

**However some of the enemy sniper Gundams do jump when a shot goes over their head so at least she's making a distraction. The camera cuts inside La Rouge's cockpit to show Cagalli gritting her teeth in frustration.**

Cagalli (Damn it this is pointless, even with La Rouge's camera on full zoom I can only just make out where they are. The only way I'm going to hit one of them is through blind dumb luck.)

**The camera cuts back outside and moves to the left to show Cowboy. The camera then turns to show the left side mountain, unlike La Rouge's shots Cowboy's beam bullets are coming pretty close to hitting the enemy Gundam snipers.**

**One beam bullet comes so close to an enemy Gundam's head that it literary melts some of the armor on its face. The enemy Gundam falls on its ass when this happens, the camera does a quick spilt screen to show a shocked/scare enemy Gundam pilot.**

Enemy Pilot: Holy shit!

**The camera goes back to normal, unfortunately for Nick the enemy Gundam snipers aren't complete idiots. They're keeping low to the ground and are constantly moving in order to avoid Nick locking on to them. The camera cuts inside Cowboy's cockpit to show Nick annoyed.**

Nick (From this distance every tiny movement they make is causing my shot to be off, and it doesn't help that I'm only carrying a standard beam rifle. However I'm starting to get use to their movements, just a little bit more and I think I'll be able to track their movements perfectly.)

**The camera cuts outside and moves over to Nightwing. Nightwing is still dodging the beam bullets and missiles but it's obvious that Nightwing has made progress in reaching the enemy ship.**

**Suddenly the enemy ship stops firing beam bullets and missiles at Nightwing. Nightwing stops moving and begins to look around. The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show a slightly confused/surprise Shadow.**

Shadow (Huh?)

**Shadow suddenly grins having come to a conclusion as to why the enemy ship stop firing at him. He gives a cocky laugh**

Shadow: HAHAHA so they've given up after witnessing my awesome Gundam piloting skills.

**Shadow is smiling full of self-confidence when a voice breaks his swelling ego.**

Zain: Try again idiot!

**Shadow's eyes pop open in surprise. The camera cuts outside to show an unknown Gundam perform a downward vertical slash on Nightwing's right side. Nightwing jumps back dodging a lethal blow but the unknown Gundam's attack isn't over. The unknown Gundam stops its vertical slash when it's half way through and instead changes it into a right horizontal slash. **

**This time Nightwing does 3 quick jump backs in order to get some distance between itself and the unknown Gundam. Nightwing and the unknown Gundam stare off at each other, the unknown Gundam has broad shoulders and is not a Basic series Gundam. **

**It's also holding what can best be describe as a Gin sword in its right hand, however this sword is skinnier then a Gin's sword and is sharper. The camera looks over at Nightwing; Nightwing has its beam saber at the ready. The camera does a horizontal split screen, Shadow is on the bottom and Nightwing is on the top.**

Shadow: Who the hell is this guy?

**The screen goes back to normal and focuses on Shadow**

Zain: Sorry I don't give my name to people I'm about to kill and as for your earlier statement my ship didn't stop firing at you because they were scare of you, they stop firing so that they wouldn't hit me.

**Shadow for the first time notices Zain on his helmet screen, annoyed he snaps**

Shadow: Nightwing from now on tell me first before you open up a communication link to an unknown Gundam!

Zain: I don't think you have time to be talking to your Gundam!

**The camera cuts outside to show the unknown Gundam rush Nightwing. The unknown Gundam performs a left horizontal slash to Nightwing's chest. Nightwing tries to counter be performing a right horizontal beam saber slash.**

**Both blades touch each other but the unknown Gundam's attack is a fake, instead of putting pressure into its blade in an attempt to force Nightwing's beam saber back it rolls its blade off Nightwing's beam saber, so if the tip of its sword was pointed at Nightwing before it roll off Nightwing's beam saber then afterwards the hilt of its sword would be pointing at Nightwing.**

**Then easily sidestepping Nightwing's beam saber the Unknown Gundam gets in close to Nightwing and takes the hilt of its sword and slams it into Nightwing's face. Nightwing rolling with the punch does a back-flip. Nightwing lands on both its feet and starts to slightly side backwards. **

**Nightwing holding its beam saber in its left hand has to put its right hand on the ground in order to stabilize itself. Nightwing and the unknown Gundam once again stare off at each other. The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow, the episode ends with Shadow thinking.**

Shadow (This guy, is good.)


	30. Episode 29

Episode 29

**The episode opens up with Nightwing attempting to perform a downward vertical beam saber slash at the Unknown Gundam's head. The Unknown Gundam pivots on its right leg while at the same flipping its grip on its sword so that the hilt is pointing at Nightwing. **

**The Unknown Gundam sidesteps towards Nightwing getting in very close but too close for a sword/beam saber attack to be effective and bashes Nightwing in the face with the hilt of its sword. **

**This time Nightwing falls on its back, but Nightwing quickly recovers and rolls to the left as the Unknown Gundam stabs the ground where Nightwing was laying moments before. Nightwing quickly hops back up and once again has a stare off with the Unknown Gundam, the camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow slightly panting, he also looks frustrated.**

Shadow (Argh why can't I hit this guy? When I fought Drake I could tell right away that he was a lot faster and stronger than me but I'm just as strong and fast as this guy and I still can't hit him! Damn it why!)

**The camera cuts inside the Unknown Gundam's cockpit, Zain is also slightly panting but he looks annoyed instead of frustrated.**

Zain (This kid is really starting to bug me. At this rate it's going to take me a lot longer than expected to finish him off, time to revise my plans.)

**Zain begins to talk aloud**

Zain: Haile.

**We can see Haile appear on Zain's helmet screen**

Haile: Yes Sir?

**Zain begins talking fast**

Zain: Haile listen carefully, it's going to take me longer than I thought to beat this kid so I'm changing the plan.

**The camera cuts back outside and moves over to show the Dark-Angel still under attack from the snipers. La Rouge is still having little luck in hitting the enemy Sniper Gundams on the right side although she is proving to be a decent distraction. The camera cuts inside La Rouge's cockpit to show Cagalli deeply frustrated.**

Cagalli (Darn it this is impossible, no one can hit these Gundams from this distance with a standard beam rifle!)

**The camera cuts outside and moves over to the left side mountain just in time to show an enemy Gundam sniper get nail in the chest by a beam bullet. The Gundam falls to the ground like a dead body. We can see the safety escape pod eject from it as it falls, the screen splits into multiple parts to show scared enemy Gundam pilots.**

Enemy Pilot A: Holy shit!

Enemy Pilot B: He got another one!

Enemy Pilot C: This guy can't be freaking human!

**The camera turns around to show the shot came from Cowboy; its beam rifle is still smoking. The camera cuts inside Cowboy's cockpit to show a focus but calm Nick.**

Nick (That makes 5, from my count there were 17 enemy Gundam snipers to begin with so now there should only be 12 left. It's going to take me forever but I can definitely get them all.)

**The camera cuts inside the Dark-Angel's bridge, everyone except for Jack is typing at their computer terminals with focus looks on their face. Jack still sitting in the captain's chair has her arms folded and is tapping her foot impatiently.**

Jack: Where are we in the reprogramming?

**Kenny answers**

Kenny: We've got 60 percent completed but we're still going to need more time to get the ship up and running.

**Jack doesn't look too happy**

Jack: What about Shadow and Roxas how are they doing?

**Rini shrugs uncaringly**

Rini: No idea, our long range scanners and radars are still off line.

**Jack looks even more annoyed but we can also see concern on her face**

Jack: Then hurry up and get them back online, I want a full status report in 10 minutes people so move it!

**The camera cuts to Gundam bay on the Dark-Angel to show Raheem and Kabira hiding behind some equipment. Raheem peeks out from their hiding spot, glances left then right and sees that the cost is clear. He signals to Kabira and together they hurry to what can only be the exit off the Dark-Angel, when suddenly a voice stops them mid in their tracks.**

Zuke: Are you planning on going somewhere?

**Raheem and Kabira freeze in place. Raheem slowly turns to look at Zuke, Raheem takes a step forward and puts himself protectively in front of Kabira. Zuke has his classic bored expression on his face although now there's also annoyance.**

Zuke: Hiring a Gundam team to protect you then running away from the battle before its even half-way through even for a natural this seems pretty stupid. It's pointless to hire a Gundam team to protect you if you were just planning on running away at the first sign of a battle, if you were going to do that you're better off hiring a taxi.

**Raheem is staring at Zuke evenly.**

Raheem: Your name is Zuke right?

**Zuke doesn't bother answering, Raheem goes on**

Raheem: Well Zuke my main duty is to protect and insure the safety of Ms. Kabira and with all due respect I believe you're an E-rank team that's way out of their league. The enemies that you're fighting out there are mercenaries sent to kill us and from what I can see this battle isn't going in your favor. Us leaving is probably the best course of action, once the enemy finds out we're gone they'll stop attacking you guys and chase after us.

**Zuke is now even more annoyed**

Zuke: Since you're obviously an idiot let me tell you I'm not, you plan on leaving the Shadow Knights here to fight desperately against your enemy while you escape, by the time your enemy realizes you're not here the battle would probably be over already with the Shadow Knights dead and you long gone.

**Raheem goes stiff as he realizes he's been caught. Zuke is eyeing them coldly, after a moments stare off Zuke shrugs.**

Zuke: Whatever, the fact is you hired me to do a mission, and that mission is to safely transport you to Azize and even though this mission is very beneath me I have yet to fail a single mission so you have 2 options. Option A you save me time and trouble by just staying on board this ship until you get to Azize or option B I knock you unconscious and drag your bodies into my Gundam and drop you in the middle of Azize, which is it going to be?

**Raheem and Zuke are once again staring off at each other.**

Raheem: Your team obviously doesn't have a shot at winning this so why

**Zuke cuts him off**

Zuke: I don't care, if it looks like the ship is about to be destroyed then I'll take you off on my Gundam until then it's not worth my time to leave.

**Raheem hesitates a moment then says**

Raheem: Well it looks like we have no choice; I can already tell that the odds of me winning in a head on fight with you aren't good, so we'll agree to your terms for now.

**Zuke nods his head satisfied. The camera cuts to the Dark-Angel's bridge to show Jack still looking impatient. Thomas dramatically hits one button on his computer then shouts out loud in his sing-song voice**

Thomas: La-La-La the long rang scanners and Me-Me-Me long rang communications have been restored doe-doe-doe.

**Ciro and Alan look at Thomas like he's an idiot. Jack ignores the song and says**

Jack: Great bring up Shadow and Roxas on the main monitor.

**Rini typing on her computer says slowly**

Rini: I can't find Quanlier.

**Jack turns and snaps at her**

Jack: What! What do you mean you can't find Quanlier?

**Ciro thinking out loud says**

Ciro: The surrounding mountains might have some metal ore in them that's messing up our scanners and communications.

**Alan asks**

Alan: Aren't most scanners and communication program to work around things like that now-a-days?

**Ciro nods his head**

Ciro: They are but we just reprogram them didn't we and I didn't take into consideration metal ore did any of you?

**Everyone shakes their head. Jack still annoyed says**

Jack: Fine, can we get Shadow?

**Rini answers this one**

Rini: It shouldn't be a problem as long as he's not on the mountains.

**Kenny thinking out loud**

Kenny: I wonder what Roxas is doing on the mountains?

**Jack snaps**

Jack: Never mind that just bring up Shadow on the main monitor!

**The main monitor flickers then brings up Nightwing and the Unknown Gundam fighting. Rini begins talking**

Rini: It appears that Nightwing is engaging an Unknown Gundam.

**Jack annoyed says**

Jack: Obviously, Kenny what type of Gundam is that I don't recognize it and bring up a communication link with Shadow while you're at it.

**The camera cuts outside to Nightwing fighting the Unknown Gundam. Nightwing performs a downward vertical beam saber slash, a right upward diagonal bean saber slash, a left horizontal beam saber slash, and a downward left diagonal beam saber slash (in that order). **

**The Unknown Gundam sidesteps right, takes a step back and does one full turn around, ducks down, and jumps back (in parallel order of Nightwing's attack) dodging all of Nightwing's attacks. **

**The Unknown Gundam once again flipping its sword so that the hilt is pointed at Nightwing takes 3 steps forward getting in close to Nightwing and unleashes a flurry of punches using the hilt of its sword like brass knuckle on Nightwing's face. Nightwing in blind desperation wildly swings its sword forcing the Unknown Gundam to jump back giving Nightwing plenty of space. **

**Nightwing drops to one knee and stabs its beam saber into the ground using it like cane. We can see its head section all dented up, the camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow breathing heavily. Kenny appears on Shadow's helmet screen, he looks concern.**

Kenny: Shadow are you alright?

**Shadow gives him a crocked smile**

Shadow: Kenny long time no see, I'm fine although right now at this moment I'm wishing swords didn't come with hilts.

**Kenny quickly apologizes**

Kenny: Shadow I'm so sorry, I didn't even think that the enemy could have a Gundam in reserved in case there ship got attack and we just restored the long ranged scanners and communications

**Jack pushes Kenny out of the way and starts shouting at Shadow**

Jack: What the hell do you mean you're fine!

**The camera cuts back to the Dark-Angel's bridge, despite Jack's show of anger we can see signs of worry.**

Jack: Just by looking at Nightwing I can tell the head section has been dented the crap out of, plus that enemy Gundam doesn't have a single scratch on it!

**Shadow gives one of his classic smiles as he says**

Shadow: I'm letting him beat me up to lure him into a false sense of confidence.

**Jack isn't buying his bullshit**

Jack: Bullshit!

**Shadow doesn't get time to comment, the camera cuts back outside to show the Unknown Gundam charge Nightwing intending on doing a stabbing attack. **

**Nightwing sidesteps to the left dodging the attack but the Unknown Gundam without breaking its stride flips its blade and holding it with its left hand tries once again to bash Nightwing's head with the hilt of its sword.**

**This time Nightwing manages to move its head out of the way barely dodging the hilt attack by a hair. The Unknown Gundam still without breaking stride switches its grip on its sword so that now the blade is pointed down towards the ground and the hilt is pointed towards the sky and stabs down at Nightwing's leg.**

**Nightwing tries to move its leg back but the Unknown Gundam's sword manages to nick Nightwing's leg. We can hear the metal slicing metal sound and we can see sparks fly. The Unknown Gundam's sword sinks deep into the ground giving Nightwing a chance to get some distance as the Unknown Gundam pulls its sword out of the ground. **

**Nightwing has once again drop to one knee. The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow once again breathing heavily, we can see sweat all over his face.**

Shadow: Kenny now would be a really good time to give me some information on that Gundam.

**The camera cuts to the bridge on the Dark-Angel, Kenny's face goes a little pale.**

Kenny: Uh-oh.

**Jack already not liking this**

Jack: Uh-oh what?

**Kenny typing on his computer**

Kenny: I found out what type of Gundam Shadow is fighting.

Jack: And

**All eyes are on Kenny now**

Kenny: It's a limited edition Type Sparta fuse Knight Class Gundam.

**Ciro looks confused**

Ciro: Wait I thought that a Sparta type Gundam has a spear and round shield for its equipment, and it's also supposed to be a little shorter.

**Kenny slightly annoyed says**

Kenny: You're right but I said a Sparta fused Knight Class Gundam.

**Jack still annoyed says**

Jack: I've never heard of that class of Gundam.

**Kenny nods his head reading the information he found on his computer.**

Kenny: You wouldn't, it's a special limited edition type Gundam that came out a couple of years ago; it combined the speed and power of a Sparta Gundam with the agility and balance of a Knight Gundam; only 5 were ever made.

**We can see Shadow on the main monitor and he doesn't look to happy.**

Shadow: Great so it's just me and plan old Basic Original Nightwing vs. super Gundam there, I don't suppose this Gundam has any weak points?

**Kenny shakes his head**

Kenny: Nope none that I could find.

Shadow: Great.

**Shadow says sarcastically. Jack tries to give him some comfort**

Jack: Remember Shadow you only have to stall him long enough to give us time to finish the reprogramming; their ship can't advance to firing distance because you 2 are in the way so just survive long enough so we can help you.

**The camera cuts back to inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow still unhappy when Zain pops up on Shadow's helmet screen.**

Zain: Awww are you quitting already, you've been standing idle for quite some time. Are you having trouble thinking of a plan to beat me?

**The camera quickly cuts outside to show the Unknown Gundam and Nightwing staring off at each other. The camera cuts back inside Nightwing's cockpit to show an annoyed Shadow**

Shadow: No, I was just getting some intel from my ship, by the way that's a nice Gundam you've got there. A Sparta fused Knight Gundam must have been hard to come by.

**The camera flips to inside the Unknown Gundam's cockpit. Zain has a poker face smile on**

Zain (So they've already restored their long range scanners and communications systems. This isn't good, they're a lot faster than I thought, I'm going to have to move my plans up.)

Zain: Well I do admit it wasn't easy but it was well worth it, Shadowkun has gotten me out of lot of hairy situations.

**The camera goes back to inside Nightwing's cockpit, Shadow has pick up Zain's slip of tongue.**

Shadow: Shadowkun so that's the name of your Gundam, pretty interesting since I don't even know your name.

**The camera cuts outside to show Shadowkun start to move circling Nightwing then cuts back to inside Shadowkun's cockpit. Zain's face slightly twitches at the mistake but he still maintains his poker face.**

Zain: Well like I said earlier I don't give my name out to people I'm going to kill.

**The camera cuts outside to show Nightwing start counter circle Shadowkun. The camera cuts back inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow looking pleased, apparently he thinks he has the upper hand in this conversation.**

Shadow: Yea speaking of that why are you trying to kill me, I didn't have time to ask in-between all those sword and hilt attack you threw at me? Are you guys' raiders, bandits or just plan assholes?

**The camera cuts outside to show Shadowkun and Nightwing still circling one another. The camera then cuts back into Shadowkun's cockpit, Zain quickly thinks to himself.**

Zain (So the target hasn't told them who we are or more importantly who she really is, we can use that.)

**Zain changes the subject**

Zain: Sword attacks and a hilt attack is that all you can really tell about my technique.

**The camera cuts back to inside Nightwing's cockpit to show a pissed off Shadow.**

Shadow: What the hell is that supposed to mean!

**The camera cuts back to inside Shadowkun's cockpit. Zain is smiling for real now knowing he's got the upper hand.**

Zain: And here I was so excited to get a chance to fight against another fellow swordsman, after all kids these days relied so much on their different types of beam rifles and blasters and those that do use melee weapons prefer big once like axes, hammers or mace and chain. *sigh* I guess swords simply aren't popular now-a-days but I'm sorely disappointed with this outcome, I was hoping for such a better show of swordsmanship.

**Zain rambles on, on purpose to bother Shadow, it works. The camera cuts outside to show Nightwing and Shadowkun still circling one another. The camera then cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show an extremely pissed off Shadow.**

Shadow: Why don't you just cut the bullshit and say what the hell problem you've got against my swordsmanship!

**The camera cuts back to inside Shadowkun's cockpit to show Zain still smiling**

Zain: But you see that's it, that's the problem I have, you're a complete and absolute amateur when I comes down to the sword. That thing you call swordsmanship is just you randomly swinging your sword around like a chicken with its head cut off. You have absolutely no style or technique unlike my own Rukovat' sword fighting style and that is why you have no hope of beating me.

**Zain does another one of his poker smiles**

Zain (However even though he doesn't have a fighting style this kid has got a great foundation, he's fast and strong maybe as strong and fast as I am, plus he has great reflexes and incredible endurance that's only surpass by his amazing recovery time, a normal E-rank would have gone down in the first 60 seconds after my hilt bash but he recover almost as soon as the hilt left his face. This kid's got some serious training.)

**The camera cuts back to inside Nightwing's cockpit, Shadow says underneath his breath.**

Shadow: Kenny

**We can see Kenny on Shadow's helmet screen**

Kenny: I'm already way ahead of you Shadow. Rukovat' is a sword fighting style founded on Sora although it derives from another sword style from Earth called

**Shadow cuts him off**

Shadow: Quit the history listen Kenny and just give me the facts!

Kenny: Oh right, Ok Rukovat' is a fighting style that focuses on using the hilt of the sword to cause stun attacks then is follow by a stab attack for a finishing move, it's also known for its continuous flow of chain attacks, for example if you try to block or dodge your opponent will change his grip on his blade then perform a new attack in the same motion as the first making it look like one big combo attack.

**Shadow isn't too thrilled**

Shadow: Great tell me something I don't know.

**Kenny ignoring Shadow's sarcasm**

Kenny: I'm still looking for any flaws or weaknesses in the style but it seems to be a pretty solid fighting style.

**Shadow eyeing Zain**

Shadow: For a pretty solid Gundam. So what if I don't use a fighting style I'll beat you using some of my genius strategies.

**The camera cuts outside to show Shadowkun stop moving. Nightwing stops moving in response. The camera cuts back inside Shadowkun's cockpit, Zain's grin seems to have gotten even bigger.**

Zain: Well I hate to tell you this but I've already out play you in strategy.

**We can see Shadow look surprise**

Shadow: Huh?

**Zain goes on**

Zain: You see why do you think I've been so talkative, do you think I'm some comic book villain? I've been talking to you so I could distract you while I maneuver you away from the path of my ship so now my ship can get in firing range of your defenseless ship.

**Shadow's eyes pop open in shock. The camera cuts back outside and for the first time in a while takes a good look around. **

**Zain is right, Shadowkun and Nightwing are no longer in the middle of the path between the Dark-Angel and the enemy ship, and instead they're a good distance out of the way. As if on cue the enemy begins advancing towards the Dark-Angel. The camera looks back at Nightwing and does a split screen to show a panic Shadow.**

Shadow: No!

**The screen goes back to normal as Nightwing charges the enemy ship. The camera quickly cuts inside Shadowkun's cockpit to show Zain still smiling.**

Zain: Oh, no you don't.

**The camera cuts back outside to show Shadowkun move in front of Nightwing blocking it from moving any closer to the enemy ship. Shadowkun performs a left horizontal slash forcing Nightwing to jump back. The camera cuts into Shadowkun's cockpit to show Zain with a victory grin on his face.**

Zain: Sorry but the only way you're going to help your ship is if you defeat me and that's not going to happen!

**The camera cuts back outside to show Shadowkun charge Nightwing. The camera cuts inside of the enemy ship's bridge, Haile is sitting in the captain's chair looking calm and composed. One of the crew members says**

Crew Member A: Ma'am we are in firing range of the target's ship.

**Haile doesn't show any outward sign of emotion**

Haile: Finally. Load all missile docks and prepare to fire all of them on the target's ship at once. Let's see if we can't finish them off in one blow.

**One of the Crew Members typing on his computer says**

Crew Member B: All missile docks loaded and ready to fire on your command ma'am.

**Haile nods her head**

Haile: Fire.

**The camera cuts back outside to show the enemy ship launch a hell of a lot of missiles at the Dark-Angel. The camera cuts over to left side of the mountain to show another enemy sniper Gundam get shot right through the chest.**

**The camera then looks back to show the shot came from Cowboy. The camera cuts inside Cowboy's cockpit to show the same focus Nick.**

Nick (That makes 12, only 5 more enemy snipers left then I'll go over and help Cagalli.)

**Nick eyes first notices the shadows of the incoming missiles. He turns his head to look and his eyes open wide in surprise.**

Nick: Oh shit!

**The camera looks over to La Rouge; La Rouge also turns to look at the incoming missiles. The camera cuts inside La Rouge's cockpit to show a shock Cagalli, then cuts back to inside Cowboy's cockpit. Nick shouts**

Nick: Cagalli help me shoot down the missiles!

**The camera cuts outside to show Cowboy start shooting without waiting for a response. The camera cuts back to La Rouge to show a still startled Cagalli.**

Cagalli: R-right.

**The camera cuts back outside to show Cowboy shooting down a lot of missiles. Cowboy's shots are fast and dead on, La Rouge is also shooting down some missiles but nowhere near as many as Cowboy. By the time they're finish only a handful, maybe 10, out of the hell of a lot, close to a 100, are left and get by them.**

**The few remaining missiles hit the Dark-Angel but it doesn't look like they did life threatening damage. One missile comes close to hitting Cowboy but Cowboy raises its shield and blocks any aftershock from the explosion. The camera cuts back to the enemy bridge to show a very annoyed Haile.**

Haile: Damn, those freaking sharp shooting Gundams are really starting to piss me off! Continue firing missiles consecutively, only this time aim for those Gundams and tell the sniper teams to do the same!

**The camera cuts outside to show the enemy ship once again firing missile only this they're not stopping. The camera cuts back to the inside of Cowboy's cockpit, Nick over the shock has his focus look on once again.**

Nick: Get ready mate because here they come again and this time I think they're aiming for us.

**Cagalli nods her head. The camera cuts outside to show Cowboy and La Rouge start to shoot down missiles once again only this time there doesn't seem to be an end in sight. Missiles start to make it through and explode all around La Rouge and Cowboy.**

**Cowboy and La Rouge are holding their shields tight in order to protect themselves as much as they can, suddenly while Cowboy is blocking a missile explosion right in front of it while trying to shoot down more incoming missiles at the same time a beam bullet coming from Cowboy's left side comes within inches of hitting its head. **

**The camera cuts back inside Cowboy's cockpit to show Nick slowly becoming overwhelmed.**

Nick: Crap the freaking Gundam Snipers!

**Cowboy immediately begins to reposition itself at an angle so that it's facing both the left hill side and the enemy ship. Cowboy begins to fire some shots at the left hill side but its aim is nowhere near as good as it was before and feels kind of rush. **

**The camera moves over to show La Rouge, because Cagalli hasn't shot down any of the enemy Gundam snipers on her side where as Nick has almost shot down them all there are a lot more beam bullets coming from the right side of the mountain then on Nick's left side mountain.**

**La Rouge is barely returning fire now as it becomes obvious it's all La Rouge can do to block the enemy fire. The camera cuts inside La Rouge's cockpit to show Cagalli gritting her teeth as sweat pours down her face.**

Cagalli: Arrr this isn't good!

**The camera cuts inside the Dark-Angel's bridge to show Jack, Kenny, Alan, Ciro, and Rini gritting their teeth in nervousness as they hear the increased explosions and feel the violent shake of the vibrations. Jack shouts**

Jack: How far are we in the reprogramming!

**Jack sounds more angry/annoyed then scared, Kenny more scared than anything else shouts back.**

Kenny: 80% completed but we're still going to need more time to finish!

**Alan trying to hid growing panic says**

Alan: Yea like you're going to get it, we can't move or fight back, all we can do is rely on the Gundam Fighters to protect us and they're obviously overwhelm with the enemy sniper Gundams to their right and left and a battleship in front firing a hail of missiles at them. I'll give them 5 more minutes before they're shot down then after they're shot down we're next!

**No one has anything to say to this. Jack looks frustrated**

Jack: Arrr isn't there anything we can do to help?

**Rini in a cold tone of voice says**

Rini: Nothing really, all of the ships weapons require computer programs in order to be operated, we could try to get guns and engage in hand to hand combat but chances are we'll be shot down within seconds of leaving the ship.

**Jack still looks frustrated. Ciro jokes**

Ciro: Well if you're really desperate you could always go and manually rewire and fire the missiles we have on board the ship.

**Ciro wasn't being serious but Jack turns and looks at him as if he was.**

Jack: That's a great idea!

**Ciro looks at her shocked**

Ciro: Wait I wasn't serious, do you realize how hard and dangerous that is? You'd have to go and manually rewired the circuits so that the missile launches after a set time, and that's no easy tasks for any type of missile and might I point out that one mistake could cost you your life and the lives of everyone within 15 feet of you or more. Plus assuming that you could rewire the missiles the guidance system would still require the main computer in order to work which we don't have, and the missile hatches won't open so we don't have anything to launch them on either.

**Jack has made up her mind and nothing can stop her now.**

Jack: I can rewire anything no problem as for the guidance system, we'll just have to aim it manually instead in fact we can use the ramp that we launch the missiles off of to aim.

**Rini looks at Jack skeptically**

Rini: And where are you going to get a ramp to launch the missile off of?

**Jack turns to look at Rini annoyed**

Jack: I can make one in about 3 minutes; all I need is a couple of pieces of metal to weld together.

**Alan is also looking at her skeptically**

Alan: And what are you going to do, rewire all the missiles on board the ship, make a ramp, then fire them one at a time? By the time you fire off the first missile this battle will be over.

**Jack looks frustrated; but Thomas comes to her rescue.**

Thomas: LA-LA-LA-LA I think your plan is a wonderful idea, doe-doe-doe we are you crew FA-FA-FA-FA and we shall help you!

**Jack looks at Thomas grateful, Ciro looks at him annoyed.**

Ciro: Look you musical freak don't go volunteering us in this crazy plan!

**Thomas looks at Ciro and asks with a sly smile**

Thomas: Are you saying that you don't have the skill da-da-da-DI!

**Ciro is offended**

Ciro: Of course I have the skill, I can reprogram those missile in my sleep, oh crap.

**Ciro realizes too late his mistake. Jack is smiling at him triumphed**

Jack: Good then you can come and help me.

**Ciro can't think of a way out. Rini looking between the 2 sighs**

Rini: Well I guess it's in my best interest to cooperate with you guys, I can aim the missiles manually no problem.

**Jack is nodding her head excitedly now**

Jack: Great then you can come down and help me too; Thomas and Alan will stay up here to help Kenny with the reprogramming.

**Jack and Rini get up and start moving to the door, Ciro reluctantly follows; Alan stops them though before they get out the door.**

Alan: Are you guys out of your freaking mind, you got 2 people now helping you with this crazy plan of yours and you really think that's going to make a difference? It's impossible for just the 3 of you to help in this battle!

**Jack turns to look at him not sure what to say, when a voice comes from the main monitor.**

Shadow: You're right.

**Jack surprise turns to look at the main monitor**

Jack: Shadow! You're still on?

**The camera quickly cuts back outside to show Shadowkun attempt to do a stab attack at Nightwing's head. Nightwing titles its head to the left dodging the attack. Shadowkun changes its grips on its blade and in one fluid motion changes its attack to a hilt bash. **

**Nightwing jumps back dodging the hilt bash but Shadowkun extends its blade out performing a downward left diagonal slash attack with a reverse grip. Shadowkun's blade manages to nick Nightwing's left shoulder as it moves to get some distance. **

**The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow once again despite the situation smiling as if there is nowhere else on the planet he rather be.**

Shadow: Yea, Kenny forgot to turn off the communication link.

**The camera cuts back to the Dark-Angel's bridge to show Jack glare at Kenny. Kenny slightly embarrass says in his defense**

Kenny: What, I mean I can only do so much, reprogramming, keeping the communications with the Gundams open, watching the enemy movements, it's a wonder that I'm not brain down right about now.

**Jack doesn't have time for this. Jack turns to look at Shadow trying to think of something to say**

Jack: Shadow.

**Jack doesn't get far, Shadow cuts her off, he's no longer looking at Jack instead he's looking at Alan.**

Shadow: Alan you're right, there's no way 3 people could possibly make a difference in this battle.

**All eyes look at Shadow shock, shock by the fact Shadow's still smiling. Shadow goes on**

Shadow: But don't forget the Shadow Knights aren't a team of 3 we're a team of 41 now, 5 Gundam Fighters, 1 head mechanic, 5 bridge crew members and 30 ship crew members and it's about time we start acting like it! So what do you say Alan care to start acting like one of my team mates, a Shadow Knight?

**The camera turns and focuses on Alan to show deep surprise in his face. His eyes have open wide, Shadow doesn't wait for a response he turns to look at Jack.**

Shadow: Jack you said you'd get those lazy crew members in shape well now it's time to make good on your word.

**Jack smiles and now says in a voice fresh with renewed confidence**

Jack: Don't worry about me; just make sure you don't damage my Gundam or I'll kick your ass!

**Shadow still smiling is about to comment when the screen suddenly violently shakes, Jack angry snaps**

Jack: What was that!

**Shadow tries to look inconspicuous**

Shadow: Um nothing got to go bye.

**Shadow quickly cuts the communication line and the main monitor goes black. The moment it does Jack smiles, Rini looking at the blank monitor says in a cold voice.**

Rini: A confident statement but he's got no hope of winning, that's no ordinary raider he's fighting that's someone who's had military training at some time in his life, combined with his Rukovat' sword style makes him an opponent that Shadow simply can't win against.

**Jack still smiling shakes her head**

Jack: You're wrong.

**Rini now turns to look at her slightly surprise. Jack goes on**

Jack: Shadow is an idiot and he's probably going to be on the receiving end of most of the punches thrown in this fight but I guaranty that 5 minutes before the fight is over Shadow is going to come up with some crazy idea 97 percent of the time would never work and win this fight. Now excused me I have one more thing to do.

**Jack begins to walk to the captain's chair. The camera cuts to the Gundam bay on the Dark-Angel; Zuke, Raheem, Kabira are standing underneath Zuke's Gundam. Raheem and Kabira seem nervous.**

Kabira: Just so I understand in your opinion a ship still has a fighting chance until we start seeing skylights made from missiles and beam bullets?

**Kabira ask in a sarcastic manner. Zuke still looking bored yawns and says**

Zuke: Sorry listening to a spoiled snotty nosed natural brat is a waste of my time.

**Zuke's comment pisses Kabira off.**

Kabira: Why you

**Kabira can get no further as Raheem cuts her off.**

Raheem: What I believe Miss Kabira is trying to say is that although your belief in your comrades is admirable it is misplaced, we can all hear how the battle is going outside, your crew members are probably overwhelmed and about ready to give up. Staying any longer would put Kabira in unnecessary danger.

**Zuke is looking at Raheem slightly annoyed**

Zuke: They're not my comrades they're a means to an end, and I couldn't care less if they lose. The only reason I want them to win is because it would mean less work for me, and also less harassment.

**Zuke says the last part of his statement while looking at Kabira. Kabira glares at him but before she can say anything Zuke adds after a sigh**

Zuke: However as shocking as it is you do have a point natural, staying here any longer does seem like

**Zuke is cut off by the loud speakers. Jack's voice is coming from the loud speaker**

Jack: All members of the Shadow Knights this is your temporary Captain Jack speaking so listen up you lazy bums! Everyone that's human and still breathing is to get to the Gundam bay right this freaking minute and god help you if you don't show because I am going to do a head count so get your freaking asses moving!

**While Jack is talking over the loud speaker the camera cuts to different parts of the Dark-Angel to show surprise crew members. At first they seem too stun to do anything but after a moment they slowly get up and head to what we can assume to be the Gundam bay. **

**The camera looks back to Zuke, Raheem and Kabira; Zuke and Raheem look surprise (note Zuke's surprise is more "oh they painted the fence" surprise whereas Raheem is "oh my god you're pregnant" surprise). Kabira is looking at them annoyed at not getting it**

Kabira: What?

**Zuke closes his eyes**

Zuke: Huh, I guess those stupid idiots are still kicking.

**Kabira still doesn't get it; she turns to Raheem but is surprise to find that he has an unusual focus look on his face.**

Raheem: That voice isn't the voice of a person defeated, that voice is the voice of someone who still believes she can win.

**The camera cuts to the hallway to show Jack, Ciro and Rini running at a good pace. They burst into the Gundam bay to find the entire crew of the Dark-Angel minus of course the Gundam Pilots and Kenny, Thomas and Alan waiting.**

**They all turn their heads at once looking at Jack, Ciro and Rini. Ciro and Rini look surprise to see them actually here. We can also see Zuke, Raheem and Kabira standing in the back of the group. Jack wastes no time**

Jack: Alright listen up everyone as you know all of the Dark-Angel's systems are down forcing us to rely on the Gundams for protection but because the enemy's ship has gotten in so close they're simply overwhelmed and it's obvious they're going to be shot down at this rate so what we're going to do is provide them with cover fire by rewiring then manually aiming the missiles at the enemy ship!

**Jack immediately gets a burst of protest from the crew**

D-crew A: That's impossible!

D-Crew B: Are you nuts!

D-Crew C: There's no freaking way we can do that!

**Jack isn't backing down and cuts them all off**

Jack: Everyone SHUT UP! This isn't a debate, nor is this an option the fact is this is the situation we're in and this is the only thing we can do to help! The door is right there for those of you who think this battle is hopeless for us to win, but I'm staying and fighting to bitter end, even if I have to do it all by myself!

**No one moves or says anything for a moment, finally one crew member steps forward and reluctantly asks**

D-Crew D: What do you want us to do?

**For a moment Jack is also surprise then she smiles.**

Jack: Alright break yourselves up into groups, those of you who think you can rewire the missiles get next to Ciro and those of you who think they can aim it manually get next to Rini, and finally everyone else get next to me.

**Everyone starts moving to either Ciro, Rini, or Jack. Jack quickly says to Ciro and Rini**

Jack: Ciro give these guys a crash course of missile circuitry, Rini give them some pointers on how to manually aim the missiles.

**Ciro and Rini nod their head. Jack turns then points to 5 big strong looking guys.**

Jack: You guys go up to the missile launch tubes and start bringing us down the missiles.

**They nod their head and take off at a run. Jack then turns and faces the small group of people, the 3 groups look pretty evenly divided, gather by her.**

Jack: We're going to be making ramps to launch the missiles off of so pay attention because I'm only going to show you once how to make it!

**Jack then proceeds to grab a couple of hollow pipes and then pulls out a hammer and blowtorch from one of the many pockets of her jean jacket and begins shaping the pipes. Ciro and Rini are also doing what Jack asked them to do. The camera turns to look at Raheem, Zuke, and Kabira.**

Zuke: Since there's still a chance they can win we're not leaving.

**Kabira looks outrage**

Kabira: You think this plan could actually work, are you out of your mind! This plan is crazy and pointless, there's no way it can work!

**Raheem cuts her off**

Raheem: Kabira!

**Raheem's tone of voice is different than before, it's more serious. Kabira looks at him surprise.**

Raheem: I know that what I'm about to ask you might put you in unnecessary risk but I can't help it; Kabira I want to stay and watch how this battle plays out.

**Kabira is even more surprise**

Kabira: Why it's obvious they can't win?

**Raheem is looking at the crew of the Dark-Angel with careful observant eyes.**

Raheem: Because any person or people that can still fight with eyes full of the will to win even in this situation is something worth watching.

**Kabira just looks confused. The camera cuts outside to show Cowboy and La Rouge being shot at from all sides. The camera focuses on La Rouge, we do a quick split screen to show Cagalli gritting her teeth. The screen goes back to normal as a beam bullet hits La Rouge's right arm, the arm that is holding the beam rifle. The arm explodes and the camera once again does another split screen. Cagalli screams in pain**

Cagalli: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

**La Rouge now missing an arm moves its shield to its right in order to protect itself from the incoming enemy sniper beam bullets, that's a mistake, an incoming missile from the enemy ship lands and explodes right in front of La Rouge. La Rouge is sent flying right off the Dark-Angel's leg and lands hard onto the ground.**

**Its left leg has been blown off and its shield is missing. The camera cuts inside La Rouge's cockpit; Cagalli is dazed and shakes her head. We can see a bunch of warning lights going off. We can also see a picture of La Rouge on Cagalli's helmet screen with the damage/missing limbs mark in red. Cagalli quickly takes this all in.**

Cagalli: Damn I've lost La Rouge's right arm and left leg plus I've drop the shield.

**Cagalli waiting for a reply looks at her own right arm**

Cagalli (This NS system is scary as crap, when La Rouge's right arm got shot off it felt like my own arm was shot off and even now I can't feel a thing with it, if I don't keep looking at it I might actually think my arm was shot off.)

**Kenny finally replies**

Kenny: Alright Cagalli there's nothing more you can do try to get back inside the Dark-Angel.

**Cagalli nods her head**

Cagalli: Ok

**The camera cuts to the enemy bridge, Haile is looking pretty confident.**

Crew Member A: Ma'am we have heavily damage one of the Gundams guarding the targets ship, they're retreating back into their own ship.

**Haile nods her head satisfied**

Haile: Good now direct all of our missiles at that final Gundam.

**The camera cuts outside and zooms in on Cowboy; somehow the hail of missiles seems to have gotten even thicker. The camera cuts inside Cowboy's cockpit to show Nick sweating heavily.**

Nick: This isn't good I don't know how much longer I can last.

**The camera cuts back to the Gundam Bay, La Rouge hops inside and goes back to its dock. The camera looks down to show 3 groups, one group of people are rewiring missiles, another group is welding pipes together to make small missile ramps and another group bringing missiles to the rewiring people. Jack is shouting**

Jack: Weld faster come on people let's move!

**The moment La Rouge gets off the Gundam catapult Rini shouts.**

Rini: Alright let's start setting up these missiles and ramps!

**Rini and a small group of people start setting up finish ramps and rewired missiles at the end of the Gundam catapult. Raheem still standing guard by Kabira is taking this all in with watchful eyes.**

Raheem (This crew just moments ago was just nothing more than a bunch of desperate and lazy people trying to get a job with whoever would hire them but now this complete group of strangers are acting like seasoned professional crew. No it's more than that, I can tell that at least half the people here have experience as a solider and there's also a bunch of explosive and mechanical experts here as well. Just what kind of people did that Drake person recruit?)

**Cagalli has exited her Gundam and is looking around confused. She walks over to Jack and is about to say something when Jack cuts her off.**

Jack: No time, ok that's enough ramps, start helping the aimers set up the missiles!

**The people who were welding stop what they're doing and merge with Rini's group. Jack leaves Cagalli standing there and joins Ciro's group. The camera looks back to Rini**

Rini: Listen up we're going to aim for the enemy ship's beam CIWs first, when I say go try to hit as many of them as you can.

**There are about 10 ramps set up, each with 2 people on them. One person aims while the other loads the missile onto the ramp. The camera looks back to Raheem to see him nod his head in approval. Kabira looks at him confused**

Kabira: What?

Raheem: They're aiming the missiles at the enemy's CIWs in order to weaken the enemies' defense. The CIWs are the primary defense against incoming missile, a normal ship would just try to fire so many missiles at the enemy ship that the beam CIWs can't shoot them all down but the Shadow Knights can only fire 10 missiles at any given time so they have to make every shot count. Right now the enemy isn't expecting return missile fire so they probably don't have their beam CIWs program to shot down missiles that's why this first shot is going to count big, if the Shadow Knights can't destroy enough of the enemies beam CIWs then none of their missiles are going to make it through once the enemy programs their CIWs to shoot down incoming missiles.

**Kabira nods her head in understanding**

Kabira: Oh.

**The camera cuts back outside to show how the fight between Nightwing and Shadowkun is doing. Nightwing's head section still looks dented up like crap and we can also see varies cuts all over Nightwing where Shadowkun's sword managed to clip it. **

**There's sparks coming from the cuts from the damage circuits but it doesn't look like Shadowkun manage to cause series damage to any of Nightwing's major systems. **

**Shadowkun is doing another stab attack, follow by a hilt bash, then switching grips on its blade performs a downward stab attack aim at Nightwing's left leg, a right vertical slash attack aim at both of Nightwing's legs (in that order).**

**Nightwing sidesteps left, titles its head right, moves its left leg back, then does a backflip dodging Shadowkun's attacks (in parallel order to Shadowkun's attacks). Nightwing lands some distance away from Shadowkun and has to once again put one hand to the ground in order to stabilize its balance. **

**Nightwing then charges Shadowkun and unlashes a furry of attacks. True to what Zain said earlier Nightwing's attacks seem random and unorganized compared to the well plan and executed attacks of Shadowkun and Shadowkun is having no trouble in dodging all of Nightwing's attacks. The camera cuts into Shadowkun's cockpit to show an extremely irritated Zain.**

Zain (Damn it, this pest is starting to read my attack patterns! It's going to take me even longer now to defeat him, good thing he doesn't have a sword style or else I might be in some trouble. The best course of action to end this fight quick is to get him distracted and then deal a critical blow.)

Zain: Your ships in flames, any moment now it's going to explode.

**Zain smirks**

Zain (He'll turn his head to look at his ship, it's only natural that he'd be concerned about his friends and check if only for a glance and the moment he does I'll finish him.)

**The camera cuts outside to show Nightwing's back is towards the Dark-Angel. Nightwing perform a downward vertical slash attack without hesitation. Shadowkun turns its sword horizontally and blocks the attack with its sword. The camera cuts back into Shadowkun's cockpit to show a shocked Zain.**

Zain: What! You didn't turn to look at your ship!

**Zain grits his teeth**

Zain: I didn't realize you were such a cold person; I'll have to remember that for future strategies.

**The camera cuts outside to show Nightwing and Shadowkun facing off. The camera cuts into Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow grinning.**

Shadow: You've got it wrong, it's not that I don't care about my friends it's that I trust them. It's my guess that you're the leader of the guys attacking us, well I'm the team leader of the Shadow Knights; now I don't know how you recruit your team but for me I only let people I know that can handle themselves on my team. That's why I don't need to look; I already know that my people are kicking your people's asses!

**While Shadow's talking the camera cuts back to the Dark-Angel to show Rini and the other Dark-Angel crew members adjusting the ramps and aiming the missiles. We can see 2 wires sticking out of the side of all the rewired missiles. At the end of his statement Rini shouts.**

Rini: Fire!

**The second person at Rini's ramp takes the 2 wires and connects them making a spark. The missile engine bursts to life and then takes off of the ramp and the episode ends with the missiles heading straight towards the enemy's ship.**


	31. Episode 30

Episode 30

**The episode opens up with a brief recap of Shadow's speech to Zain.**

Shadow: That's why I don't need to look; I already know that my people are kicking your people's asses!

**The camera cuts to the Dark-Angel's Gundam bay to show Rini shouting.**

Rini: Fire!

**The second person connects the 2 circuits, which makes a spark. The missile engine burst to life and then the missile takes off the ramp and heads straight towards the enemy ship. The other 9 missiles do the same. Rini quickly shouts**

Rini: Quickly put another missile on the ramp and launch, if we hurry we can get a second wave off before they even know what hit them!

**The Dark-Angel crew members quickly run and grab new hotwired missiles and put them onto the ramps. The camera cuts to the inside of the enemy ship's bridge, a red light goes off on one of the screens and a crew member shouts**

Crew member B: Incoming missiles!

Haile: What!

**Haile doesn't have any time to think further as the first wave of missiles hit the ship. The camera cuts outside to show a first then second wave of missiles hit the enemy ship stopping it dead in its tracks from firing any more missiles.**

**The camera turns to look at Cowboy, with no missiles coming at it Nick can take a breather. The camera then moves over to the fight with Nightwing and Shadowkun. The camera does a split over Shadowkun to show a shock Zain.**

Zain: My ship!

**The screen goes back to normal as Shadowkun tries to run towards its ship but Nightwing steps in front of Shadowkun and does a left horizontal slash. Shadowkun is force to jump back. The camera cuts into Nightwing's cockpit to show a grinning Shadow.**

Shadow: Sorry but you're going to have to defeat me first before you can go and help your ship.

**The camera cuts to Shadowkun's cockpit to show a pissed off Zain**

Zain: Why you little brat!

**The camera cuts outside to show Shadowkun charge Nightwing. The camera moves back over to the enemy ship to show a third wave of missiles hit it. The camera cuts inside the enemy ship's bridge, Haile and the others are getting rocked from the missile explosions. Haile looks pissed and snaps**

Haile: Where did those missiles come from?

**One of the crew members typing at his computer says hardly believing himself.**

Crew Member B: It came from the target's ship.

**Haile is even more shocked**

Haile: What, how is that possible there's no way they could have finish the reprograming this quickly?

**A Fourth wave of missiles hits the ship. After the shockwave passes the crew member shrugs his shoulder and says**

Crew member: They must have rewired the missiles and then fire them manually.

**Haile gritting her teeth snaps**

Haile: Fine, have the beam CIWs shoot down incoming missiles then return fire with our own missiles!

**One of the crew members begin shaking their head**

Crew Member C: I can't, the missiles have destroyed 70 percent

**A fifth wave hits**

Crew Member C: Now 80 percent of our beam CIWs we can shoot them down.

**Haile now even more pissed off**

Haile: Damn! Start evasive maneuvers!

Crew Member B: We won't be able to return fire with missiles if we're doing evasive maneuvers.

**Haile snaps**

Haile: I know that but it beats being dead!

**The camera cuts outside to show the enemy ship moving in a zigzag pattern back and forth between the mountains. The camera cuts back to the Gundam bay of the Dark-Angel, Rini shouts**

Rini: This is it we've got them on the defensive, keep up the hail of missiles and don't give them a chance to counter attack!

**The camera cuts back outside to the right side mountain to show the enemy Gundam snipers that Cagalli was keeping busy. The camera cuts inside one of the cockpits to show a Pilot.**

Sniper Pilot: Quickly let's attack the targets ship and give our own ship cover!

**The camera cuts back outside, suddenly we hear a loud roar from above, confused the enemy sniper Gundams look up to see Quanlier falling/charging straight at them. The camera cuts inside Quanlier's cockpit to show Roxas.**

Roxas: Mountain tiger pounce!

**The camera cuts back outside to show Quanlier landing on one of the enemy sniper Gundams and tearing it to shreds in seconds with its beam claws, and before any of the other Gundams can blink an eye Quanlier pounces towards another one. The camera once again cuts inside Quanlier's cockpit to show a pissed off Roxas.**

Roxas: This is for ruining my perfect seduction scheme!

**The camera cuts back outside and moves to the left side mountain. The 5 remaining enemy Gundam snipers are still firing at Cowboy when a beam bullet hits one of them square in the chest. The camera turns to look back at Cowboy then cuts inside Cowboy's cockpit to show a tick off Nick.**

Nick: It's not so much fun when I can shoot back is it mate!

**The camera cuts back outside to show Cowboy hit another 2 Gundam snipers before the final 2 duck behind cover. The camera cuts to inside the Dark-Angel's bridge and looks over Kenny's shoulder to see 93 percent restored on his screen. Kenny is whispering to himself**

Kenny: Come on, come on just a little more.

**The camera cuts to the Gundam bay on the Dark-Angel, Rini and the others are constantly moving the ramps to adjust their shot.**

Rini: Left 2 centimeters and down one millimeter.

**Rini fires another missile. The camera looks towards the enemy ship to see that despite moving in an evasive motion their ship is still getting hit by missiles. The camera cuts inside the enemy's bridge to show Haile gritting her teeth.**

Haile: Damn it those missiles are more accurate than if they were fire from a launcher, where the hell are my sniper teams!

Crew Member A: Ma'am Sniper Team A has been completely wiped out by the target's Gundams.

**While he's talking the camera cuts outside to show Cowboy shoot down the last enemy Gundam Sniper on its side. The camera cuts back to the enemy bridge to show a shocked Haile.**

Haile: What!

**Crew Member A has more bad news**

Crew Member A: And a new unknown Gundam has begun attacking Sniper team B.

**Haile snaps**

Haile: Bring it up on the main monitor!

**The main monitor blinks then shows Quanlier kicking ass. Quanlier is claw slashing and biting the enemy Gundams left and right. The Sniper Gundams are trying to point their beam sniper rifles at it but their guns are too big and Quanlier is too fast. Crew Member B exclaims**

Crew Member B: That's an animal type Gundam, where did it come from?

**Haile already knows**

Haile: Damn it, that first Gundam that launch we just assume was another Basic Original and then completely forget about it.

**Crew member C concern asks**

Crew Member C: Ma'am the animal type Gundam is more maneuverable then our sniper type Gundams, in close combat like this they can't hope to win! What are we going to do?

**Haile is gritting her teeth thinking**

Haile: Damn it we were winning, how the hell did this happen? Prepare to fire Positron Blast Cannon at the target's ship!

**This gets all of the crew member's attention, many of them look surprise and concern about this.**

Crew Member B: Ma'am isn't that a little bit of overkill?

Crew Member A: Yea, and besides that there's a high possibly that we might accidently destroy one of the surrounding mountains causing a rockslide.

**Haile has heard enough**

Haile: Don't you people understand the situation we're in! We are about to lose this battle if we don't do something quick, do you have any idea how humiliating it would be to lose to a ship that can't even move! Now shut up and fire the Positron Blast Cannon!

**Crew member A looks reluctant by none the less turns around and begins typing on his computer.**

Crew Member A: Preparing to fire Positron Blast Cannon.

**The camera cuts outside to show the enemy ship's positron Cannon be reveal from the secret compartment and begin gathering energy. The camera cuts to the Dark-Angel's bridge and once again looks over Kenny's shoulder. This time the screen read 98 percent restored.**

Kenny: Almost there, almost there.

**The camera cuts to the Gundam bay, Jack's eyes pop open in shock when she sees the cannon.**

Jack: That's a Positron Blast Cannon!

**Everyone looks panic**

Kabira: We have to get off the ship!

Raheem: We won't get far enough away in time!

Rini: Everyone aim your missiles at it; try to destroy it before it fires!

**Rini and the others start trying to fire their missiles at the Positron Blast Cannon but that's not going to work. The camera cuts back to the battle between Shadowkun and Nightwing, Shadowkun does a right downward diagonal slash attack, Nightwing jumps back dodging it. The camera cuts into Shadowkun's cockpit**

Zain (So Haile has decided to use the Positron Blast Cannon, well this battle has started going downhill for us; better to take off the kiddy gloves now before we find ourselves in some series trouble.)

**The camera cuts back outside to show Nightwing do an upward vertical beam slash attack. Shadowkun quickly sidesteps it then taking a step forward delivers a hilt bash uppercut attack. Nightwing gets knock back, the camera cuts back into Shadowkun's cockpit to show a slightly surprise Zain.**

Zain (This guy isn't even looking at his ship, to think he has so much faith in his comrades. It's hard to tell if that's an admirable quality or a foolish one, either way it doesn't matter because I'm still going to kill him!)

**The camera cuts to the enemy ship's bridge, Haile is ready.**

Haile: Let's end this, Fire.

**The camera cuts outside to show the Positron Blast Cannon fire. The camera quickly cuts to the Dark-Angel's bridge and once again looks over Kenny's shoulder to watch as the screen shows 99 percent to 100 percent restored. Kenny shouts as all the monitors and power turns on.**

Kenny: Done!

**Thomas says in the same breath, only with a more musical tone of voice**

Thomas: Activating energy shield now!

**The camera cuts outside to show the energy shield turn on and surround the Dark-Angel just as the Positron Blast is about to hit. The shield is bluish and surrounds the Dark-Angel like a bubble. The Positron Blast hits the energy shield and violently shakes the ship. **

**The Dark-Angel is force back some but the shield holds and the Positron Blast never directly hits the ship. The camera cuts inside the Dark-Angel's bridge to show Alan excitedly pulling the steering wheel towards himself.**

Alan: Alright, let's get this baby moving.

**The camera cuts outside to show the Dark-Angel's engine kick on. The Dark-Angel slowly rises into the air, its shield still fully activated. The camera cuts back to the enemy ship's bridge to show a shocked Haile.**

Haile: An energy shield? No freaking way.

**The camera cuts to inside the Gundam bay on the Dark-Angel, Rini, Cagalli and the others seem equally shocked.**

Rini: We're still alive?

**Rini is surprise. Raheem figures it out**

Raheem: It would appear that this ship comes with an energy shield.

**Cagalli turns to look at him surprise**

Cagalli: An energy shield?

**Jack is the only one that isn't surprise. She quickly runs to a computer terminal attach to a wall. She hits a few buttons and Kenny's face pops up**

Jack: Kenny fire the Linear Cannons at the enemy ship now!

**Kenny nods his head**

Kenny: Right.

**The camera cuts outside to show the Dark-Angel's linear Cannons come out, then fire at the enemy ship. The camera cuts inside the enemy ship's bridge to show a crew member shout**

Crew Member: Incoming

**He doesn't get any further as the linear cannon balls hit the ship. The camera cuts outside to show a huge explosion, the camera looks over to Shadowkun. Upon hearing the explosion Shadowkun turns its head to look at its ship. The camera cuts inside Shadowkun's cockpit to show a shocked Zain.**

Zain: Impossible.

**Zain notices too late Shadow's attack. The camera cuts outside to show Nightwing perform a downward vertical beam slash attack. Shadowkun tries to sidestep right but it's a second too slow. Nightwing cuts off Shadowkun's right arm (the arm that's holding its sword).**

**The camera quickly cuts inside Shadowkun's cockpit to show Zain howl in pain then cuts back outside. Shadowkun is backing up trying to get some distance from itself and Nightwing. Nightwing isn't going to let that happen, seeing weakness Nightwing relentlessly chases after Shadowkun.**

**Nightwing is unleashing a furry of beam saber slash attacks at Shadowkun. Shadowkun is dodging them but it looks like it's having more trouble them normal. The camera cuts into Shadowkun's cockpit to show a pissed off Zain.**

Zain (Damn it how could I let myself get distracted!)

**The camera cuts outside to show Nightwing perform a right horizontal slash attack. Shadowkun jumps to the ground and rolls over to its severed arm and rips its sword out of the dead limb. Nightwing chases after Shadowkun and performs a downward vertical beam slash. **

**Shadowkun blocks with its sword by turning its sword horizontally. Nightwing proceeds to attack and Shadowkun continues to block with its sword but the tables have turn. Shadowkun's blocks are now as sloppy as Nightwing's attack. The camera once again cuts into Shadowkun's cockpit to show Zain gritting his teeth.**

Zain (Arrr this isn't good, I'm right handed and I can't use my Rukovat' sword fighting style with my left hand)

**Zain thinks for a moment more than says**

Zain: Haile.

**We see Haile pop up on Zain's helmet screen**

Haile: Sir.

**Zain says a reluctant voice**

Zain: Haile fire 3 more missiles at the target's ship then unleash the smoke screen, we're withdrawing.

**Haile eyes pop open**

Haile: No, Sir we can still

**Zain snaps**

Zain: Haile we have lost this battle, there's nothing more we can do to win so just follow my orders!

**Haile reluctantly says**

Haile: Yes Sir.

**Haile screen disappears as Zain turns to face Shadow. The camera cuts back to the Dark-Angel's bridge; Jack, Cagalli, Rini, Ciro, Raheem, Kabira and even Zuke walk in. Rini and Ciro go to their respective terminals and Cagalli, Raheem, Kabira and Zuke stay towards the back. Jack prefers pacing**

Jack: What's the energy shield's power level?

**Thomas answers in a cheerful mood**

Thomas: Fa-Fa 62 percent La-La-La.

A** red light starts flashing at Rini's terminal**

Rini: Incoming missiles.

**Jack doesn't have time to react (just in case you're wondering why the people don't seem to have time to react I like to point out that the ships are ready close together, a lot more than normal and in case you're wondering why they're so close together Haile thought they were safe since the Dark-Angel couldn't operate any of its systems)**

**The camera cuts outside to show 3 missiles hit the energy shield of the Dark-Angel. The camera cuts back inside the Dark-Angel's bridge. There's some slight vibrations but nowhere near as violent or as many as when the missile hit the ship directly. Thomas says**

Thomas: 61% now La-La-La.

**Alan eyes open wide in surprise**

Alan: Whoa smokescreen.

**Jack surprise snaps**

Jack: What? Bring it on the main monitor.

**The main monitor blinks then shows the smokescreen. Jack quickly says**

Jack: Move us back, that way we have more time to respond in case they attack us.

**Alan nods his head**

Alan: Ok.

**Alan moves the wheel down. The camera cuts outside to show the Dark-Angel move away from the smokescreen. The camera looks over to Nightwing and Shadowkun, Shadowkun does a left horizontal slash in order to get some space from Nightwing.**

**Nightwing jumps back. The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow breathing heavily, sweat is coming off his face like rain, he's close to reaching his limit. Shadow has notice the smokescreen**

Shadow: *pant* what's going on? *pant*

**Zain pops up oh his helmet screen**

Zain: Hey brat, what's your name?

**Shadow looks surprise but takes a breath and says in a voice full of pride**

Shadow: I am the great, the almighty, the awesome Shadow Zoomarey Team Leader of the Shadow Knights and someday I'm going to be the greatest Gundam Pilot this world has ever seen!

**The camera cuts into Shadowkun's cockpit. Zain looks momentary surprise at Shadow's introduction then laughs**

Zain: HAHAHAHA Greatest Gundam Pilot this world has ever seen, HAHAHAHAHA like that's ever going to happen!

**Shadow looks annoyed at Zain. Zain takes a breath then says**

Zain: However you did manage to force me to withdraw, although that's due more to me underestimating you then you beating me in skill but a lost is still a lost so I'll let you know that my name is Zain as your reward. Remember it because next time I'm coming at you at full power!

**Zain says this in a spiteful voice. The camera cuts outside to show Shadowkun withdraw into the smokescreen. The camera then cuts back into Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow surprised.**

Shadow: Hey wait! Get back here this fight isn't over!

**Shadow yells at the retreating Zain. The camera cuts back outside to show Nightwing trying to chase Shadowkun into the smokescreen but before Nightwing can even get into the smokescreen beam bullets come out of the smokescreen and hit the area in-front and around Nightwing.**

**Nightwing is force to stop. The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show a frustrated Shadow.**

Shadow: Damn it!

**The camera cuts back to the bridge of the Dark-Angel, Jack can sense something wrong.**

Jack: What's going on, why aren't they attacking?

**Raheem adds**

Raheem: If they were going to attack they would have done it by now.

**Kenny quickly says**

Kenny: The smokescreen is clearing.

**All eyes turn to the main monitor. The camera cuts outside to show the smokescreen clear to reveal no enemy ship. The camera cuts back to inside the Dark-Angel's bridge to show surprise looks on everybody's faces.**

Raheem: The smokescreen wasn't part of their attacking strategy it was part of their retreat strategy.

**Raheem says thinking out loud. Alan still shocked asks**

Alan: So does that mean we won?

**Shadow's loud voice booms into the bridge**

Shadow: Of course we won! Those idiots had no idea they were messing with the great Shadow Knights!

**Kenny jumps out of his seat startled by Shadow, he quickly gets back into his seat and starts typing at his computer.**

Kenny: Shadow isn't possible they've retreat into the shadows and are at this moment trying to put themselves into a better position to attack us?

**Zuke steps forward and answers this one**

Zuke: That's unlikely, we taken out most of their Gundams, if they had any more they would have sent them at the moment they felt the battle begin to turn against them. Plus their ship received heavy damage from our attacks; they'll need to repair them first before they can attack again.

Ciro: Then let's pursue and finish them!

**Ciro says this in a blood thirstily way. Cagalli looks at him outraged.**

Cagalli: You want to attack people that have already given up and are no longer a threat to us. That'll only lead to hatred and murder!

**Rini however is considering it**

Rini: It makes sense, after all what's to stop them from attacking us again once they repair and gotten more Gundams?

**Thomas sings**

Thomas: To be killed or to kill tis a hard life we lived.

**Cagalli still looks outraged. Jack steps in and settles the conversation**

Jack: Why're not going to purse them, our own ship and Gundams are in need of some series repairs, Alan find a good hiding spot and land us.

**Rini and Ciro look slightly outraged. Alan nods his**

Alan: Got you.

**Ciro quickly comments**

Ciro: Now hold on you can't

**Jack turns on him like a mad dog that's been poke with a stick, a mad dog with sharp teeth.**

Ciro: Shadow made me the temporary Captain, so I do have the right, plus Shadow who I might add is the one in charge agrees with me right!

**Jack turns to eye Shadow on the main monitor. Shadow slightly afraid nods his head**

Shadow: Um right!

**Jack nods her head**

Jack: Good now does anyone else have any complaints!

**Jack dares anyone to challenge her, no one is that stupid, and Jack satisfied turns to Kenny.**

Jack: Kenny contact Roxas and Nick and tell them to come back to the Dark-Angel and that goes for you too Shadow!

**Shadow sighs knowing he can't win**

Shadow: Fine.

**Jack is about to walk away when Raheem asks**

Raheem: What are you going to do about the enemy safety pods?

**When a Gundam is destroyed or when the cockpit is about to be pierced a safety Pod quickly pops up and surrounds the pilot protecting him. In this case Raheem is talking about the defeated enemy sniper Gundam Pilots. Ciro says quite seriously**

Ciro: We should just execute them.

**Zuke nods his head in agreement**

Zuke: They wanted to fight us now they have to pay the price.

**Cagalli looks at them horrified but Shadow quickly says**

Shadow: No one's executing anyone, Kenny call the local cops or however is in charge of this kind of crap and let them deal with it.

**Kenny nods his head**

Kenny: Already on it.

**Ciro lets this one go but Zuke looks at Shadow slightly annoyed**

Zuke: You know that's a childish excuse, an enemy should be dealt with right on the spot.

**Cagalli, Jack, Kenny, Alan, Thomas, and Kabira are shocked by Zuke's merciless attitude. Shadow isn't backing down**

Shadow: Yea well I'm Team Leader so tough!

**Shadow cuts the communication line. Zuke looks at the main monitor for a moment more than shrugs uncaringly.**

Zuke: Whatever.

**Jack taking charge again**

Jack: Ok I'm going to go down to the Gundam bay and start taking a look at what needs to be fixed.

**Jack turns and walks out of the bridge. Cagalli quickly follows**

Jack: Oh and one more thing.

**Jack in the blink of an eye pulls out her wrench from her jean jacket and whacks Cagalli in the head. Cagalli shouts in pain and begins to rub the growing lump on her head.**

Cagalli: OWWWWWWWWWWWWW

**Cagalli glares at Jack and snaps**

Cagalli: What the heck was that for!

**Jack snaps back**

Jack: For getting my Gundam's arm and leg blown off, do you realize how much work I have to do now!

**The scene ends with Cagalli blushing in embarrassment as Jack marches off. The next scene opens up in the Gundam bay, we can see that Cowboy and Quanlier have already dock and Nightwing is the last to get in.**

**Shadow exits Nightwing and taking off his helmet walks over to Roxas, Nick, Jack and Cagalli. Jack and Roxas are talking about something**

Roxas: How is it my fault that your communications signal couldn't get through to Quanlier?

**Jack annoyed says**

Jack: You could have told us first that you were going to climb the mountains and attack the sniper Gundams from above.

**Nick nods his head in agreement**

Nick: She's right mate, don't get me wrong your plan was a good one but it would have been nice if you had let us know about it.

**Roxas is starting to look annoyed and is about to say something when Shadow steps in.**

Shadow: Guys we shouldn't be fighting, who cares about the details we won! So Roxas how about a victory kiss?

**Roxas looks at Shadow bored**

Roxas: Um no, winning doesn't make you interesting.

**Shadow goes to cry to himself in the corner for a minute. One of the Dark-Angel crew members ask**

D-crew member: Um I hate to interrupt but you kind of call us here for something.

**Jack, Shadow, Nick, Roxas and Cagalli turn surprise to find the entire crew of the Dark-Angel gathered in the Gundam bay. Jack suddenly remembers**

Jack: Oh that's right, I called and told everyone to meet us here so that I can break them into repair groups and scavenger groups.

**Cagalli looks at Jack confused**

Cagalli: Scavenger group?

**Jack nods her head**

Jack: Well yea, we can scavenge some parts from then Sniper Gundams you guys destroyed.

**Thanks to the Gundam hatch still being open Nick can see the sun setting outside.**

Nick: It's getting close to night mate; I don't think it'd be safe to send them out.

**Roxas nods her head and says**

Roxas: The Squjhgi mountain lions live in this area, and are active at night plus they can be pretty territorial.

**Jack doesn't want to admit it but she can't help but agree with them. Shadow jumps into the conversation.**

Shadow: Besides Jack we have something more important that we need to take care of first.

**Jack looks at Shadow confused. Cagalli folding her arms asks skeptical**

Cagalli: Oh and what might that be?

**Shadow ignores her and hops onto one of the lifts and begins to address the crew of the Dark-Angel.**

Shadow: Everyone as Team Leader of the Shadow Knights I declare we party to celebrate our first victory and an awesome victory if I do say so myself!

**Shadow receives a roar of applause and shouts of approval from the crew. Everyone immediately takes off, some have gone to get food while others are setting up a huge stereo. Cagalli has her arms folded and is tapping her foot in annoyance.**

Cagalli: Really, a party?

**She says to Shadow, Shadow now looks slightly annoyed.**

Shadow: Yea, why not. They all worked hard today and besides our first victory as a crew should be celebrated.

**Cagalli is still annoyed**

Cagalli: You idiot we still have a lot of work to do, we have to repair the Gundams and ship! What happens if we're attack while partying, not only will the crew be tired from the overeating and dancing but they'll also be out of their combat positions and drunk.

**Cagalli says the last part while glaring disapprovingly at a keg of beer someone must have brought up. There's already a line for it, music is blasting now from the speakers they set up, and people are already in the process of setting up a buffet. Nick also seeing the beer asks with some surprise to Jack**

Nick: I didn't know we had kegs of beer onboard the Dark-Angel mate.

**Jack is also surprise**

Jack: We didn't, one of our new crew members must have sneaked it on.

**Roxas is looking around excitedly**

Roxas: Well I agree with Shadow, a party is a great idea.

**Cagalli looks at Roxas annoyed**

Cagalli: You would agree.

**Shadow happy that he's won slaps Cagalli on the back.**

Shadow: You need to loosen up Cagalli, relax, enjoy, have some fun, and drink some beer.

**Cagalli not loosening up snaps**

Cagalli: For the last time the universal drinking age is 23 and I'm 19 and unlike you law breakers I respect and follow the rules.

**Shadow has had enough**

Shadow: Fine, then you can stand here and work on the ship and do the whole responsible thing by yourself while the rest of us go party and have fun.

**Shadow turns and begins to walk towards the beer. Jack, Roxas and Nick follow after a moment leaving a surprise Cagalli alone. After a moment's hesitation Cagalli reluctantly follows in defeat.**

Cagalli: Oh fine, I'll dance and eat a little but I'm not drinking!

**Shadow, Nick, Roxas and Jack wait for Cagalli to catch up, smiling Shadow says.**

Shadow: Baby steps Cagalli baby steps.

**Cagalli looks at Shadow annoyed but doesn't say anything. The camera cuts forward in time, the party's in full swing. Rini and Ciro are at buffet table getting food, Thomas is on a makeshift stage and is singing a song while playing a violin. **

**Shadow, Cagalli, Roxas, Jack, Nick and Kenny are sitting at a table staring at their "food". Their food looks like a pile of slop. Cagalli says somewhat surprise**

Cagalli: Ok I've seen and eaten military ration food before but this is just a whole new level of disgusting.

**Roxas playing with her food**

Roxas: I've seen rabbits eat better than this.

**Shadow staying optimistic**

Shadow: Maybe it just looks disgusting and tastes great.

**Shadow tries a spoon full, everyone looks at him expectedly**

Kenny: Well?

**The next second Shadow is on the floor rolling around coughing**

Shadow: *cough, cough, cough, cough* water *cough, cough, cough* water!

**Kenny quickly hands Shadow his beer. Shadow gulfs it down, and uses it to rinse his mouth out, while he's doing that Jack says**

Jack: Oh come on you've got to be overacting. Come on guys, let's stop acting like a bunch of babies.

**Encourage by Jack and before Shadow can stop them, Cagalli, Roxas, Kenny and Nick all take a bite of their slop. Jack acts like she's going to but stops short and instead watches the others reaction. Everyone's face turns green and they quickly spit out their food and wash out their mouth with water. Shadow recover now says**

Shadow: I tried to warn you guys, I tried.

**Jack looks at her food then pushes it away**

Jack: Wow I guess it really must be bad, good thing Drake gave us like 10 boxes of ramen. No one could screw that up, although after a couple of days it's going to get tiring…...Um what?

**Jack finally notices the glares coming from Cagalli, Roxas and Kenny. Cagalli says accusingly**

Cagalli: You trick us into eating this first to see if Shadow was overreacting.

**Jack makes no effort to deny it**

Jack: Well duh, I'm a growing girl I have to make sure what I'm eating is healthy for me.

**Roxas is pissed**

Roxas: That could have poisoned me!

Kenny: It tasted like poisoned!

**Jack shrugs still not caring**

Jack: Don't blame me; blame yourselves for not being smart enough to do it first or figure it out and I suppose you could blame the cook too.

**Nick nods his head vigorously and turning to Shadow says**

Nick: Yea mate, you seriously need to fire the cook and get a new one.

**Shadow rolls his eyes**

Shadow: Yea I'll add that to the list, right after Captain.

**Kenny says jokingly**

Kenny: I don't know, Jack seems to be doing a great job as Captain maybe we should just make her permanent Captain?

**Jack isn't going for it**

Jack: Absolutely not, do you any idea how much paper work Captains have to do, work reports, supply reports, performance reports, plus lots and lots of billing work. The stack of papers you have to go through as Captain is about as high as ruler is tall.

**Shadow smiling and taking another sip of his beer says**

Shadow: Well until I find a Captain I appreciate your hard work.

**Jack drinks some of her drink**

Jack: Oh I didn't do it; I left it on bed in the room I gave you.

**Shadow spits out his drink**

Shadow: WHAT!

**Jack nods her head**

Jack: Yea, I agree to only act as Captain during battles not during everyday things, so as Team Leader you have to do the paper work until you hire a Captain.

**Shadow looks very depressed now. Cagalli ignoring Shadow completely says**

Cagalli: Speaking of Captain, I think you should have more people watching the bridge instead of just Alan.

**Kenny looks at Cagalli annoyed**

Kenny: Hey, bridge crew people deserve a break too.

**Cagalli realizes she's hurt Kenny's feelings**

Cagalli: Oh sorry.

**Nick asks**

Nick: But why'd you make Alan stay behind mate?

**Shadow shrugs**

Shadow: I didn't, I invited him to come down but he volunteered himself to stay at the bridge, I brought him a beer a little while ago and he seemed fine.

**While Shadow's talking the camera cuts to the bridge to show Alan sitting in his seat drinking beer by himself in the dark with only the light of the computer screens. He's moving his wheelchair which is next to his seat back and forth. **

**The camera cuts back to the Gundam bay and focuses on Ciro and Rini, they're eyeing the food looking for something edible. Rini begins making conversation**

Rini: Not that I have many jobs to compare this too but I'd say almost getting killed on my first day of work was rather interesting.

**Ciro poking at some slop on the table nods his head**

Ciro: I'd agree with that.

**Rini turns to eye Ciro**

Rini: I'd also say that the way you handle that missile was very impressive, definitely high class training, in a military I assume?

**Ciro sees what Rini is getting at and turns the table**

Ciro: Actually I'm more along the lines of self-taught but the fact that you're carrying around a high power sniper rifle on your back is also greatly interesting, is it military grade?

**Ciro is referring to the item completely wrap in cloth that Rini is either always carrying on her back or is in hand distance when working at her terminal. Rini slightly stiffens when Ciro mentions her gun but plays it off. She smiles at Ciro**

Rini: That's very observant of you being able to tell all that about my gun even though I keep it completely wrap in cloth, whatever line of work you did must have required you to be able to make fast observations or else.

**Ciro returns Rini's smile**

Ciro: Let's not talk about the past, after all I think this future with the Shadow Knights should be interesting if nothing us.

**Ciro and Rini turn to look at Shadow and the others. Rini nods her head in agreement**

Rini: Look at them sitting over there and laughing like new born children, I wonder if they have any idea the world they're stepping into?

**The camera once again cuts forward in time, Shadow, Kenny, Jack, and Roxas are dancing on the makeshift dance floor. Nick is talking with Ciro and Rini, Cagalli is also talking to some of the non-dancing crew members. Shadow begins to walk over to a water cooler**

Shadow: I need a drink, don't start without me.

**Kenny, Jack, Roxas and several other crew members are setting up cups all over the floor.**

Jack: Hurry up.

**Shadow waves her off and gets a glass of water, as he gets a glass of water he notices Raheem and Kabira standing out of the circle of celebration. Raheem looks like any professional bodyguard observant for any threats and focus. **

**Kabira looks like any child that's watching her neighbor's birthday party but wasn't invited sad and lonely. Shadow after watching them for a moment walks over to them.**

Shadow: The whole threatening aura you're admitting is practically screaming stay away from me but it's not very helpful when there's a party going on.

**Kabira eyes Shadow annoyed**

Kabira: To bad it's not working correctly or else you won't have come over.

**Shadow smiles and shrugs uncaringly**

Shadow: Well I am a Gundam Fighter.

**Raheem looks mildly amused**

Raheem: So you are.

**Shadow goes on**

Shadow: Raheem you don't strike me as the kind of guy to do parties but Kabira why don't you join me and the guys in a game of rubber floor ball of doom.

**Kabira looks at Shadow like he's an idiot**

Kabira: Rubber floor ball of doom?

**Shadow still grinning nods his head**

Shadow: Yea me and the guys just made it up so you in or what?

**Kabira looks hesitant to drop her guard. She looks to Raheem who smiles gently at her.**

Raheem: Go on, have fun.

**Kabira smiles at him, a smile full of joy then turns to Shadow.**

Kabira: Alright since I don't have anything better to do I'll accept your invitation Mr. Zoomarey.

**Kabira trying to down play Shadow's invitation fails when she can't stop smiling. Shadow playing along**

Shadow: Oh well I'm honor Miss *slight pause* Kabira.

**Kabira smirks at him**

Kabira: Sorry that doesn't work when you don't know my last name.

**Kabira walks over to Roxas and the others. Shadow gritting his teeth follows. The camera stays on Raheem for a moment, after a moment Raheem says**

Raheem: You know we don't have any intention of leaving now so you don't have to keep watching us.

**Zuke comes out of the shadows but is still partially hidden**

Zuke: Like I said I have yet to fail a mission and being careful is how I've achieved that so I'll do what I want natural.

**Raheem asks**

Raheem: Are you going to inform your comrades about how we almost abandon ship and left you guys to die?

Zuke: Like I said earlier they aren't my comrades they're a means to an end and I don't have to tell them crap.

**With that Zuke retreats back into the shadows. We enter slideshow mode, we see Shadow, Roxas, Kenny, and Jack drinking, dancing and playing games with a rubber bouncy ball. Kabira is also playing the games and dancing but Raheem isn't letting her drink). Cagalli and Nick also dance a little but they mostly just talk to the other crew members. **

**The camera goes back to normal and cuts forward in time. The party is winding down, must people are sleeping on the floor are about ready to call it quits. Cagalli sees Kabira collapse asleep at a table, smiling Cagalli picks her up and leans her against a wall away from the aftermath of the party.**

Raheem: Thank you.

**Surprise Cagalli turns to see Raheem walking up behind her. Raheem has a blanket and places it over Kabira.**

Cagalli: No problem.

**Cagalli watching how gently Raheem covers her with the blanket and how happy Kabira looks sleeping comments**

Cagalli: She seemed to have a lot of fun tonight.

**Raheem is slightly smiling**

Raheem: I'm glad, Kabira is naturally shy and has always had trouble making friends, plus the constant traveling and danger has made little room in her life for moments like this.

**Cagalli nods her head**

Cagalli: I can understand.

**Cagalli gets a faraway look in her eye as she thinks about her own childhood. Raheem watching her goes on**

Raheem: I hate this, this is the problem of us the old ones we shouldn't be involving the young into it. It's okay for me to live like this, after all it's my choice and my childhood has already come and gone but Miss Kabira is still young. She shouldn't be in this situation she should be hanging out with friends worrying about guys not running around and almost getting killed. She deserves a childhood!

**Cagalli watching Kabira now says**

Cagalli: I'm sure it was her choice; she's doing this for her country her people.

**Raheem now seems slightly angry**

Raheem: What choice, it was practically forced upon her, from birth she's been an outsider from kids her own age so she has nothing to compare her life too, plus with the guilt people put on her if she doesn't give everything to help her country it'd be unbearable for her kind heart to handle, so how could she have made a choice when only one option was explain, no acceptable!

**Cagalli can't say anything to this, people watching this should wonder if they're still talking about Kabira. Raheem sensing Cagalli's unease apologizes**

Raheem: Forgive me for burdening you with this, after all you're not that much older than Kabira.

**Cagalli is offended by this. Raheem realizing this quickly says**

Raheem: Well to me anyway, and besides shouldn't you be passed out on the floor with your buddies over there?

**Raheem nods toward the sleeping figures of Kenny, Jack, and Roxas. Cagalli gives a little laugh**

Cagalli: HA If I drank beer like they did.

**Raheem laughs along. Cagalli after a moment realizes Shadow isn't among the sleeping figures on the floor.**

Cagalli: Huh, that's weird where's Shadow?

**Raheem answers**

Raheem: Oh him, I last saw him going outside a little while ago he said he was going to go watch the stars.

**Cagalli nods her head**

Cagalli: Oh

**The camera cuts outside, Shadow is laying down on top of the bridge of the Dark-Angel watching the stars, suddenly we hear and see Cagalli climb up.**

Cagalli: You know going onto the roof of the place Drake was letting us stay at was unsafe but this is just ridiculous. I mean how high up are we anyway?

**Cagalli crawls over to where Shadow is laying and lays down next to him. Shadow smirking says**

Shadow: If you're watching stars then you got to do it from a high place or else you lose some of the effect.

Cagalli: I see.

**After a moment of silence as they both watch the stars Shadow says**

Shadow: I'm surprise you haven't asked about the energy shield.

**Cagalli looks at Shadow for a moment then says**

Cagalli: I was trying to figure out how to ask without sounding like an idiot or crazy.

**Shadow still smiling says**

Shadow: Well lucky for you I don't mind sounding like an idiot, I ask Jack and you don't have to worry. The original Archangel Class blueprints didn't come with a shield, it was a modification that Jack's older brother added.

Cagalli: Oh.

**When Cagalli doesn't leave after a moment Shadow says**

Shadow: You know if I wanted to talk to you guys I would have say something back in the Gundam bay.

**Cagalli is annoyed**

Cagalli: How rude, as a matter of fact I have my own problems to think about, you don't own the sky.

Shadow: Oh

**After another moment Shadow asks**

Shadow: What are they?

**Cagalli replies**

Cagalli: You first.

**After another moment Shadow slowly says**

Shadow: I hate that feeling.

**Cagalli looks at him curious**

Cagalli: What feeling?

**Shadow clenches his fist**

Shadow: That feeling of not being able to touch my opponent.

**Cagalli is confused**

Cagalli: Huh?

**Shadow explains**

Shadow: That feeling I get that I am so beneath my opponent in terms of skill that I can't even touch them. I hated that feeling when I fought the Warden, I hated that feeling when I fought Drake and I hated even more today when I fought that Zain guy.

**Cagalli is surprise**

Cagalli: But you beat him today.

**Shadow spits out**

Shadow: Only out of luck, I'm tired of winning all my battles because of some luckily break that happens at the end of the fight! I want to win with my own 2 hands, with my own strength with my own power! When I become the greatest Gundam Fighter ever I want to know that I did it because of my power and determination not because I'm the luckiest bastard on the planet.

**Cagalli thinking about this says**

Cagalli: You know most people wouldn't care about how they achieve their dream.

**Shadow still staring intently at the stars**

Shadow: Well I'm not most people.

**Cagalli smiles as she says**

Cagalli: You're certainly not.

**After a moment of silence Shadow asks**

Shadow: So what about you?

**Cagalli answers**

Cagalli: Choices. I'm thinking about choices and how we make them.

**Shadow senses that Cagalli doesn't want to talk about this and doesn't push any further. They continue looking at the stars a little longer then Cagalli asks**

Cagalli: You think they'll attack again?

**Shadow answers without hesitation**

Shadow: Yes.

**Cagalli is obviously uneasy about this. Shadow smiling at her says**

Shadow: But you know what, we survive today so we can definitely survive tomorrow.

**Cagalli looks at Shadow for a moment then smiles back**

Cagalli: You're right.

**The episode ends with the camera looking up at the night sky.**


	32. Episode 31

Episode 31

**The episode opens up outside the Dark-Angel, the sun is high in the sky and we can see some of the crew working to repair the ship. The camera cuts inside the bridge of the Dark-Angel.**

Shadow: I'm so bored!

**Shadow is laying upside down in the captain's chair. We can see Kenny, Ciro and Rini working at their respective terminals. Kenny slightly annoyed asks**

Kenny: Well why don't you do something about it?

**Ciro and Rini ignore Shadow and continue on with their work. Shadow still lying upside down says**

Shadow: I would but I don't know what to do.

**Kenny typing on his computer while talking to Shadow says**

Kenny: Well why don't you help Jack with the repairs to the ship or your Gundam?

**Shadow rolls his eyes**

Shadow: I already did that, I try to smooth out the dents to Nightwing's head and after I was finish Jack took one look at it then whacked me in the head with her wrench and told me to get out.

**Ciro and Rini snicker at this. Shadow looks at them annoyed**

Shadow: Hey shut up, my repair job wasn't that bad, Jack's just a damn perfectionist!

**Kenny is trying to reframe from laughing out loud**

Kenny: *muffled laugher* Ok so why don't you go bother Cagalli or Roxas.

**Shadow sitting up says somewhat sad**

Shadow: Jack is making Cagalli help with repairs to her Gundam as punishment for her bad piloting skills and I can't find Roxas. Hey Kenny do you have a computer I can use, that can be pretty fun?

**Kenny rolls his eyes**

Kenny: No, go buy your own.

**Shadow gets up and stretches**

Shadow: I would if Drake ever gave me any money.

**Suddenly Kabira says**

Kabira: Well why don't you train, after all isn't that what a Gundam Fighter should do during his off time?

**Surprise everyone turns to look at Kabira standing alone at the door. Shadow recovers first and says with great big smile**

Shadow: Geniuses like me don't need to train.

**Kabira looks at him unimpressed. Kenny is still looking at Kabira surprise; Kabira seeing Kenny's stare annoyed snaps**

Kabira: What!

**Kenny realizing he's been staring says**

Kenny: Oh sorry, it's just I've never seen you without Raheem.

**Kabira still looks annoyed**

Kabira: You know I am my own person, Raheem is just my bodyguard and I can function without him.

**Kenny and Shadow look confused**

Shadow: Bodyguard?

**Kabira realizing her slip of tongue mistake too late but quickly says**

Kabira: I mean he's like my bodyguard in the way he's so over protective, he took the whole "protect my daughter Raheem" thing my father said way too seriously.

**Kabira tries to imitate her father's voice; she makes the thing into a joke. Kenny and Shadow fall for it and laugh.**

Shadow: HAHAHAAH, yea Raheem does seem like the type to take something like that way too seriously. Where is he anyway?

**Kabira says in a matter of fact of voice**

Kabira: He's being chase around the ship by Roxas, you know I've never seen him look scared before until I met Roxas.

**Shadow looks pissed**

Shadow: That Damn luckily bastard!

**Rini however doesn't look surprise**

Rini: That doesn't surprise me; a lot of military types like him get real shy with party girls like Roxas.

**Shadow, Kenny and Kabira turn and look at Rini surprise**

Shadow: Raheem is in the military?

Kabira: How did you know?

**Rini turns back and starts typing at her computer.**

Rini: I can tell.

**Kabira looks at Rini now annoyed. Shadow accepting Rini's answer says in his friendly voice**

Shadow: Well that's interesting, oh yea I never asked but what does your father do?

**Kabira says without hesitation**

Kabira: He's in politics, and I'm bored.

**Kenny happy says**

Kenny: Great, Shadow why don't you entertain our client.

**Kabira likes the idea**

Kabira: Great, hey Shadow show me your Gundam.

**Kabira excitedly grabs Shadow's hand and pulls him out of the bridge before he even knows what's going on. Kenny after a moment sighs, Rini rolls her eyes and asks in a tired voice**

Rini: What is it?

**Kenny says in a worried voice**

Kenny: I'm worried that Shadow is letting all these wins go to his head. It's not like Shadow to skip training; in fact he's a training addict.

**Ciro gives a small smile**

Ciro: If that's all then you have nothing to fear.

**Kenny looks at Ciro confused**

Kenny: Huh?

**Ciro explains further**

Ciro: I saw Shadow early this morning maybe 1am in the gym with his sword, jumping around fighting made up enemies and I think trying to come up with a sword style. I went to bed and woke this morning at 8am and found him still training, he must have collapse and fell asleep and then just recently woke up. I'm pretty sure that the only reason he's not training right now is that his body is literally at its limit; any more training and he might actually die.

**Kenny with a little relief says**

Kenny: Oh, well pretending not to train is definitely more of Shadow's style.

**The camera cuts forward in time and to the eating area on the Dark-Angel. Shadow and Kabira are in an intense game of chess. Kabira moves a pawn forward and shouts in triumph.**

Kabira: HA check-mate!

**Shadow's eyes opening wide in surprise starts desperately searching for a way out.**

Shadow: No, no, no there's a way out.

**Kabira confident gets up and stretches**

Kabira: Good luck with that one, so that makes it 5 wins for me and 4 for you.

**Nick and Cagalli walk in, overhearing the conversation Nick says to Shadow**

Nick: Playing chess doesn't seem to be your strong suit mate.

**Cagalli teasing Shadow**

Cagalli: Shadow you should know chess requires actual intelligence in order to play.

**Shadow glares at her and gives a sarcastic laugh**

Shadow: HA, HA, HA, very funny, so what have you guys been up to?

**Nick and Cagalli have a seat at the same table as Kabira and Shadow.**

Nick: I've been out with the scavenger teams taking parts from those Sniper Gundams.

Cagalli: Well unlike you I've been working with Jack to help fix my Gundam.

**Shadow turning red from embarrassment says**

Shadow: I tried to help; it's not my fault that Jack kicked me out.

**Nick smiling says**

Nick: Don't worry about it mate, Cagalli did just a bad a job on La Rouge.

**Cagalli now also turning red in embarrassment says**

Cagalli: I did not, well I mean I did the best I could considering I don't have a degree in engineering. Jack just has too high of standards!

**Nick laughing now**

Nick: HAHAHAHA, the only reason the mate kept you longer then Shadow is because your Gundam got more damage and she wanted some way to punish you but when I got back I could hear her a mile away complaining about how you guys butchered her beautiful Gundams.

**Shadow and Cagalli offended say at the same time**

Shadow and Cagalli: I didn't do that bad of a job!

**Kabira and Nick can't help but laugh out loud at the 2**

Kabira and Nick: AHAHHAHAHAHAHAHH!

**Raheem walks into the eating area quietly, upon hearing Kabira's laugher he stops shocked for a moment then smiles.**

Raheem: I'm glad to see you having fun Miss Kabira.

**All eyes turn to Raheem. Shadow smiling asks**

Shadow: Raheem, so have you slept with Roxas yet?

**Shadow asks in a joking way. Raheem eyes him annoyed**

Raheem: No, although I will say that she's being very persistent, that girl is like a bloodhound every time I tried to hide she found me within minutes.

**Cagalli nods her head in completely understanding**

Cagalli: That sounds like Roxas; sometimes I think that girl is more animal than human.

**Shadow is looking at Cagalli and Raheem very jealous**

Shadow: You guys are so freaking lucky!

**Raheem and Cagalli are looking at Shadow annoyed but before they can say anything we hear**

Roxas: Oh Raheemly come out come out wherever you are!

**Roxas sounds like she's just outside the door metaphorically speaking, there's no door between the eating area and the hallway. Raheem turns ghostly pale and quickly dashes to the kitchen.**

Raheem: Got to go be good Miss Kabira!

**Roxas walks in seconds after Raheem leaves. She's on all fours again sniffing the ground looking actually like a tracking animal. Shadow, Cagalli and Nick used to Roxas animalistic behavior aren't that surprise but Kabira looks shocked and cries**

Kabira: What are you doing!

**Roxas looks up at Kabira as if it's obvious**

Roxas: Looking for Raheem duh.

**Kabira still in a state of shock**

Kabira: No, that's not what I

**Cagalli cuts her off**

Cagalli: You better just give up Kabira, that's just how Roxas is.

**Roxas now sitting down on the floor is looking back and forth between Cagalli and Kabira not understanding what's going on. She begins to scratch her ear with her foot**

Roxas: Ok well whatever, Shadow Jack told me to tell you that it's going to be another day before the ship is fully repair.

**Shadow shocked**

Shadow: What! Why?

**Roxas shrugs**

Roxas: I don't know something about butchered Gundams or something like that.

**Kabira and Nick can't help but burst out laughing. Shadow and Cagalli turn red and shout at the same time.**

Shadow and Cagalli: I didn't do that bad a job on repairs!

**Roxas not really caring**

Roxas: Ok, Ok, don't yell at me though. So where's Raheem, I know I smelled him here just moments ago!

**Roxas demands. Cagalli sighs then says**

Cagalli: You know Roxas you should really give that poor guy a break.

**Roxas suddenly jumps up and gropes Cagalli's breast**

Roxas: Awwww Cagalli you're jealous that's so cute but you have nothing to worry about there will always be a special place in my heart for you.

**Cagalli struggling to get Roxas off falls to the ground with Roxas still on top of her and shouts**

Cagalli: That's not what I meant you freak now get off me!

**While Cagalli and Roxas wrestle on the floor Kabira watches the scene deeply surprise. Nick having seen it 100's of times before looks bored and Shadow looks jealous.**

Shadow: Hey Roxas what does that Raheem guy have that I don't?

**Roxas stops fighting Cagalli to answer Shadow's question allowing Cagalli to escape.**

Roxas: Well let's see, first there are the muscles coming out of muscles thing, then there's the aged face of a warrior that's seen it all, also he's got the air of mystery about him, and finally he's taller then you.

**Shadow's pride looks like it just got jump and rape in an ally, but at the short comment he's had enough.**

Shadow: I am not short god damn it, I'm average that guy is just freakishly tall!

**Nick trying to resist even more laugher**

Nick: Well actually mate, you kind of are. I mean you're the shortest person on the team not counting Jack.

**It's true, there's no denying that Nick, Roxas, Zuke, and Kenny are all taller than Shadow. Shadow pissed now desperately tries to think of something.**

Shadow: I'm not the shortest person on the team, there's um, there's um, Cagalli's the shortest!

**Cagalli not really paying attention to the conversation snaps back to focus at the mention of her name.**

Cagalli: Say what!

**Shadow confident now nods his head**

Shadow: I'm taller than Cagalli.

**Cagalli offended stands up**

Cagalli: I'm 5-5 for your information.

**Shadow now also offended stands**

Shadow: Well I'm 5-6.

**Now that Cagalli and Shadow are both standing up it's hard to tell who's taller, they both look to be the same height.**

Cagalli: Bullshit!

**Shadow and Cagalli start glaring at each other. Nick, Kabira and Roxas are both looking back and forth between Cagalli and Shadow.**

Nick: Well actually mates it's kind of hard to tell.

Kabira: I suppose it is possible that Shadow is taller, but we've got to be talking centimeters there's no way he's an inch taller than Cagalli.

Roxas: It could also be reverse too, Cagalli could be a couple of centimeters taller than Shadow.

**Shadow and Cagalli both snap at the same time**

Shadow and Cagalli: No I'm the taller one!

**Then they turn back to glare at each other, while they're talking Jack comes storming in. When Jack sees Shadow she shouts**

Jack: There you are!

**Jack then proceeds to whack Shadow on the back of the head with her wrench. Shadow yelps with pain then yells**

Shadow: OWWWW what was that for!

**Shadow begins to rub his head where Jack hit him. Jack grabs Shadow's shirt and begins to pull him away.**

Jack: No complaining, you still haven't done any of your paperwork or the captain's paper work and I'm not doing it!

**The scene ends with Jack dragging the struggling Shadow away while the others watch in surprise.**

Shadow: No, wait, guys help, I'm too young for paperwork!

**The next scene opens at an outdoor dock along the shoreline. We can see the ship that attacked the Dark-Angel getting repairs. The camera cuts inside the ship to a hallway, we see Zain looking at an I-pad while another crew member is giving him the stats on the repairs of the ship.**

Crew Member: All of the missiles have been restocked and the repairs are 85 percent completed.

**Zain nods his head**

Zain: Good at this rate we'll be ready to take off by day's end.

Zain (Then I'll pay that bastard back for the humiliating defeat!)

**The Crew Member turns and walks away. Haile walks up to Zain; she looks unusually pale. Zain excitedly turns to Haile**

Zain: Haile I want you to start contacting some of our friends along the coastline or better yet on the tracking satellites and find the target's ship then

**Haile cuts him off**

Haile: Sir!

**Zain stops finally taking a good look at Haile**

Zain: What's wrong Haile?

Haile: The boss has called.

**Zain now goes pale**

Zain: I see.

Haile: He's asked to speak to you alone.

**Zain still pale nods his head**

Zain: I'll go talk to him, Haile you take over overseeing the repairs.

**Haile nods her head**

Haile: Of course, good luck Sir.

**Zain just nods his head and walks off. The camera cuts into a dark room, there's some kind of device on the floor in the middle of the room. Zain walks in and as the door closes behind him we can hear and see locks click in place. Zain after checking to make sure the locks are in place turns to face the center of the room. He takes a breath then says**

Zain: Activate.

**The device in the middle of room turns on and projects the image of a man sitting in a chair like a hologram. The image is fizzy and flickering plus the man is completely black out so that the only thing we can make out is his figure and angry eyes.**

Boss: Hello Zain.

**Zain takes a knee**

Zain: Sir, I was just about to call you and give you the status of

**Suddenly another hologram activates and interrupts**

Hologram: You mean your failure.

**Zain turns to glare at the new figure**

Zain: Zagat, what are you doing on this line?

**Unlike the boss we can see Zagat perfectly. He's wearing similar clothes to that of what Raheem and Kabira wore. He also gives off the air of a trickster.**

Zagat: I'm just making sure that you're being completely honest with the boss.

**Zagat is smiling clearing enjoying Zain squirm.**

Zain: Why you arrogant

**The Boss cuts them off**

Boss: That's enough!

**The Boss's voice booms and demands to be heard. Zain immediately shuts up**

Boss: I am surprise Zain, this is the first time you failed me.

**Zain bows his head low**

Zain: I am deeply sorry Sir; the only excuse I have is that I underestimate them.

**Zagat laughs**

Zagat: HAHAHAHAHAHA, tell me Zain how does one underestimate an E-rank team? No it's more likely that your incompetence led to your force withdraw.

**Zain insulted and pissed snaps back**

Zain: NO, the plan I came up with was perfect and would have easily taken out any normal E-rank.

**Zagat now rolls his eyes**

Zagat: If you're implying that the Gundam Team you fought was actually a higher rank team in disguise then you can stop. I've already check the GFC database and they are an official E-rank Gundam Team; they're called the Shadow Knights. Shadow Knights, HAHAHAHHAAH, how lame is that.

**Zain is still eyeing Zagat angrily**

Zain: I know that and if you had let me finish I would have told you that it is my belief that even though they're an E-rank team I believe they're being train by an A-rank Gundam Fighter.

**This gets the Boss's attention and shuts Zagat up**

Boss: This is a very serious claim, are you sure?

**Zain nods his head**

Zain: It makes sense, it explains why in some instances they acted with a degree of skill and planning while in others they acted like complete amateurs. However I don't think there master is with them on this mission.

**The Boss turns to Zagat**

Boss: Zagat?

**Zagat thinking about this for a moment says**

Zagat: I suppose it is possible, but they're still rookies, at best some of their skills are D-rank. You still failed to adapt to the situation.

**Zain is glaring at Zagat angrily but before he can say anything the Boss begins to speak.**

Zain: Zagat is right Zain, in the end you have still failed me and failure cannot be tolerated.

**Zain is gritting his teeth desperately trying to think of something in his defense when suddenly a new voice comes to his aid.**

Female hologram: Come now guys, I think your being too hard on Zain, his mission wasn't a complete failure, after all the intelligence he manage to gather about the target's ship and what kind of protection they have is quite impressive.

**This time the new hologram is that of a Woman either in her early 30's or late 20's. She's got black hair a calm demeanor and good posture, definitely one who plans her moves 3 steps ahead. All eyes turn to the new person, this time Zagat looks annoyed**

Zagat: Alex what are you doing on this line!

**Alex just grins at Zagat's obvious anger**

Alex: I'm sorry but when I heard that all the heads were talking and that I wasn't invited it got me nervous so I decided to drop in.

**The Boss just eyes Alex**

Boss: You can relax Alex, we were discussing Zain not you.

**Alex still with her calm smile says**

Alex: So I see.

**Zagat still glaring at Alex angrily says**

Zagat: So you can go.

**Alex turns to look at Zagat**

Alex: Well Zagat finding out what you guys were talking about wasn't the only reason I came here, I also have information on the Dark-Angel's current location.

**Zain and Zagat look confused**

Zain: Dark-Angel?

**Alex turns to look at Zain and gives him a knowing smile**

Alex: That's the name of the Shadow Knights ship and the current ship that the target is riding.

**Zain blushes red in embarrassment at not being able to figure that out by himself. When Alex doesn't say anything else the Boss says**

Boss: And where is it Alex?

**Alex turns to look at the Boss**

Alex: Yes well according to my contact they were last seen crossing from land into the Acoose Ocean about an hour ago.

**Zain jumps in response to this news**

Zain: The Acoose Ocean, they've finish repairs to their ship in 2 days!

**Alex nods her head**

Alex: So it would seem.

**Zain turning around and heading to the door replies**

Zain: I have to get my ship up and running to go after them!

**Alex's next comment stops Zain in his tracks**

Alex: I don't think so.

**Zain furious turns to look at Alex and shouts**

Zain: What why!

**Alex calmly replies**

Alex: You have already had your shot and failed, having you try again would only increase the chances of failure.

**Zain very pissed off is clenching his fist in order to contain his anger.**

Zain: It's not your call Alex!

**Zagat is smiling again**

Zagat: I agree with Alex, the fact that their ship, which was more damage than yours, was repair faster than your ship is undeniable proof of your incompetence.

**Zain shouts in his defense**

Zain: That's only because it took us a day to get to this repair dock, if we had started repairs at the same

**Zagat has heard enough and cuts him off**

Zagat: Oh enough already with your excuses, can't you see that no one here is interested in hearing them.

**Zain stops talking for a moment, changing tactics he turns to face the Boss.**

Zain: Sir, the repairs for my ship will be finish by nightfall, since I have the most experience with fighting this ship it would be best if I confront them and finish what I started.

**Zagat is obviously skeptical**

Zagat: You do realize that by the time your ship catches up to the Dark-Angel, the Dark-Angel will already be half way to Haben. If you fail again that will leave us with no time to try a second attack before they reach Haben.

**Alex also adds**

Alex: Plus thanks to the report you put in we already know as much about this ship as you do so that experience of yours amounts to crap.

**Zain finally loses his cool**

Zain: This is my battle, those bastards humiliated me out there, I want to be the one to kill them, I

**The Boss has heard enough**

Boss: That's enough.

**Zain shuts up. Everyone turns to look at the Boss**

Boss: I have decided that Zain will not go after the Dark-Angel!

**Zain is outrage**

Zain: What you can't

**The Boss turns his fierce gaze at Zain.**

Boss: That's enough Zain, what I have decided is final.

**Zain wants to argue but he can tell it's pointless. Zagat happy says in a cheery voice**

Zagat: Well now that that's settled, we still have to intercept them before they get to Haben so I guess I will

**Alex interrupts before Zagat gets any further**

Alex: I will intercept them.

**Zagat turns to Alex pissed**

Zagat: What!

**Alex calmly explains why**

Alex: I have already looked at the data Zain has gathered about the target's ship and formulated a solid plan. Plus like you said time is a factor and I'm closer to the target's ship then you are.

**Zagat is beyond mad now, especially since he can't say anything to disagree.**

Zagat: Arrrr you plan this from the moment you came onto this line.

**The Boss waves his hand silencing him**

Boss: Very well Alex, you can intercept them but I want you to know that, that was my intention all along.

**Alex bows slightly**

Alex: Of course Sir.

**The Boss satisfied turns to Zain**

Boss: Zain report back to Haben when the repairs to your ship have been finish.

**With that the holograms disappear leaving Zain in the dark. The camera cuts to outside the ship to the dock and focuses on Haile talking to some of the repair mechanics. Zain walks over and he looks pissed. Haile not noticing his attitude turns to Zain and asks**

Haile: Sir how did the

**Zain cuts her off and starts shouting**

Zain: HAILE I WANT REPAIRS FINISH WITHIN 2 HOURS!

**Haile looks shocked**

Haile: S-sir that's impossible we still need

**Zain is in no mood for arguments.**

Zain: I don't care! I don't give a damn if you have to put a gun to the head of every mechanic here and force them to repair the ship just get it done! Also get us some flying type Gundams within the 2 hours as well, NOW GET STARTED!

**Haile nervously nods her head and runs off to get started. Zain still pissed begins to walk away.**

Zain (Arrr this isn't good! Alex is a master strategist, she'll place a gun in an ally, chase her target all over a city for hours, get him to lose his weapon, chase him down an ally so that he sees the gun and goes to pick it up but when he picks it up and turns to fire it at her the gun explodes killing the target. Those idiots don't have a chance, I have to hurry up and catch up to them before she does.)

**The scene ends. The next scene opens up to show the Dark-Angel flying over the ocean. The camera cuts into the bridge of the Dark-Angel to show Alan, Thomas, Ciro, Rini and Kenny sitting in their respective terminals. Shadow, Cagalli, Nick, Roxas and Zuke are just hanging around apparently doing nothing.**

Shadow: I'm so bored!

**Roxas nods her head in agreement**

Roxas: I know, we totally need to get a TV and some games.

**Kenny looks annoyed**

Kenny: It's bad enough that I have to deal with Shadow but now you too Roxas, why aren't you chasing Raheem?

**Roxas sighs**

Roxas: I would but part of my new seduction plan is to give him some time to himself, that way he'll slowly start thinking about me in his spare time.

**Cagalli looks at Roxas skeptical**

Cagalli: Do any of these stupid seduction plans of yours actually work?

**Roxas turns to Cagalli and says in a prideful voice**

Roxas: Of course they do, if the person is alive I can seduce them it's only a matter of time.

**Shadow smiling says**

Shadow: I don't know about that Roxas, you haven't mange to seduce Cagalli yet.

**Roxas appears unconcern**

Roxas: Not yet.

**Cagalli highly annoyed now snaps**

Cagalli: Not ever!

**Roxas is about to say something when Nick in order to keep the peace changes the subject.**

Nick: So um mates what do we know about Haden?

**Shadow, Cagalli, Roxas and Kenny all turn to look at Nick confused**

Shadow: Huh?

**Nick explains**

Nick: Well it's just that I figure if we're going to this country we might as well know more about it before hand so we know what we're getting into.

**Everyone nods their head, what Nick said made sense. Roxas goes first**

Roxas: Well I know that the Knojuse horse and Hideus mole are found there.

**Zuke looks at Roxas like she's an idiot, not that that's different from how he normally looks at her;**

Zuke: Phh how little your intelligence is amazes me sometimes.

**Roxas looks annoyed but before she can say anything Nick glaring at Zuke says**

Nick: How dare you insult a lady mate, I won't stand for it!

**Nick is going to attack but Shadow steps in.**

Shadow: So Zuke what do you know about Haben, I mean you can't call Roxas stupid if you don't know anything either.

**Zuke eyes Shadow annoyed then says**

Zuke: I know that Haden hasn't sent in any Gundam Pilots to participate in the Gundam Fights in over 3 years and before that none of their teams have made it past D-rank in over 10 years, because of this most countries regard Haden as one of the weakest nations in terms of military strength in the world.

**Roxas, Nick, Cagalli and Shadow look surprise by this. Roxas asks**

Roxas: So if they're so bad in terms of military power why hasn't another nation absorb them yet?

**Cagalli looks at Roxas confused**

Cagalli: Absorb?

**Nick answers her question**

Nick: Sora political fancy talk for takeover or conquer mate.

**Cagalli eyes open in understanding**

Cagalli: Oh

**Zuke answers this one as well**

Zuke: Most absorptions are done by neighboring countries that want the land's natural resources, but Haden is an island desert nation so not only does it not have any natural resources it's also out of the way from any other nation. It would be too much of a pain and not enough reward for other nations to absorb it.

**Shadow thinking says**

Shadow: So basically the only reason they haven't been absorb yet is because they're lucky.

**Cagalli nods her head in agreement**

Cagalli: So it seems, hey Shadow what about you, what do you know about Haden?

**Shadow surprise gives a short laugh**

Shadow: Huh me, HA I don't know anything about Haden. I didn't even know it was a country till Drake told us.

**Cagalli looks at Shadow shocked**

Cagalli: What! How could you not know?

**Shadow looks at Cagalli annoyed now**

Shadow: I don't pay attention to stuff like that, and what about you, you don't know anything about Haden either!

**Cagalli now glaring at Shadow**

Cagalli: That's because I'm from Earth!

**Ciro, Thomas, Alan, and Rini who had been ignoring them up to this point so that they could get their work done now turn to look at Cagalli surprise, and then quickly give her the crazy lady stare. Cagalli noticing the stares snaps**

Cagalli: Stop looking at me like that!

**Shadow ignoring Ciro, Thomas, Rini and Alan turns to Kenny and says**

Shadow: Besides that's what Kenny is for.

**Kenny looks annoyed at this statement but before he can say anything Zuke skeptical says**

Zuke: What could that stupid natural possibly know about Haden?

**Kenny highly offended snaps back**

Kenny: A lot more then you guys! I know that Haden is the fourth smallest country in the world; I know that 90 percent of the Hadenes people practice Hadize which is the state religion; I also know that Haden is a constitutional monarchy.

**Zuke is slightly surprise; Cagalli, Roxas, and Nick are just surprise**

Roxas: How do you know all that?

**Kenny smiling proudly**

Kenny: The internet.

**Cagalli, Nick, and Roxas have that look on their face, Nick asks**

Nick: Well maybe you can help me out with something I don't understand mate, how come Haden is doing so badly in the Gundam Fights for so long. I could understand a low period, after all everyone has them, but to go 13 years without a single good Gundam Team isn't that really rare? Eventually a country would get a talented Gundam Pilot or make a breakthrough in military technology so what gives mate?

**Kenny thinks about if for moment then says**

Kenny: Well it's not that they're lacking good Gundam Pilots or good Gundams in fact they're known for their hybrid type Eagle and Jackal Class Gundams. It's because their country is in a state of absolute chaos.

**Cagalli rolls her eyes**

Cagalli: Chaos doesn't really tell us much Kenny, can you elaborate some more?

**Kenny looks at Cagalli annoyed but none the less elaborates**

Kenny: By chaos I mean their economy is in the dumps, unemployment is at a record high of 25 percent, 10 percent of people are homeless, and over 20 percent of people have applied for some form of food stamps or other.

**Everyone looks surprise by this. Roxas getting over her surprise first shrugs**

Roxas: Well is that really such a surprise, I mean you said so yourself their country is a desert and has no natural resource so they have nothing to offer other countries.

**Kenny corrects Roxas**

Kenny: That's not true, before Haden enter its depression it was the leading producer of medical drugs.

**Shadow looks confused**

Shadow: Medical drug?

**Kenny rolls his eyes**

Kenny: You know Hiku and Sulom right?

**Nick wondering where Kenny is going with this answers**

Nick: Yea Hiku is the medicine used to cure cancer and Sulom is used to cure AIDS mate.

**Kenny nods his head**

Kenny: Yes but did you know that the process used to make Hiku and Sulom releases a gas into the air that kills all plant's within its radius and because of the Nature Protection Bill that all countries sign they have to be made in a desert type land.

**Shadow putting the dots together**

Shadow: Because desert type lands don't have any plants.

**Kenny once again nods his head**

Kenny: Right, so naturally they made a killing in the medical drug industrially.

**Cagalli with Kenny so far**

Cagalli: Ok so what happen?

**Kenny shrugs**

Kenny: No one is really sure; I mean there was apparently a lot of inflation on some of the more common items like food and water, plus a lot of the plants where the medical drugs were being made got hit by sand storms and became completely unusable, but the spark that lighted the fire was the housing market. You see since Haden is a desert it has a lot of land and plenty of room to build big houses, so stupid people began building these big extravagant houses and even stupider people began taking out huge loans to buy the houses. Eventually they realize they couldn't pay the loans back and had to file for bankruptcy and that's how their economy crashed.

**Cagalli, Roxas, Nick and Shadow take a minute to think about this but Zuke has already thought about this**

Zuke: I can tell you whose fault this is; it's their stupid natural leader Shadi Tahsin.

**Shadow looks confused**

Shadow: Who's Sahid Tasinh?

**Shadow mispronounces the name. Kenny corrects him and explains**

Kenny: It's Shadi Tahsin and he's the current ruler of Haden.

**Nick looks at Kenny and asks**

Nick: Is he right mate?

**Kenny is unsure of how to answer**

Kenny: Well in fact half the country blames him entirely for the state the economy is in and I guess they're not exactly wrong since it was during his rule that the economy collapse. Not only that but he's made a lot of bad choices since then, all of the work startup programs he's setup in order to get people jobs have failed horribly and ended up costing the country even more money plus a lot of bills he's sign have ended up giving a lot of relief money to rich people who don't even need it and also a lot of countries have started taking advantage of Haden's weak state and have stop honoring trade agreements which people are blaming on his lack of power.

**Shadow trying to put the pieces together asks**

Shadow: So he's a crappy ruler?

**Suddenly Kabira shouts**

Kabira: That's not true!

**All eyes turn around to show that Kabira and Raheem have walk onto the bridge without anyone seeing. Kabira looks pissed; Raheem putting a hand on her shoulder tries to calm her down.**

Raheem: Kabira

**He would have better luck trying to stop a rhino bare handed, Kabira shaking off Raheem's hand storms up to Shadow and the others.**

Kabira: Just because the economy collapsed under Shadi's rule doesn't mean it was his fault! If you'd look you'd see that there's no difference between Shadi's rule and his predecessor and the startup programs he set up didn't fail because they were poorly plan or badly maintain, they only failed because of raider attacks and sandstorms! As for the foreign countries that have stop honoring the trade agreement, because of the country's current state there's not much he could do about it short of declaring war on them and given the state of our military we'd probably lose.

**Kabira is giving everyone a threatening gaze, daring someone to challenge her. Kenny, Roxas and Nick lower their eyes to the floor. Shadow doesn't but from the look on his face it's hard to tell how much of the situation he understands.**

**Cagalli also doesn't lower her gaze but her look is more of a respectful diplomatic look. The kind of look that says I respect your opinion and agree with you on some points but I'm not bowing down to you. Zuke on the other isn't satisfied with that answer.**

Zuke: Well then big mouth little natural girl, since Shadi has an excuse for every screw up that he's made then tell me what's the reason behind him signing the bad relief money bills?

**Kabira hesitates for a moment then says in a softer voice**

Kabira: They had been tamper with after he had signed them but before they had gotten to the council.

**Everyone looks surprise at Kabira for a moment even Zuke**

Zuke: A conspiracy theory really? At least with the other excuses they were plausible but do you realize how unluckily a conspiracy theory actually is in any current government?

**Kabira turning red snaps**

Kabira: What do you know, any of you!

**Kabira runs out of the bridge. Raheem turns to go after her but before he leaves he turns back to them and says**

Raheem: A conspiracy theory isn't a theory if it's the truth.

**With that he leaves, Cagalli gets up and glares at Zuke, Shadow, Kenny, Nick and Roxas.**

Cagalli: You're guys can be real jerks sometimes!

**Cagalli turns then chases after Kabira. Shadow and everyone else just look confused except Zuke who once again looks bored.**

Shadow: What did we do?

**Nick guessing**

Nick: Maybe it was something we said?

**Kenny also guessing says**

Kenny: She must be a Shadi supporter.

**Shadow once again confused looks at Kenny and asks**

Shadow: I thought you said the people of Haden blamed Shadi for everything?

**Kenny looks at Shadow annoyed**

Kenny: I said half the country blame Shadi, the other half are Shadi supports, basically they believe that the problems with the economy are not Shadi fault and that he's doing everything he can to help them, they also believe that if they give Shadi enough time he'll eventually come up with a plan to fix the economy.

**Roxas asks the question that's on everyone's mind**

Roxas: So who's right?

**All eyes turn to Kenny expectedly. Kenny just shrugs**

Kenny: That's tough to say, both sides have made a lot of good points, I guess it just depends on your opinion.

**Nick says in a somewhat worried voice**

Nick: A nation divided isn't a good thing mate.

**Kenny nods his head in agreement**

Kenny: You can say that again, things have gotten really bad over their especially since the anti-Shadi fraction have become very vocal in calling for an overthrowing of Shadi while the supporter fraction has become as equally as vocal in calling anti-Shadi traitors to the crown and country. With the growing tension between the 2 fractions people are worry that Haden is about to breakout into a Civil War.

**With that the camera cuts to one of the walkways that are outside the ship. Kabira is standing by herself leaning against a rail and just letting the wind roll through her hair and watching the small gentle waves of the ocean. Cagalli walks up to her, Kabira noticing Cagalli says in a rude voice**

Kabira: What, have you come to give me a lecture on behavior, or maybe to tell me why supporting Shadi is stupid or maybe to tell me to act my age and stop being so childish!

**Kabira shouts at Cagalli. Cagalli holds up her hands in a sign of peace**

Cagalli: Whoa, Whoa, take it easy, you looked really upset when you left the bridge and I just wanted to make sure you're ok.

**Kabira is surprise, embarrass she turns back to face the ocean in order to hide her flushed cheeks.**

Kabira: Oh

**Cagalli walks over and leans on the rail next to Kabira, after a moment Kabira says**

Kabira: Sorry

**Cagalli without turning to face Kabira says**

Cagalli: Don't worry about it.

**Kabira and Cagalli continue to look at the ocean**

Cagalli: So how are you doing?

**Kabira turns to look at Cagalli surprise by the question**

Kabira: I'm fine.

**Cagalli turns to look at Kabira questionably. Kabira unable to keep Cagalli's gaze looks away.**

Cagalli: It must be hard with everyone judging you by what your father is doing.

**Kabira stiffens**

Kabira: I don't know what you mean.

**Kabira says this in a guarded tone of voice, Cagalli says with a small smile**

Cagalli: You said your father was a politician in Haden, it must be hard on you with whatever decisions he choose to make regarding the current political affair.

**Kabira remembering what she told Shadow says**

Kabira: Huh, oh um right; I'm fine.

**Cagalli looks at Kabira questionably, Kabira annoyed says**

Kabira: Look I know you're just trying to help but trust me, you have no idea what my situation is like.

**Cagalli gives a short suppressed laugh**

Cagalli: Heheh well let me see if I can guess, at first people random strangers you'd never seen before would come and pat you on the back and say "Oh so you're so-an-so's daughter, you must be so proud of your father."

**Kabira staring at the ocean starts to stiffen at how right Cagalli is. Cagalli goes on**

Cagalli: And at first it felt good, it felt like they were telling you how good you were doing and how proud and happy they were for you but slowly you begin to realize that the praise and honor people are giving you aren't really yours, maybe you first started to realize it when you notice that the people patting you on the back never call you by your name it's always "his" daughter or maybe it was when your father came and everyone turn to look at him and suddenly you were invisible.

Cagalli: Then when you became aware of it you also begin to notice the glares and whispers coming from another group of people, they talk about how foolish your father's being and how his actions will lead us down to disaster, and whenever you try to go and talk to them they always walk away from you not wanting to be around you as if those decisions came from your very own mouth. So am I close so far?

**Cagalli gives Kabira a light tired smile. Kabira is shocked, getting over her shock she turns to look back at the ocean. She begins to speak softly, words and thoughts she's been keeping locked up for so long come tumbling out.**

Kabira: Parties are the worst, it's always "Oh you look so pretty in that dress your father must be so proud" I hate dresses, there's always someone wanting to pat me on the back wanting to talk about the current political plans my father has set up to help the economy, and I always have to smile and repeat the same thing over and over again about how great the plan is and how much better the economy will get once the bill goes through and most of the time I only really understand about half of what the plan is and I can't ask anyone more about it because then it looks bad for my father.

Kabira: Not that it really matters anyway because the moment my father comes to the party everyone dashes over to him and leaves me all alone, then I start walking around looking for something to do somewhere to belong, but no one takes notice of me, I might as well be invisible, but that has an advantage it lets me ease drop on other people's conversation, hahahaha, it's sad ready all the knowledge I know about these bills comes from easy dropping on other people's conversation. Don't you find that just terrible for a ruler's daughter?

**Cagalli giving a knowing smile say**

Cagalli: Don't you mean a politician's daughter?

**Kabira realizing her mistake quickly says**

Kabira: Right, right, right I meant politician's daughter, I mean it's not like I'm related to royalty right, hahaha that's just silly.

**Kabira gives a fake nervous laugh. Cagalli still has on her knowing smile**

Cagalli: Of course.

**Kabira quickly trying to change the subject**

Kabira: Anyway I remember one party where I got so tired of being ignored that I lift the ball room and went into the hallways to get some air but that's where I found this group of people all talking about how my father is an idiot and how he's leaning the country straight to ruin, of course I step in to argue on behalf of my father but these guys were different from the suck-ups earlier. They listen to every point I made and went through it with a fine tooth comb, they found every mistake I made and were able to give solid agreements against while I on the other hand couldn't find a single flaw in any of the logic they gave.

Kabira: By the time the debate was over they told me to go home and actually read up on the bills my father was passing, they also said my failure was another example of why my father was such a bad ruler, and how could they trust a man to lead them when he can't even teach his daughter properly. I left that party humiliated, but after that party I became aware for the first time of the glares.

Kabira: They had always been there, people glaring at me disapprovingly but I had never notice them while the other people patted me on the back but I definitely began to notice after that night and I realize that with my current skill there was nothing I could do about it. I tried to study to understand the bills and political system better but there's only so much I can learn by myself without someone helping but no one has time to teach.

**While Kabira is talking we should have enter slideshow mode. The pictures are of Kabira at the party, getting patted on the back, being left alone when her father shows up (note we don't see her father we just see the people around her leave), of her noticing the secret discussion, of her arguing with the people and finally her leaving the party with her head bowed low in shame. Cagalli curious asks**

Cagalli: So why did you leave Haden?

**Kabira stiffens and once again her guard comes back up**

Kabira: Are trying to say that I couldn't take it and abandon my country!

**Cagalli starts shaking her head vigorously**

Cagalli: No, no I was just

**It's too late, Kabira has misunderstood Cagalli, and there's nothing Cagalli can say to change that.**

Kabira: Look I can handle with whatever is thrown my way and listen you're not getting paid to act as my Shrink so just mind your own freaking business!

**Kabira storms away. Cagalli calls out**

Cagalli: Kabira, Kabira.

**Cagalli realizes it's pointless to follow and sighing turns back to stare at the ocean. Raheem appears from the shadows apparently having seen the whole event.**

Raheem: You shouldn't feel bad.

**Cagalli startled jumps around to face him.**

Cagalli: What, how long have you been there?

Raheem: Since the beginning but that's not important right now. To be human is to have issues, concerns or simply things that bother us but it is my belief that in order for us to grow we need to face those things however Kabira is different from me, she's the type of person that tries to bottle all those fears, anger, and resentment up and because of all those things weighing her down she cannot grow. I've try talking to her about it countless times but she has never open up to me, not like tonight, not like the way she just open up to you. So do not walk away from this feeling like you've failed or made her feel even worst, trust me when I tell you that you've helped her greatly.

**Cagalli is surprise for a moment then turns away to look back at the ocean.**

Cagalli: Yes well I guess it's easy to empathize with someone when you've gone through the same thing.

**Raheem looks at Cagalli surprise by this comment. We enter slideshow mode, during the slideshow. The slideshow is of a young Cagalli (think Cagalli age 14), one picture shows Cagalli getting patted on the back by a group of people. **

**The group of people are saying "Oh Uzumi's daughter right, you should be so proud of your dad and the firm stand he's taking" and "Yea Uzumi's way is the right way, Orb is not going to be pushed around by coordinators or the naturals".**

**Another picture shows Cagalli by herself while another group of people whisper "Uzumi that fool, he's going to get us all killed" and "Uzumi is acting like a little kid trying to have the world his way, someone needs to slap him and tell him to wake up that's not how the world works" and "I don't care which side we pick at this point but if Orb doesn't pick one now we're going to get crushed by both of them".**

**We can see that the people are glaring at Cagalli. The sideshow ends and we can see Cagalli looking at the ocean, the episode ends with her thinking.**

Cagalli (Yes I know all too well what Kabira's going through, all too well.)


	33. Episode 32

Episode 32

**The episode opens up showing the Dark-Angel still flying over the ocean (note I said flying not sailing, the Dark-Angel is like a giant plane and is always a good distance from the ground/sea under normal circumstances, another feature that's different from the original Archangel Class ship).**

**The camera cuts into the bridge to show Kenny, Ciro, Rini, Thomas and Alan working at their respective terminals.**

Kenny: Hmmm that's interesting.

**Kenny waits a moment for someone to say something, no one does. Annoyed Kenny says**

Kenny: This is the part where one of you guys say, Oh what is Kenny.

**Alan, Ciro and Rini look annoyed, but Thomas happy asks**

Thomas: Doe-Ra-La-Fa tell us the wonderful news Kenny.

**Alan, Ciro, Rini and Kenny have already gotten used to Thomas's weird singing talk**

Kenny: Um well actually its bad news, I've just check the weather site and there's reports of a hurricane west of our current location and its traveling southeast.

**Ciro and Rini are annoyed**

Rini: Couldn't you have just said that, instead of wasting our time in this game?

Ciro: Great now I'm going to have to alter are course or else we'll run right into it.

**Thomas is singing still unusually cheerily**

Thomas: A storm da-da-da-dum.

**Alan on the other hand is unconcern**

Alan: It doesn't matter to me, I've driven in a storm before and I can do it again.

**Ciro rolls his eyes**

Ciro: Right because driving a car and flying a battleship are exactly the same.

**Ciro says sarcastically. Alan blushes in embarrassment as he realizes Ciro is right. Rini sighing says**

Rini: Well I guess someone has to inform our "leader" about the situation.

**The way Rini says leader implies she doesn't think much of Shadow. Ciro asks**

Ciro: Yes I guess you're right, I wonder where the idiot is now.

**The camera cuts to just outside the eating area to show Shadow, Nick and Roxas peeking in on Kabira. Kabira is once again by herself and is eating Raman.**

Shadow: She looks calm now.

**Roxas nods her head**

Roxas: Yea there's no way she can still be mad at us.

**Nick looks doubtful**

Nick: I don't know mate, women can hold grudges for a long time.

**Nick, Roxas, and Shadow move away from the door so that Kabira doesn't overhear. Shadow thinking**

Shadow: Arrr what should we say to her?

**Shadow seems frustrated while Nick is looking at Roxas suspicious.**

Nick: Say mate what are you doing here?

**Roxas looks up confused**

Roxas: What do you mean the same as you guys, to say sorry to Kabira?

**Shadow stubbornly says**

Shadow: I'm not saying sorry, I didn't do anything wrong, it's just I wanted to see if Kabira is still mad at me that's all.

**Nick ignoring Shadow says to Roxas**

Nick: That's not what I meant mate, I was asking why you're saying sorry to Kabira. You see it's part of my code that if I offend a person I have to apologize and ask for forgiveness and Shadow's just a nice guy but what about you mate? No offense mate but you don't seem like the type to care what other people think of you.

**Roxas not taking offense says in a cheerily voice**

Roxas: Oh that, well you see Raheem thinks of Kabira as his own daughter so if Kabira is mad at me then no amount of awesome seduction plans will be able to help me seduce him.

**Shadow doesn't look surprise. Nick sighs but before he can say anything another voice comments**

Kabira: Well I guess I should be happy that you care enough for Raheem's feelings to try to ask for my forgiveness, but I still feel like I'm being used.

**Shadow, Nick, and Roxas jump in surprise at seeing Kabira standing right behind them.**

Shadow: Kabira, ummm, how long have you been standing there?

**Kabira looking slightly bored says**

Kabira: Here, for only a couple of minutes, but I heard everything you guys were saying from the very beginning; it kind of defeats the purpose of hiding if you talk in loud voices.

**Nick glares at Shadow and Roxas**

Nick: I told you mates that you were being too loud.

**Nick then turns back to Kabira**

Nick: Kabira

**Kabira cuts him off**

Kabira: Look you guys don't have to apologize, you were just trying to get all the facts about Haden and I overreacted because I don't like how some of the facts were laid out.

**Roxas is very happy and grabs Kabira's hand and begins to vigorously shake it.**

Roxas: Yes, yes, yes thank you so much now that I know that you're not mad at me any more I can get back to seducing Raheem! So see you later guys.

**Roxas turns and gets down on all fours and takes off like a bullet. Kabira is looking at Roxas still surprise by her action.**

Kabira: She's a weird one isn't she.

Shadow: You have no idea. Well anyway now that that's settled I'll go

**Shadow turns to go but Nick grabs him by the shirt collar and flips him around so that he's facing Kabira, then Nick puts a hand on top of Shadow's head and forces him to slightly bow. Nick then takes off his cowboy hat with the other hand and bows himself.**

Nick: We're deeply sorry that we offended you mate.

**Kabira is looking at Nick surprise**

Kabira: Wait I just told you guys you don't have to apologize

**Nick cutting her off says strongly**

Nick: NO, even if it was done on accident and even if you overreacted the fact still remains that we hurt your feelings and part of my code states that if I hurt someone's feeling for whatever the reason I am to apologize to them.

**Shadow slightly annoyed at being forced to apologize asks**

Shadow: That explains why you're apologizing, but why am I being forced to apologize?

**Nick annoyed snaps**

Nick: Because you're a nice mate now shut up!

**Kabira looks back and forth between the 2 surprised but then burst out laughing.**

Kabira: HAHAHAHA, let me take it back you guys are all weird, HAHAHHAH.

**Nick and Shadow lifting their heads start laughing too.**

Nick: HAHAHA, yea I guess we are mate.

Shadow: HAAHHAHAH, but hey at least we're never dull.

**While they continue to laugh Ciro walks up to them.**

Ciro: I hate to interrupt your bounding session but I have something to tell our "Leader".

**Ciro like Rini says leader in the same sarcastic ring. Shadow and the others stop laughing. Shadow looks at Ciro for a moment then says**

Shadow: Caser?

**Ciro very mad now snaps**

Ciro: It's Ciro you moron, C-I-R-O, Ciro you pathetic excuse for a leader!

**Shadow holds up his hands in peace**

Shadow: Whoa, sorry, sorry, sorry I didn't mean to offend you.

**Ciro still pissed turns to storm off but Nick calls out.**

Nick: Whoa mate, wait what did you want to tell us?

**Ciro calls over his shoulder**

Ciro: Kenny wants to see you.

**Nick, Shadow and Kabira look at each other slightly confused but none the less turn and start to walk to the bridge. **

**The camera cuts to the hallway outside the bridge, Shadow, Nick, and Kabira are walking to the bridge when they see Cagalli, Jack, Roxas, Zuke and Raheem heading for the same destination. Shadow calls out**

Shadow: Hey guys what are you doing up here?

**The 2 groups merge and continue to walk towards the bridge. Cagalli answers**

Cagalli: I don't know Ciro came down and told us Kenny wanted to see us.

**Zuke annoyed says**

Zuke: That natural has a lot of nerve telling me a coordinator to come meet him.

**Jack comments**

Jack: Ciro seemed mad; I wonder what was eating him.

**Shadow looks up and quickly says**

Shadow: Oh probably something he ate.

**Shadow and the others walk into the bridge. Kenny typing on his computer turns to face them and says in a cheerily voice.**

Kenny: Great you guys are all here.

**Shadow also smiling says**

Shadow: Yea, what's up Kenny?

**Kenny turning back around and resuming typing says**

Kenny: I just wanted to let you know that a hurricane was coming across our course and so we had to alter our route.

**Everyone waits a moment more for Kenny to say something more, when he doesn't Cagalli asks**

Cagalli: Is that it?

**Kenny not noticing the looks of annoyance on Cagalli, Jack, and Roxas's faces replies**

Kenny: Yup.

**Roxas rushes up to Kenny grabs him by his collar and begins to roughly shake him**

Roxas: That's the reason you interrupt my seduction plan of Raheem!

**Roxas shouts at Kenny still shaking him. We notice Raheem slightly blush at the comment. Kenny barley able to get a world in says**

Kenny: Sorrrrrrrry, sorrrrrrrrrrrry; sorrrrrrrrrrry.

**Raheem used to the Shadow Knights weird behavior ignores them and turns to Rini.**

Raheem: How much time are we losing by this force detour?

**Rini says calmly**

Rini: Not much only a couple of hours.

**Roxas having let all her anger out releases the now dizzy Kenny. Jack pissed steps up to him and whacks him on the head with her wrench.**

Jack: Kenny you didn't have to call us all here for something as trivia as that, for crying out loud I was working on putting the finishing touches on La Rouge's repairs. That's what the com system is for.

**Kenny rubbing the spot Jack hit him looks at her annoyed**

Kenny: I would have but you hook up the com system to the captain's chair computer.

**Jack not understanding the problem**

Jack: Yea so?

**Kenny angrily says**

Kenny: Well there's a lock on it and not a regular computer lock because I would have crack that in seconds but another old fashion push digit button lock.

**Jack realizes the problem**

Jack: Oh I must have forgotten to give you the code because I've been acting Captain and Shadow hasn't hired a real one yet. Oops hahaha sorry about that guys.

**Jack has stop laughing as she realizes everyone is glaring at her. Jack gulps and is about to say something when Thomas shouts in a song-like fashion**

Thomas: Ra-Fa-LA an unknown ship approaches, di-di-di-dum!

**Everyone looks surprise by this. Kenny rushes back to his terminal and begins to rapidly type.**

Kenny: I'm bringing it up on the main monitor now**.**

**The main monitor blinks then cuts to show a ship fast approaching. Shadow asks**

Shadow: Is it a raider's ship?

Jack: It could also be a bandit's ship.

Ciro: Or the mafia's.

Rini: Or a government black ops.

**Cagalli cuts them all off**

Cagalli: Hey, hey guys don't you think you're overreacting I mean it's not like we're in a time of war. It could simply be another Gundam Team ship or people trying to get to their destination while being able to defend themselves if needed. If we rush in there just assuming they're an enemy we could be starting an unnecessary battle.

**Zuke looks at Cagalli like she's an idiot not that that's much different from how he normally looks at her.**

Zuke: A typical natural response.

**Cagalli looks at Zuke irritated.**

Cagalli: How so?

**Zuke looks at her bored.**

Zuke: Your statement was nice, hopeful and lacking any type of logic to back it up. Do you seriously believe that in this entire ocean we just happen to run into another ship going in an exact opposite route from our own?

**Cagalli realizes how unlikely her own theory is but none the less sticks to it.**

Cagalli: Just because it's unlikely doesn't mean

**Zuke cuts her off**

Zuke: That's the problem with you inferior beings, always picking things and doing things based off your emotions with no facts or logic to back it up. You accused my logic of leading to war, but your logic is the one that would lead you to be consumed or destroyed by those who seek what you have or own.

**Cagalli is shocked by Zuke's words and can't think of any way to reply. The camera cuts to the Unknown ship's bridge to show Alex sitting comfortably in the Captain's chair. One of the crew members says to Alex**

A-Crew member A: Captain the Dark-Angel is approaching firing range and doesn't appear to be doing anything.

**Alex gives a small laugh**

Alex: Hehehe well of course they haven't moved yet after all white always moves first. Tell the Gundam units to launch and begin formation A, move us 30 meters starboard, bring our elevation down 10 meters and rise our bow 30 degrees! Ready missile tubes A through F and prepare to fire on my mark then follow with the Valiants 3 meters right from the targets current position!

**The camera cuts outside to show a lot of Gundams, over 50, begin to take off from Alex's ship. What can best be describe as a ghost chess board appears on the screen, a white pawn moves forward one space.**

**The ghost chess board disappears. Alex's ship also begins to move so that it's facing the Dark-Angel's left side it's also lower slightly so that we can see the Dark-Angel's bottom. The camera cuts back to the bridge of the Dark-Angel, Kenny says loudly**

Kenny: They've just released a lot of Gundams!

**Cagalli says weakly**

Cagalli: That could just be for protection against us, if we contact them and tell them we're not here to fight them then maybe

**Rini cuts her off**

Rini: I've been trying to contact them but they haven't answer and if that were the case then why are they moving into a pretty good attack position and not a defensive one?

**Cagalli doesn't have an answer and she can't help but look back at Zuke who still looks emotionless. The camera quickly cuts back to Alex's ship's bridge, Alex says in a calm but strong voice.**

Alex: Fire.

**The camera cuts back outside to show Alex's ship fire missiles at the Dark-Angel. The camera then cuts back to the Dark-Angel's bridge, Kenny shouts**

Kenny: Incoming missiles!

**Jack quickly shouts back**

Jack: Evade!

**Alan pushes the wheel hard right. The camera cuts back outside to show the Dark-Angel move to the right evading the missiles but seconds after the cannonballs from the Valiants come within moments of hitting the Dark-Angel the Dark-Angel's energy shield activates just in the nick of time preventing direct contact.**

**The cannons explode and the Dark-Angel is push back slightly by the force of the explosion. The camera cuts inside Alex's ship's bridge, Alex still looks perfectly calm.**

Alex: So they were able to get their shield up in time, interesting. Load all missile tubes and have them prepare to fire at any time I say, Helmsman prepare to evade missiles to our right, the moment we evade fire our own missiles 5 meters above the targets current position! Tell the Gundam teams to begin their attack!

**The camera cuts back to the Dark-Angel's bridge, everyone recovering from the shockwave of the valiants starts getting into their battle mode. Shadow smirking at Cagalli says**

Shadow: Still think they're not here to attack us?

**Shadow says this in a joking playful voice and is in no way intending to be hurtful unlike Zuke's statement and Cagalli can see this. Cagalli just glares at him. Jack glaring at Alan shouts**

Jack: Alan what the hell was that! I said EVADE which means to move out of the way! Not move in front of the attack, we're lucky that Thomas decide to put up the energy shield on his own.

**Thomas beams in pride while Alan annoyed snaps back**

Alan: I did dodge the first attack, but the enemy predicted where I'd move and launch a second attack!

**Alan and Jack are glaring at each other, Ciro cuts in**

Ciro: I hate to break up your little chit-chat guys but we've got enemy Gundams heading straight for us!

**Shadow excited exclaims**

Shadow: Don't worry I'll take care of them, Cagalli, Nick, Roxas come on!

**Shadow turns around and rushes out, Nick, and Roxas follow immediately. Cagalli also follows after a moment's confusion because she's not use to being the one to get into a Gundam to defend the ship.**

Jack: Hey wait a minute!

**Jack shouts but it's too late they're already gone. Jack annoyed takes a seat in the Captain's chair. The camera looks over her shoulder to show Raheem, Kabira and Zuke standing in the back. Kabira turns to Raheem and asks**

Kabira: What should we do Raheem?

Raheem: There's nothing we can do except help this Gundam team win, even if we wanted to leave we're over an ocean now so it's impossible without the help of a Gundam pilot.

**Raheem says this eyeing Zuke who makes no reply back. Jack begins giving commands**

Jack: Alright Alan turn the ship around to face the enemy, Kenny fire the missile at the enemy ship, Thomas buy us some time against the enemy Gundams by using the beam CIWs!

**Alan starts to spin the wheel around while Thomas starts singing**

Thomas: LA-LA-FA-SO-ME-FA-DOE-RA-DE-DI!

**The camera cuts outside to show the Dark-Angel fire its missiles at Alex's ship, at the same time the first wave of Gundams comes within firing distance of the Dark-Angel. All of the flying enemy Gundams are carrying beam rifles. The Dark-Angel's beam CIWs activate just as the Flying Gundams are taking aim and about to fire.**

**The Flying Gundams are forced to do evasive maneuvers and can't fire but more are on the way. Alex's ship easily dodges the Dark-Angel's missiles; the camera quickly cuts inside the Dark-Angel's bridge to show Jack cursing. We can see the enemy ship on the main monitor.**

Jack: Damn! Alan begin evasive maneuvers, they're probably going to attack, how are we doing holding off the enemy Gundams?

**Thomas humming to himself while typing sighs**

Thomas: Ok so far but sadly my little song of beam bullets will only be able to hold off so many attackers before they start getting through.

**Raheem slightly surprise asks**

Raheem: Won't your energy shield be able to prevent the enemy Gundams from attacking us directly?

**Jack thinking up a plan answers absent mindedly**

Jack: The energy shield the Dark-Angel uses is a TI-N364, it's not capable of blocking a Gundam, only beam, positron, missiles and small solid metal objects, a Gundam is too big and powerful for it to block.

**The camera cuts outside to show the Dark-Angel begin to rise as part of its evasive maneuvers but Alex's ship before the Dark-Angel has even begun to move fires it's valiants slightly above the Dark-Angel. The resulting effect is a direct hit to the Dark-Angel's shield. The camera cuts inside to show a slight vibration in the bridge, Jack curses again.**

Jack: Damn it!

**Kabira asks nervously**

Kabira: Where are the Gundam Pilots?

**The camera cuts to the Gundam Bay. The screen splits into 4 sections, each section shows one of the Gundam pilots as the NS system activates, then cuts outside to show the corresponding Gundam's eyes flash. The screen returns back to normal and cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show an excited Shadow.**

Shadow: Alright let's go kick some ass! Kenny open the Gundam bay doors.

**A window on Shadow's helmet screen pops up showing Kenny. Kenny nods his head**

Kenny: You got it.

**The camera cuts back outside to show the Gundam bay doors open. We do a quick spilt screen over Nightwing to show a grinning Shadow. The screen returns back to normal and Nightwing takes off at a run to the exit. The camera does a split screen over La Rouge to show a shocked Cagalli.**

Cagalli: Wait Shadow don't!

**The camera cuts back outside to show Nightwing only moments away from the exit. The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show a grinning Shadow. Kenny face pales and he shouts out**

Kenny: Wait Shadow, Nightwing can't fly!

**Kenny says this seconds too late. The camera cuts outside half-way through Kenny's statement to show Nightwing jump outside. We can see that it's a long way down. Nightwing seems to float for a moment. We cut inside Nightwing's cockpit to show understand dawn on Shadow's face, then**

Shadow: OH, CRAP!

**The camera cuts outside to show Nightwing do a full 360 and start wildly swinging its arms and legs reaching for the Dark-Angel as it begins to fall. Nightwing is able to grab onto the edge of the floor of the Gundam bay, and pulls one arm in.**

**We can see Nightwing kicking air as it struggles to pull all of itself in when an enemy flying Gundam comes from below and stops and hovers slightly above Nightwing. The camera cuts inside the enemy flying Gundams cockpit as it takes aim.**

Pilot: Got you loser.

**The pilot says grinning. The camera cuts outside and before the flying enemy Gundam can get off a shot a beam bullet comes flying out of the Gundam bay and hits it square in the chest. Cowboy appears in front of Nightwing as more enemy flying Gundams start to come closer to the Gundam bay doors. **

**Cowboy starts to open fire on them already hitting 2 more. The flying enemy Gundams begin doing evasive maneuvers. The camera cuts into Cowboy's cockpit to show a focus Nick.**

Nick: Cagalli help the mate out!

**The camera cuts back outside to show La Rouge appear. La Rouge grabs Nightwing's hand and pulls Nightwing back into the Gundam bay. The camera cuts into La Rouge's cockpit to show an annoyed Cagalli**

Cagalli: Tell me Shadow did you forget the fact that we are over a 1000 yards above the ocean or the fact that Nightwing can't fly?

**The camera cuts into Nightwing's cockpit to show an annoyed Shadow**

Shadow: Whatever, ok who's got flying equipment?

**The camera cuts outside to show Nightwing looking at Cowboy, La Rouge and Quanlier, no one answers. The camera cuts to Alex's ship's bridge, Alex is analyzing the situation.**

Alex (So it appears they beginning to realize the full extent of the situation they're in. Thanks to Zain's report I know that their ship is an Archangel Class, which means I know all their weapons and can make accurate predictions on how they plan on using them. Plus also thanks to Zain's report I know everything about their Gundams, from weapons to type and Class, that's why I choose this stage to fight on, I know there's not a single Gundam capable of atmospheric flight.)

Alex: Begin advancing steadily towards the Dark-Angel, a meter per second while at the same time moving starboard with our bow facing them. Prepare to dodge missiles from our port side and high energy beam cannon fire from above, and then retaliate with missile spread formation Alpha. Follow with our valiants 30 meters right and 10 meters up from the targets current position on my command.

**The camera cuts back to the Gundam bay on the Dark-Angel, Cowboy is still shooting at the flying enemy Gundams. Nightwing is pacing back and forth in front of Quanlier and La Rouge and behind Cowboy. The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow annoyed and frustrated**

Shadow: Jack, how could you not make one of our Gundams capable of flight!

**Jack is on Shadow's helmet screen; she's blushing slightly and snaps back**

Jack: Look, when I first made them Drake said make it simple for you guys to control and flying just happens to be one of the most complicated abilities for a Gundam Pilot to master, and I've been busy since then having to constantly repair my Gundams that you guys break!

**Shadow still looks frustrated. The camera cuts outside for a moment to show Cowboy step away from the open hatch and turn to face everyone else. The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show a new window pop up showing Nick.**

Nick: The enemy Gundams have stop coming anywhere near the door mates, we need to get out there.

**The camera cuts to the bridge, we can still see the enemy ship on the main monitor but now we can also so a bunch of pop-up windows showing the Gundam Pilots. Jack thinks for a moment then says**

Jack: You guys can climb up onto the legs of the Dark-Angel and use your beam rifles to shoot down the enemy Gundams.

**Cagalli replies**

Cagalli: That will only work for me and Nick, as we all know Shadow can't shoot and Quanlier doesn't have hands to even hold a beam rifle.

**Jack is annoyed at Cagalli's statement and says sarcastically**

Jack: Oh really I had no idea it's not like I built the Gundams myself. Oh wait I did, having 2 Gundams out there is better than none and Shadow get out their anyway, you might get lucky and a stupid Gundam Pilot will try to land onto the Dark-Angel. Roxas just stay in the Gundam bay.

**Roxas looks disappointed**

Roxas: Aw man not fair.

**Ciro shouts**

Ciro: The enemy ship is circling us!

**Raheem comments**

Raheem: They could be trying to shoot out your ships engines?

**Jack glaring at the enemy ship in the monitor says**

Jack: Not if I have anything to say about it continue evasive maneuvers I don't care what it takes don't let them behind us, fire our missiles and Gottfrieds at the same time at them! Let's see them dodge 2 attacks at the same time.

**The camera cuts outside to show the Dark-Angel's high energy beam cannon and missiles fire. Alex's ship moves to the right dodging the missiles then drops down dodging the beam blast. **

**Alex's ship quickly retaliates by firing its missiles in an arc shape patter. The Dark-Angel tries to dodge but the majority of the arc hits it. The camera cuts into the Dark-Angel's bridge to show Jack gritting her teeth.**

Jack: No way they did it again. Alan get us some distance from them!

**Alan yanks on the wheel, the camera cuts outside to show the Dark-Angel moving backwards away from Alex's ship. The camera cuts inside Alex's ship's bridge to show Alex say**

Alex: Fire.

**The camera cuts outside to show Alex's ship fire it's valiants at the Dark-Angel, once again it's a direct hit. The camera cuts back into the Dark-Angel's bridge to show panic beginning to creep into Jack.**

Jack (What the hell is this, every move I make they're one step ahead?)

**The camera cuts outside the Dark-Angel to show Cowboy helping La Rouge climb onto the Dark-Angel's leg just above the Gundam bay doors. Nightwing is already on top of the leg. The camera cuts into Cowboy's cockpit**

Nick: There you go mate.

**Cagalli on Nick's helmet screen says**

Cagalli: Thank you Nick.

**The camera cuts outside and looks down to show Quanlier pacing back and forth clearly angry. The camera cuts inside Quanlier's cockpit to show a pissed off Roxas. Shadow makes a joke at her expanse.**

Shadow: Cheer up Roxas if you be good we'll bring you back and enemy Gundam's leg to chew on.

**Roxas snaps back**

Roxas: Bite me!

**The camera switches to inside Nightwing's cockpit, Shadow is grinning happily amused at his own joke. Cagalli pops up on his helmet screen and snaps**

Cagalli: Shadow this is no time for jokes!

**Shadow refocusing**

Shadow: Right!

**The camera cuts outside and does a 360 showing just how many enemy flying Gundams there are. We see Cowboy quickly scan the situation. The camera cuts inside Cowboy's cockpit to show Nick focus.**

Nick: Mates they're targeting the beam CIWs, we can't let them be destroy or they'll overwhelm us!

**Cagalli and Shadow nod their head.**

Cagalli and Shadow: Right!

**The camera cuts outside to show Cowboy, La Rouge and Nightwing run to cover the beam CIWs. La Rouge and Cowboy have their shields close in to themselves but at the same time slightly to their right so that they can see with their left eye. **

**All 3 Gundam stop in an area with a lot of remaining working beam CIWs, La Rouge and Cowboy begin to give their area of beam CIWs cover fire. Combined with the remaining beam CIWs fire La Rouge and Cowboy are taking out a lot of enemy flying Gundams. **

**Some of the enemy Flying Gundams have switch their target to the Shadow Knights, however La Rouge and Cowboy are easily blocking the beam bullets with their shields. The camera turns to look at Nightwing, Nightwing doesn't have a shield so when the flying enemy Gundams start shooting at it it's force to dodge the attacks instead of blocking.**

**Nightwing ducks down and quickly sidesteps to the right avoiding 2 beam bullets. The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show a wide eye Shadow.**

Shadow: Whoa that was close!

**Shadow's eyes are constantly scanning the area waiting for the next attack. Kenny on Shadow's helmet says**

Kenny: This is why we told you to carry a shield.

**Shadow despite the situation is annoyed**

Shadow: Shields only weigh me down, and I just end up losing them. Besides one handed sword fighting isn't my thing.

**Kenny points out the problem**

Kenny: Yea but how are you going to defend the beam CIWs; you can't even say the "a good defense is a good offense" thing because you don't have a single long range weapon? If you can't even protect the beam CIWs then your entire existents out there would be pointless.

**Shadow is looking at Kenny now highly annoyed**

Shadow: I know that thank you. I'll deflect the beam bullets off my beam saber.

**Shadow says quite pleased with himself for coming up with an answer to the problem. Kenny surprise at first laughs**

Kenny: HAHAHHA, who do you think you are? Luke Skywalker.

**Shadow irritated snaps**

Shadow: What it's possible, I mean Nightwing's beam saber is basically a Gundam size lightsaber.

**Kenny rolls his eyes**

Kenny: It's possible in theory but I mean do you have any idea how hard it is? Let me put it to you this way; imagine trying to hit a baseball traveling at the speed of a bullet with just a bat. Assuming you get lucky and actually somehow hit a beam bullet the force would literally rip your beam saber out of your hand.

**Shadow has had enough**

Shadow: Kenny shouldn't you be doing bridge stuff?

**Kenny says proudly**

Kenny: I'm multitasking.

**Shadow still annoyed says**

Shadow: Let me rephrase that, Kenny get back to your own work!

**Kenny holds up his hands**

Kenny: Alright, Alright I can take a hint, just let me say one last thing. Hehehhe may the force be with you AHAHAHHAHHA!

**Shadow pissed now snaps**

Shadow: Nightwing cut the communication line!

**Kenny's window disappears. Shadow then turns to face the enemy flying Gundams**

Shadow: Come on Nightwing let's show Kenny just how wrong he is!

**The camera cuts outside to show Nightwing's eyes flash, Nightwing's beam saber gets ejected from its secret compartment and Nightwing catches it and activates it in one swift movement. The camera enters sort of a fast-forward mode, we see the Dark-Angel firing its missiles, valiants and high energy beam cannons at Alex's ship. **

**Alex's ship is easily dodging the attacks and although they aren't firing back as much as the Dark-Angel every attack they do fire is a direct hit. The camera cuts inside both bridges occasionally to show both Jack and Alex giving commands, it also occasionally glances at Nightwing to show it failing miserably at trying to hit the beam bullets with its beam saber. **

**During the entire fast-forward mode we should see the ghost chess board. A chess game is being played, and from what we can tell black is getting its ass kick with black being the Dark-Angel. **

**The camera finally comes out of fast-forward mode to show Alex's ship dodge the Dark-Angel's high energy beam cannon attack. The camera cuts inside Alex's ship's bridge to show Alex calmly reply**

Alex: Fire.

**The camera cuts outside to show Alex's ship fire its missiles and despite the Dark-Angel's best attempt it's a direct hit. The camera cuts to the Dark-Angel's bridge to show Jack very pissed now**

Jack: Damn it, Damn it, Damn it! Every single time!

**Thomas sings**

Thomas: Shield power levels at 27 percent and only 67 percent of the beam CIWs remaining.

**Jack angry at the situation snaps**

Jack: What are Nick, Shadow and Cagalli doing!

**The camera cuts outside, La Rouge and Cowboy are still firing at the enemy flying Gundams. La Rouge seems to hit one flying Gundam for every 7 beam bullets it fires, while Cowboy hits a target for every 2 beam bullets fire. The camera cuts inside La Rouge's cockpit, Cagalli is annoyed**

Cagalli: What do you think we're doing just playing and what about you what are you doing, the ship is working just fine this time so what's your excuse?

**Jack and Cagalli start glaring at each other. The camera cuts into Cowboy's cockpit to show a calm Nick.**

Nick: Let's all calm down now mates, we're just getting frustrated because of how the battle is going let's not lose our heads. Jack we're doing the best we can out here but we're pretty badly out number, and Cagalli Jack is doing the best she can but remember she's not a real Captain she's only a fill in.

**The camera first cuts back into La Rouge's cockpit then the bridge. We can see that Nick's words have brought reason back to Cagalli and Jack. Jack looks away and says**

Jack: Sorry.

**Cagalli also looks to the ground**

Cagalli: I sorry too.

**Raheem watching the scene quietly thinks**

Raheem (Well they still maybe rookies but at least they know the most important thing, team work.)

**Jack suddenly realizes someone's missing asks Kenny**

Jack: Hey where's Shadow?

**Kenny rolling his eyes and says**

Kenny: He told me not to bother him. He's trying to do the Starwars thing…...and failing.

**The camera cuts outside to show Nightwing trying to hit a beam bullet with its beam saber. If you've ever been to a batting cage and have watch someone with the ball shooter at a ridicules high speed trying to hit at least one ball well that's exactly what Nightwing looks like now only instead of one ball shooter coming in one direction he's got multiple.**

**Nightwing is holding its beam saber like a bat and is jumping up and down like a maniac desperately trying to hit a beam bullet. Several times he jumps awkwardly and comes crashing down on the ship and as stupid as Nightwing looks its random and weird movements keep it from getting hit. **

**The camera looks up to 2 of the flying enemy Gundams. They stop some distance away and stare at Nightwing. The camera splits into multiple screens to show the Gundam Pilots.**

Pilot A: Is that guy nuts?

Pilot B: Who knows, let's just go take him out.

**The camera returns to normal and the Gundams take off. The camera cuts to Alex's ship, Alex looks confident. One of her Crew members doesn't look as confident**

A-Crew Member: Captain we're losing a lot of Gundams to the enemy ship.

**Alex doesn't look worried and explains**

Alex: Relax it only looks that way, right now the only Gundams that can fight back on the Dark-Angel are the Green one and the Red one. Based on Zain's report I know that only those 2 Gundams have any long range weapons, for whatever reason the black one only has a beam saber and as for the cat Gundam it doesn't even have hands.

Alex: So I've calculated based on their battle record that the Red one and Green one combine with the Dark-Angel will take out 3 ½ of our Gundams per minute. We have been fighting for 10 minutes now which means we've lost 35 Gundams out of the 70 of the first wave we've sent out. Now if that was all of our Gundams I'd agree that we'd be in a tough situation now but we have another 2 waves of 70 Gundams still in our bay.

Alex: Once the number of our Gundams drops down to 10 we'll send out the second wave. I've estimated that we'll win this battle in another 50 minutes, for those of you that can't do math that means that in one hour we'll lose 210 Gundams and if we started out with 3 sets of 70 Gundams on board that means we have a total of 210.

Alex: Of course you have to factor in the damage our Gundams will do to them over time, 3 ½ is their starting point but over time our Gundams will shoot down their beam CIWs and maybe even one of their Gundams so that number will only decrease over time. I estimate that by the end of the battle we'll have at least 30 to 40 Gundams remaining.

**Everyone looks at Alex impressed, one of the other Crew Members confused asks**

A-Crew Member B: How come we don't launch all our Gundams at once?

**Alex looks at him annoyed**

Alex: Because we only have about 80 pilots, that's why I've assigned 3 Gundams to act as recovery, they'll bring the safely pods from the destroyed Gundams back on board the ship so that the Pilots can get new Gundams and continue fighting.

**Everyone looks even more impressed. Alex smiling thinks to herself**

Alex (Just like a well-executed chess game, we may be only in the middle stages of the game but I can already see victory in 37 moves.)

**A chess board appears over Alex's head. For those of you who can play chess you can tell that black is getting the shit kick out of them. The camera cuts back to Nightwing on the Dark-Angel. Nightwing frustrated stomps down hard on its right leg. The camera cuts into Nightwing's cockpit to show a frustrated Shadow.**

Shadow: Damn it, stupid beam bullets!

**Kenny pops back up on Shadow's helmet screen.**

Kenny: So Shadow not as easy as you thought?

**Shadow annoyed glares at Kenny**

Shadow: The movies made it look easier.

**Kenny laughs**

Kenny: HAHAHHAHA, that's what you get for basing your information off a movie!

**The camera cuts to the bridge to show Kenny still laughing, Raheem overhearing the conversation walks over to Kenny's terminal and pushes him out of the way. Raheem looks pissed**

Raheem: IS THIS JUST A GAME TO YOU!

**The camera cuts back to inside Nightwing's cockpit, we can see Raheem on Shadow's helmet screen. Shadow looks surprise at Raheem's outburst. The camera cuts back to the bridge and Raheem goes on**

Raheem: You're supposed to be the Team Leader, you're supposed to lead this team to victory and yet here you are just goofing off while your comrades struggle desperately against the enemy! Is this a joke to you? Do you not care if your comrades die! What have you gotten done, in this battle? Nothing, you have done nothing to help anyone so once again I ask you is this just a game to you!

**The camera looks over to everyone, Jack, Kenny and Kabira look surprise, Alan is nodding his head in agreement, Thomas, Ciro and Rini have mask their emotions, Zuke looks slightly interested. **

**The camera cuts into La Rouge, Cowboy and Quanlier's cockpits to show the other Gundam Pilot's reaction, they're only listening to the audio of the conversation because it'd be too distracting to have the video feed. Nick looks calm and cool headed, Cagalli looks surprise and Roxas just looks curious how Shadow will react.**

**The camera finally cuts back to inside Nightwing's cockpit; the camera is angle so that we can't see the top portion of his face like his eyes. We see Shadow's lip twitch then break into a slow grin. The camera finally looks up to show Shadow's whole face to reveal that Shadow has on his crazy excited madman look.**

Shadow: Yes.

**The screen splits into multiple parts to show everyone deeply shocked by Shadow's comment, even Zuke can't mask his surprise expression. The camera cuts back to Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow still grinning, it's a fine line between an excited smile and a mad smile and Shadow is walking that line. Shadow explains**

Shadow: To me this is the ultimate game, where rules change at a whim, where everyone struggles to achieve their goals and dreams, where everything's at stake, life, death, pride, honor, money, friendship, even enemies; that's why I won't lose I can't afford to lose.

**Shadow's logic combined with the resolved way he says this statement shocks Raheem even more. The camera cuts back to the bridge, everyone getting over their shock goes back to what they were doing. Jack grins and says**

Jack: Way to lay on the dramatics Shadow.

**Kenny nods his head in agreement**

Kenny: Shadow sure knows how to put on a show.

**Zuke regaining his composer**

Zain (He certainly is a weird natural, if nothing us.)

**The camera cuts to the inside of Cowboy's cockpit to show Nick whistle**

Nick: *Whistle* Well said mate, well said.

**The camera cuts into La Rouge's cockpit**

Cagalli: Hm that Shadow as stupid as ever.

**We can see a visible change come over, Cagalli, Nick, Kenny and Jack and even the bridge crew. Their bodies had become tense and ridged from the frustration and fear created by the battle, but after Shadow's speech we can see them visibly relax and become rejuvenate. The camera cuts back to Nightwing, Shadow has a focus look on his face.**

Shadow: However you're right Raheem I haven't done shit in this battle but that's going to change now.

**The camera cuts back to the bridge Raheem still looks shock**

Raheem (This kid)

**Kenny suddenly leans forwards in his seat; he looks very worried. Kenny shouts**

Kenny: Shadow what the hell are you doing?

**The camera cuts outside to show that Nightwing has back up some distance away from the edge of the ship. Nightwing is in a sprinters stance. The camera cuts into Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow grinning.**

Shadow: What's it look like, I'm about to get into this battle.

**The camera cuts outside to show the thrusters on Nightwing turn up to max. Nightwing takes off heading towards the edge of the ship. The camera cuts back into Nightwing's cockpit**

Shadow: Come on Nightwing; let's show these guys that even though we don't have distance weapons or the ability to fly we can still kick some ass!

**The camera looks down at Shadow's Neon Gauntlet to show it start to slightly glow. The camera cuts outside to show Nightwing's eyes flash as it jumps off the edge of the Dark-Angel.**

**It can also be the viewer's imagination but Nightwing's thrusters seem to have gotten a little more powerful. The camera quickly cuts back to the bridge to show looks of surprise on everyone's faces.**

Raheem: What!

Kabira: Is he insane!

Jack and Kenny: Shadow!

**The camera cuts back outside and does a 3 way spilt screen to show Cagalli, Nick and Roxas look surprise.**

Cagalli: That moron!

Nick: Mate!

**The camera finally turns to look back at Nightwing. Nightwing gets some distance away from the Dark-Angel before it starts to fall, however Nightwing drops less than 3 meters before it crashes/lands on top of an enemy flying Gundam.**

**Nightwing desperately grabs onto the enemy flying Gundam. The camera does a horizontal 3 way split screen, Shadow on top, the Gundams in the middle and the enemy Pilot on the bottom. Shadow is gritting his teeth while the Pilot looks very surprise.**

Enemy Pilot: What the hell!

**The screen momentary returns to normal to show the flying enemy Gundam with Nightwing on top of it fly up, down, left, right, right downward diagonal, and left upward diagonal, obviously out of control. The screen returns back to the horizontal 3 way split, the enemy Pilot looks very panic having never encounter this problem before.**

Enemy Pilot: Get off me, the flight system on this Gundam wasn't design to carry this much weight!

**Shadow grinning slightly like a lunatic says**

Shadow: And fall over a 1000ft to the ocean, no thanks but don't worry I've got another idea!

**With that the screen returns to normal as Nightwing hops off the flying enemy Gundam and onto another one passing by. As Nightwing is jumping off it quickly flicks its beam saber down cutting off the head of the flying enemy Gundam it was just on. **

**The headless flying enemy Gundam starts falling to the ground looking lifeless as Nightwing lands on the next flying enemy Gundam feet first and after a moment Nightwing cuts off the head of this Gundam as it jumps to another and repeats.**

**Each time Nightwing does this it gets further and further away from the Dark-Angel and closer to Alex's ship. The camera cuts to the bridge, Alex still has on her calm smile.**

Alex: Alright, it's about time to send out the second wave of Gundams. Tell them to launch.

**One of her crew members nods his head and turns to get it done, when another crew member turns around and says**

A-Crew Member B: Captain, we have an unexpected development I think you should see.

**For the first time since the battle started and maybe even before that the calm confident smile leaves Alex's face. Alex looks slightly annoyed**

Alex: What are you talking about; bring it up on the main monitor.

**A-Crew Member B turns around in his seat and types a few keys. The main monitor flashes then shows Nightwing hopping from flying Gundam to flying Gundam. Nightwing seems to have gotten the hang of it. **

**It either jumps directly onto their backs or grabs the leg of the passing one then somehow flips itself on top of their back. Nightwing is also slashing at the Gundams it's jumping off of dealing critical blows. The camera looks back to Alex to show her frowning, Alex begins thinking out loud**

Alex: What is he doing? He can't possibly expect to keep this up, eventually those idiots we call Pilots will begin to pick up on his movements and avoid him or simply knock him away when he tries to jump on them so what's the point?

**Alex's eyes open wide as an idea enters her mind**

Alex: No he couldn't be. Zoom out!

**Alex snaps at her crew a growing panic inside her voice. Her crew members surprise nonetheless goes ahead and does what she asked. The monitor zooms out to show a line of flying Gundams from Alex's ship to the Dark-Angel. **

**The second wave has met the first wave and enters the fight with the Dark-Angel, and Shadow is basically running across that line. The camera turns to look back at Alex, Alex's eyes open even wider. **

**The camera turns back around and starting with Nightwing a line appears, zigzagging around and hitting the closest flying Gundam till it reaches Alex's ship (the line is imagine by Alex, there isn't an actual line on the monitor). Alex shocked says to herself**

Alex: He's using the Flying Gundams as a bridge to get to us!

**Alex quickly recovers from her shock and shouts**

Alex: Tell the Gundam teams to scatter and move as far away from our ship as possible! Full reverse now!

**The camera cuts outside to show Alex's ship stop moving forward and start going in reverse. The camera looks over to Nightwing, the closest flying Gundams finally understanding Shadow's plan quickly get as much distance from Nightwing and the poor flying Gundam he's riding on as they can.**

**The flying Gundam Nightwing is riding on has begun doing drastic maneuvers to throw it off. The camera cuts into Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow gritting his teeth.**

Shadow (Looks like they caught on to my plan.)

**Shadow smirks and says**

Shadow: Don't worry Nightwing, I've got a backup plan; let's see if we can't ride this guy to their ship!

**The camera cuts back outside to show Nightwing's eyes flash. Nightwing before the other flying Gundams scatter was gripping the Gundam with its left hand on the enemy Gundam's right shoulder and its right knee in the enemy Gundam's back.**

**But now Nightwing has both knees in the Gundam's back and is gripping the Gundam's shoulders with both its hand. Nightwing leans its weight on the flying Gundam in order to influence its direction.**

**Although the flying Gundam still looks out of control and is flying wildly around one can't help but notice that it's getting closer and closer to Alex's ship. The camera quickly cuts inside Alex's ship's bridge to show Alex's panic growing. Alex snaps**

Alex: What the hell is that pilot doing; tell him to stay away from the ship!

A**-Crew Member A also with growing panic replies**

A-Crew Member A: I did, he says that he's trying but his Gundam is out of control!

**The camera cuts outside to show the flying enemy Gundam do a nose dive then a straight vertical ascend. The flying Gundam passes within 5 meters of the bridge of Alex's ship. The camera cuts into Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow grinning excitedly**

Shadow: Thanks this is my stop!

**And with that the camera cuts outside to show Nightwing leap off the enemy flying Gundam while at the same time cutting off its head and heading straight towards Alex's ship. Nightwing is in the classic jump attack pose.**

**The episode ends with a freeze frame of Nightwing jumping towards Alex's ship about to attack. Over Nightwing we should see Shadow grinning and over Alex's ship we should see Alex gritting her teeth. The mental chess board is between the too, but this time it looks like black is about to put white in check.**


	34. Episode 33

Episode 33

**The episode opens up showing Nightwing hoping from flying Gundam to flying Gundam while steadily advancing towards Alex's ship. The camera cuts into the bridge to show Raheem intensely watching Nightwing on the monitor. Raheem looks impressed**

Raheem: Ingenious he's using the flying Gundams as stepping stones to get closer to the enemy ship.

**Jack turns to glare at Raheem**

Jack: It's only ingenious if he doesn't fall.

**Kenny worry quickly says**

Kenny: Shadow won't fall, he trains every day and he's always had a great sense of balance, he won't fall!

**Rini pondering this for a moment then says**

Rini: No you're right Kenny

**Kenny surprise beams for a moment in pride until Rini says her next statement.**

Rini: It's far more likely that the enemy pilots will spread out and make it impossible for Shadow to jump on to them, thus when the flying Gundam's flight pack that Shadow is currently riding goes out he'll fall straight to the ocean like a sack of bricks.

**Kenny looks even more worried now. Ciro also adds**

Ciro: Plus even if he does somehow make it to the enemy ship how does he plan on coming back after he destroys it, assuming he doesn't get shot down first.

**The camera cuts to inside La Rouge's cockpit. Cagalli, Nick, and Roxas are listening to the conversation on the bridge. They don't have the video on because that would be too distracting in the battle. **

**Cagalli's eyes are constantly moving waiting for the next attack. The camera cuts outside for a moment to show La Rouge block beam bullets from 3 different directions and returns fire. The camera cuts back inside La Rouge's cockpit, Cagalli looks mad and she says**

Cagalli: That idiot probably didn't plan or even think that far ahead!

**The camera cuts outside to show Cowboy hit 4 flying Gundams, only 1 is a kill shot the other 3 only blow off limbs. As Cowboy is blocking return fire the camera cuts inside, Nick slightly grins and says**

Nick: But you got to admit mate if Shadow manages to destroy their ship it'll help us out a lot.

**The camera cuts back to the bridge, Jack looks unhappy.**

Jack: Look I don't care about that other stuff; let's just focus on saving Shadow's ass, so any ideas?

**Jack asks to the group, no one answers. Jack looking around asks again in a more desperate tone.**

Jack: Come on, anyone?

**Ciro suddenly shouts**

Ciro: You were right Rini; the Gundams around Nightwing have started to scatter.

**Ciro hits a few keys and the main monitor zooms in to show Nightwing riding a flying Gundam. The other flying Gundams around Nightwing have started to move as far away from him as they can. Raheem quickly asks**

Raheem: How close is he to the enemy ship?

**Ciro does a quick estimation**

Ciro: He's getting closer while riding that flying Gundam but it's only a matter of time before the flight system gives out, and the enemy ship is also moving away from him. It he tries to jump towards them it's going to be close if he hits them or not.

**Jack getting really desperate shouts**

Jack: We have to help Shadow, someone think of something!

**Once again there's another pause but this time the silence is broken by Roxas.**

Roxas: Why don't we use this harpoon thing to reel Nightwing back in like a fish.

**Jack looks puzzle for a minute not sure what Roxas is talking, then understanding dawns on her.**

Jack: Harpoon? Oh wait you mean the grappling hook.

**The camera cuts for a moment inside Quanlier's cockpit to show an annoyed Roxas.**

Roxas: Is there a difference?

**We hear Jack angrily shout right into Roxas's ear.**

Jack: YES!

**Roxas flinches. The camera cuts back to the bridge to show Jack excitedly nodding her head.**

Jack: Yes, that could work; Roxas get the grappling gun to Nick.

**We hear Roxas's voice on the intercom**

Roxas: No problem.

**Jack begins to tap her fingers on the arm rest of the Captain's chair while Zuke takes this moment to speak.**

Zuke: Is that really all you're going to do?

**Jack turns to look at him annoyed and not really wanting to deal with him.**

Jack: Why don't you just cut the crap Zuke and tell me what you want to say.

**Zuke eyes her for a moment annoyed by her superior tone of voice then says**

Zuke: All throughout this fight the enemy has been one step ahead of you and because of that you haven't been able to even touch them and now thanks to Shadow's stupidity they've finally become off balance and you want to waste this opportunity by being concern with that moron.

**Kenny comes to Shadow's defense**

Kenny: Hey worrying about your friends isn't a bad thing.

**Zuke looks at Kenny the same way you look at an insect not that he doesn't look at everyone like that, and then says in an ice cold logical voice that seems to make the air freeze.**

Zuke: Friend? On the battlefield there's no such thing, there are only results.

**Even though everyone has gotten use to Zuke's attitude they're still surprise. Kenny goes to say something but Jack after thinking for a moment cuts him off.**

Jack: You're half right Zuke.

**Zuke's face twitches in offense.**

Zuke: I am.

**Jack nods her head and goes on.**

Jack: Results are important in any battle but without friends there'd be no reason to win. Rini prepare to fire the positron cannon at the enemy ship.

**Rini looks surprise**

Rini: Are you sure if we miss we'll lose a lot of power for nothing.

**Jack nods her head**

Jack: I'm sure; we'll fire it when Shadow's out of the way.

**Rini turns in her seat and begins typing on her computer. The camera cuts outside to show a beam bullet fly over La Rouge's left shoulder from behind. We see the beam CIWs swerve in response to the target and open fire. **

**La Rouge also turns and fires 3 shots. The flying Gundam moves left to evade the beam CIW's but that causes it to fly straight into La Rouge's beam bullets. It's a direct hit and the flying Gundam starts falling like a ton bricks. The camera cuts inside La Rouge's cockpit to show Cagalli**

Cagalli: Since when do we have a grappling gun?

**Jack still trying to think ahead absent mindedly explains**

Jack: We salvaged it from one of the sniping Gundams we fought the other day, I think that's how they climb the mountains.

**The camera cuts to the Gundam bay to show Quanlier standing in front of the grappling gun. It's easy to see why Roxas might have confused this for a harpoon. The grappling gun is Gundam size and on what appears to be a stand.**

**There are some people working on terminals attach to the stand. Quanlier is tapping it's right front paw impatiently looking very annoyed which is pretty impressive since Gundams have no facial expressions, other than the jaw. The camera zooms in on one of the D-Crew Members.**

**He like a lot of the Dark-Angel Crew members looks rough like he belongs in a biker bar rather than on this ship. He's got a tattoo on his right cheek. Quanlier's taping is causing a big vibration almost like an earthquake plus the metal banging sound is just like thunder. D-Crew Member sighs a combination of tired and annoyed**

D-Crew Member: For the love of god it's finish already so can you please stop doing that and get the hell out of here.

**The camera cuts inside Quanlier's cockpit to show Roxas in a hurry**

Roxas: Finally, it took you long enough.

**The camera cuts back outside to show Quanlier quickly turns around so that its tail is towards the grappling gun. Quanlier flicks its tail up sending the grappling spinning in the air and with cat like reflects catches it in its jaw, then rushes to the Gundam bay door. **

**Quanlier puts on the breaks a couple of feet away the edge of the Gundam bay causing it to slide the rest of the way to the edge, the camera cuts to inside Quanlier's cockpit just as Quanlier gets to the edge of the Gundam bay. Roxas mumbles through gripping the grappling gun in her mouth (NS system).**

Roxas: Chatchmm! (Catch!)

**The camera cuts outside to show Quanlier bend its head low and throws the grappling gun high into the air above the Dark-Angel's leg. La Rouge turns to see the grappling gun flip in the air. The camera cuts inside La Rouge's cockpit to show Cagalli's eyes explode open.**

Cagalli: Crap!

**The camera cuts outside to show La Rouge throw caution to the wind and stampede to the edge of Dark-Angel's leg and dropping its shield stretches its arms to grab the grappling gun just as it begins to fall. The grappling gun bobbles in La Rouge's hand and any football fan would be holding their breath praying their team doesn't fumble.**

**Just as it looks like the grappling gun is about to slip through La Rouge's fingers La Rouge dives onto its chest and just manages to grab the hook end of the gun between its fingers. The camera cuts into La Rouge's cockpit to show Cagalli let out a breath she had been holding in and visibly relaxes. **

**The camera cuts outside to show La Rouge slowly pull the grappling gun onto the leg of the Dark-Angel, when a flying Gundam comes down from above and hovers about 10 meters away from La Rouge. It's pointing its beam rifle at La Rouge and taking slow and deliberate aim. It's definitely not going to miss its chance because of an over eager trigger finger.**

**The camera cuts inside La Rouge's cockpit to show surprise and then fear spread across Cagalli's face like color dye in water. Cagalli glances to the right, the camera cuts outside as she does so to show La Rouge's shield out of arm's distance away. It's too late anyway, the flying Gundam fires. **

**The camera cuts back to Cagalli to show her close her eyes then cuts back outside and just as the beam bullet is about to hit La Rouge square in the head a shield moves in front of La Rouge and blocks the shot. The camera looks up from La Rouge to show Cowboy standing over it like a protective brother. **

**Seconds after the beam bullet is blocked by the shield Cowboy whips out its own beam rifle and returns fire, one shot one kill. The camera cuts inside La Rouge's cockpit to show Cagalli open her eyes and look towards Cowboy.**

Cagalli: Um thanks.

**The camera cuts inside Cowboy's cockpit to show Nick slightly grin at Cagalli.**

Nick: No problem mate but if you don't mind I'll be taking this.

**The camera cuts outside to show Cowboy take the grappling gun from La Rouge. The camera quickly cuts inside La Rouge's cockpit to show a surprise Cagalli.**

Cagalli: Hey!

**The camera cuts back into Cowboy's cockpit to show Nick beginning to take aim with the grappling gun. Nick with his relax and serene look says**

Nick: Sorry mate but we're only going to get one shot at this and we both know that I'm the better shot.

**The camera cuts back outside to show Cowboy aiming the grappling gun at Nightwing. La Rouge gets up and grabs its shield. The camera cuts inside La Rouge's cockpit to show Cagalli looks slightly offended. Jack appears on Cagalli's helmet screen.**

Jack: Cagalli what are you doing just standing there give Nick some cover fire!

**Cagalli recovering**

Cagalli: Right!

**The camera cuts to the bridge to show Jack turn to Thomas and shout out**

Jack: Thomas you too!

**Thomas nods his head and sings**

Thomas: Of course LA-LA-LA-LAAAAAAA!

**Kenny suddenly shouts with nervous panic in his voice**

Kenny: Shadow is jumping towards the enemy ship!

**Everyone turns to the main monitor; Nightwing is flying in the air towards Alex's ship, he's in the classic jump attack pose. The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit**

Shadow: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

**The camera looks down to show Shadow's Neon gauntlet start to slightly glow, time slows down. The camera cuts outside to show Nightwing slowly swings it's beam blade down, it looks like Nightwing is going to connect with the bridge. The camera cuts into Alex's ship's bridge, Alex with real fear on her face shouts**

Alex: Fire bridge missiles now!

**The camera cuts outside to show a secret missile launcher tube appear right underneath the bridge and fire 1 missile at Nightwing. Nightwing is shot at pointblank range, the missile explodes and creates a smoke cloud that Nightwing comes flying/falling from like a man launch from a cannon.**

**The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow look a combination of pissed and in pain. Shadow gritting his teeth in deep frustration starts cursing.**

Shadow: DAMN IT, I had it that time, I had it! Stupid freaking hidden missiles! Who hides missiles underneath their bridge those freaking assholes!

**The camera cuts to inside Alex's ship's bridge to show Alex in a state of shock**

Alex (He almost check me, he almost manage to actually touch my ship, no, no, no stay calm he was just lucky. The bridge missile isn't a strong enough explosive to cause serious damage to a Gundam. I almost made the same mistake Zain did; I underestimated them but not any)

**Suddenly a Crew member cuts off her train of thought as he shouts in a voice full of panic**

A-Crew Member A: The enemy ship is firing its positron cannon!

**As if an electrical current passes through Alex's body her eyes shoots open in the ultimate form of surprise. The camera cuts outside to show the Dark-Angel fire its positron cannon. The camera quickly cuts inside the Dark-Angel's bridge to show Jack look triumphed**

Jack: We got them; they don't have time to evade!

**The camera cuts back outside to show the positron beam come within meters of Alex's ship before the camera cuts inside Alex's ship's bridge. Alex shouts one single word that seems to take a hammer at the hope of Dark-Angel's crew.**

Alex: Activate the energy shield!

**The camera cuts outside to show Alex's ship activate its energy shield. The positron beam hits the shield and forces Alex's ship back but other than that Alex's ship remains unscratched by the attack.**

**Its energy shield also remains on after the attack. The camera cuts back inside the Dark-Angel's bridge, everyone except Zuke looks a cross between surprise and crestfallen.**

Kenny: They have an energy shield.

**Kenny says so quietly that it's like a light chill in the air that seems to suck the life out of the room. The only thing that's is more shocking is that we can hear him. Jack trying to keep her spirits up but failing says**

Jack: S-so what they have an energy shield too, an energy shield is pretty common, it'd be more shocking if they didn't have one. Anyway they should be off balance now, so fire the missiles and the Gottfrieds.

**Raheem almost to himself asks**

Raheem: If they had an energy shield then why didn't they activate it at the beginning of the fight?

**Zuke watching the monitor closely answers in a cold and calculating tone.**

Zuke: Because they never though they'd have to use it.

**As Zuke says this the camera cuts back to Alex on the Dark-Angel's bridge. The force of the blast rocked her back and forth in the captain's chair causing her hair to go wild and cover her eyes. She lifts her head to show her eyes full of an intense and powerful anger like a mad woman ready to go berserk. She begins to rapidly think**

Alex (DAMN IT, DAMN IT, DAMN IT, they force me to activate the energy shield, now I've made 2 mistakes, the first one is that I got careless and let that Gundam Fighter come close to checking me, the second was I allowed myself to be distracted by the first mistake. No more, now I'm mad, but I have to remain calm and calculate every move carefully, they will not be walking away from this alive!)

**Alex quickly brushing her hair back says**

Alex: Prepare to dodge missile attacks from above and high energy beams from dead ahead, move our ship starboard 27 meters follow with a Valiants attack then drop down 30 meters dodging another missile attack while countering with our own missiles!

**The camera cuts back outside to show Nightwing still falling. The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow gritting his teeth as he looks down to his doom**

Shadow (Not good, there's no flying Gundams around to hop onto. Hitting that ocean is going to hurt.)

**The camera cuts back outside and moves back over to the Dark-Angel. Cowboy and La Rouge are back to back in an area still with plenty of beam CIWs. **

**La Rouge and the beam CIWs are providing cover for Cowboy. Cowboy still holding the grappling gun is pointing it at Nightwing. The camera cuts inside La Rouge's cockpit, Cagalli with adrenaline pumping through her veins says with growing fear**

Cagalli: Nick what are you waiting for take the shot!

**The camera cuts into Cowboy's cockpit, Nick is taking deep breaths pouring all of his concentration into this one shot.**

Nick (I know, I know mate but that missile blast increased Nightwing's falling speed and threw off my calculations. Arrrr I only have one shot at this, if I miss I won't have time to pull the hook back and take another shot.)

**Nick's hand shakes a little. Nick notices this and quickly stops it.**

Nick (NO, the first rule of gunmanship is to always believe that you're going to make the shot. I am going to make this shot, I am going to make the shot, I'VE ALREADY MADE THIS SHOT!)

**The camera looks down to show Nick's Neon gauntlet start to slightly glow like a light that clears away the mist of doubt. The camera cuts back outside to show Cowboy fire the grappling hook. The grappling hook is flying straight towards Shadow with the steel cable attach to the back whipping around behind it.**

**We can hear a metal sliding on metal as we see the steel cable continue to slide out of the gun with apparently no end in sight. The camera cuts back into Cowboy's cockpit to show Nick with an intense look of concentration as he does numerous calculations in his mind, blood begins to drain from his face as he comes to the results.**

Nick (Damn, I took too long to calm my nerves and fire the shot! Arrrr it's going to be close if I have enough steel cable to reach Shadow.)

**The camera cuts outside to see that the length of the steel cable is pretty long but like all things it must end, the only question is if it will reach Nightwing before it runs out. Time seems to slow down as with building tension the hook comes closer and closer to Nightwing while at the same time we can see the steel cable become incredibly long and wonder how much longer it can get.**

**The hook gets right next to Nightwing definitely within grabbing distance. Nightwing is still holding onto its beam saber which still works. Time stops for a moment. The camera quickly moves back over to Cowboy.**

**We hear a clicking sound indicating the steel cable has gone all it can go. The camera cuts into Cowboy's cockpit to show Nick's nerves finally break as he shouts in a voice drowning with fear.**

Nick: SHADOW GRAB IT!

**The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit, to show Shadow flick his head up when he hears Nick.**

Shadow: Hm.

**He quickly glances to his left as he does so the camera cuts outside to show Nightwing look to the grappling hook. We can see the steel cable becoming taunt as it stretches a few feet more. The camera cuts back to inside Nightwing's cockpit as Shadow grits his teeth as he realizes he's running out of time. **

**The camera cuts outside to show Nightwing who was falling head first do a backflip in order to straighten itself out. In the middle of the flip Nightwing in a lightning fast motion closer to a reflex than anything else reaches out and grabs the hook just as it becomes completely taunt and stops falling any further.**

**The effect being that Nightwing gets yank to stop. The camera looks up to Cowboy to show Cowboy get yank forward a good couple of meters. Cowboy starting to get dangerously close to the edge of the ship quickly braces its foot against a CIW to prevent it from getting pulled any further. **

**At the same time the Dark-Angel fires its high energy beam cannon and missiles at Alex's ship. Alex's ship quickly drops down and moves to the left dodging both attacks. Alex's ship quickly circles the Dark-Angel then fires its Valiants at it. The Dark-Angel drops down dodging some of the Valiant cannons but most hit the shield.**

**The camera looks down back at Nightwing. Nightwing is dangling from the grappling hook with one hand. The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow screaming and cursing in pain.**

Shadow: OWWWWWWWWWWWWWW, god freaking damn it, OW, OW, OW god, OW my arm, my freaking arm god damn it!

**Kenny appears on a new window on Shadow's helmet screen; his relief brings the color back to his face.**

Kenny: Shadow oh my god are you alright?

**Shadow still in pain snaps**

Shadow: YES I'm just screaming because I'm perfectly alright!

**He says full of angry sarcasm, although he's gritting his teeth now in order to hide how much pain he's in. Kenny realizing even though Shadow is alive he's in a lot of pain almost trips over himself apologizing.**

Kenny: Shadow I'm so sorry I didn't even realize you were hurt, tell me where's the pain, did a lose metal board hit you, did the zero gravity field fail, did you break your leg!

**Shadow with stubbornness that only the bravest/stupidest men have that refuses to show weakness in front of others grits his teeth and says**

Shadow: My arm, my arm feels like it's being rip from my socket.

**Kenny with growing worry for his friend rapidly types on his computer.**

Kenny: Ok I'm running a full system diagnostics check, it's possible the zero gravity field is malfunctioning creating an area of increase gravitation on your arm.

**Zuke walking up behind Kenny with his bored expression spots the problem right away.**

Zuke: Natural please tell me you're not actually this stupid and that you realize that it's just the NS system.

**Kenny does the "oh" face then quickly says**

Kenny: Of-Of course hehehe, I was just humoring Shadow.

**Kenny says trying to say face. Zuke obviously does buy it. Kenny turning back to Shadow angry and humiliated says**

Kenny: Shadow why didn't you tell me it was just the NS system!

**Shadow still in pain snaps back**

Shadow: I never said what, I only said that my arm feels like it's getting rip out of its socket and still does!

**Zuke still looking bored speaks down to Shadow**

Zuke: Your arm isn't being ripped out of its socket; the pain is only being cause by the NS system which means it's only in your head.

**The pain seems to finally be receding, Shadow looking extremely annoyed at Zuke says**

Shadow: Well my head hurts then.

**Zuke looks unimpressed by Shadow's joke. The camera cuts back to the bridge to show Jack gritting her teeth while gripping the arm rest with her hands in deep frustration.**

Jack: Fire the missiles again!

**The camera cuts outside to show the Dark-Angel fire another set of missiles at Alex's ship. Alex's ship drops down dodging the missiles while at the same time firing its own missiles in a flower pattern, it's a direct hit on the Dark-Angel's shield. **

**The camera looks down at Cowboy, we can see the gun slowly pulling the steel cable back in. The camera cuts inside Cowboy's cockpit to show Nick breath slowly in and slowly out like the gentle waves on a beach. He's deeply concentrating on keeping the weight from pulling him over.**

Nick (Damn at times I wish this NS system wasn't so real, if I lose focus for even a moment this thing is going to send me over and the muscles in my arm are burning.)

**The camera cuts outside to show La Rouge still back to back with Cowboy, lifts up its shield and ducks down as 4 beam bullets hit its shield. La Rouge lowers its shield and returns fire. The camera looks up to show that a combination of La Rouge's beam rifle and CIWs have manage to shot down 2 out of the 5 flying Gundams that fired on them.**

**The camera cuts into La Rouge's cockpit, Cagalli is beginning to sweat a lot, she glances over her should and asks while trying to mask her concern.**

Cagalli: You doing alright Nick?

**The camera cuts back to inside Cowboy's cockpit, we can see Cagalli on Nick's helmet screen. Nick seeing her worry quickly grins to reassure her**

Nick: Don't worry mate I'm alright, Shadow's thick head just weighs a ton.

**A new window opens up on Nick's helmet screen, its Shadow and judging from the annoyed look on his face he heard everything.**

Shadow: Who are you calling thickheaded!

**The camera cut to inside La Rouge's cockpit to show Cagalli burning bright red in anger at Shadow.**

Cagalli: You, you stupid idiot; what the hell could you be thinking trying to attack a ship like that!

**The camera cuts to inside Nightwing's cockpit to show that despite everything Shadow and Cagalli are having a glare off. Shadow snaps back**

Shadow: I was thinking that I wasn't doing crap so I decided to take a chance

**Fumes seem to be coming out of Cagalli as we hear her gritting her teeth and clenching her fist in order to control her rising anger.**

Cagalli: You mean decided on your own to endanger your life and our lives on some half-baked theory! Do you realize how much time we spent wasting on saving your sorry ass!

**However Shadow doesn't have Cagalli's years of political experience controlling her anger and let's Cagalli have it.**

Shadow: What do you mean wasting time; we weren't doing anything before to help win this battle! We were obviously losing so we needed to take a risk in order to get ahead in this battle!

**The veins are starting to pop on Cagalli's face,**

Cagalli: That was not your call to make! You should have talk with us about it first; we would have discussed it then come up with a well thought out plan

**Shadow about to bang his head against the wall in frustration shouts cutting her off**

Shadow: By the time we all agree to a plan we'd be dead, my instincts gave me an idea and I decided to follow it!

**Cagalli now finally losing self-control starts shouting as well**

Cagalli: And almost got yourself and Nick killed! Are you trying to say that it's better to die quickly doing something stupid!

**Shadow rising his voice even higher than Cagalli's**

Shadow: I'M SAYING IT'S BETTER TO DIE DOING SOMETHING THAT HAS A CHANCE OF WORKING THEN SOMETHING THAT NEVER WOULD WORK!

**Like a bell tower that rings through the storm we hear an explosion that cuts through and silences the argument. The camera cuts outside to show that missiles had hit the shield directly in front of La Rouge and Cowboy. The smoke quickly dispenses but La Rouge and Cowboy still feel the vibrations of the blast. **

**The camera cuts back into La Rouge's cockpit, we can see both Nick and Shadow on Cagalli's helmet screen. The explosion seems to have blown away Cagalli and Shadow's anger as they realize they're still in the middle of a battle. Nick brings their thoughts to sound.**

Nick: Jack isn't doing well mates.

**Cagalli softens as worry for Jack overrides her anger for Shadow.**

Cagalli: Jack has no military training, it's really impressive that she's been doing this well so far with just the common battle knowledge Tom taught her but these guys are just on a different level.

**Nick nods his head in agreement.**

Nick: I agree mate, I don't know much about military mates but from what I do know is that their definitely using military tactics.

**Shadow looks confused.**

Shadow: So wait, are you guys saying we're fighting some nation's army?

**Cagalli immediately shakes her head**

Cagalli: No, it doesn't matter which or what kind of nation it is, if this ship was part of an army they would've attack us with multiply ships trying to overwhelm us with numbers instead of using strategy and even if we did surprise them more ships would have arrive by now.

**Nick adds to Cagalli's explanation**

Nick: That's true mate the first thing any army teaches you is team work, they always say that when in doubt go in with numbers on your side.

**The camera cuts outside to show Nightwing getting pretty close to the Dark-Angel now. Nightwing has climb up the steel cable somewhat and is in a classic rope climbers hanging position.**

**Nightwing has also put its beam saber back into its secret compartment so it can climb with both hands. The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow still thinking about this. The camera cuts outside to show an enemy flying Gundam drop down and begin to opening fire on Nightwing.**

**The camera cuts inside the enemy Gundam's cockpit to show the pilot looking extremely confident, it's the same pilot that Shadow jump onto the back of the first Gundam. Remember Alex is short on pilots so she's recovering the safety pods and then immediately giving them another Gundam.**

Pilot: HA bastard, time for payback for shooting down my last Gundam!

**The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit for a moment to show Shadow look surprise then the camera cuts back outside to show Nightwing out of a combination of reflex and instinct pushes itself right. The motion causes the steel cable to begin to swing. The swinging motion causes all of the enemy flying Gundam's shots to be off.**

**The enemy flying Gundam flies right by Nightwing, the camera does a split screen to show the enemy Pilot grit his teeth in annoyance. The screen goes back to normal to show the enemy flying Gundam begin another flyby. The first flyby has cause Nightwing to begin to slip but Nightwing grips the steel cable tightly with its hands and thighs and stops its fall.**

**The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow looking extremely annoyed however there's the spark of excitement in his eyes as his brain begins to race to find an answer to this new problem. The camera cuts back outside and looks up to show Cowboy now tightly gripping the steel cable as it struggles not to get pull off the edge of the ship. **

**The swinging movement has also caused the gun to stop pulling in the steel cable. The camera cuts inside Cowboy's cockpit to show Nick breathing in air as he pulls with all his might to keep the weight from going wild but his face is turning red.**

Nick: Arrrr Damn it!

**The camera cuts to inside La Rouge's cockpit to show Cagalli with fear burning through all other emotions on her face.**

Cagalli: Nick!

**The camera cuts outside to show La Rouge try to take a step toward Cowboy to help but beam bullet start hitting La Rouge's shield. The camera cuts back inside La Rouge's cockpit to show Cagalli cry in deep frustration.**

Cagalli: Damn it!

**The camera cuts back outside to show La Rouge reluctantly turn to face the new threat of enemy flying Gundams. The camera cuts back to inside Cowboy's cockpit to show Nick slowly turning purple.**

Nick: Shadow you have to hurry up and end this fight or else I won't be able to hold you much longer!

**Nick cries in desperation. The camera cuts back outside to show Nightwing still swinging the steel cable in order to dodge incoming fire. The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow still gritting his teeth as he struggles to come up with an answer but the spark of excitement hasn't left his eyes.**

Shadow: I know, I know, I'm working on it!

**The camera cuts outside to show Nightwing's beam saber ejects from its secret compartment. Nightwing grabs it with one hand and activates it but out of subconscious habit Nightwing momentarily let's go of the steel cable with its other hand in order to grip the beam saber with both hands.**

**Nightwing starts to fall but it almost instantly goes and hugs the steel cable and stops itself once again from falling. The enemy flying Gundam has passed Nightwing again causing the wind to whip Nightwing and send the steel cable wildly swinging.**

**Nightwing manages to hold onto the steel cable and its beam saber. The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow upgrade from being annoyed to being irritated.**

Shadow: Ok, now this guy is starting to piss me off.

**Nick comes up on a new window on Shadow's helmet screen and he definitely does not look well, he's now bright purple and he screams out**

Nick: I CAN'T HOLD IT!

**The camera cuts outside and looks up to show that Cowboy has started to bend at a weird angle as the weight of grappling hook starts to pull it over the edge. La Rouge is still engage in combat and can't help. La Rouge blocks 3 enemy beam bullets and then returns fire but the flying enemy Gundam dives down evading the shots.**

**The camera looks back to Cowboy, we can see Cowboy's hands violently shake as they desperately cling to the grappling gun. Just when it looks like the hands will break and snap off like twigs the steel cable suddenly slackens. The camera cuts inside Cowboy's cockpit to show Nick relax his arm muscles somewhat and straighten his back.**

**Nick also lets out a breath that he's been holding in for a while now. His face slowly starts to turn to normal as he takes deep gulps of air. Nick looks down at his hands in deep surprise by the lessening of the weight.**

Nick: What?

**A new window opens up on his helmet screen having the answer to his question. Roxas is on the new window, she's growling and spitting although not on purpose at something.**

Roxas: Ron't forhet ahout he. (Don't forget about me.)

**Roxas seems to have something in her mouth and her speech is barely eligible. Nick is even more surprise in fact having momentary forgotten her.**

Nick: Roxas?

**The camera cuts outside and focuses on the steel cable. The camera follows the steel cable as it goes over the edge of the ship and runs right in front of the still open Gundam bay door. The steel cable is being pulled into the Gundam bay, the camera looks inside the Gundam bay to show Quanlier with the steel cable in its mouth. **

**Quanlier is violently pulling on the steel cable and shaking its head looking like a wild dog having a tug of war with another dog over a steak. Quanlier has its claws dug deep into the Gundam bay floor as it slowly takes one step back at a time.**

**The camera cuts into Quanlier's cockpit to show Roxas with her wild yet strangely playful look on her face. She's still growling and spitting and violently shaking her head while pulling on the steel cable the same way as Quanlier thanks to the NS system.**

Roxas: I hsow, I'h wonhtherthul. (I know, I'm wonderful)

**The camera cuts outside and looks back down at Nightwing, now that Quanlier is holding the steel cable Nightwing is better able to control it. The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow rejoicing in Roxas's rescue, he's got his idiot grin on his face.**

Shadow: Way to go Roxas, I knew there was a reason I asked you to join the Shadow Knights.

**Kidding aside Shadow turns to face his opponent; his intense green gaze makes it clear he's absolutely focused.**

Shadow: Now it's time to deal with you! You won't get by me a third time!

**The camera cuts outside to show the flying enemy Gundam begin to turn around for a third run. The camera does a quick split screen to show the Pilot not very concern about Shadow's threat. He openly laughs at Shadow.**

Pilot: HAHAHA big words but let's see you back them up!

**The screen returns to normal to show the enemy flying Gundam heading straight towards Nightwing. The enemy flying Gundam has open fire on Nightwing but now that Nightwing has better control of the steel cable it easily avoids the beam bullets by swinging left or right. **

**The flying enemy Gundam moves over to the right intending on staying a good distance out of reach when it passes Nightwing. Nightwing is swinging to the left as the flying enemy Gundam is about to do another flyby. The camera cuts into Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow grinning slightly**

Shadow (HA going to the right out of my range, just as I expected.)

Shadow: You're too predictable!

**The camera cuts outside to show Nightwing swing to the right. The camera cuts to inside the enemy Gundam's cockpit; the Pilot is still not concern.**

Pilot: Ha look who's talking, you seriously think I didn't predict that you try to swing that steel cable left and then right in order to build momentum and extend your reach! I plan for that and made sure to stay just out of your

**The pilot stops in midsentence shocked. The camera cuts outside to show that Nightwing let's go of steel cable with its legs meaning its only holding onto the steel cable with its left hand. **

**When the steel cable reaches the arc of its swing Nightwing loosens its grip and starts sliding down the steel cable increasing its reach. Thanks to that trick Nightwing is now directly above the enemy flying Gundam. The camera does a split to show the enemy flying Gundam's Pilot freeze up in shock, his Gundam of course imitates him and stops moving.**

Pilot: What!

**Those are the only words the pilot has time to say as the screen returns to normal and Nightwing traveling with the falling swing of the steel cable does a downward vertical beam saber slash and cuts the enemy flying Gundam in half. The 2 pieces of the enemy flying Gundam plummet to the sea below. **

**Nightwing still using the momentum of the falling swing re-catches the steel cable with its legs. The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow in deep thought. Shadow coming up with something says to Roxas**

Shadow: Hey Roxas, do you think you could hold onto the steel cable by yourself for a little while?

**We see a new window open up on Shadow's helmet screen showing Roxas. Roxas nods her head.**

Roxas: Ro pholhem. (No problem.)

**Nick comes up on Shadow's helmet screen now; he seems a lot better too.**

Nick: What are you thinking mate?

**Shadow grins the strategist grin**

Shadow: I think I found a way to fight these guys without flying.

**The camera cuts to inside the Dark-Angel's bridge, Jack is shouting**

Jack: FIRE!

**The camera cuts outside to show the Dark-Angel's high energy beam cannons fire. Alex's ship rises and dodges the blast. Alex's ship quickly counters with a combination of missiles and valiants. The camera momentary cuts into the Dark-Angel's bridge to show Alan grit his teeth as he pulls the wheel hard in one direction.**

**The camera cuts outside to show the Dark-Angel dodge the valiants and some of the missiles but still a lot of missiles hit the shield. Jack is once again cursing**

Jack: Damn it, damn it, damn it! We're getting nowhere in this battle, they're beating us at every turn!

Kenny: Jack

**Jack turns and bites Kenny's head off (figure of speech)**

Jack: WHAT!

**Kenny ignoring Jack's obvious anger quickly explains**

Kenny: Shadow has figure out a way to attack the enemy Gundams attacking the bottom of our ship.

**Jack blinks in surprise and forgets her anger as she asks**

Jack: What, really how?

**Everyone else is curious too. Kenny goes on**

Kenny: As everyone knows the majority of the enemy flying Gundams is attacking the bottom of the ship.

**Ciro impatiently urges Kenny on**

Ciro: Of course that's where we're weakest after all since La Rouge and Cowboy can't walk upside down.

**Kenny slightly annoyed at Ciro's outburst nonetheless goes on.**

Kenny: Right so Shadow has figure out to use the steel cable from the grappling hook to swing around to get close to the enemy Gundams and cut them with his beam saber.

**As Kenny explains this the camera cuts outside to under the Dark-Angel to show Nightwing swinging on the steel cable slashing at any enemy Gundams that come close to it. The enemy flying Gundam are confused now having to defend and fight against attacks from Nightwing and the beam CIWs.**

**This makes it easier for Nightwing and the beam CIWs to hit them. The camera cuts back to inside the bridge, Kabira is slightly impressed, she's also annoyed that she's impressed.**

Kabira: Who does he think he is Tarzan?

**Thomas sings in a warm pleasant melody**

Thomas: It doesn't really matter, because it's working.

**Jack thinking asks**

Jack: Who's holding the steel cable?

Kenny: Roxas.

**The camera cuts quickly to show Roxas still holding the steel cable in the Gundam bay. Kenny conveniently forgets to mention that Quanlier is digging its claws into the ship in order to stop itself from getting pulled around. Raheem also processing this new information asks**

Raheem: And what of Cagalli and Nick.

Kenny: They're back to shooting down the Gundams who come to attack from above.

**The camera cuts outside to show La Rouge and Cowboy back to back surrounded by beam CIWs. The 3 way combination seems to be shooting down a lot of Gundams. The camera cuts back to inside the Dark-Angel's bridge, Jack is nodding her head in approval.**

Jack: Ok, this is good; this is good, I think we can hold out against the enemy's Gundams now so all that's left is to somehow beat their ship.

**The camera cuts to inside Alex's ship's bridge, Alex no longer has that smile on her face. Alex looking at the main monitor is biting her lip.**

Alex (Damn this isn't supposed to be happening; the rate at which we're losing Gundams has gone up. I knew from the beginning that they had better Gundam Pilots so I had to overrun them with numbers but over time the rate I'm losing Gundams should be going down as they get more tired and lose more of their beam CIWs but it's going up! The rate I'm losing Gundams is now 4 per minute!)

**One of Alex's crew members interrupts her train of thought**

A-Crew Member A: Captain the amount of Gundams we have left on the field is 15.

**Alex is genuinely surprise by this news**

Alex: What! Arrrrrrr

**Alex glares at Nightwing on the main monitor**

Alex (It's that black Gundam's fault; he's ready starting to piss me off now!)

Alex: Would someone explain to me how a close combat land Gundam, with no long range weapons, IS WINNING IN AN AIR BATTLE!

**No one has an answer for her. Alex snaps**

Alex: Tell the third wave to head out!

**The crew members jump over themselves to follow her orders. Alex leans back in her chair in an attempt to relieve some of her mounting stress; it doesn't appear to be working.**

Alex (Damn it, the third wave wasn't supposed to be released until 10 more minutes!)

**Alex in order to calm herself takes a deep breath and then smiles a confident smile.**

Alex (But that doesn't matter because I left room in my plan incase such an event happen, and besides their Gundams may be getting better but it seems their ship has reach its limit.)

**The camera cuts back to the Dark-Angel's bridge, Thomas sings out his status update.**

Thomas: LA-FA-RA shields at 15% and reaching critical levels, DOE-SO-DOE 45% beam CIWs remaining.

**Rini quickly adds**

Rini: They've also sent out another wave of Gundams.

**Jack grits her teeth in frustration**

Jack: Darn it!

**Jack is desperately trying to think of a plan but Raheem has seen enough and decides to step forward.**

Raheem: Jack I think it's time we start considering our withdraw options.

**Jack turns to face Raheem, her eyes start to slowly open and her mouth drops a little as the full meaning of the words dawn on her.**

Jack: You want to retreat?

**Jack can hardly believe the words coming out of her own mouth. Raheem is looking at Jack directly in the eyes and nods his head calm and certain. Everyone has stopped working and is now looking at them.**

Raheem: Yes, in this entire fight we've only been able to hit them once and that was because Shadow distracted them while they've been hitting us in a consisted manner.

**Jack is obviously aware of this and tries to comment.**

Jack: I know it's not looking good but we can still

**Raheem cuts her off and begins to appeal to her mechanic instincts.**

Raheem: You're this ship's official head mechanic right, then out of all people you should know how much damage this ship can take before it reaches its limit.

**Jack looks down not wanting to admit that Raheem is right. Raheem sees this and presses on.**

Raheem: Pretty soon we're going to lose the energy shield and once that happens their attacks will hit the ship directly and don't forget the damage the ship has already suffer at the hands of the enemy Gundams. I also like to remind you that the ship is over the open ocean a pretty good distance from any shoreline so it's not just good enough to keep the ship afloat we need to keep it in stable working condition so that we can get to land.

**Common sense, reason, logic, pride, loyalty, mechanic instincts battle within Jack as she struggles to come to an answer, finally she looks down and begins to say**

Jack: Y-you need to speak to Shadow

**Raheem cuts her off immediately**

Raheem: No you need to speak to Shadow.

**Raheem says this quite strongly. Jack looks up and meets Raheem's eyes very surprise. Raheem explains**

Raheem: You're right when you say that this is ultimately Shadow's decision since he is the team leader but you have to remember that Shadow is only a Gundam Fighter which means his view of how the battle is going is limited. You're the acting Captain so you have the best view of how this battle is going which means that Shadow although he probably never admit it is relying heavily on your eyes. You have to explain the situation to him and tell him that we have to leave.

**Jack looks at Raheem stun but slowly a resolve comes over her and she turns to look at Kenny.**

Jack: Kenny get Shadow on the main monitor.

**Kenny surprise for a moment nods his head**

Kenny: Um sure.

**The camera cuts outside to show Nightwing swing right and then slid down slightly on the steel cable dodging beam bullets. The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow looking focus. A new window opens up on Shadow's helmet screen to show Jack, Shadow looks momentary surprise.**

Shadow: Jack?

**Jack with a strong look in her eyes wastes no time**

Jack: Shadow I think we should retreat.

**Shadow is obviously shock; his shock quickly turns into anger and outrage.**

Shadow: Absolutely not! We can still win this battle there's no reason to give up now!

**Jack prepared for Shadow's outburst isn't backing down.**

Jack: Our energy shield is at 15%, over half our beam CIWs have been destroyed plus we're starting to run low on missiles!

Shadow: So what, we're in a tough spot but that doesn't mean we can't turn this around and win!

**Cagalli, Nick and Roxas pop up on Shadow's helmet screen. Cagalli isn't too happy but she agrees with Jack.**

Cagalli: I agree with Jack Shadow at this rate we're going to get killed, we need to get out of here while we still can.

**Nick a little more reluctantly then Cagalli nods his head**

Nick: I hate to say this mate but I think they're right.

**Roxas doesn't say anything but it's clear that she's very unhappy about this. Shadow is looking at them all in deep shock, shaking in anger he says**

Shadow: What's with you guys, when in a tough spot everyone just wants to roll over and give up!

**Cagalli hearing enough shouts at him**

Cagalli: Shadow quit being SO GOD DAMN STUBORN! The enemy just released another wave of Gundams and for all we know they have 10 more in reserve; we can't keep this up all day!

**Shadow shouts back**

Shadow: We don't have too; we'll just keep this up until we beat all of their Gundams!

**Cagalli turning red from shouting**

Cagalli: GOD ARE YOU REALLY THIS STUPID!

**Cagalli and Shadow stop for a moment to catch their breath. Raheem uses this moment to talk to Shadow.**

Raheem: Shadow no one is asking you to retreat because they think you're weak, nor do we question the fact that you can still keep fighting but this ship cannot. This ship no this crew is at its limit, besides from you Nick and Roxas everyone else is tired and can't keep going on.

Raheem: You are this Gundam Team's team leader and as its leader I can understand why you would want to push your crew to go beyond its limit but there's a difference between pushing them to go beyond their limit and then pushing them to their death. So don't retreat from this battle because you're afraid, don't retreat from this battle because you don't think you can win, don't retreat from this battle because the enemy is stronger than you, retreat from this battle because YOU are the Team Leader and as the team leader it is your duty to put your team's needs above your own.

Raheem: It is you're responsibly to ensure the safety of every one of your team mates so retreat from this battle because you value your team mates above your own pride, your own honor, your own fighting spirit, because you value your team mates over your very sense of self!

**Shadow's eyes open wide at Raheem's comment. He closes his eyes and grits his teeth as a great battle engages inside of him, pride, honor, friendship, fighting spirit, logic, sense of duty, ambition, and even a little bit of fear all collide and rearrange themselves in order for dominance.**

**After the longest moment of their lives Shadow lets out a scream/roar of frustration that shows the agony and suffering that went into his decision.**

Shadow: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

**Everyone is deeply surprise by this shout. Shadow comes to an abrupt end; he titles his face at an angle so that no one can see it behind his helmet. After a moment Cagalli with worry on her face starts to ask slowly**

Cagalli: Shadow?

**Shadow suddenly lifts up his face, his smile is back and there's a new resolve look in his eye. The episode ends with Shadow saying**

Shadow: Alright let's get the hell out of here, Jack let's come up with a plan of retreat!


	35. Episode 34

Episode 34

**The episode opens up exactly where the last left off.**

Shadow: Alright let's get the hell out of here, Jack let's come up with a plan of retreat!

**The camera cuts to inside the Dark-Angel's bridge, Jack's eyes slowly open wide and her lips break into a huge smile as she realizes Shadow has accepted the idea of retreat. She nods her head**

Jack: Right!

**Shadow and Jack begin to talk but the camera turns to focus on Raheem and mutes out their conversation. Raheem after his task has been done takes a step back and quietly blends into the background, there's a small smile of approval though on his face.**

Raheem (Not bad, it's natural for someone with that much pride to be so resistant to the idea of retreat and to be honest I wouldn't trust someone who jumps to the idea of retreat easily. No he handle it well for a rookie leader, he agonized about it and in the end came to a conclusion and is now focused solely on it. Although an excellent leader would have recognized the need for retreat without having being told still he's not the worst leader I've seen.)

**While Raheem is thinking the camera should be looking at Shadow. Shadow is definitely smiling his excited grin and he's definitely enjoying thinking up a plan. The camera cuts outside to show Nightwing swing right dodging beam bullets then swing left and performs a horizontal beam saber slash on a flying enemy Gundam that was trying to pass by.**

**A second Gundam does manage to get past Nightwing at the expense of the first. The flying enemy Gundam stops and hovers for a moment to take aim, big mistake. The moment the enemy Gundam stops beam CIWs take it down within seconds. The camera cuts into Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow smiling excitedly at the results of their planning.**

Shadow: I think this plan is perfect, what about you Jack?

**Jack also excited nods her head**

Jack: Yea absolutely perfect, we couldn't ask for a better plan.

**Shadow nods his head again then says in a dramatic voice**

Shadow: Alright Shadow Knights begin operation Slip the Horse!

**The camera cuts back outside to show La Rouge and Cowboy still back to back although there is not as many beam CIWs as there were before. The camera cuts inside La Rouge's cockpit to show Cagalli with her eyes closed her lips twitching and her brow mush together basically highly annoyed. Her eyes pop open and she shouts**

Cagalli: What the hell are you guys doing! All the plan is, is just turning around and running away as fast as we can, hardly something worth giving an actual name for and besides that name is completely and absolutely stupid!

**We can see Shadow on Cagalli's helmet screen, he frowns at her obviously not liking his bubble burst.**

Shadow: Ok for starters every plan deserves a name, and second operation Slip the Horse is an awesome.

**Cagalli clenching her hands and gritting her teeth in the highest levels of annoyance turns to Nick and says**

Cagalli: Nick you're smart; please tell me you also think Shadow is acting like a complete moron.

**We can also see Nick on Cagalli's helmet; his eyes open up slightly in surprise.**

Nick: You're right mate I am smart, smart enough to know not to get involved in this conversation.

**Cagalli just glares at him. The camera cuts to inside the bridge; Zuke closes his eyes and shakes his head while rubbing his temples.**

Zuke (How did I a coordinator get involved with a natural this stupid, *sigh*)

**The camera moves over to Jack.**

Jack: Alan turn the Dark-Angel around and put on the speed, Kenny fire missiles at the enemy once we turn around!

**Alan nods his head and grins as he grips the wheel tightly.**

Alan: You got it!

**The camera cuts outside to show the Dark-Angel begin to turn around. The camera cuts inside the bridge of Alex's ship. Alex is tapping the right Captain's chair armrest with her right pointer finger while watching the main monitor. She smiles confidently as she sees the Dark-Angel beginning to turn and retreat.**

Alex (Finally some positive results, I must say this battle has certainly had some unforeseeable events that at times ran away from my plan, but now everything is going according to my predictions. It's time now to checkmate them.)

**We once again see the ghost chessboard, for those of you who play chess you can see that the game is entering the end phase. The ghost chessboard disappears as Alex starts giving orders.**

Alex: The enemy is trying to run away, don't start following them until they release there missiles in an attempt to delay us, evade the missiles then begin to purse them at 45 degree angle.

**The camera cuts outside to show the Dark-Angel completely turned around and beginning to run away. The camera cuts to inside the bridge to show Kenny shout**

Kenny: Firing missiles!

**The camera cuts back outside to show the Dark-Angel fire its missiles while running away. Alex's ship easily evades the missiles and begins to purse the Dark-Angel at an angle. The camera focuses on La Rouge and Cowboy. We can see that the wind has pick up tremendously.**

**The enemy flying Gundams are starting to have trouble controlling their flight gear. The camera looks back to La Rouge to show that the wind literately looks like it's trying to rip its shield from its hand. The camera cuts inside La Rouge's cockpit to show Cagalli gritting her teeth as she desperately struggles to hold onto her shield.**

Cagalli: Damn what the hell is up with this wind!

**The camera cuts into Cowboy's cockpit to show Nick with the same problem.**

Nick: This definitely isn't natural mates!

**The camera cuts back outside and looks down to Nightwing. The steel cable Nightwing is holding onto is beginning to swing wildly around from the wind but this seems to be helping Nightwing rather than hurting it. The wind is allowing the steel cable to swing up completely vertical giving it maximum reach potential.**

**Nightwing at several times completely let's go of the steel cable in order to slash at an enemy flying Gundam and then re-catches the cable looking very much like a train acrobat. The camera cuts into inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow having a blast.**

Shadow: This wind is freaking awesome!

**Nick and Cagalli pop up on Shadow's helmet screen and we can see them glaring at him. Shadow sees this and gives a little nervous laugh.**

Shadow: Hehehe

**The camera cuts back into the bridge of the Dark-Angel to show that despite the energy shield the wind is still giving the Dark-Angel turbulence. The whole bridge is starting to shake. Jack gripping the armrest shouts angrily at Alan**

Jack: Alan what the heck is going on with this turbulence!

**Alan is gripping the wheel tightly and is turning it left, right, up down and all sorts of angles in order to keep the ship steady. Alan annoyed at being yelled at snaps back**

Alan: Hey don't yell at me, this wind just started to pick up out of nowhere!

**Kenny eyes suddenly pop open in remembrance.**

Kenny: Oh no.

**Kenny begins to rapidly type at his computer. He brings up a weather map, when he sees it his face sinks even lower.**

Kenny: Oh hey guys do you remember when I told you about that hurricane before the battle began?

**Jack quickly glances at him but is obviously not in the mood for games.**

Jack: Yea so what?

**She turns to look back at the monitor but her face begins to sink as understanding dawns on her. Kenny reluctantly goes on**

Kenny: Well somehow over the course of the battle we've drifted towards it, we're now at its edge.

**Everyone now looks shocked. Jack breaks the silence by cursing**

Jack: Damn it, Damn it, Damn it, can this day get any worse! Kenny reprogram the weather map to show our ships current position in real time, then send it to Alan so he knows how to steer around the hurricane.

**Kenny already typing on his computer replies**

Kenny: Already on it.

**Jack turns her head to Alan and begins to give orders.**

Jack: Alan keep trying to outrun the enemy ship while trying to tip toe around the hurricane.

**Alan grumbles**

Alan: Easier said than done.

**The camera cuts back outside to show that the wind has gotten even worse. Its constant roaring is now drowning out almost all other sound. The camera moves over to Alex's ship to show that because it is a little farther away it's not getting effected as much by the wind.**

**The camera cuts inside Alex's ship's bridge to show Alex having completely recover her confidence beginning to talk aloud.**

Alex: Hehehe just like I thought in the mist of battle they completely lost track of their surroundings although I have to admit that even the most senior commanders tend to do that when fighting an opponent of superior tactics but their situation is only about to get worse.

**The camera cuts back to the bridge of the Dark-Angel, we can see that despite Alan's best efforts the turbulence is getting worse as evident by the increase vibrations of the bridge. Jack trying to keep calm asks Kenny**

Jack: Kenny where is the enemy ship?

**Kenny quickly typing on his computer responds**

Kenny: To our right, it looks like we're pulling ahead of them.

**Jack grins as her ego/pride swells**

Jack: Well of course the Dark-Angel's fine tune engines would beat the crap out of any ship. All we need to do is go around this storm and we'll be home free

**The camera once again looks to the back of the ship. Kabira is beginning relax, she looks to Raheem in order to talk to him but she's surprise to find that he looks more trouble than before.**

Kabira: Raheem?

**Raheem begins thinking aloud**

Raheem: Something is wrong here; the enemy is obviously a skill strategist so why didn't they predict that we run away. Also a person of this skill would have done their homework before attacking us, so they should know that our ship is faster, and why haven't they started firing at us again.

**Rini confirmers all of Raheem's concerns and fears.**

Rini: Another ship is approaching us from the front and is directly in our path!

**Jack is shocked and then annoyed/irritated**

Jack: What, bring it up on the main monitor!

**The camera stays focus on Jack so we don't see what's on the main monitor. Jack's facial expression changes from anger to shock/fear.**

Jack: No way.

**The camera cuts outside just as Nightwing performs a horizontal swing on an enemy flying Gundam that got too close. The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow glaring at the approaching ship just like before the camera is staying focus on Shadow so we don't actually see the ship ourselves. **

Shadow: So you guys are back for round 2 huh.

**The camera cuts outside at first facing Nightwing but then slowly turns around to face the incoming ship. It's Zain's ship and it's on a direct collision course with the Dark-Angel. The camera cuts inside Zain's ship's bridge to show Zain tense and anxious, he definitely can't wait to start a fight. Haile is at a terminal, she says**

Haile: The Dark-Angel is within sight, they seem to be engaging with Alex's Gundam force.

**Zain quickly commands**

Zain: Bring it up on the main monitor!

**The camera looks to the main monitor to see if flash once then we see the Dark-Angel being follow by Alex's ship. Zain states the obvious**

Zain: They're on the run from Alex's ship.

**As if by magic Alex appears on another window on the main monitor just as he says that comment. Alex's smile gets even bigger.**

Alex: Well hello again Zain, I see your still 5 moves behind everyone else.

**Zain glares at Alex and grits his teeth in an attempt to calm his anger.**

Zain: Alex that's my pray you're attacking!

**Alex waves her hand dismissing Zain's comment and growing rage.**

Alex: I know, now could you please release any flying Gundams you have on broad your ship and order them to attack the Dark-Angel, also lower your ship 12 meters and move 17 meters port side.

**Zain looks like he just got slap in the face; an understanding slowly dawns on him as he begins to connect the dots.**

Zain: You're not surprise to see me, even though the boss told me not to pursue the Dark-Angel?

**Alex is enjoying seeing Zain put everything together.**

Alex: Well of course not, did you think I insulted you in the meeting just for the fun of it, I was baiting you.

**Zain's eyes open wide in shock**

Zain: You plan this from the beginning, you used me!

**Alex is growing bored with Zain pointing out obvious facts.**

Alex: Of course, my plan from the beginning called for a second ship and since you were closest I knew that I could use you.

**Zain is shaking with rage. His fists are clench so tightly that he might actually cut himself with his nails.**

Zain: You bitch how dare you think you can used me, you might have push me out here but you're out of your mind if you think I'm just going to roll over and take your orders. I'm going to land the finishing blow on the Dark-Angel and that stupid black Gundam!

**At the mention of Nightwing Alex's eyes twitch in surprise.**

Alex (Black Gundam?)

**We have a brief flashback to when Nightwing try to attack the bridge of Alex's ship. Alex quickly masks her face so as not to let Zain see. The smile now gone as she grows more serious.**

Alex: Ok Zain let me point out 3 reasons why you're going to follow my orders, first your Gundam Shadowkun doesn't have any flight systems so even if you wanted to get out there and kill them yourself you'd have to switch your Gundam and I know how much you'd hate that. Second their ship is a lot faster than yours and now that they decided to retreat one mistake and they'd slip right through your fingers and get away. And last even though it was part of my plan to have you come out here you're still disobeying the boss's orders, now you can either help me destroy them and regain some of your lost honor or I will blow this operation and blame it all on you and since you weren't supposed to be here anyways I doubt the boss is going to look kindly on you.

**Alex doesn't raise her voice but the threat is still very clear in her laser eye glare and ice pick voice. Zain for the second time looks like he got slap in the face only now he doesn't recover but instead looks like he's being pin down by some invisible force.**

Zain (Would Alex really blow the operation on purpose just to screw me over, yea there's no doubt about that; Alex is a cold blooded brilliant strategist. She has no pride in the way she fights, everything is just a chess move to her, sacrificing a mission would be just a strategic move to get her closer to the boss in her mind.)

**Alex begins tapping her right hand index finger on her Captain's chair arm rest showing clear impatience.**

Alex: Zain I'm waiting for an answer.

**Haile steels a quick worry glance at Zain. Zain not noticing Haile is shaking in deep frustration now, closing his eyes and clenching his teeth he spits out.**

Zain: Crew follow Alex's orders as if they were my own.

**The way he spits that out is almost like he's vomiting; Alex smiles upon hearing this and says elegantly.**

Alex: Thank you Zain, after you do what I said I'll contact you with more instructions.

**Alex cuts off the main monitor. The moment she does Zain takes his still clench fist and slams it down on the Captain's chair arm rest.**

Zain: That bitch!

**He shouts at the top of his lungs. The camera quickly cuts back to Alex's ship's bridge, Alex leans back in her chair and begins tapping her finger tips with each other.**

Alex (Yes now that Zain is here and following my orders all my pieces are set, all that remains is for the Dark-Angel to realize its fate.)

**We do the Ghost chess board thing again. The camera then cuts back to the bridge of the Dark-Angel to show everyone in a state of panic.**

Kenny: That's the same ship that attacked us in the mountains!

Jack: What the hell are they doing here!

Ciro: I knew we should have finished them when we had the chance!

Rini: Are they working together with the ship that's currently attacking us.

Thomas: RA-RA-RA and the plot thickens!

Alan: Who the hell are these guys!

**Everyone is talking at once, suddenly the Gundam Pilots appear on the main monitor. Shadow shouts**

Shadow: Everyone shut up!

**Looks of surprise spread across the room as everyone quiets down and looks towards the main monitor. Shadow is gritting his teeth in pain**

Shadow: Ow my ears.

**Cagalli seeing that that's all Shadow was planning on saying glares at him annoyed before stepping in herself to try and calm everyone down.**

Cagalli: Listen everyone just because another enemy ship has appeared doesn't mean that the plan has change; our goal is still the same we're still trying to get out of here. Jack can our ship out run the enemy ship?

**Jack asks**

Jack: Which enemy ship?

**Cagalli looks confused for a moment. Kenny excitedly begins to use this opportunity to explain his idea.**

Kenny: Let's call them flying enemy ship and sniping enemy ship.

**Everyone turns to look at Kenny for a moment unimpressed. Zuke with one eyebrow raise asks**

Zuke: Really?

**Kenny looks annoyed**

Kenny: Yes, do you have a better idea?

**Cagalli sighs and decides to just go with it to save time.**

Cagalli: Fine, Jack can our ship out run the "sniping enemy ship"?

**Cagalli rolls her eyes when she says sniping enemy ship but Kenny nonetheless is still happy. Jack puffs her chest out with pride and hits her chest.**

Jack: Of course there's nothing the Dark-Angel can't beat in speed!

**Cagalli looks at Jack irritated that she didn't just say that from the beginning and begins to shake her head and rub her temples to calm her rising headache.**

Cagalli: Ok so all we have to do is go around it and then we're in the clear.

**Despite the ups and downs everyone seems to be calming down and getting back on task. Nick quickly adds**

Nick: Also double check to make sure they are working together mates; after all it could just be a coincidence that 2 different enemy ship are attacking us at the same time.

**From the skeptical looks on everyone's faces we can tell that no one thinks it is a coincidence. As the windows that the Gundam Pilots are on closes so that they can go back to concentrating on the battle Rini says**

Rini: The sniping enemy ship has just released its Gundams.

**Kenny quickly adds**

Kenny: They also appear to be Basic Arial type Gundams too.

**Jack doesn't look happy by this news**

Jack: Great, just great, more flying Gundams, that's all we need right now. Alright Alan keep driving straight towards them and try to shot straight pass them.

**Alan smiles and says in a cheerily voice**

Alan: Awesome just like a game of chicken.

**Jack glares at Alan very annoyed now and says icily**

Jack: You just had to make that comparison didn't you?

**The camera cuts back outside to show the Dark-Angel continuing to head straight towards Zain's ship. The camera cuts back into Zain's ship's bridge to show Zain frowning at the Captain's chair.**

Haile: Sir the Dark-Angel is continuing to approach us head on.

**Zain begins to rapidly think.**

Zain (They must be planning on trying to charge past us.)

**Zain lips twitch and tilt into a sideways grin.**

Zain (If they want to play chicken that's fine by me, when it looks like we're about to hit I'll fire the Positron cannon at them.)

**Zain definitely looks satisfied with his plan and is opening his mouth to give orders when Alex pops back up on the screen and beats him to the punch.**

Alex: Hold your position and prepare to fire missiles 4 meters to the starboard side of the Dark-Angel on my mark.

**Haile for the first time we can possibly recall looks uncomfortable, she looks to Zain uncertain. Zain momentary forgetting what he agrees to starts to say with growing rage.**

Zain: Alex

**He doesn't get much farther as Alex cuts him off.**

Alex: Zain I don't have time to tell you why your plan is wrong and stupid so instead I'll say that unless you follow every order I'm about to give I'm going to report you to the boss.

**Zain grits his teeth and once again it looks like some invisible force is holding him down. His mouth opens and closes a couple of times but words seem too refused to come out so he just waves his hand giving the ok to Haile.**

**Haile after a moment's hesitation does as Alex commands. The camera switches to Alex's bridge; Alex is smiling as everything is slowly going her way. She begins talking to her crew in a tone of voice like she's talking about the weather.**

Alex: The Dark-Angel will flinch to their port side when Zain launches his missiles so prepare our Valiants to hit that point.

**Alex's crew members nod their head in understand and begin to type on their computer terminals. The camera cuts outside to show Zain's ship stop moving and fire missiles at the Dark-Angel's right hand side. The camera cuts inside the Dark-Angel's bridge as Kenny howlers.**

Kenny: Incoming missiles from sniper Ship!

**Jack in the same breath snaps**

Jack: Dodge it!

**Alan is already pulling the wheel to the right. The camera cuts outside to show Alex's ship fire its Valiants moments before the Dark-Angel moves, true to what Alex predicted the Dark-Angel is flinching to the left. The camera cuts back inside the bridge to show Shadow appear on the main monitor and shout**

Shadow: Alan dodge!

**Alan as if by some instinct deep inside that can only surface when fear, adrenaline and one senses are heighten to their absolute limit has already begun pulling the steering wheel towards himself while twisting it right and pushing it at an angle. The camera cuts outside to show the Dark-Angel spin right and back up at a 70 degree angle.**

**The Valiants from Alex's ship barely miss the energy shield, and the final effect being that the Dark-Angel is facing its 2 attackers like a man back against a wall with the hurricane being the wall. The camera cuts inside Alex's bridge, one of Alex's crew members says**

A-Crew member: They dodge the Valiants.

**Alex's eyes open slightly in surprise but she shrugs it off.**

Alex: Really, oh well it doesn't really matter. After all it only makes sense that after a while they'd start to figure out I can predict their movements but they've arrive at that conclusion to late.

**A snake like smile starts to spread across Alex's face.**

Alex: I wonder if they've finally grasp the situation they're in.

**The camera cuts to inside the Dark-Angel's bridge, Jack and Alan breathe a sigh of relief, however Rini being the symbol of pessimism says**

Rini: Well I guess that answers the question if they're working together or not.

**We can see both Zain and Alex's ships on the main monitor. Alan is gritting his teeth and gripping the steering wheel tightly uncertain of what he should do next.**

Alan: This isn't good they're blocking are only exits of escape, I don't know if I can get past them without getting shoot down first.

**Jack also sees the problem and is grinding her teeth as she tries to see a solution. Kabira doesn't see the problem and asks**

Kabira: Ok so they're blocking us in the front, why don't we just turn around and run in the other direction after all there's no one behind us?

**Raheem answers that question**

Raheem: Because the storm is behind us.

**The color begins to drain from her face as she begins to finally understand the full situation. Ciro's shoulders slumps down and he asks half-heartedly already knowing the answer.**

Ciro: I don't suppose we could try to fly through it?

**Rini answers immediately**

Rini: Impossible that's a class 3 hurricane, it would be consider extremely dangerous to fly through a class 1 hurricane. A class 3 hurricane's winds will literary rip the ship to shreds like paper.

**Kabira finally puts it all together, with eyes wide open she asks in shock**

Kabira: So wait that means

**Raheem finishes her sentence in a grim voice**

Raheem: That we're surrounded with no way of escape.

**The camera cuts back to Alex's ship; Alex has a smug smile on her face and begins thinking to herself.**

Alex: This is it, tell Zain to begin moving closer to the Dark-Angel at a slow pace but keep the distance between our ships the same, also tell him to get ready to fire his positron cannon port side at a 35 degree angle. Begin to move our ship as well towards the Dark-Angel and prepare to fire Valiants starboard side at a -24 degree angle.

**Alex's crew members nod their head without a word and begin typing rapidly at their computer terminals. Alex still with her smug smile on leans back in her chair relaxing as she reflects on her plan so far in the battle.**

Alex (Not the most perfect executed plan I've perform but the end game is still the same and has gone perfectly the way I wanted. They've probably realize now that they're trap between the ships and the hurricane, they won't try to rush past me or Zain on the hurricane's side again because they know we'll just coordinate our attacks to attack them from behind and front again. But in order to do that we had to let a large gap open up between mine and Zain's ship, it's fake opening that I set up for them, once they see it they'll try to cling to it as their last hope but the moment they try to escape through that opening Zain will fire his positron cannon while I fire the Valiants. I'll time it perfectly so they won't be able to dodge both attacks, and given an estimate on how much power their shields have left they won't be able to block it either. They'll be destroyed, this is checkmate.)

**We see the scenario Alex just describe play out in her head, the ghost chess board also reappears to show that white appears to have put black in checkmate. The camera cuts back to the bridge as Kenny begins to panic.**

Kenny: What are we going to do, what are we going to do, they've trap us!

**Zuke actually seems impressed and is rubbing his chin.**

Zuke: We must be fighting against a coordinator; this plan is just too brilliant for a natural to have come up with. Using a hurricane as a wall to block off half our routes of escape and then maneuvering only 2 ships to block off the rest; truly an excellent play on strategy.

**The situation is so dire that the Gundam Pilots have once again appeared on the main monitor. Nick is glaring at Zuke.**

Nick: Whose side are you on mate!

**Zuke looks back at Nick the same way you would look at a fly hovering around your head.**

Zuke: Tis

**This really pisses Nick off and he starts seeing red but Cagalli manages to cool him down.**

Cagalli: Calm down Nick this isn't the time for that.

**A red warning lot pops up on Rini's computer terminal.**

Rini: The 2 enemy ships are approaching us.

**Zuke nods his head expecting this**

Zuke: Trying to finish off their pray.

**Thomas starts to hum the theme song from the Titanic the part where the musicians are going down with the ship and they decide to play one last sad song. Everyone stops what they're doing and turn to glare at him. **

**Thomas stops humming and slowly realizes he might have push that one just a little too far. He gives a nervous laugh and for once speaks in a normal tone of voice.**

Thomas: Um hehe sorry I guess that was a bit on the agitating side of things huh?

**No one bothers answering him but turn to go back to work. Raheem once again steps forward with a possible solution to the problem.**

Raheem: There plan isn't completely fool proof though, in order to keep us trap between there 2 ships they've left an opening right there.

**Raheem points to the main monitor at the space in-between the 2 ships. Jack looks at it but is still uncertain.**

Jack: I don't know, it's not that big of an opening plus they could still launch 2 attacks from our sides.

**We can see Nick on the main monitor thinking about it**

Nick: It's possible mate they'll hesitate before shooting at us in case they hit there ally, that moment's hesitation is all we need to get through.

**The camera cuts back outside and focuses on Nightwing, because of the storm and high winds the steel cable is swinging wildly. There aren't as many flying enemy Gundams now as there were before. **

**The steel cable swings up in one direction and once it reaches its maximum arc Nightwing lets go of it flying a couple more meters in the air and getting within range of a flying enemy Gundam. **

**Nightwing performing a horizontal beam saber slash cutting off the left leg of the flying enemy Gundam. As Nightwing begins to fall back down the wind pushes the steel cable towards it and Nightwing grabs onto it. The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow in deep thought, he looks frustrated.**

Shadow (Arrr something doesn't seem right here, I'm missing something but what? What's wrong with me, Raheem's idea is a good one so why are my instincts telling me not to go with it, I mean it's not like I have a better)

**Shadow stops in mid-thought, something has caught the corner of his eye. The camera cuts outside to show what it is, a bird. A tiny black bird for whatever insane reason is flying straight through the battle ignoring the danger. **

**Nightwing continues to stare at the bird and for the moment the roar of the hurricane, the hiss of the beam bullets, the bang of metal hitting metal all seem to fade away leaving just Nightwing and the bird or rather just Shadow and the bird. **

**It's strange; something seems to stir in Shadow watching the black bird fly straight into danger following a steady course seemingly without a care in the world. Like all know though time moves in one direction and the moment passes. The bird continues to fly straight into the hurricane and soon disappears from sight.**

**The camera cuts back into Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow look surprise for a moment, then his excited/crazy grin starts to spread across his face and we look down to see his Neon gauntlet once again begin to glow a little.**

Shadow (Ha, that's not a bad idea, now why couldn't I think of it. Thanks friend for giving it to me.)

**The camera cuts back to the bridge, Jack looks like she came to a decision.**

Jack: Ok we'll go with Raheem's plan

**Shadow suddenly cuts her off**

Shadow: No we aren't!

**All eyes turn to look at Shadow. Cagalli looks annoyed**

Cagalli: Shadow this isn't the time for your stupid games, unless you have a better plan please keep your comments to yourself.

**Shadow glares at Cagalli**

Shadow: Well as a matter of fact I do.

**Zuke in a disbelieving voice asks**

Zuke: You do?

**Shadow nods his head with pride**

Shadow: I do, instead of running straight towards the enemy we're going to do what we all agree on and run straight away from the enemy.

**Rini annoyed at her time being wasted looks at Shadow like he's an idiot.**

Rini: Are you an idiot; that takes us straight into the hurricane.

**Shadow enthusiastically nods his head.**

Shadow: Exactly!

**Now everyone is looking at him like he's nuts.**

Everyone: What!

**Kenny speaks loudly as if to get through Shadow's thick head.**

Kenny: Shadow are you out of your mind, do you have any idea of what a hurricane is?

**Shadow answers without hesitation**

Shadow: A hurricane is a powerful, spiraling storm that begins over a warm sea, near the equator. When a hurricane hits land, it can do great damage through its fierce winds, torrential rains, inland flooding, and huge waves crashing ashore.

**Now everyone is stun into silence, no one actually expected him to give such a great definition. Shadow sees this and looks highly annoyed and insult, his pride has been offended.**

Shadow: What! Is it that surprising that I actually remember something from my high school science class!

**Cagalli's shock gives way to anger and extreme agitation**

Cagalli: Then you should know how suicidal it is to go straight into one!

**Shadow shakes his head**

Shadow: You guys don't get it; a hurricane is basically a swirling spiral of wind.

**Ciro still not getting it**

Ciro: Yea so what.

**Shadow excitedly explains**

Shadow: Instead of going straight through it we'll turn and used the spiral winds with our engines to swirl around it with the winds. Think of the wind like a fast flowing stream, if we try to go against it we'll just get torn apart but if we flow with it we can use it to increase our own speed power.

**Alan eyes begin to open as he becomes the first person to begin to understand Shadow's crazy idea.**

Alan: Of course instead of trying to force our way through with just the engines we follow the wind currents and instead use the engines to keep us stabilize while the wind currents propel us forward, incredible.

**Alan is breathless and is getting dreamy eyes just thinking about it. Ciro is looking at him slightly scared.**

Ciro: You're not actually considering this lunatics crazy idea are you?

**Zuke is now looking Shadow straight in the eye and steps forward to ask him the real questions.**

Zuke: You're forgetting some important information; for starters you do know that the winds in a level 3 hurricane reach 111-130 mph, this ship we literally get torn apart in less than a minute.

**Jack now also beginning to consider Shadow's idea says while rubbing her chin.**

Jack: I think I can retune the energy shield on the ship to protect us from the winds.

**Kabira looks at Jack confused now**

Kabira: Wait, I thought you said that the Dark-Angel's energy shield was only able to block beam and large solid objects from approaching.

**Jack taking out her PDA from one of her pockets is already beginning to do the calculations.**

Jack: I did but at those speeds the wind will act like a solid object and if I retune the ship's energy shield to tighten its field not even a solid object moving at a constant rate will be able to enter, but I'm going to need a lot more energy to keep it up.

**Kenny getting into it says**

Kenny: I can reprogram the systems to send the remaining power to the shield and engines.

**Kenny also begins to type on his computer. Zuke looking annoyed at the interruptions goes on.**

Zuke: Ok let's say that the shield can hold the winds off, how are we supposed to exit the hurricane? You said so yourself if we try to fight against it we'll just get torn apart but we can't just keep riding it going around in circles until it finally hits land and dissipates.

**Shadow still smiling has an answer for this as well**

Shadow: We won't have to, we'll keep going around in the hurricane faster and faster and faster until the force of the hurricane can't keep us from shooting out.

**Everyone is slowly coming around to the idea. Zuke has one final question.**

Zuke: Using centrifugal force to escape the hurricane I suppose it's theoretically possible, ok then whose going to fly the Dark-Angel in this mess? Everything you just describe is going to take a super inhuman precision driving skills, are you trying to say that there's someone here capable of that level of driving?

**Shadow isn't put off by Zuke's rude and disbelieving tone of voice.**

Shadow: Well duhhh our helmsman is going to drive.

**All eyes now turn to Alan, out of everyone in the room Alan is the most surprise. He blinks once as if to confirm that this is really happening then says**

Alan: Are you sure I mean I know I bragged about being able to drive through a storm before but that was such a long time ago, I don't know if I can do it now?

**Alan looks to the floor, his doubt is beginning to create a ripple effect as everyone beginning to get over their excitement begin to realize just how hard Shadow's plan is, but Shadow still smiling has no doubts and he says in his loud voice that shouts to the world no to the stars.**

Shadow: Of course I'm sure. I'm going to be the greatest Gundam Fighter one day, which means I'm going to need the best crew. I already have the greatest programmer, manager, and mechanic and I am 100 percent positive that you're the greatest driver, so I ask you greatest driver are you sure you're sure you can't drive in this storm?

**Kenny, and Jack blush slightly at Shadow's compliment. Alan is looking up at Shadow shock not even coming close to describe the look on his face but slowly a smile full of long forgotten pride and confidence spreads across his face.**

Alan: Hahaha, greatest driver huh. It's been a long time since anyone called me that; I used to be the greatest race car driver in the world you know so of course I can drive through this storm! I was just testing you to make sure you were serious about this crazy plan of yours is all.

**Shadow just keeps smiling playing along with Alan.**

Shadow: Of course.

**Cagalli however isn't satisfied with Shadow's answers and she stops everyone from immediately going to do Shadow's plan.**

Cagalli: Have you guys all lost it!

**Everyone turns to look at her, but Cagalli is now looking straight at Shadow.**

Cagalli: Raheem suggested a plan of escape too and his is 10 times less dangerous than yours so why Shadow should we follow your plan?

**Shadow is looking at Cagalli annoyed as he struggles to think of an answer.**

Shadow: Because, because, because my instincts tell me my plan is the better bet!

**Cagalli looks flabbergasted.**

Cagalli: Because your instincts told you so? What kind of moron are you?

**Shadow and Cagalli have another one of their glare offs. Nick thinks for a moment then says**

Nick: Mate I think we should go with Shadow's plan.

**Cagalli turns to Nick shocked. Nick explains**

Nick: All throughout this battle they've been ahead of us mate, they've been able to read every single move we make and even though Shadow's plan is way more dangerous at least I know for certain they won't see it coming.

**Cagalli is looking at Nick still uncertain. She's the only one, everyone else has made up their mind. Rini, Ciro, Thomas and Kenny turn around and begin typing on their computers.**

Rini: I'll keep track of our location in the storm.

Ciro: I'll keep track of the enemy ships.

Thomas: FA-RA-Doe I'll begin retuning the programing for the defense systems.

Kenny: I'm rerouting the remaining power to the energy shield and engines now.

**Jack gets up from her chair and does a quick stretch.**

Jack: I'll get started on making a few adjustments to the shield it shouldn't take me more than a few minutes.

**Jack quickly leaves the room. Cagalli looks at everyone in deep shock**

Cagalli: W-wait a minute don't just start so suddenly doesn't my opinion matter?

**Shadow is obvious satisfied he won and Nick just shrugs**

Shadow: HA!

Nick: Sorry mate but if you wanted your opinion to matter you should have said it faster.

**Shadow boastful adds**

Shadow: Yea princess you can't expect us to wait around all day for it.

**Cagalli sends daggers at Shadow with her eyes. The camera cuts back to Alex's ship's bridge; Alex is tapping the Captain's chair with her right index finger growing impatient.**

Alex (What's taking them so long, there's only one move you can make so quick wasting my time and go already.)

**Zain appears on the main monitor, he too is growing impatient.**

Zain: Alex how long are you going to have us do this slow advance thing before we can attack, or are you just planning to stare them to death?

**Alex glares at Zain.**

Alex: Patience Zain patience.

**Alex turns her eyes back to the Dark-Angel on the main monitor.**

Alex (But still I didn't plan on them taking this long to move, did I overestimate their intelligence and they can't even see my fake opening or did I underestimate it and they can see it's a fake. Well either way if they don't move in another 5 minutes I'll take them out with the missiles.)

**The camera cuts to the bridge of the Dark-Angel just as Jack appears on the main monitor; she seems to be in an engine room. She's rubbing her hands with a rag and says**

Jack: Alright the energy shield has been retune it should block the most serve winds but we'll still feel the less powerful ones.

**Rini, Kenny, Thomas and Ciro nod their heads as well.**

Kenny: Remaining power redirected to engines and energy shield.

Rini: Map program up and running.

Thomas: Done. (In a musical tone of voice)

Ciro: Enemy tracking program up and running as well.

**Shadow nods his head hearing all this and with his excited/crazy smile gives the order.**

Shadow: Alright Alan take us in!

**Alan feeding off Shadow's excitement says**

Alan: You got it!

**The camera cuts back to Alex's ship's bridge to show Alex's impatient reach its max.**

Alex: Alright that's enough waiting prepare to fire

**Suddenly one of her crew members cuts her off**

Crew Member: Ma'am the Dark-Angel is moving!

**Alex happy quickly refocuses her attention on the main monitor.**

Alex: About time, don't fire until I give

**Her voice drops off as her eyes open wide and her mouth hangs open as she sees the Dark-Angel instead of coming towards herself as expect turn around and begin moving at high speeds in the opposite direction heading straight for the hurricane. The camera does a split scream to show a shock Alex on the left and Zain on the right.**

Alex: WHAT!

Zain: Straight into the storm!

**The screen goes back to normal to show Alex completely stun. Zain comes back up on the main monitor and demands answers.**

Zain: Alex what the hell is going on! You told us that they were going to try to escape through that fake hole you created so why are they going straight towards the hurricane?

**Alex quickly regains her composer.**

Alex: It's a bluff. They're trying to confused us and make the opening bigger, chase after them but keep the same distance between our ships.

**Zain still looks unconvinced but Alex makes a gesture with her hand and cuts him off. She continues to stare at the Dark-Angel and keeps thinking in order to convince herself.**

Alex (It's a bluff, it's got to be a bluff, there's no way they're actually that stupid enough to try and pass through a hurricane.)

**The camera cuts outside, the Dark-Angel is in the lead with Zain and Alex's ship on either side following right behind. The clouds surrounding the ships have gotten darker and rain has begun falling. **

**The winds are quickly getting rougher we zoom in on various Gundams including Nightwing and the others to show that it's all anyone can do now to keep themselves stable. No one is bothering to continue fighting.**

**The camera cuts back to inside the Dark-Angel's bridge to show it start to violently shake. Alan has his grip tight on the wheel and is struggling desperately to keep the ship stable.**

Alan (Come on, come on, don't go crazy on me yet.)

**The camera cuts back to Alex's bridge to show much the same problem. Alex is gripping her chair tightly to help stop the shaking. Zain on the monitor looks worried.**

Zain: Alex we have to pull out our ships can't take much more of this.

**Alex violently shakes her head.**

Alex: No it's a bluff they'll soon stop suddenly and turn to shoot past us, just be ready.

**Zain isn't letting this go**

Zain: Alex the Basic Arials can't fly in this type of wind.

Alex: FINE then call them back in, it's not like they're doing any go against the enemy Gundams!

**Alex has the look of a mad woman now. Zain is still trying to reason with her.**

Zain: Alex if we don't turn back now we won't be able to escape the force of the storm.

Alex: It's a bluff they won't go much farther into the storm now in fact in about

**Zain has heard enough of Alex's crazy rambles.**

Zain: IT'S NOT A BLUFF! They're seriously trying to pass through the storm, face it you are wrong and I'm not about to die for it.

**Zain angrily cuts off the line while Alex starts shouting at him.**

Alex: Wait don't break formation, DON'T BREAK FORMATION!

**The camera cuts outside for a moment to show Zain do just that. Zain's ship turns around and leaves the storm. The camera cuts back inside to show Alex finally accept reality, she slams her fist down angrily on the Captain's chair.**

Alex (DAMN IT, how did they do it, my plan was perfect so how did they force me to tie with them right when I was about to checkmate them? They perform a move that I completely an absolutely couldn't see but how could they?)

**At that moment as if by some divine force the hurricane causes Nightwing to swing way high into the air in front of Alex's ship although they're still too far for either one to do anything. Alex as if by some primal instinct thinks.**

Alex (It's that black Gundam's fault, he's the leader and I know somehow that this is his plan!)

**Alex is glaring at Nightwing with an intense look of hatred. One of her crew members growing more nervous by the second asks**

Crew Member: Um Captain?

**Alex snaps**

Alex: Turn us around and get us out here!

**Her crew sighs in relief and quickly does just that, while Alex continues to glare at her foe.**

Alex (You won't get away from my again next time.)

**The camera cuts outside to show Alex's ship turn around and leave the hurricane. The Dark-Angel is completely by itself now flying through the hurricane. We can see and hear lightening off in the distance. **

**The clouds are so dark now that it looks like night and the wind is so strong and the rain is pouring so hard that combined it looks like a physical force. We can see the steel cable Nightwing is holding onto go completely vertical and stay like that because of the wind. **

**Nightwing is starting to lose its grip on the steel cable because the wind is pushing on it so hard and the rain isn't helping either. The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow curse.**

Shadow (Damn it, this stupid wind is starting to tear my grip off of the steel cable and the rain is freaking freezing!)

**The camera cuts back outside to look at La Rouge and Cowboy. La Rouge has lost its shield and is standing behind Cowboy as Cowboy uses its shield to try to block the wind but it's not working. **

**The Dark-Angel's legs have become wet and slippery because of the rain and the Gundams are beginning to get push/slide off the ship. The camera cuts inside La Rouge's cockpit to show Cagalli shout to be heard over the roar of the wind.**

Cagalli: It's no good Nick, we need to get inside the Gundam bay or else we're going to get thrown off the ship!

**We can see Nick on Cagalli's helmet screen nod his head in agreement.**

Nick: You won't get any arguments from me there mate.

**The camera cuts to the bridge; Jack has return to the Captain's chair.**

Ciro: Well it looks like Shadow's crazy plan work, both enemy ships have withdrawn, now all we have to do is get out alive.

**Jack isn't even listening to Ciro, she looks very worried.**

Jack: Kenny where are Cagalli, Shadow, and Nick.

**Kenny typing on his terminal says quickly to calm her.**

Kenny: Cagalli and Nick have gotten back in to the Gundam bay with Roxas, and Roxas is pulling Shadow in now.

**The camera cuts to the Gundam bay as Kenny speaks. Cowboy and La Rouge have just jump in and have their hands on their knees as they catch their breath. We can see water dripping from their bodies. We look over to see Quanlier slowly pull the steel cable in. **

**Dark-Angel crew members are helping keeping the steel cable from being pulled out. The camera cuts outside to show Nightwing moving closer and closer to the Dark-Angel. We can see its hand trembling slightly and start to slide down. The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow gritting his teeth.**

Shadow: Just a little more, hold on, just a little more.

**The camera cuts back outside to show the Dark-Angel jump (move up then down in rapid motion). The resulting motion causes the steel cable to whip out and Nightwing with already a weaken grip gets thrown off. The camera cuts back into Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow with panic clear on his face shout.**

Shadow: CRAPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!

**The camera cuts back outside and the episode ends with Nightwing being wildly thrown into the hurricane.**


	36. Episode 35

Episode 35

**The episode opens up moments before Nightwing gets thrown off the steel cable and sent flying into the hurricane. We see the Dark-Angel flying in the hurricane, the clouds are completely black like space but without the stars to light the way making everything seem pitch black.**

**The rain is coming down in buckets, it's not only coming down hard but in a constant rate showing no signs of letting up, just looking at it should make you start shivering in cold and make you yearn for a nice cup of hot cocoa. The wind although invisible roars incredibly loud drowning out all other noise as if to demand its presence to be known.**

**With all these factors present it would be impossible to even realize the Dark-Angel was anywhere near there if it weren't for the lightning. The lightning alone challenges the wind to be heard as each time it dances in the sky we hear it "boom" in a low pitch as if to complete the high pitch roar of the wind. **

**Each time the lightning dances we see the Dark-Angel clearly but when the lightning disappears the Dark-Angel too fades back into the black abyss. The camera cuts into the bridge of the Dark-Angel just as it jumps with the sudden up motion follow by a rapid down motion.**

**Everyone is thrown slightly up in the air and falls down. Zuke who isn't sitting down in a seat lands perfectly on his feet with his hands in his pocket looking bored. Raheem and Kabira on the other hand who were also standing aren't so graceful and fall completely to the floor.**

Kabira: OW!

**Kabira landed on her left side and begins to rub her left arm. Raheem almost jumping to his feet quickly rushes to her to check and make sure she's ok.**

Raheem: Miss Kabira are you ok?

**Kabira seeing Raheem worry gets up and nods her head.**

Kabira: I'm alright Raheem, I just bump my arm.

**As if to prove her point Kabira lets go of her left arm to show him she's alright. Raheem upon seeing this accepts her answer. The camera looks over to Jack, Jack as anyone would expect has her face contorted in pain and anger. She stands slightly and begins to rub her ass.**

Jack (Note to self, install cushions in seats.)

**Jack starts yelling at Alan**

Jack: Alan how the hell do you call that driving!

**Alan is highly offended but like every good driver he never takes his eyes off the road or in this case sky.**

Alan: Don't yell at me, we hit a sudden wind current which rocked the ship, but luckily for us it's also starting to help stabilize the ship.

**Jack is grumbling but she accepts Alan's answer. The camera cuts to the Gundam bay to show that the jump caused La Rouge and Cowboy to be knocked over. They slowly get up, the camera cuts inside La Rouge's cockpit to show Cagalli surprisingly looking alright although she does look unhappy and tired.**

Cagalli: Great even after the battle I'm still getting knock around. I'm going to be sore as crap tomorrow.

**Nick pops up on her helmet screen; Nick is smiling and looks pretty cheerful.**

Nick: Well it's to be expected mate after all we are flying through a hurricane.

**Cagalli just grumbles unhappily still not liking reality when something catches her eye. The camera cuts outside to show that Quanlier has started to yank and pull really fast on the steel cable; one can't help but notice an air of desperation in the way it pulls on the steel cable.**

**The camera cuts inside Quanlier's cockpit to show Roxas with growing panic on her face as she continues to pull on it.**

Roxas (No, No, No it can't be but the steel cable feels so much lighter.)

**Cagalli and Nick pop up on Roxas's helmet screen, they both look concern at Roxas's behavior.**

Cagalli: Hey Roxas is everything alright?

Nick: Yea you're starting to scare us mate?

**Roxas just ignores them and continues pulling on the steel cable but finally her patience runs out as her panic reaches its boiling point. Roxas makes a spitting motion with her mouth, she spits out the steel cable, and shouts**

Roxas: Damn it!

**The camera cuts outside to show Quanlier copy Roxas and then take off for the Gundam bay door. The other Dark-Angel crew members have secured the steel cable that has already been pulled in. The camera looks over to Cowboy and La Rouge then does a quick split screen to show Nick and Cagalli look surprise.**

Cagalli: R-Roxas?

**The screen returns to normal as Cowboy and La Rouge quickly chase after Quanlier. Quanlier is standing at the very edge of the Gundam bay and is sticking its head out the Gundam bay door. **

**The wind as one would expect is still very strong and Quanlier has to dig its claws into the floor in order to stop itself from getting pull outside. Cowboy and La Rogue reach Quanlier. The camera cuts inside Quanlier's cockpit to show Roxas look very worried and panicked. Nick and Cagalli both pop up on her helmet screen.**

Cagalli: Roxas what the heck are you doing!

Nick: Yea mate get away from the door it's dangerous!

**Roxas behavior is beginning to serious worry Nick and Cagalli. Roxas in shock begins to say slowly**

Roxas: I-it's Shadow, HE'S GONE!

**Cagalli and Nick's eyes almost pop out of their heads.**

Cagalli and Nick: WHAT!

**The camera momentary cuts outside to show that it's true, Nightwing is no longer holding onto the steel cable and it's nowhere in sight. The camera cuts to the bridge to show Jack giving instructions.**

Jack: Alright we'll start doing some of the manual repairs now, Kenny can you give us a system check and then

**Roxas appears on the main monitor and cuts off Jack; panic is still clear on her face.**

Roxas: Turn the ship around!

**Jack is looking at Roxas confused. Nick and Cagalli also pop up on the main monitor, and Nick clarifies**

Nick: It's Shadow mates, he got thrown off the steel cable!

**Everyone except Zuke shouts at the same time.**

Everyone: WHAT!

**Jack and Kenny are in shock. Ciro and Rini look piss**

Ciro: Damn it that idiot always getting into trouble and forcing us to bail his sorry ass out!

Rini: Like we weren't having enough trouble flying in this storm without having to add to our problems.

**Thomas sings**

Thomas: LA-LA-LA may you be safe our lost friend!

**Kenny getting over his shock quickly begins typing on his computer in order to contact Shadow.**

Kenny: Shadow, Shadow, come in Shadow can you hear me!

**We can hear desperation in his voice as Kenny tries without luck to contact Shadow, while he continues to call out Shadow's name Alan begins to complain**

Alan: Damn it it's going to be annoying but I can turn the ship around

**Raheem suddenly steps forward and cuts him off**

Raheem: Don't.

**Raheem says this very firmly. All eyes turn to look at him shocked, even Kabira is surprise by Raheem's cold attitude.**

Kabira: R-Raheem?

**Roxas begins to angrily shout at him**

Roxas: What the hell do you mean "don't" Shadow's out there and needs our help!

**Raheem maintaining a level head begins to explain**

Raheem: Even if we turn around now and begin to look for him there's no guaranty that we'll be able to find him. The winds of the hurricane could have easily taken him miles away by now, plus Shadow said it himself if we try to fight the wind currents we'll be destroyed. Right now we're riding a strong wind current that's heading in one direction, if we try to turn around and go in the opposite direction the ship will probably be destroyed.

**Nick looks pissed and snaps**

Nick: So are you saying we should just leave the mate to die!

**Raheem shakes his head**

Raheem: No what I'm saying is that we follow Shadow's plan and get out of this storm alive, then once it passes we find where Shadow is. Remember even if Shadow's Gundam is destroyed his safety pod will still activate.

**No one wants to admit it but Raheem's plan does make sense, however Zuke sees an error in his logic and he steps forward to point it out.**

Zuke: However Raheem you do realize that Nightwing's safety pod activating and protecting Shadow is the best possible scenario. The worst would be Nightwing's safety pod being destroyed by the winds as well and Shadow suffering a horrible and agonizing death and with the speed of these winds that's entirely possible or did you know it and were hiding it in order to influence everyone's decision so that they would decide on the outcome that has a higher chance of your survival?

**Zuke hits the nail on the head. Raheem grits his teeth as he's caught red handed and begins to glare at Zuke.**

Raheem: I'm surprise at you Zuke, I thought you and your air of coordinator superiorly would have been all gun-ho to leave Shadow a natural behind.

**Zuke isn't impress by Raheem's remark.**

Zuke: I am, but I don't like a natural trying to manipulate me.

**While the conversation has been going on Jack's anger had been building and finally she snaps, despite the very obvious muscle and height difference Jack gets into Raheem's face.**

Jack: Listen you, I know that we're getting paid to protect you but don't ever try something like that again!

**Only common sense and logic are holding Jack back from beating the shit out of Raheem, even Ciro and Rini look at Raheem pissed. Raheem looks at Jack expecting this then says sincerely**

Raheem: I'm sorry, but it is my duty to protect Miss Kabira at whatever the cost.

**Kabira is shock to find out that she's the root cause of this. Jack eyes open wide in surprise as she understands Raheem but she quickly starts to grip her teeth and clench her fist in frustration at no longer having anything to direct her anger at. Zuke suddenly snaps**

Zuke: Will you shut up already, the hurricane is scrambling all frequencies even Gundam frequency so no matter how hard you try Shadow is not going to answer!

**While everyone had been talking Kenny had gone back to trying to contact Shadow. Kenny turns to glare at Zuke.**

Kenny: You don't know that! All it takes is one lucky break and we can get through to Shadow for a moment!

**Zuke looks at Kenny for a moment surprise that he stood up to him. Cagalli takes this moment and speaks.**

Cagalli: I agree with Raheem and Zuke.

**Cagalli definitely says this reluctantly; all eyes turn to her shock.**

Nick: What!

Roxas: Cagalli!

**Cagalli cuts off the protest and goes on.**

Cagalli: Guys we need to think about this logically, Shadow is a good guy but he is not worth the lives of everyone on board this ship. Even though Raheem and Zuke aren't necessarily doing it for that reason that doesn't mean they're wrong. Jack keep the ship on its current course we'll just have to hope that Shadow makes it through the storm.

**Nick and Roxas are gritting their teeth clearly unhappy about this but they can't counter Cagalli's logic. Jack has her head looking down at the floor and she says in the deepest reluctance while gritting her teeth.**

Jack: Arrrrrrr FINE!

**She spits out. Everyone seems to be bowing down to this idea, everyone that is except Kenny. Kenny begins to shout hysterically at them**

Kenny: What the hell is the matter with you guys! Shadow won't have even given it a moment's thought to risk his life in order to save anyone of yours!

**Kenny points to everyone in turn, no one can meet his eyes. Cagalli begins to say**

Cagalli: Kenny

**Kenny cuts her off**

Kenny: And especially you Cagalli, when we were back at Slyer me and Shadow had spent months planning and preparing for that escape and in the moment of truth when everything had for once gone right he gave it all up without any idea if he'd ever have another chance to save your sorry ass and now when his life is in danger you won't risk yours to save him you're just going to abandon him!

**Kenny is red in the face from shouting, sweat is forming on his brow. Cagalli looks like she just got slap, she's completely stun.**

Cagalli: That-that was completely different from now.

**Kenny snaps**

Kenny: BULLSHIT don't give me that shit, the only difference between then and now is that you're the one making the choice!

**Cagalli doesn't know how to respond to that. Kenny still pissed begins to storm off. Jack worried exclaims**

Jack: Kenny! Where are you going?

**Kenny without turning around replies back**

Kenny: If no one else is going to help Shadow then I'll do it by myself, even if I have to pilot one of the Gundams!

**Raheem moves to block Kenny from exiting. Kenny still enrage shouts**

Kenny: Get out of myuugh

**Kenny gets no further as Raheem does an uppercut straight into his gut. The force of Raheem's punch literally lifts Kenny off the ground. **

**Kenny's face is contorted in pain as the wind gets knocked out of him, and he falls to ground knockout. It happens so fast that no one even has time to blink, after a moment of silence Jack rushes to Kenny's side to see if he's ok.**

Jack: Kenny!

**Rini also gets up from her chair and begins to look at Kenny in a more cold doctor way, while they're attending to Kenny Kabira finally gets over her shock and begins to shout at Raheem.**

Kabira: Raheem why'd you do that!

**Kabira demands. Raheem bows his head slightly.**

Raheem: I'm sorry Miss Kabira but it was for his own protection, in his frame of mind no one could have talk him out of going after his friend and given that he has no Gundam Piloting experience I doubt he'd last one minute out there in that storm.

**Kabira doesn't approve of Raheem's methods but she can't deny them either, while they're talking the camera cuts to inside Quanlier's cockpit. Roxas still looks uneasy**

Roxas: Is there really nothing we can do about Shadow?

**Cagalli is emotionless as she replies**

Cagalli: Nothing except pray.

**Roxas looks even more trouble by this. Nick puts on a brave face and says to the girls**

Nick: You mates worry too much, Shadow maybe stupid and clumsy at times but he's too stubborn to let a little thing like a hurricane finish him off.

**This helps to encourage Roxas; her face lightens as a small smile spreads across it. She eagerly replies back**

Roxas: Yea you're right, Shadow is probably right now yelling his head off at the storm. Heh I can already see him looking stupid.

**Cagalli however is not convince and without saying a word and still with that emotionless expression on her face she cuts off her communication line as she exits her Gundam. Roxas is surprise by this action and quickly says**

Roxas: Cagalli wait for me, if you're tired from battle I can give you one of my around the world rub downs!

**The camera switches to inside Cowboy's cockpit as Roxas also cuts off her communication line in order to chase after Cagalli like a hungry dog. Nick smiles seeing Roxas recover but now that no one is watching we can see his own worry begin to show. He looks up as he thinks to himself.**

Nick (It's against my code to lie to a friend mate so you better not make a liar out of me.)

**The camera cuts outside into the deep dark swirling vortex that is the hurricane. The black clouds and pouring rain make it almost impossible to see your hand in front of your face, and the wind is so loud that you can't hear anything either.**

**A bolt of lightning flashes to reveal Nightwing, the wind currents are so strong that they're holding Nightwing in the air without any propulsion system, however there're many conflicting wind currents. The wind currents are moving in all different directions and Nightwing is slowly beginning to get pulled apart by the limbs.**

**We can hear the creek of the metal joints as they're slowly getting pull out. The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show that most of the systems have gone out, in fact only the zero-gravity bubble looks like its working. Shadow is lying in the center of it on his back in the same position as Nightwing.**

**He looks pale and barely conscious; we can see him shaking within the Pilot's suit.**

Shadow: S-s-s-stupid rain. F-f-f-f-freaking f-f-freezing.

**Shadow stutters aloud to no one. He then begins to think to himself**

Shadow (This sucks, the winds are too strong; it's starting to actually pull Nightwing apart limb by limb. If I don't do something soon Nightwing's going to be destroyed. Arrr my body feels so heavy.)

**Shadow has a quick flashback to when he was training with Drake. Shadow is leaning against a wall breathing heavily as Drake scolds him.**

Drake: Shadow you have got to learn to pace yourself, if you go full throttle right from the beginning of a fight you're going to tired yourself out.

**Shadow glares at Drake an argues**

Shadow: But that won't matter as long as I beat my opponent then I can just rest afterwards.

**Drake sighs and shakes his head knowing Shadow doesn't get it**

Drake: You don't get it, what happens when you're in a battle fighting multiply enemies, you go hardcore from the start and you end up not having the strength to fight later on when it really matters.

**Shadow stubbornly says**

Shadow: Well I'll just beat all my opponents then before that happens!

**Shadow says this in a resolved voice and begins punching the air to show his support. Drake just shakes his head and sighs again.**

Drake: I guess it's just one of those thing you'll have to experience for yourself before you realize you're wrong but don't say I didn't warn you.

**The flashback ends and we come back to the present to see that Shadow despite the situation is deeply annoyed.**

Shadow (Stupid Drake, got to rub it in even when he's not here.)

Shadow: OWWW

**Shadow suddenly howls in pain, the camera cuts outside for a moment to show Nightwing's right arm get pulled more to one side. The camera cuts back into Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow over the pain but still unable to move. He's just lying there breathing heavily.**

Shadow (Is this how I'm going to go out; by being pulled apart limb from limb, how medieval. If I have to die why can't I go out in some cooler way, then again I am being just a little overdramatic. Once damage gets high enough the safety pod will activate and I'll be safe but still I can't believe I'm going to lose Nightwing like this.)

**Shadow looks really depress by this thought, suddenly Nightwing breaks the silence and his thoughts.**

Nightwing: Warning pilot should disengage NS system, pain levels rising beyond safety limit and heat levels dropping below safety limit.

**Shadow surprise for a moment having forgotten Nightwing has an audio function quickly snaps back stubbornly**

Shadow: NO, if I can't figure out how to save you buddy then I'll at least feel the pain with you!

**There's no reply back, Shadow is once again breathing heavily from the shouting. His eyelids slowly start to blink up and down, each time staying close just a little bit longer.**

Shadow (Damn, I'm so tired and cold, maybe I'll just take a little nap just to regain my strength. Once I wake up I'll be better able to help Nightwing.)

**Shadow's eyes close and stay close as he begins to doze off. We switch to Shadow's view point, the screen begins to fade to black as Shadow begins to lose consciousness and for a few moments we see nothing but darkness. **

**The camera cuts back to Shadow's body and zooms in on his right hand. We see his fingers twitch. The camera cuts back to Shadow's point of view the black screen.**

Shadow (Arrrr so annoying, what is that thing touching my fingers. It's so annoying I can't get to sleep with it bothering me, it's cool like a rushing stream but it's also feels like a dog licking my fingertips.)

**While Shadow's thinking we begin to see multiply white lines appear in the center of the screen all going in the same direction.**

Shadow (Is this the wind? It's so weird I'm surrounded by wind yet I can feel this single strand of wind so much more distinctly then the others, I wonder if this is that near death crap people always talk about.)

**As Shadow continues thinking the white lines grow longer across the black screen, they also become brighter and more distinct.**

Shadow (Hmm I wonder if I focus I could see it better and maybe even others like it.)

**Shadow is referring to the mental image in his head which we're now seeing. The white lines grow until they spread across the entire black screen, and more groups of white lines appear and begin to spread across the screen until they completely cover it. **

**There's definitely a pattern to the way they move and one has to resist the urge to continuing staring at it or else become forever lost in the image. Shadow opens his eyes as understanding hits him like a shoot of caffeine.**

Shadow: They're the wind currents!

**The camera cuts outside for a moment to show the wind currents surround Nightwing and holding it up. The wind currents unlike before appear very distinct and only a blind man or someone with very poor eyesight would be unable to see them. **

**They're all going in different directions and we can see the places where they're hitting Nightwing and pulling on it. We hear more creaking sounds as Nightwing is running out of time. The camera cuts back to inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow howl in pain.**

Shadow: OWWWWWW

**However this time Shadow quickly shuts his mouth and bears with the pain. Shadow has become reinvigorate with this new sight and his thoughts like a speeding runway train begin to tumble and turn on top of each other.**

Shadow (The wind currents I can see them so clearly now. Arrr but it's not enough to see them I still can't do anything about them. If it was an actual punch then I'd block them. Block, dam! Of course why didn't I think of this earlier, I even said it the wind currents are moving so fast they're like actual water so all I need to do is put a dam or something like that in front of them! What can I use, what can I use; all I have on me is my beam saber. The beam could probably block the wind but I'd need at least a hundred beam sabers for that. A hundred beam sabers, a hundred beam fragments; a hundred beam shards! That's it!)

**Shadow's eyes nearly burst from his skull as his rapid rabbit like thinking gives him the answer. He begins talking to Nightwing's processing computer.**

Shadow: Nightwing is it possible to break my beam saber into multiply beam shards?

**The processing computer takes a moment to think about this, and for a moment Shadow looks doubtful.**

Shadow (Wait is Nightwing's computer capable of giving me an answer to this. Normally I'd ask Jack or Kenny but the communication line is down. I know Kenny has been fooling around with Nightwing's programming but I don't know)

**Shadow's thoughts are cut off as Nightwing begins to reply back.**

Nightwing: Yes but because they'd be no longer attach to a power source they would last only a moment before disappearing.

**Shadow grins having recovered his confidence.**

Shadow: HA a moment's all I need. Nightwing prepare to shatter the beam saber into multiply beam shards on my mark. Also can you send the controls for what direction they go in and how big they are directly to the brain interface system?

**Nightwing after a moment more replies back**

Nightwing: Understood, sending controls for size and movement of beam shards to brain interface. Warning power levels extremely low, activating beam saber now will drain all remaining power.

**Shadow grumbles**

Shadow: Great so that means I have only one shot at this and if I screw up we're screw. Well don't worry Nightwing, I got you into this mess so I'm getting you out!

**Shadow takes a breath to calm himself and steady his nervous and closes his eyes. We cut back to his mental picture.**

Shadow (Alright I got to picture the wind currents again, now I have to imagine how I want the beam shards to block each individual wind current, how I want them angle so that the wind doesn't take my head off, how big I want them so they completely block the wind.)

**As Shadow continues to think to himself we see black shards representing the beam shards begin to block each individual set of group white lines. Each shard is slightly different and we can see Shadow constantly mentally adjusting them until they're all just right. **

**The final product shows us a black bubble in the center of the screen while all the white line groups are force around it by the black shards. The camera cuts back to inside Nightwing's cockpit, Shadow smiles satisfied with the final product.**

Shadow (Perfect.)

**Shadow takes one last deep breath then his eyes pop open as he shouts**

Shadow: Nightwing NOW!

**The camera cuts outside to show the secret compartment open up and eject Nightwing's beam saber. The ejected beam saber is launch practically into Nightwing's hand. Nightwing is able to catch it without moving its arm and activates it. **

**Nightwing then begins to make an upward vertical beam saber slash but the wind is holding Nightwing's arm down pretty tightly, and for a moment Nightwing doesn't look like it'll be able to complete the swing.**

**The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit as Shadow grits his teeth in pain as he forces his arm to finish the swing and break through the wind current.**

Shadow: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

**The camera cuts back outside just as Nightwing breaks through the wind current and finish its beam saber slash. The moment it does the beam saber breaks into beam shards that fly off in all directions. The screen splits into multiply parts to show different beam shards block different wind currents.**

**The screen returns to normal to show a sudden type of explosion. The wind burst and reforms going around Nightwing, because the wind is still blowing so strong it seems like Nightwing is in its own bubble. The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show a shock Shadow, apparently deep inside he didn't expect this to work.**

**The camera cuts back outside to show Nightwing standing straight up. Nightwing hovers in the air a moment more before gravity finally takes effect. In seconds Nightwing begins to fall like a piano thrown out a window.**

**The camera cuts back inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow just plan pissed off at the world, one of those days where it feels like everything is against you and nothing seems to go your way. Shadow shouts**

Shadow: No freaking luck!

**The scene ends with the camera cutting outside as Nightwing falls to the ocean floor below. The next scene opens up to a black screen and silence. The screen begins to get bright but the quality is all fuzzy like a person waking up and we begin to hear sounds but they're also fuzzy and distorted.**

**After a moment of this the screen and sound clear and become sharp. We can see a ceiling light bulb on the screen, and then we hear**

Jack: He's coming to!

**The camera switches viewpoints to show that we were seeing everything from Shadow's point of view. We're back onboard the Dark-Angel and appear to be in the medical bay. Shadow is laying on a bed looking disoriented, groggy and confused.**

**Nick, Roxas, Cagalli, Kenny, and Jack are all standing around his bed looking at him relieve. Zuke surprisingly is also in the medical bay but he's standing a little ways farther back. Shadow slowly begins to sit up but groans from pain and falls back down onto a pillow.**

Shadow: Owww

**Nick worry quickly puts a hand on Shadow's chest preventing him from getting back up. Cagalli, Nick, and Roxas are back in their regular clothes and Shadow is in classic hospital apron thing.**

Nick: Take it easy there mate; don't want you dropping dead on us when we just got you back.

**Shadow is recovered enough to look at Nick annoyed about being treated like a child. He leans himself slightly on the pillow so he's facing everyone. He begins to rub his eyes like a person trying to wake themselves up in the morning.**

Shadow: Where am I, what's going on?

**Kenny still worried quickly says**

Kenny: You're on the medical bay on board the Dark-Angel Shadow, what's the last thing you remember?

**Shadow is slowly waking up as the battle quickly comes rushing back to him.**

Shadow: Oh right, right, right we were ambush by that ship and had to retreat into a hurricane and then

**We have a quick flashback to Nightwing getting thrown off the steel cable. Cagalli folding her arms angrily says to Shadow while glaring at him**

Cagalli: You stupid moron, what were you thinking going into the hurricane like that with just Nightwing!

**Shadow almost fully recovered now glares at Cagalli and replies back angrily**

Shadow: I didn't go into it by choice, I was thrown off the steel cable and suck into it!

**Cagalli isn't happy with his answer and says**

Cagalli: That's no excuse; you should have come in sooner then, before you reach that point!

**Shadow sitting up even higher in the bed shouts back**

Shadow: Then who would have protected the Dark-Angel!

**Cagalli's eyes open wide in a moment and we switch to her point of view to show Shadow's image fad and get replace by a young Kira (GS Kira). The image is quickly broken when Shadow grips his side in pain and falls back into his bed. We go back to the original point of view. Cagalli despite Shadow's obvious pain is still angrily at him and shouts**

Cagalli: God you're just like that stupid brother of mine!

**With that Cagalli turns and storms off. Roxas surprise goes to chase after her**

Roxas: Cagalli!

**However Nick grabs her by the shoulder and stops her, surprise Roxas turns to look at Nick. Nick with kind eyes and a tired smile just shakes his head.**

Nick: Just let her go mate, she was just really worried when Shadow got lost and this is her way of dealing with that but she'll calm down in time.

**Roxas understands what Nick is saying and after a moment's hesitation goes with Nick back over to Shadow. Shadow is now lying down in bed again and Jack is gently scolding him**

Jack: Yea I would avoid getting up and yelling for a while, your body is so bruise that you also look like a purple alien.

**Kenny, Roxas, and Nick laugh a little at the joke but Shadow is not laughing. He gives a sarcastic laugh**

Shadow: Hahaha very funny so how long have I been out?

**Kenny thinks for a moment then says**

Kenny: Hard to say since we don't know at what point you lost consciousness but since the battle was yesterday I say a good 12-14 hours.

**Shadow is shocked**

Shadow: Yesterday!

**Roxas nods her head eagerly and explains excitedly**

Roxas: Yea your plan worked perfectly, once we built up enough momentum we were able to break away from the storm it was freaking awesome, we were going like super-fast and around and around in the hurricane circle like a rollercoaster and then we got shot up of the storm like a cannon, it was incredible how far we flew, man I wish you could've been there.

**Jack groans when hearing this**

Jack: Don't remind me Roxas, I almost lost my lunch twice.

**Shadow despite Jack's comment gives Roxas his crooked smile and says**

Shadow: Damn I wish I could've been there it sounds freaking awesome!

**Roxas gets teary eye for a moment confusing Shadow, then out of nowhere she suddenly hugs him**

Roxas: Oh Shadow don't you ever almost die on me again; everyone here was calling me crazy when I said we should go on it again.

**Shadow is getting the life squeeze out of him but he sees an opportunity here.**

Shadow: Well I can tell you that I'd feel more inclined to live if you sleep with me.

**Roxas still hugging Shadow tightly says in the same voice**

Roxas: Sorry you're still not interesting enough to sleep with but speaking of sleeping with people who am I going to discuss seduction strategies about Cagalli with if you're not here?

**Shadow becomes quickly depressed upon hearing this comment; however that doesn't last long because without endorphins flooding through his system he becomes all too aware of his bruise body being squeeze by Roxas.**

Shadow: Ow, ow, ow, ow, Roxas can't breathe, ow!

**Nick quickly comes to Shadow's rescue and pulls Roxas off him.**

Nick: Come on their Roxas; don't want to kill the mate after we just saved him.

**Roxas realizes she was hurting Shadow and begins to rub the back of her head as she gives a nervous laugh.**

Roxas: Oh Hahahaha sorry about that Shadow.

**Shadow forgiving Roxas realizes something.**

Shadow: Oh yea that reminds me how did you guys save me, the last I remember I was still in the hurricane?

**Kenny goes to answer this but Zuke answers first**

Zuke: After we escape the hurricane Kenny regain consciousness and threaten to put a super virus on the Dark-Angel's mainframe if we didn't turn around and look for you.

**As Zuke is talking he steps closer to Shadow in order to be seen. Shadow is surprise to see Zuke here but he's even more surprise to hear about Kenny's feat. He turns to look at Kenny shocked**

Shadow: Kenny.

**Is all Shadow can say. Nick, Roxas and Jack grin at Kenny proudly. Kenny embarrass at the sudden praise blushes.**

Kenny: It was nothing, I mean you'd do the same for me, well in your own way, no offense Shadow but I serious doubt you could make a virus.

**Shadow's gratitude quickly turns to annoyance. Jack teases Kenny a little.**

Jack: And here I thought all programmers were just cowards that couldn't face their own shadows without shaking in fear, way to prove you've got some balls Kenny.

**Jack punches Kenny on the shoulder. Kenny turns to her offended at the programmer's comments.**

Kenny: Hey we programmers aren't cowards; we just don't like physical fighting!

**Zuke getting annoyed at the constant interrupts goes on.**

Zuke: Yes that's nice, anyway as I was saying so we had to turn around and come back to the same area where we last had contact with you which was a pain since the hurricane shot the ship a good distance away. When we finally got back to the area the hurricane had already passed, everyone was shocked however to find that your Gundam's GPS locator was still working and sending a single, we quickly found you unconscious in your Gundam.

**Nick adds smiling**

Nick: Lucky for you mate you had no serious injuries just a hell of a lot of bruising.

**Jack nodding her head jumps in**

Jack: Yea you know you're really lucky Shadow, you fell directly into the storm clouds so you should have been carry with the storm until it dispense, but somehow you fell out of the storm clouds right into the ocean below, it's a real miracle.

**The look on Shadow's face says he disagrees but he lets it go. Shadow realizes something else and turns to Jack worried.**

Shadow: Jack how's Nightwing? Is he doing ok?

**Jack is a little surprise to find Shadow so concern with his Gundam but nonetheless puffs out her chest and says with pride**

Jack: Don't worry Shadow; I've already started working on repairs to Nightwing. Nightwing came back to the Dark-Angel with only mid-level damage which isn't too bad since I thought it be completely destroyed by the time you were done with it.

**Jack smiling picks on Shadow again. Roxas giggles a little at the joke but Shadow rolls his eyes and says sarcastically**

Shadow: Hahaha.

**However Shadow is smiling hearing the good news. Jack remembers something**

Jack: Oh that's right I almost forgot.

**Jack quickly takes out her wrench and whacks Shadow on the head. Shadow howls in pain**

Shadow: OWWWWWWWWWWWW, WHAT THE HELL!

**Jack folds her arms and says**

Jack: That's for letting my Gundam take mid-level damage.

**Shadow glaring at Jack tries to lift his arms in retaliation but lucky for Jack his arms are still dead. Nick seeing there might be trouble if they stay longer says**

Nick: Well anyway mates we've got work to do and Shadow needs his rest if he's going to recover fast so let's go. See you later mate.

**Nick grabs Roxas and Jack before they even have time to think and drags them out of the room. Kenny looks back to Shadow for a moment then quickly follows. Shadow is left alone with Zuke.**

**When Zuke had finished talking he had step back into the shadows and looked like he almost completely disappeared now with the others gone he goes to confront Shadow. For the first time we see a clear emotion on his face. Very high levels of irritation. Shadow upon seeing Zuke makes a joke**

Shadow: I'm surprise Zuke I didn't think a "coordinator" like yourself would care so much about a natural like me.

**Zuke stops rolls his eyes and snorts**

Zuke: Please, a natural like you dying would to me a Coordinator be like an insect that's reach the end of its life span.

**Shadow annoyed says**

Shadow: Ok then what are you here for?

**Zuke glaring at Shadow leans in close and says**

Zuke: I want to know how you did it, how did you manage to keep your Gundam intact?

**Shadow is confused and doesn't understand the question**

Shadow: Intact? What are you talking about Jack just said Nightwing had mid-level damage

**Zuke angrily cuts him off**

Zuke: Cut the crap! I ran the numbers over 1000 times, and I found that there's no way Nightwing could have return to the Dark-Angel with that little damage without you having done something! The best you no anyone in that position could have hope for was that there safety pod activated and the storm drops them down somewhere on a random coast line, so what did you do!

**Zuke demands to know, his anger and frustration at not being able to figure it out is all too obvious. Shadow is surprise having never seen Zuke in this state before. Shadow has puzzled look on his face as he tries to remember.**

Shadow: I don't, I don't really remember it's kind of a little hazy after Nightwing got whipped off the steel cable.

**Shadow thinks really hard and for a moment gets something; he hesitates to tell Zuke but then decides to just go with it.**

Shadow: I, I only remember one thing, I have a really clear image of a bubble surrounding Nightwing and then Nightwing began to fall and that's all.

**Zuke looks at him for a moment more than stands up and regains his composer, he shakes his head.**

Zuke: I'm just overthinking things; whatever you did in that hurricane must have just been a combination of luck and what little fighting instincts you have. I highly doubt it will ever happen again.

**With that Zuke turns around and leaves. The scene ends with an annoyed Shadow calling out after him.**

Shadow: Hey don't just leave like that!

**The next scene opens up outside the Dark-Angel. The Dark-Angel is traveling under moonlight, underneath the stars. The water looks crystal clear as it mirrors the sky perfectly.**

**The camera cuts into Cagalli's bedroom, we can see Cagalli thrashing and turning violently in her bed. We can see sweat pouring down her face and all of her body that's now tangle up in the covers and her breath is coming out ragged and heavy. She's having a nightmare, the camera cuts to inside her nightmare.**

**Like all dreams the edges of the screen are black and blurry but the center is all too crystal clear. It's the night of the failed assassination attempt; we can see Mr. 4 in the ball room waving his chain blades with deadly aim, cutting limbs and heads off. **

**Blood is flying everywhere as we hear the screams of those still standing shitting in their pants and moans of those on the floor slipping away. This scene is made even worst by the way his blades appear to be moving so slowly and the blood on the tips of the blades fly off the way paint would if an artist was waving his brush around.**

**In a sense Mr. 4 looks like an artist painting a bloody canvas that would give Freddy the fright, suddenly there's silence as Mr. 4 stands in the middle of his master piece his work complete. The silence is so great and so different from the screams of earlier that it should be almost suffocating, because of this silence we can hear teeth chattering and a body trembling.**

**Mr. 4 turns slowly to face the noise or rather the source of the noise Cagalli. Cagalli is cover in blood from the carnage; it's all over her dress on her hair and even on her face. Her body has started trembling uncontrollably but the look of terror on her face is so great that there are no words to describe it.**

**However whether she's a part of the canvas or an on looker is not yet decided. Mr. 4 begins to speak and when he does the temperature in the room seems to go down 30 degrees.**

Mr. 4: How pathetic is that how you're going to face death, by cowering in a corner like some frighten rat, why don't you just run away an abandon your soldiers again. After all you've done it before haven't you; you're always quick to save your own life.

**Note like all dreams this one is slightly warped from the actual reality of what a happen that night. Cagalli gets up and begins to talk back in her defense, however we can still see the terror easily through the shaking legs.**

Cagalli: No, I didn't abandon them, there was nothing I could

**Cagalli stops mid-sentence as the dead bodies begin to rise from off the floor and begin to slowly move towards her. We see the zombies with their disfigured bodies for all their glory, some are headless, others have missing limbs, those with no legs are using their arms to crawl towards Cagalli.**

**They all put their hands forward reaching for Cagalli as they do there zombie/ghost chores thing.**

Zombie A: You abandon us.

Zombie B: You left us.

Zombie C: You only wanted to save your own life.

Zombie D: You left is to die.

**Cagalli begins to deny the claims but the zombies aren't letting her get a word in.**

Cagalli: N-N-no I didn't there was

Zombie E: Why didn't you try to save us?

Zombie F: We tried to save you.

Zombie G: But you only hid in a corner and watch as we die.

Cagalli: No, it wasn't like that, there was nothing I could do.

Zombie H: Lies, your father would have done something he would have tried.

**The zombies have almost reached her. Cagalli begins shaking and holding her head trying to block their words out.**

Cagalli: No

Zombie I: Kira would have done something.

Cagalli: No

Zombie J: Athrun would have done something.

Cagalli: Stop.

Zombie K: Lacus would have done something.

Cagalli: Please.

All Zombies: BUT YOU JUST ABANDON US!

**The Zombies have reach Cagalli. Cagalli wakes up screaming from the top of her lungs.**

Cagalli: I DIDN'T ABANDON YOU!

**Her room is dark and empty and her words are heard by nobody. Cagalli is sitting up in her bed breathing and sweaty badly. In the dark quiet room we can hear her heart pounding loudly. Cagalli just sits in her bed for a moment regaining her senses.**

**Once she does that she sighs and rubs sweat from her forehead, her breathing has gotten better. Cagalli looks to a digital clock on the wall to check to see what time it is, the clock read 1:13 AM. Upon seeing this Cagalli sighs again only this time in self-annoyance.**

Cagalli: Great, just great.

**Cagalli yanks the covers off herself and gets out of bed. The camera cuts forward in time to the women's showers. Cagalli has her hands against the wall of the shower underneath the shower head, leaning against the wall as the water pours all over her body. The hot water is creating steam that is blocking Cagalli's let's just say woman parts from view.**

**However this shower is doing little to help Cagalli relax. Cagalli's mind is beginning to sound like a crowded school lunch room with voices clashing and tumbling over one another like waves. We hear everything from the Zombies, to what Mr. 4 and the Warden said to finally Kenny.**

Cagalli (Kenny: When we were back at Slyer me and Shadow had spent months planning and preparing for that escape and in the moment of truth when everything had for once gone right he gave it all up without any idea if he'd ever have another chance to save your sorry ass and now when his life is in danger you won't risk yours to save him you're just going to abandon him!)

**Cagalli finally snaps and screams while punching the wall**

Cagalli: I DIDN'T JUST ABANDON HIM!

**Cagalli is once again breathing heavily, as she tries to calm herself down with logic.**

Cagalli (I didn't just abandon him, there was nothing I could have done and there were more lives to consider then just Shadow's. I couldn't have just endangered the crew like that, I had to make that call, I didn't have a choice, this is the type of decisions Politicians make, this is the type of decision my father made. I didn't have any other options, I had to make that call, but if Kira was here he would have flown out in the Strike Freedom to go and rescue Shadow, BUT I'M NOT AS STRONG AS HIM, I'm nowhere near as strong and smart as he is, I don't have all the answers like he does and I can't make the right decisions right when they matter the most like he does. He maybe my brother but I'm nothing like him, I'm nowhere near as great as he is.)

**Cagalli sinks to the floor clenching her head very depress. The camera once again cuts forward in time, Cagalli fully dress is exiting the shower. She's surprise to find several of the Dark-Angel crew members standing there looking at her worried. There's no doubt they heard her shouting.**

D-Crew member A: Was everything alright in there?

**Cagalli quickly says**

Cagalli: Yea everything is alright sorry about the shouting I was just trying to get myself pumped up for a little midnight training.

**The D-Crew members obvious don't buy this crappy lie.**

D-Crew member B: Are you sure we could

**Cagalli with a little more force this time says**

Cagalli: I'm fine, now if you'd excuse me I'm going to get some air.

**Cagalli quickly walks away before they have time to say anything else. The camera cuts outside to a deck on the Dark-Angel. The stars and the moon allow for almost perfect vision so we can clearly see Cagalli leaning on a rail gazing out into the ocean, but she still doesn't look happy or calm, in fact just watching her should make you feel sad and lonely.**

**Cagalli sighs and drops her head onto the rail, when we hear something. It's hard to describe but it's sort of like a whooshing sound. We can also hear grunting. Cagalli upon hearing this noise picks her head up and looks around for its source. After a moment Cagalli pinpoints the sound.**

**It's coming from above the deck on top of the ship clearly outside the safety line of the rails. Cagalli hesitates for a second but curiosity gets the best of her and Cagalli walks over and climbs to the source of the sound. Cagalli gets to the top and finds Shadow practicing with his sword.**

Shadow: HAAAAAAAA

**Shadow seems to be fighting against imaginary enemies, he's slashing left and right and blocking against imaginary attacks, there's sweat coming down off his face and under the star/moon light it appears to be glowing.**

**The whole sight just looks to surreal to be true and for a moment Cagalli is stun speechless. Shadow like the idiot he is overexerts himself. He drops his sword and falls to ground holding his sides as extreme pain overcomes him.**

Shadow: OWWWWWWWWWWWWW

**Cagalli snaps out of her daze when she sees this and rushes over to Shadow.**

Cagalli: Shadow!

**Cagalli squats down next to Shadow as he slowly gets up.**

Shadow: Oh hey Cagalli.

**Cagalli annoyed at Shadow's easy going attitude snaps back**

Cagalli: Don't just say "Hey Cagalli", what the heck are you doing out here you should be in the medical bay resting.

**Shadow begins rubbing his ears annoyed as Cagalli bickers**

Shadow: Ow my ears, Cagalli you worry too much, I'm fine I've always had a great recovery rate.

**Shadow tries to stand up but flinches in pain and is force to sit down. Cagalli looks at him unimpressed.**

Cagalli: You do know there's a difference between a fast recovery rate and a high pain tolerance.

**Shadow just glares at Cagalli. Cagalli sits down next to Shadow and once again they begin to look at the stars. Shadow begins to make idle conversation.**

Shadow: So what brings you out this late at night?

**Cagalli tries to avoid the question**

Cagalli: Nothing, what about you?

**Shadow sees right through her**

Shadow: I do my best training at night, and did the poor princess have a nightmare?

**Cagalli sends very sharp daggers at Shadow with her eyes. Shadow seeing this holds up his hands in peace.**

Shadow: Jeez alright, alright I won't ask. You know it's kind of hard to make a conversation if I'm the only one talking.

**Cagalli thinks for a moment then asks**

Cagalli: Well you could always tell me your real name.

**Shadow makes an annoyed expression on his face**

Shadow: Nope try again.

**Cagalli looks at Shadow annoyed for a moment but lets it go and instead asks the question that's really on her mind.**

Cagalli: What was it like in the hurricane?

**Shadow is surprise by this question. He thinks for a moment then begins to answer slowly**

Shadow: It was dark, like really pitch black no light whatsoever except for the occasional lightning. The wind was so loud that I couldn't hear anything, I had to strain to hear my own voice, the wind also kept me up and even though I knew I was moving with the wind it felt like I was staying still, floating in a timeless space or more like a black abyss.

**Cagalli shivers thinking about**

Cagalli: It must have been terrifying.

**Shadow in deep thought shakes his head**

Shadow: No it wasn't scarily at all; in fact it was rather calming.

**Cagalli at first thinks Shadow is just trying to sound tough but when she looks at him she's shocked to find that he's completely serious.**

Shadow: Really the only problem I had with it other than the whole pulling me apart limb by limb thing was the cold. It was already cold to begin with but the rain just made it feel even 10 times worst, it was like I was thrown into a frozen lake with no way of getting out, it felt like even my bones were shaking.

**Shadow shivers a little as he remembers the cold.**

Shadow: The only way I could escape the cold was by going to sleep which wasn't hard since I was already extremely tired and exhausted from the battle beforehand.

**Cagalli completely wrapped in the story leans in close and asks**

Cagalli: So why didn't you?

**Shadow looks confused for a moment then begins to try and remember.**

Shadow: I-I don't really know, I mean I was just about to but something kept me from going to sleep.

Cagalli: What was it?

**Shadow thinks hard and tries to force himself to remember.**

Shadow: It was….it was…..

**It's right on the edge of Shadow's tongue but he can't seem to remember when suddenly his fingers twitch just as a light breeze comes by. The 2 combine finally awakens Shadow's sleeping memories. He jumps up and grabs Cagalli by the shoulders and starts shaking her in excitement.**

Shadow: It was the wind currents, the wind currents kept me from falling asleep, I don't know how but suddenly I was able to see them then I broke Nightwing's beam saber into beam shards and use them to block the wind currents. That's how I was able to get out of the hurricane, thank you so much Cagalli, it was driving me crazy ever since Zuke asked me how I escape from the hurricane and I couldn't answer him. I mean I knew that I did something but I simply couldn't remember what it was. Thank you Cagalli thank you so much!

**Shadow looks extremely excited and grateful like a kid that just got the present he always wanted. Cagalli on the other hand has her head bow down and can't seem to meet his eyes. Finally her guilt reaches its boiling point and she slaps Shadow's hands away from herself.**

Cagalli: Just stop, stop it!

**Shadow look at her surprise definitely not expecting this he backs away from her a little.**

Shadow: Cagalli?

**Cagalli can't stop now, all the guilt, the sadness and depression come pouring out of her like a tire with a hole in it.**

Cagalli: You shouldn't be thanking me, you should hate me because I, because I abandon you. When we were in the storm and had find out that you had been lost everyone wanted to go back and look for you but I'm the one who told them no, I'm the one who convince everyone that we were better off just leaving you behind. I tried to convince myself that we weren't abandoning you that we would come back to look for you but as much as I try to sugarcoat it the truth still is that I left you to die. So don't thank me, don't be happy with me, punch me, be angry at me, hit me, I don't care I deserve it!

**Cagalli seems to be close to tears. She spreads her arms open wide ready for Shadow's strike. Shadow looks stun and it takes him a few minutes to process the information. **

**Finally he gets up slowly still incredibly sore and walks over to Cagalli. Cagalli closes her eyes waiting for the first punch to come. Shadow stops in front of her bends slightly and lightly flicks her noise.**

Cagalli: OWWWWW

**Cagalli's hands quickly cover her noise. She looks up surprise to see that Shadow isn't mad, just annoyed.**

Shadow: Jeez Cagalli you scare the shit out of me when you started going off like that, I thought you were going to say something really important.

**Shocked doesn't even come close to describing the look on Cagalli's face, it's like her brain has literary become unable to process the words coming out of his mouth.**

Cagalli: B-b-but I left you to die, how could you possibly

**Shadow cuts Cagalli off before she starts rambling again**

Shadow: Kenny already told me about, actually he was kind of really upset about it still and wanted me to kick your ass or put a whoopee cushion on you seat but I told him to just forget about it.

**Shadow's statement doesn't help clear matters up for Cagalli in fact it just makes if more confusing.**

Cagalli: If you knew then why

**Shadow getting tired of this says in a loud booming voice**

Shadow: Cagalli I told you that I don't let anyone join my Gundam team if I didn't think they could take care of themself! Every member from the mechanic to the cook to even the clearing people are expected to be able to hold their own under any circumstance, now that's not to say we can't help each other from time to time but everyone is expected to walk on their own 2 feet! I can't protect everyone all the time for 2 reasons, first I'm nowhere near strong enough to do that, and second I don't want to. I don't mind helping people out here or there but it's not my job to be a damn babysitter and if they constantly need someone to look after them then they don't deserve to be on this team.

**Cagalli still doesn't get it**

Cagalli: I can understand that Shadow but still

**Shadow leans in forward and cuts her off**

Shadow: Cagalli these rules also apply to me, why would anyone follow a team leader's rules if the team leader doesn't follow them himself. That's why I know you did the right thing, and besides everything seem to work out just fine. Oh and I also like to think that deep inside, you didn't leave me there because you had no other choice but because you believe I could get out of there on my own.

**Cagalli's eyes open even wider at Shadow's last comment. She's still processing everything that he said but one can't help notice that her tears have dried. Shadow's speech as great as it was seems to have drain all the energy out of him again and he sits/falls down next to Cagalli. **

**Cagalli finishes processing by this point and laughs slightly at seeing Shadow's obvious exhaustion. The laugh tells us that her guilt about leaving Shadow behind is gone (IMPORANT Note, take notice to the fact that I only say Shadow! )**

Cagalli: Hehehehe you know you're the only guy I know that can act like a genius wise leader one second and a complete fight-loving idiot the next.

**Shadow decides to just let this one go because of his exhaustion and says simply**

Shadow: I am what I am.

**They sit in silence for a bit watching the stars some more, then Shadow asks**

Shadow: So who's your brother?

**Cagalli turns to him a little startled**

Cagalli: What?

**Shadow still gazing at the stars explains**

Shadow: Well in the medical bay you shouted out that I was just like your stupid brother, before that I didn't even know you had a brother. I don't suppose you have some kind of brother-complex do you?

**Cagalli punches him in the arm**

Shadow: OWWWWWWWWW

Cagalli: No, and besides I was referring to the fact that you seem to have only my brother's bad traits. Like his impatience, never thinking things through, at times his stubbornness and the tendency to whine a bit.

**Shadow snaps back**

Shadow: I do not whine! Although I got to admit I'm really curious now about this mysterious brother of Cagalli, why don't you tell me about him since neither one of us has anything to do for a couple more hours nor do we both feel like sleeping?

**Cagalli grins and thinks**

Cagalli (Tell him about Kira, I wouldn't even know where to begin.)

**Cagalli says the last part out loud**

Cagalli: I wouldn't even know where to begin.

**Shadow makes a suggestion**

Shadow: How about his name, seems a good a place as any.

**Cagalli gives another small laugh then begins to lean back as she begins to talk.**

Cagalli: Ha, his name is Kira Yamato.

**The episode ends with the camera turning and looking up at the sky as Cagalli begins to tell Shadow about the great Kira Yamato.**


	37. Episode 36

Episode 36

**The episode opens up in the Gundam bay, Jack is angrily pacing back in worth in front of Cagalli and Roxas. There is a bunch of Dark-Angel crew members standing a little ways away watching the scene. Nick just walking into the Gundam bay notices the scene and walks up to the Dark-Angel crew members and asks**

Nick: Hey mates what's going on?

**The Dark-Angel crew members fill him in**

Kemp: Oh Nick, check this out Jack is going nuts at Cagalli for losing La Rouge's shield

**D-crew member B quickly adds**

D-Crew member B: Again.

**D-Crew member A nods his head confirming it**

D-Crew member A: Right again, and Roxas for putting claw marks all over the Gundam bay with Quanlier's energy claws.

**D-Crew Member C rolls his eyes and says**

D-Crew Member C: We've been trying to fix that all morning.

**D-Crew member D says eagerly**

D-Crew Member D: I bet she's going to hit them with her wrench.

**D-Crew member B turns to look at D-Crew member D and quickly says**

D-Crew Member B: I'll take that bet.

**Money quickly changes hands. Nick now also watching Jack's pacing asks**

Nick: So what did I miss mates?

**D-Crew member A fills him in**

D-Crew Member A: Nothing too exciting, Jack told them why she called them there then has been doing the whole let them sweat in silence for 20 minutes. It doesn't seem to be working.

**The camera turns to look at Cagalli and Roxas, Roxas is laying on the ground lion style, laying on the stomach while the arms and legs are at her side. Her head drops slightly and her eyes close for a moment, but her head quickly snaps back up and her eyes pop open.**

**She continues to repeat this process as she fights sleep, Cagalli however is very wide awake and looking annoyed at her time being wasted like this. She looks at her Neon Gauntlet which has a watch function, checking the time. Jack seeing that her "make them sweat in silence" strategy isn't working decides to go to the next phase.**

Jack: Ok I can understanding losing your shield once Cagalli bad luck we all get forgetful. I can understand if you lose it a second time, things happen although maybe you're getting a little careless but a THIRD TIME, really are you just throwing them away!

**Jack is very angrily about this. Cagalli seeing this tries to explain.**

Cagalli: Jack look I didn't lose my shield on purpose, the wind got so strong that it literary ripped it from my hands, there was nothing I could do.

**Nick suddenly laughs and all eyes turns to him as he explains**

Nick: HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAH, oh yea I remember that mate, but you forgot to mention that after the shield got ripped from your hands it went spinning like a saw and hit an Enemy Gundam dead in the head. I think that was your first and only one hit K-0.

**As Nick is telling the story we have a quick flashback to show La Rouge's shield get ripped out of its hands and sent flying straight into an Enemy flying Gundam and taking its head clean off.**

**We come back out of the flashback to show everyone laughing except Cagalli and Jack although Jack is trying to suppress a grin. The tips of Cagalli's ears are starting to turn slightly red in embarrassment as is the rest of her face.**

Cagalli: Well forgive me if I don't have freaking god like marksmanship.

**Jack finally managing to suppress her grin and bring back her anger cuts everyone off.**

Jack: Look that other stuff doesn't matter! All that does matter is the fact that you no longer have a shield which means I have to make you a new one!

**Cagalli also getting back to Jack still looks annoyed and doesn't see what the problem is.**

Cagalli: So?

**In the blink of an eye the fury of Jack is unleashed in her signature move "Wrench attack" (she hits Cagalli on the head with a wrench). Cagalli howls in pain**

Cagalli: OWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

**Cagalli begins to furiously rub the growing lump on her head with both hands. Crew member B reluctantly gives up his money. Jack angrily begins to yell out**

Jack: What the hell do you think this is, a military ship where we have 3 back-up shields at any given time and if we ever did run low we could just order them from based!

**Cagalli blinks surprise having thought exactly that. Having been involved with only military funded ships in the past Cagalli had simply not thought about the difficulties a civilian ship would have with having to constantly rebuild a shield. Jack seeing Cagalli's reaction becomes even more enrage.**

Jack: NO, every time you lose or destroy your shield I have to go and spend a long and tiring day making you a new one and plus since we have almost no money I have to make it out of whatever parts we can find! Do you have anything how frustrating and hard it is!

**Roxas getting extremely bored yawns similar to how a dog would yawn then asks**

Roxas: Is it really that hard, can't you just weld together some pieces of steel?

**Jack turns bright red as if every one of her of blood vessels are boiling, and she literarily has to take a few seconds to calm herself down or she might explode.**

Jack: Sure I could, IF I WANTED IT TO FALL APART AFTER TAKING ONE HIT FROM A BEAM BULLET! You can't just weld together any pieces of steel and call it a shield that simplistic design would never hold up against any of today's modern weapons. You have to weld the pieces of steel in a specific form, almost like you're sewing a thick quilt and in-between the folds you have to put Ulymbles

**Cagalli confused asks**

Cagalli: Ulymbles?

**Jack quickly explains**

Jack: The part that absorbs and displaces energy.

**Jack quickly goes back to what she was saying**

Jack: And if you don't put them and the wires in the steel before the metal cools you have to take that section out and start from scratch! So you have to go slow in order to make sure you don't make any mistakes.

**Cagalli blinks in surprise having never realize before that shields were so hard and complicated to make.**

Cagalli: Wow, Jack I'm so sorry I had no idea that shields were that hard and complicated to make.

**A new voice joins the fold**

Raheem: Well of course it's got to be complex, while there are many weapons you can use to attack someone the shield is really the only tool since the beginning of mankind that's been used solely to defend one's self so it's only natural that it grows and becomes more complex over time in order to keep up with new offensive weapons. Especially with some of the sophisticated weapons now-a-days.

**Raheem has begun talking looking strikingly similar to a teacher while Cagalli is eagerly absorbing it all looking like his student. Jack however is looking at Raheem very suspicious. She takes a step back as Nick also looking at Raheem with sharp eyes takes a step forward to talk with her. They both begin talking in low voices**

Jack: Raheem's pretty knowledgeable when it comes down to anything involving the military.

**Nick nods his head in agreement**

Nick: He certainly is mate, and a lot more then he'd lead us to believe.

**Jack has had enough**

Jack: That's it I'm getting tired of this game, what's Shadow's condition.

**Nick fills Jack in**

Nick: The mate's almost fully recover, or at least he says he is, he's been jumping around and doing push-ups in the medical bay since this morning even though the doc says he needs 2 more days of rest.

**Jack thinks for a moment**

Jack: Well Kenny always says that Shadow has a high pain tolerance, either way he's the team leader so we need him in on this.

**Roxas who had fallen asleep somewhere in Jack's speech now wakes up to see Raheem.**

Roxas: RAHEEM!

**Raheem jumps and turns to look at Roxas having not seen her because she was lying on the floor.**

Raheem: Roxas!

**In the blink of an eye Raheem turns and runs. Roxas jumps getting on all four limbs in the next instant and prepares to chase after him but Jack somehow manages to grab the back of her collar and prevents Roxas from going anywhere.**

Jack: Oh no you don't, I haven't yell at you yet for putting the holes all over the Gundam bay.

**Jack has now grab the back of Roxas's collar with both hands and is pulling her back slowly. Roxas whining and clawing at the ground looking very much like a cat now, and is struggling to break free. Jack turns to look at Nick.**

Jack: Nick can you take Cagalli and get Shadow to the conference room and tell Kenny we're going to start.

**Cagalli walking over looks up when she hears her name**

Cagalli: Start what?

**Nick ignoring Cagalli's question asks Jack**

Nick: No problem mate, but should I fill Cagalli and Shadow in?

**Cagalli now annoyed at being kept out of the loop asks**

Cagalli: Don't just ignored me and what the heck are you guys talking about!

**Jack still ignoring Cagalli shakes her head**

Jack: Nah we'll fill them in later, just get everything started. I'll meet up with you with Roxas after we had our talk!

**Nick tips his hat and takes Cagalli's hand and begins to lead/drag her away.**

Nick: See you later then. Come on mate we'll got a lot of work to do.

**Cagalli now becoming irritated nonetheless allows Nick to drag her away as she says angrily**

Cagalli: Will someone please tell me what the heck is going on!

**Nick smiling finally answers Cagalli**

Nick: All in good time mate all in good time.

**This just seems to irritate Cagalli further but realizing that she's not going to get a straight answer no matter how many times she asks Cagalli stops asking questions and just lets Nick lead. The camera turns back to look at Jack and Roxas.**

**Roxas is now desperately clawing at the floor searching for anything she can cling onto while Jack is pulling her in. Roxas looks very scared while Jack has her evil smile on and looks scary. The scene ends with Jack saying**

Jack: Now Roxas it's time for you to repent for your crimes and take your punishment!

**The next scene opens up in one of the hallways of the Dark-Angel, we can see that some Crew members have taken off some panels in the wall and our working on the wiring and circuits. Another couple of crew members are just lying on the floor sleeping, others still are in a circle placing bets on something.**

**There's one couple kissing intensely, although no one is paying them any attention. All this combined with the boom box/stereos scatter around playing different music on full volume makes this seem less like a crew and more like a gang hangout. **

**Raheem and Kabira are walking along moving around the crew members ignoring them having gotten used to their behavior while in turn being ignore by them. Raheem and Kabira stepping over a sleeping crew member begin to talk.**

Raheem: We're making good progress despite all the setbacks, at this rate we should be able to get to Haben Harbor a little after midday.

**Kabira looking excited/determine lightly jumps around an angry girl intensely betting.**

Kabira: And after that it's only 3 more days journey to Azize and then we can speak to my father and tell him

**Kabira stops mid-sentence, while they've been talking they've walk around a corner and enter the conference room. The reason Kabira has suddenly stopped talking is because in the conference room is Nick, Shadow, Cagalli, Jack, Roxas, Kenny and Zuke.**

**Only Zuke is standing everyone else is sitting down in a chair. Kabira and Raheem are surprise. Kabira feeling nervous asks**

Kabira: Um hey guys what's up?

**Shadow and Cagalli both look annoyed**

Shadow: I wish I knew.

Cagalli: That makes 2 of us.

**Raheem is scanning the room reading facial expressions to see who knows what and what's going on. He says slowly**

Raheem: Ms. Kabira and myself were asked to come here by Ms. Coldback about a status update on our current position.

**Raheem moves his right foot forward slightly, to an untrained eye it appears to be just a simple gesture but to a train eye it's a defense stance in case he suddenly gets attack. Jack finally begins.**

Jack: I lied about that, I know it was wrong but at least I admitted it, unlike you guys who are still lying to us, and that is the real reason why we called you here.

**Shadow and Roxas look up with new interested at Jack's bold statement like kids in high school watching a shout off. Cagalli however grows quiet and looks down slightly. Zuke who could have been sleeping while leaning against a wall now picks his head up and begins to watch this event closely.**

**Nick, Kenny, and Jack are watching Raheem and Kabira suspicious/pissed. Raheem is keeping a perfect mask of unconcern, unfortunately Kabira doesn't have Raheem's skilled and is breaking out in cold sweats and even a monkey can see that she's nervous.**

Raheem: We don't know what you're talking about.

**Jack jumps up out of her chair and slams her hands down on the table.**

Jack: How about we all just cut the bullshit right now!

**Nick jumps in**

Nick: Since we've agree to escort you mates to Azize in Haben we've been attack twice by unknown ships.

**Kenny also jumps in**

Kenny: Although it's not that usual for people to be attacked by raiders, bandits or just plain assholes it's become obvious that we're not dealing with any of these.

**Back to Jack**

Jack: Raiders are highly greedy and would sooner cut off their own arms then agree to split any of their bounty with another ship, so it's unlikely we're dealing with them.

**Back to Nick**

Nick: Bandits can become quite organize mates and work in large parties so it is possible that we're dealing with them but they won't bother attacking some small time mates like us twice if they didn't have a good reason.

**And finally back to Kenny**

Kenny: And assholes are spur of the moment guys and there's no possible way they'd work together with another ship. That makes the only possibility the bandits, but what are they after that would make them attack us over and over again.

**The effect of Kenny, Jack and Nick talking makes Raheem and Kabira feel surround. Raheem's eyes narrow as he speaks slowly**

Raheem: And you're suggesting that we're the reason that they're attacking.

**It's not a question it's a statement. Nick also narrows his eyes and replies**

Nick: Well we don't know much about you mates, but I can tell that you're obviously in some form of military just by the way you move and present yourself, you're probably a high ranking officer.

**Roxas getting excited by the drama jumps up and down in her chair like a kid in a classroom that just figure out the correct answer.**

Roxas: And they've been acting very suspicious and wary ever since they got on, like some kind of fugitives.

**Jack looks at Roxas slightly annoyed that she's not taking this more seriously but goes on regardless.**

Jack: That's right, so if you guys have information about the people who attacked us now's the time to say it.

**All eyes now turn to Raheem. Raheem closes his eyes and thinks for a moment. Kabira breaking under pressure begins to say**

Kabira: Look guys

**Raheem opens his eyes and holds up his hand cutting her off. Raheem then decides to go on the offensive.**

Raheem: I do have something to say, we're not paying you to ask us questions, we're paying you to escort us safely to Azize. As for these ships attacking us that's not our concern, it's yours. These questions are insulting, rude and regard to private matters which you have no business in so we refuse to answer them, and I would remind you to watch your place.

**Everyone is shocked by this statement. Jack has back up a little not expecting this kind of retaliation; even Zuke has raised an eyebrow in surprise. No one knows how to respond except Shadow. Shadow slams his hands down on the table drawing everyone's attention to him. He looks pissed and he's glaring at Raheem.**

Shadow: Raheem you do not speak to my friends like that!

**Shadow's voice isn't icy and cold, nor is it an impulsive fire or loud, but the intensity in which he speaks is off the charts and fills the room with an electric current. Raheem is slightly surprise having never seen Shadow like this before, he's not alone. **

**Shadow still pissed angrily gets up from his chair and storms over to Raheem and gets in his face, unfortunately for Shadow Raheem is a good 2 heads taller than him so that move kind of fails. However Shadow is too pissed off to care and is glaring at Raheem. Raheem regaining his composer looks down to meet Shadow's gaze.**

Shadow: And you're wrong Raheem, this becomes my business when you're holding back information that is putting my crew and friends in danger! So screw your freaking privacy and answer the damn question!

**Watching Raheem and Shadow is like watching 2 opposing storms both refusing to be consumed by the other. The camera looks over to Zuke to see that he's staring at something. **

**The camera turns back around to show that Zuke is starring at Shadow's Neon Gauntlet which is slightly glowing again. Raheem and Shadow continue to have a stare off for a few more moments then Raheem speaks slowly**

Raheem: What if we still refused to speak?

**The camera turns to look at Shadow directly in the face, there appears to be an electric current going through the green emeralds staring at Raheem. Shadow also begins to speak slowly but the intensity in his voice doesn't fade for a second.**

Shadow: Then you will have lost my respect because even though you sometimes act cold and calculating and you act like a brat

**Shadow says this while quickly glancing at Kabira, then turns his gaze back to Raheem.**

Shadow: I still thought that you were good people on the inside, even if you withheld information from us I believe it was because you thought you were trying to do the right thing but if you're willing to sacrifice us to achieve your goals then I've been dead wrong about you. There's no possible justification to throw someone under the bus and a good person or even a person trying to be good would know that.

**Raheem is shocked. His eyes have open wide and he has to take a step back under Shadow's piercing gaze combined with the lancing of guilt. He's not alone, everyone behind Shadow is equally stun into silence. It's clear that everyone was expecting some kind of threat from Shadow. **

**Raheem is so stun that words slip him and he can't come up with a reply. The camera looks over to Kabira to show that a sudden calm has come over her. She lifts her head to show a new determine look in her eyes. The mist of doubt and uncertainty has passed and the correct road has shown itself. She begins to talk in a very mature voice**

Kabira: Shadow I apologize if we have offended you or your crew; it was not our attention to put you guys in danger.

**Raheem looks to Kabira shock**

Raheem: Kabira!

**But Kabira has made up her mind and nothing can stop her**

Kabira: No Raheem I'm tired of all the lies, I'm tired of watching every single word I say, these are obviously good people if a little slow.

**Shadow beams at the "good people" comment but his face sinks at the "a little slow" comment. Kabira takes a deep breath and then says slowly**

Kabira: I am Kabira Tahsin daughter of Shadi Tahsin.

**Jack, Kenny, Roxas and Nick gasp in surprise. Shadow returns back to his normal stupid grin.**

Jack and Roxas: What!

Kenny: Holy crap!

**Zuke and Cagalli say nothing and don't look that surprise. Shadow looks at everyone confused.**

Shadow: Huh? I don't get it what's everyone going on about?

**Now everyone turns to Shadow shocked**

Zuke: Even for a natural your stupidity never ceases to surprise me.

Nick: You're kidding right mate?

**Shadow is getting annoyed with the shock looks**

Shadow: No I'm not kidding, jeez what's the big deal?

**Kenny tries to trigger Shadow's memory**

Kenny: Think Shadow doesn't the name Shadi Tahsin sound familiar.

**Shadow thinks for a moment**

Shadow: Now that you mention it, it kind of does, but I have no idea where I've heard it.

**Cagalli rolling her eyes**

Cagalli: Oh for the love of god Shadi Tahsin is the current ruler of Haben you idiot, don't you remember anything about world affairs?

**Shadow shakes his**

Shadow: Not really. Wait if Shadi Tahsin is the ruler of Haben and Kabira is his daughter then doesn't that make Kabira some kind of princess?

**Kabira rolls her eyes and folds her arms**

Kabira: Like I said good people if a little slow.

**Shadow turns and glares at her. Raheem steps forward and gives a proper introduction**

Raheem: And I am Raheem Vandel chief commander of Haben's royal elite guard.

**No one really care about Raheem. Jack getting over her shock becomes pissed**

Jack: You didn't think it was necessary to tell us that you're royalty! Obviously people are going to be targeting you!

**Nick nods his head in agreement**

Nick: Jack has a point mate, if you had told us we could have been better prepare for those attacks.

**Roxas is looking at Raheem hungrily**

Roxas: Raheem, you're some kind of commander in the military; that just makes you so much hotter.

**Raheem looks uncomfortable under Roxas gaze and takes a sub-conscious step back. Zuke gets off the wall he was leaning on and steps forward.**

Zuke: I know why they didn't tell us it's because they were trying to get out of the overprotection GFC policy.

**Shadow, Cagalli, Roxas and Nick look confused but judging from the shifting steps Raheem and Kabira are making its obvious Zuke made the right call. Kenny however understands immediately.**

Kenny: Of course why didn't I think of that!

**Cagalli turns around and asks**

Cagalli: Hey Kenny what's the overprotection policy?

**Kenny quickly answers**

Kenny: The overprotection policy is a GFC policy that states that any member of royalty or high ranking government official may only be protected or escorted from one place to another by at the least a C rank Gundam Team.

**Nick nods his head**

Nick: I see and since we're an E rank Gundam Team Kabira shouldn't have hired us to begin with.

**Shadow is confused and offended.**

Shadow: I don't get it, why is there a rule about this kind of thing anyway?

**Kenny answers that**

Kenny: It's GFC's way of covering their ass from lawsuits. Escorting high level officials is on a good day extremely dangerous, with crazy radicals, ambitious underlings and thugs looking to score an easy fortune the GFC knew that no less then C rank Gundam fighters would be able to handle it. Plus a country sue GFC after one of its diplomats got kill because they stupidly hired a low D rank Gundam team for protection, after that GFC came out with their overprotection policy.

**Zuke also adds**

Zuke: Not that it really affected anyone anyways, almost every country did that anyway in fact some of the more powerful countries hired B rank teams for protection.

**Roxas getting bored with this asks**

Roxas: So why did they hire us, I mean it's not like their country is so broke that they couldn't even afford a C rank Gundam Team.

**All eyes turn to Kabira and Raheem for an answer. Kabira begins to rub the back of her head awkwardly for a few moments clearly embarrass about something.**

Kabira: Um well you see even though our country does have a small reserve of money to use in hiring Gundam teams for escort of royal diplomats, we kind of don't have access to it.

**Jack is slightly outraged at this claim.**

Jack: What do you mean you don't have access to it, you're the princess right, how could you not have access to it?

**Kabira is turning deep red which is impressive because of her dark tan. Raheem seeing this decides to take the lead.**

Raheem: The reserve is supposed to only be used for emergency diplomatic meeting with foreign countries therefore only the King has the authority to access the money and give it to those he sees fit.

**Roxas still doesn't understand**

Roxas: So what, your dad told you tough luck?

**Kabira hesitates to answer**

Kabira: Well

**Cagalli however answers for her**

Cagalli: Your dad doesn't know you left does he?

**Everyone turns to Cagalli shocked then back to Kabira for confirmation. Kabira lowers her gaze to the floor and says quietly under her breath.**

Kabira: Well he's probably figure it out by now.

**Shadow reeling in shock exclaims**

Shadow: Wait that means you're a runaway princess!

**Kabira angrily snaps back at him**

Kabira: I didn't run away I went to find proof of

**Kabira suddenly stops short having not intended to give that much away but she's too late as Zuke eyes open wide in surprise as he puts together all the dots and then narrows as he confirms.**

Zuke: That conspiracy theory you were blabbing on about before, it's not a theory is it; you have actual proof that someone is purposely sabotaging your father's rule.

**This gets everyone's attention they all focus their gaze on Kabira waiting for her to say something in response. Kabira hesitates a moment then decides to just tell them everything.**

Kabira: I don't have any physical proof, that's what I went to Arianna for.

**Jack hearing enough throws her hands up and starts to vigorously complain**

Jack: Great! That's just freaking great! Not only do we have to deal with a runaway princess

**Kabira snaps angrily**

Kabira: I didn't run away!

**Jack rephrases**

Jack: Missing princess then but also a conspiracy against the current ruler of a country!

**Shadow turns to Jack excited**

Shadow: I know it's so freaking awesome.

**Unlike Jack Shadow is being completely serious. Jack just looks at him annoyed, Nick does the older brother thing and settles everyone down.**

Nick: Alright mates let's just all calm down.

**Cagalli curious now asks**

Cagalli: Kabira why don't you start at the beginning.

**Kabira nods her head takes another breath and then begins.**

Kabira: Right well you see my father came to power when he was 29 when my grandfather retired and for the next 10 years he ruled Haben with the greatness that all its previous rulers had but in the last 5 years seemingly overnight everything has gone to hell, major companies began to collapse in on themselves as business decline and they find themselves in serious debt. Raider's began to attack the still function companies destroying and looting buildings. They showed no mercy to even buildings in the middle of construction causing several major forcing companies to either heavily downsize or go out of business.

Kabira: Plus sandstorms started hitting cities which needed to be repaired immediately and cost the country a lot of money putting us in financial crisis which only got worse when the major companies started having to file for bankruptcy due to the fact they weren't able to get any new buildings up. Never in Haben history have we seen that many serious events happen at one time before but nonetheless my father did the best he could to try to restart the failing economy but everything he came up with seem to fail or be blocked by a hidden source.

Kabira: People began calling him an idiot and an incompetent ruler and as time went by with the problem remaining unsolved the number and boldness of these voices grew. 2 weeks ago I was helping my father organized some of his paper when I notice a bill giving exclusive trading rights on sea products to a privet company in Arianna. It was sign with his signature but I know for a fact that's impossible.

**Zuke interrupts to ask a question**

Zuke: And how do you know that for a fact?

Kabira: Because on the date it was sign my father was with me the entire day, it….it was our father daughter day, he had been so busy with work because of the economy he hardly ever got to see me; he felt horrible about that and wanted to make it up to me so he spent the whole day with just me and never left my side.

**Zuke folds his arms and puts one foot on the wall he's leaning on as he thinks about this.**

Zuke: I see and that also explains why you didn't just simply say it was fake.

**Shadow looks back and forth between Zuke and Kabira**

Shadow: Wait did I miss something, how does that explain anything?

**Cagalli is annoyed with Shadow's inability to understand**

Cagalli: You moron, Kabira is a family member so anything she says opposition will just argue that she's just trying to protect her dad.

**Raheem nods his head sadly**

Raheem: Which would only make his majesty look worse for trying to use his own daughter as a shield, plus the bill was already in the system so it couldn't have been token out without a serious justification.

**Roxas yawning says**

Roxas: Which couldn't be done because every reason he could possibility give would only make him look bad, if he claims he didn't sign it and that someone fake his signature it makes him look at best paranoid or at worst a liar, if he tries to say he change his mind it makes him look indecisive, and if he says he accidently sign it he ends up looking like a moron. No matter what he's screwed.

**Kabira nods her head**

Kabira: You're right, but what was most disturbing was that it had the official royal seal on it. The royal seal is kept in a lock safe in my father's office at all times when not in use.

**Raheem takes over from here**

Raheem: The fact that someone was able to get into the office and open the safe showed Kabira that whoever was sabotaging her father was someone with a high level of clearance within the Haben government. Kabira not knowing how deep this conspiracy might be decided not to trust anyone with this new found information and instead decided to pursue this lead by herself.

Kabira: She contacted the private company and requested a meeting with their owner to discuss who had sign the papers, luckily for me I caught her just as she tried to sneak onto a transport carrier. After talking with her for a moment I was able to convince her that I'm not part of any conspiracy theory, after a moment more she was able to convince me to come with her. We got to Arianna and the private company without any problem however as we were sitting down waiting to talk to the owner someone tried to blow us up with a bomb, we just managed to get out.

**Zuke looks at them slightly annoyed**

Zuke: So what you're basically saying is that you went to Arianna to get real proof but ended up coming back with nothing to show for it, just like a natural to waste time.

**Kabira angrily exclaims**

Kabira: We didn't get nothing from the trip, I learned the identity of the person trying to sabotage my father's rule.

**Zuke raises an eyebrow and asks**

Zuke: Oh and who is it?

**Kabira getting extremely irritated at Zuke's attitude responds without thinking.**

Kabira: It's Fachtna Hola.

**There's a moment of stun silence as Raheem looks at Kabira shocked then begins to shake his head realizing what's to come. Kenny is the first to comment**

Kenny: You're kidding right. Fachtna Hola is one of the most respected council members in Haben, plus his militia is the only thing that's keeping Haben from being overrun by criminals, bandits, mercenaries and other such people!

**Raheem turns to glare at Kenny**

Raheem: And what's that supposed to imply?

**Kenny realizing he's offended Raheem hesitates to answer**

Kenny: Um, well, you see, um

**Zuke however has no trouble saying what comes to mind**

Zuke: It means that Haben's army is a pathetic gathering of worthless individuals with no talent in tactics or Gundam Fighting abilities.

**Raheem turns bright red and his fist clench in anger. It looks like he's really going to attack Zuke. Zuke still looking bored appears to do nothing but an observant eye might notice him shift his weight a little preparing for an attack, however Kenny cuts in and calms Raheem down.**

Kenny: Not that that's anyone's fault I mean considering how bad the economy is it's no surprise it's not getting the proper founding it needs which in term means less money to put on training soldiers and Gundam techs. Whereas Fachtna Hola has a small fortune he inherited from his family that he's only help grow with the private businesses he's bought.

**Raheem grits his teeth as he realizes he has nothing to say in responds. Zuke however sees the one flaw in Kabira's story.**

Zuke: You said that you didn't have any physical proof?

**Kabira looks away a little embarrass**

Kabira: Um, well I don't I was only able to find a security tape of the meeting which showed Fachtna however it was blown up in the explosion.

**Kenny burst in shocked**

Kenny: Wait you want to accuse Fachtna Hola of no less then high treason without any proof, calling you crazy would be generous!

**Kabira despite knowing he's right protest anyway**

Kabira: That's not completely true, I mean the time frame fits, Fachtna didn't appear and start interacting in Haben till about 6 years ago and right around the time companies started failing.

**Zuke almost wants to burst out and laugh**

Zuke: Really that's your only proof natural, that Fachtna Hola has magical powers to make companies bankrupt at will; even if the Haben government is full of naturals they'll still laugh you out of the country.

**Kabira just grits her teeth as she has already realized this but tried to deny it. Jack turns to Shadow and after hesitating a moment asks**

Jack: So what do you want to do Shadow?

**Shadow looks at her confused**

Shadow: Hum?

**Jack seeing his confused look explains**

Jack: Do you still want to continue this mission?

**Everyone including Shadow looks surprise by this question. Kenny recovering from the surprise first begins to openly debate it aloud.**

Kenny: Well it would be consider reasonable if we did quit, I mean the fact that we're guarding a princess is definitely a C-rank mission which puts Raheem and Kabira in violation of the overprotection policy, plus this whole conspiracy thing just adds another degree of danger for us which wasn't known to us at the original briefing. I'm sure no one would question us if we just drop them off at Haben Harbor and just left.

**Kabira is about to protest but Raheem lifts his hand and stops her. Kabira looks to him surprise but before she can say anything Cagalli takes up her cause.**

Cagalli: No! How could we call ourselves human if we just turned around and did that, Kabira and Raheem are placing their faith in us and have now confessed how much they need our help; we can't just turn around and ignored that!

**Cagalli gets up as she speaks and shouts out her case and waves her hand around making the point. Kabira looks at Cagalli with admiration.**

Kabira: Cagalli.

**Zuke finally getting up from the wall looks at Cagalli with something else**

Zuke: You know natural since this whole conversation began you haven't looked that surprise and now you're so passionately fighting for their case that it begs the question how much you knew before we began this meeting?

**All eyes turn to Cagalli shocked. Cagalli's hesitation only serves to confirm Zuke's accusation.**

Shadow: You knew about this already Cagalli!

**Cagalli quickly switches to defense**

Cagalli: I didn't know anything about the conspiracy but I did suspect that Kabira might be Haben's princess.

**Jack getting angry asks**

Jack: And when were you planning on telling us?

**Cagalli quickly says**

Cagalli: I wasn't I mean it wasn't like I had any proof it was just a feeling and besides what about you Zuke you definitely didn't look surprise to find out that Kabira was royalty?

**Zuke answers the question bored**

Zuke: That's because I already knew.

**Immediately everyone starts shouting**

Kenny: What how!

Jack: When were you going to tell!

**Zuke looks at them bored**

Zuke: I figure it out because I'm not as stupid as you naturals and that's also the reason I didn't tell you.

**Nick glares at Zuke pissed and begins to reach for his gun.**

Nick: Why you

**Shadow however finally steps up and speaks, he's still got his cheerily smile on.**

Shadow: Why are you guys acting so shocked that's definitely something Zuke would do?

**Nick stops reaching for his gun, everyone begins to nod their head in complete agreement. Shadow goes on**

Shadow: However I am surprise that Cagalli didn't tell us but I'm sure she had her reasons that made complete sense in her head.

**Shadow makes it sound like Cagalli's crazy. Cagalli quickly picks up on this and looks at Shadow annoyed.**

Cagalli: Thanks

**She says sarcastically. Shadow smiling pretends not to see the sarcasm in her voice**

Shadow: No problem, anyway I agree with you I don't want to just give up on this mission. Think about it guys this is a C rank mission which means if we complete it we'll go shooting up the GFC ranks, plus my bloods boiling just thinking of all the great Gundam Fights we can get into.

**No one looks surprise by this however Kabira still looks grateful. Zuke closes his eyes and says in a tired voice**

Zuke: I too say that we continue the mission.

**This time everyone's surprise. Zuke picks his head up and seeing that they're waiting for him to explain sighs and does**

Zuke: I have never failed a mission I was assigned to yet and I refused to allow this to become the first one.

**Nick glaring at Zuke leans back in his chair and says**

Nick: I agree as well mates; it's against my code to abandon a mate.

**Roxas jumps up and says in an excited voice**

Roxas: I want to continue as well I mean how else am I going to seduce Raheem.

**Raheem sighs when he hears this. Kenny also sighs**

Kenny: Well it's not like we have anything better to do so we might as well continue with what we got.

**Jack holds up her hands**

Jack: Fine, fine that was my idea too but I just wanted to make sure you guys agree with me.

**Shadow clapping his hands together and rubbing them proclaims**

Shadow: Then it's decided the Shadow Knights will continue on with the escort mission!

**Kabira looks at each one of them extremely grateful.**

Kabira: Thank you, thank you all.

**They just wave it off**

Nick: No problem mate.

Roxas: Don't mention it.

Kenny: Any time.

Shadow: No worries.

**Suddenly we hear a ringing noise; Jack quickly gets up and hits a button on a wall monitor. The screen flashes to show Thomas**

Jack: Hey Thomas what's up?

**Thomas sings**

Thomas: We are there, DOE-DOE-doe.

**The episode ends with the camera cutting outside to show Haben coming into view of the Dark-Angel.**

Author's note: Hey there guys, I just wanted to say sorry for this episode taking so long to come out and being a little on the lacking side, as I'm sure most of you have already figure at least half that info out already, but it's still a necessary scene to have. You know how things go, one week things are so slow that you can count the stars while the next 2 are so busy that you don't have time to breath. Hopefully I won't be as busy these next 2 week and have more time to focus on the story. Also I want to give a shout out to one of my newer readers Darkrusnik05 and thank him for the name suggestion which I used "Fachtna", he's the only one that actually responded to that request. Now I'm still always accepting suggestions for anything, Names, Gundams, characters, even possible story plots, if I do used a suggestion from a reader then I will put the name of the reader and what I used from him at the bottom of the episode like now. That's all for now see yea.


	38. Episode 37

Episode 37

**The episode opens up in the Dark room where Zain had his meeting with the Boss who we can now assume to be Fachtna. This time Alex is on one knee alongside Zain. Zagat is standing next to Fachtna grinning from ear to ear clearly enjoying this. **

**Both Fachtna and Zagat are holograms. Fachtna begins to speak, his voice is like thick oil full of displeasure and anger.**

Fachtna: So what you're telling me is that you have failed and lost to that ship.

**Zagat serious looks like he's on something, his grin is about to pop and burst his face. Zain for once wisely chooses to remain silent however Alex's pride forces her to speak.**

Alex: We didn't lose Sir, we won the battle and forced them to retreat they were just able to escape.

**Zagat barely able to contain himself says with clear joy**

Zagat: But the mission was to eliminate them, simply winning the battle wasn't enough you had to destroy them which you failed to do which means you failed!

**Zagat's excitement is all too obvious and builds as he speaks to the point where Fachtna can't stand it anymore.**

Fachtna: Zagat it's already very clear that you're top dog now so shut your freaking mouth and stop dancing before I decide to have you killed!

**Zagat shuts up right away and looks at Fachtna shocked. Fachtna still angry turns to the others.**

Fachtna: I have to admit I completely expected you Zain to disregard my orders and pursue the enemy and given the rushed shape your ship was in to be defeated, however it is a shock to find that even you Alex was defeated by this ship. Is this Dark-Angel really that strong or are you guys really this weak?

**Fachtna's anger is obvious in his voice which can best be describe as a cold blade that cuts through the bones. Zain grits his teeth in complete humiliation, Alex also grits her teeth as her pride bleeds from the wounds that Fachtna has created. Zain spits out in a poor attempt of defense.**

Zain: They're just lucky that's all! Really Lucky

**Fachtna cuts him off with ice razor blades**

Fachtna: Zain one more pathetic excuse like that again, and I'll kill you.

**Fachtna is being completely serious. Zain's mouth opens wide in shock but his mouth closes quickly in fear. Alex starts to speak but Fachtna cuts her off**

Fachtna: Alex don't tell me that you too are going to blame your failure on luck?

**Alex shakes her head and says slowly**

Alex: No not luck, only amateurs fail to calculate percentage in their plans but there's no denying that this Dark-Angel has something about them that throws off even my well thought through plans.

**Fachtna raises an eyebrow and asks**

Fachtna: Oh and what would that be?

**Alex making sure that she doesn't look Fachtna directly in the eye hesitates then says**

Alex: If I had to put a word to it I'd say they have insanity on their side.

**Fachtna's face is impossible to read,**

Fachtna: Insanity huh, could you please elaborate on that more.

**Alex hesitates again not completely sure herself**

Alex: It's a craziness in which they come up with their plans or carry out their action. My original plans were based on how the average ship would act in that situation but I believe that we're dealing with 1 percent chaos chance, the 1 percent that everyone talks about that rarely if ever happens. They choose tactics that others would call crazy and that has an extremely low percentage of working but yet it's because they chose these plans that it does work, the unexpectedness of it tips the scale allowing them the chance to succeed.

**Fachtna nods his head.**

Fachtna: I see, that was a well thought out answer Alex.

**Alex encourage by Fachtna's comment goes on.**

Alex: Yes, but now that I know that they're that kind of team I can formulate a plan solely to destroy them; I won't fail a second time.

**Fachtna begins to speak slowly**

Fachtna: You have provided a reasonable explanation for your failure but the fact still remains that you failed and because of your failure you have allowed Shadi Tahsin's daughter to return to Haben. It's now going to be even harder to get rid of her. Alex and Zain return to our secret docks to have your ships and remaining Gundams repaired.

**Both Alex and Zain look unhappy about this but they both know better to object when Fachtna is in this kind of mood.**

Fachtna: I will contact you later with another assignment.

**Fachtna cuts the communication line. The camera switches to Fachtna's view, we are once again in another dark room but judging from the furnished walls and elaborated furniture we can assume that we're in some well off person's place. We can see flickers of light getting passed closed curtains. **

**The curtains do not stay closed for long, Zagat opens them letting in all the light in the room. Fachtna pulls out a pocket watch to check the time and then begins to move towards the door with Zagat on his heels.**

Zagat: I'm surprise you didn't have them executed Boss.

**Fachtna answers in a bored voice**

Fachtna: They can still be of use to me so I won't kill them yet.

**As they talk they walk out of the room and into a corridor an unknown voice jumps into the conversation.**

Unknown voice: Oh and may I ask who it is we are thinking of killing?

**Zagat and Fachtna turn around to face this new party. A man is leaning against the wall with his arms folded, judging from his tan skin he appears to be from Haben. He has on glasses and his eyes give off the impression of one who has an everlasting thirst for knowledge. Zagat looks displease by this person.**

Zagat: Byron Lancaster.

**Fachtna looks unfazed by Byron's question and answers without hesitation.**

Fachtna: My hunting dogs, they recently have been letting a lot of pray go so I was considering putting them down but I decided against it, after all dogs have more uses besides hunting.

**Byron nodding his head gets off the wall and walks towards Fachtna.**

Byron: I agree, although I must say I might be saying this simply because dogs are my favorite creatures.

**Byron eyes scream of snake like intelligence and it's hard to tell if he really is buying this BS. Fachtna turns towards Zagat and says**

Fachtna: Zagat would you excuse us, oh and I believe it's your turn to deal with my pest problem.

**Zagat looks annoyed about being asked to leave but he perks up when he finds out it's his turn to deal with the Dark-Angel. He bows and says**

Zagat: I see, very well Sir you can count on me.

**Zagat takes a moment to glare at Byron before he leaves. Byron watches Zagat leave then turns and raises an eyebrow at Fachtna. Fachtna seeing the question answers**

Fachtna: I'm afraid my home has become infested with insects that are proving quite hard to get rid of, everyone I have sent so far to get rid of them has ended up failing me but luckily Zagat has claim he can take care of it.

**Byron watching Fachtna closely says**

Byron: Well it certainly is lucky that your assistant has so many talents; anyway here are the papers you requested.

**Byron gives Fachtna a folder full of papers. Fachtna grabs them and although he tries to look impartial there's definitely excitement in his voice as he scans through the papers.**

Fachtna: This is excellent Byron absolutely excellent.

**Byron smiling at the compliment pushes his glasses which have slip down his noise back up his face.**

Byron: It was a strange request asking for information on Haben's old foreign treaties but it wasn't much trouble getting ahold of it, just some time in the archives.

**While they are talking Fachtna comes to a stop at double swinging doors and turns to look at Byron. He looks at Byron very carefully debating on whether or not to tell him something, and finally he begins to say slowly**

Fachtna: I'm very impressed Byron and I'm not a man easily impressed. I have another favor to ask you.

**Byron is looking at Fachtna also trying to read him**

Byron: Oh and what may I ask is it?

**Both men are starring intensely at each other trying to read their opponent while at the same trying to prevent the other from reading them. It's like a poker game only with lot higher risks then just money.**

Fachtna: Although these documents are what I ask for they are not complete, I need the S-rank files as well.

**Byron continues to look at Fachtna for a moment then also says slowly**

Byron: Haben's S-rank files are top secret; only parties involved and the ruler are allowed access to them. They are files that are said to hold all of Haben's dark secrets and if the wrong hands should ever get ahold of them bring Haben to ruin. They are kept in a top secret safe in a room which only the ruler has access to, even if I wanted to it's impossible to get them.

**Fachtna catches on to the fact that Byron didn't say no and continues his case.**

Fachtna: That's only files that pertain to current events or were created within 50 years; the files that I'm interested in are older and would be in a less secure position.

**Byron blinks in surprise**

Byron: What could you possibly want with those, the information they contain is all outdated and useless. They're only kept as a type of lesson or learning tools for the current ruler, to show them the decisions the past rulers made and how they affected Haben. They can't be used for anything else so why would you want them?

**A small smile breaks across Fachtna's face.**

Fachtna: It's like a wise man once said, the further you look into the past, the further you'll be able to see into the future. The information is only useless to those who don't know what to look for but I do, so will you retrieve them for me?

**Byron is still looking at Fachtna closely**

Byron: Even if the information is old and useless it's still consider high treason to take it without the current ruler's permission, so tell me why I should risk so much for you?

**Fachtna's smile widens and he replies**

Fachtna: Because I'd be in your debt and trust me when my time comes you'll want me as an ally.

**Byron looks at Fachtna a moment more then turns away to look at the doors.**

Byron: I'll see what I can do.

**Fachtna just smiles in response**

Fachtna: Excellent.

**They both walk through the double doors into what appears to be a gathering of Haben's assembly. They're in a huge circular 2 story room with at least a 100 people if not more. In the center of the room is a platform for speaking. Fachtna and Byron have walk onto the second floor and separated in order to mingle with the crowd.**

**The speakers come on, the camera and everyone else turns to the speaker platform, standing there is without a doubt the current ruler of Haben and Kabira's father Shadi Tahsin. **

**Shadi is tall and by all standards appears younger than expected a middle-age man in his forties, however there's no mistaking the tired look in his face and the graying hair, although the parts of his hair that isn't gray is the same color as Kabira.**

Shadi: Gentleman at this time I'd like to ask everyone to take a seat as we begin today's meeting; we once again have a long list of things we need to discuss.

**Shadi gives a tired smile at this joke. Some members of the assembly laugh while others also smile; the scene ends with everyone taking a seat. The next scene opens up after the meeting, Shadi closes the folder he was looking at and addresses the assembly.**

Shadi: Gentleman we've made good progress so far but it's time for breakfast so we'll break for an hour in order to rest, recharge and eat. I will see you all in an hour.

**Everyone nods their head and gets up to begin to leave. The camera turns and focuses on Shadi, Shadi putting his files into his briefcase gets up and also leaves. A man sitting close by gets up and follows Shadi out of the assembly room.**

**Judging from the way this man is dress and how he walks we can assume that he like Raheem is acting as a bodyguard for Shadi. Shadi and the man walk into an empty hallway. Shadi already knowing the man is following him sighs and says**

Shadi: Hirsi are you really going to follow me around all day again, I find it hard to believe that someone is going to try to take my life inside the royal palace?

**Whereas Raheem is bulky and muscular enough to be a bodybuilder Hirsi is skinny but appears agile and fast.**

Hirsi: Sir with all due respect the people's unrest is growing and the more radical ones might just try something as stupid.

**Shadi gives a tired smile to what we can assume to be an old friend.**

Shadi: So I can assume you don't think we're making much progress?

**Hirsi answers in a matter of fact voice, simply stating the facts.**

Hirsi: Not by the more radical parties standard. However it's not just the radicals I'm concern about.

**Shadi now eyes Hirsi annoyed**

Shadi: Are you talking about the "traitor"?

**Shadi says traitor in a non-believing voice, now Hirsi looks annoyed.**

Hirsi: Sir you can't possibly still believe there's not a traitor among us; since Kabira's discovery we have found 7 more documents sign under false pretenses plus the raiders that attack the new building sights that we've caught have admitted to being paid to attack those targets by an unknown source. There's no denying someone is trying to sabotage your rule and we can't be certain that they won't try to have you killed in order to finish the job.

**Shadi is starting to look irritated.**

Shadi: I will acknowledge that we have a well organize terrorist in our mist but that doesn't mean it is one of the assembly members.

**Hirsi is growing extremely annoyed now, and we should also be getting the feeling that they have had this conversation before.**

Hirsi: Sir the fact that the royal seal was on the documents is undeniable proof that someone broke into your office and used it and the assembly members are the only ones that could have had access to your office.

**Shadi looks very unhappy but even he can't think of a counter-argument.**

Shadi: I still can't accept that an assembly member would do such a thing but I can't denial that you have a point. I have already moved the seal to a more secure location, which I am currently the only one aware of.

**Hirsi nods his head slightly satisfied at this small victory, but the war is far from over.**

Hirsi: This is a good start your majesty but we can't be certain that the saboteur hasn't already made a replica of it, we have to start keeping track of all papers sent by the assembly for approval and sign by you and sent back. Any papers which you wish not to sign must be destroyed and we must do background checks on all paper delivery men who bring the papers back and forth between you and the assembly so that way no one can tamper with it while it's in transit.

**Shadi sighs as he hears this and adds**

Shadi: And of course we must do this all discretely as to not alert the assembly members of this supposed "traitor" in our ranks.

**Hirsi looking slightly sorry at Shadi nods his head.**

Hirsi: I'm afraid so Sir.

**Shadi lets lose another sigh, only this time the sigh seems to release any remaining traces of his youth. He truly looks like a tired man with the world on his shoulders.**

Shadi: This is going to take a lot of work, time and effort on top of everything else we must accomplish.

**The weight of everything really seems to be crushing Shadi. Hirsi notices all of this and after a moment says**

Hirsi: Speaking of Kabira, I've received a coded message from Raheem earlier.

**Upon hearing this news Shadi's features change completely, life seems to breathe into him and for the first time since we've met Shadi he looks excited.**

Shadi: Really, how is she, is she alright; is she ok?

**Hirsi smiles now glad to see Shadi feeling better.**

Hirsi: Raheem tells me they're both doing alright and are coming back to Haben with new information regarding the saboteur.

**Shadi satisfied to know that his daughter is safe, now turns back deep in thought.**

Shadi: Hirsi do you think me a poor father?

**Hirsi is shocked by the question and immediately replies**

Hirsi: Absolutely not your majesty, you are a great father!

**Shadi isn't convince and like most good men in high levels of power he is his harshest critic**

Shadi: Am I really, if I'm such a good father then why did my daughter run away from home without even telling me? I should have spent more time with her, I should have help her with her studies, or teach her how to ride a horse or

**Hirsi stops Shadi's rambling**

Hirsi: Your majesty you are a great father, and you have spent as much time with your daughter as you possibly can considering the poor state Haben is in and Kabira did not run away because of your parenting skills. She left because she loved you so much that she wanted to do whatever she could to help you, and that included finding the person who is trying to sabotage your rule.

**Hirsi says this with a good amount of force and we can see in his eyes that he truly believes this. Shadi looks at Hirsi truly thankful, but this look quickly becomes worried.**

Shadi: I know she wanted to help, that's why I told her that she could help me organize the papers. She should have told me what she found instead of running off to investigate it by herself.

**Shadi now has the classic worry/anger father look. Hirsi says in order to calm him and relieve his worry.**

Hirsi: You don't have to worry Sir, Raheem is with her and we both know he is a very capable fighter.

**Shadi is still angry/worry**

Shadi: That's beside the point; she shouldn't be doing something this dangerous in the first place, if she would have told me I would have sent someone with actual experience in this kind of work.

**Hirsi just sighs and allows Shadi to vent**

Hirsi: Well you'll get to discuss that with her when she gets back, hopefully they'll be back within a week.

**Shadi looks at Hirsi forgetting his anger and momentary smiles and the scene ends with him saying.**

Shadi: A week that I shall be greatly looking forward to.

**The next scene opens up showing a bird's eye view of a large town by the ocean, Haben Harbor. The town is located on a desert, there's hardly any green, and like most would expect the buildings seem to be made of rock or some kind of clay. The streets are pack and full of people on foot or horseback.**

**There are trading stalls everywhere trading everything from rugs to fancy high tech toys including flying glider planes. Looking from above the streets seem to be flooded with colors, reds, blues, greens, browns, there are hundreds of people in the streets, most are clearly from Haben but we can definitely see a lot of foreigners. **

**The camera turns to look at the actual docks. There are a bunch of ships already pulled into port including the Dark-Angel. The camera zooms in on a deck on the Dark-Angel to show Kabira, Raheem, Nick, and Roxas leaning on the rails watching the docks. Kabira with both hands on the rail leans forward and takes a deep breath and sighs**

Kabira: Ahhhh the sandy salty fresh air of Haben, god how I missed it and the bustling sounds of Haben Harbor.

**Raheem nods his head in agreement.**

Raheem: It's been a while since I've been to Haben Harbor, it's the same for you too Ms. Kabira?

**Raheem asks Kabira. Kabira nods her head.**

Kabira: Yes.

**Kabira continues to stare off into the crowd. Roxas is jumping up and down looking like a monkey now, her pupils have dilated very big.**

Roxas: Shiny, shiny, shiny, shiny, look at all the shiny things; I want that and that and that…

**Roxas keeps going on. Kabira turns to look at her**

Kabira: You know Roxas the longer I get to know you the more animal you seem to me to become.

**Nick laughs as Roxas beams taking this as a compliment.**

Roxas: Thank you.

Nick: HAHAHAHHAH you just figure that out mate!

**Soon they all join in on the laugher. Kenny comes outside and spots them laughing, walking over he asks**

Kenny: Hey guys what's so funny?

**Nick being the first to calm down takes a moment to catch his breath and then says**

Nick: Don't worry about it mate, hey where's Shadow mate?

**Kabira also calming down and looking towards Kenny asks**

Kabira: And Cagalli?

**Kenny taking his place on the rails says**

Kenny: Well Jack's forcing Shadow to fill out the dock forums since we don't have a Captain yet.

**The camera quickly cuts to Shadow in what appears to be an office. He looks very unhappy as he's hunch over a desk filling out paperwork. He grumbles**

Shadow: This is so unfair, why do I have to fill out all this crap?

**Jack is standing by the door working on her PDA.**

Jack: Well normally the Captain is the one who has to fill out all those papers but since you haven't hired one yet you've got to do it because I'm sure as hell ain't.

**Shadow is still unhappy and glances at the door thinking of escaping; unfortunately Jack predicting Shadow might try something like that is blocking the door. Almost as if she can feel Shadow's gaze on her Jack pulls out her wrench and begins to twirl it around her fingers as she continues playing with her PDA.**

**Shadow 10 times more scared of Jack with a wrench then paperwork sighs deeply and gets back to work. As he continues working on paperwork he says thinking aloud**

Shadow: Note to self, get a freaking Captain as soon as freaking possible!

**Jack suddenly snaps**

Jack: Get back to work!

**Shadow reluctantly gets back to work. The camera cuts back to Kenny and the others, Roxas laughs at Shadow's expanse.**

Roxas: HAHA sucks for him!

**Nick and Raheem nod in agreement as Kenny goes on**

Kenny: As for Cagalli, she went to catch up on some sleep; she looked as tired as crap when I saw her.

**The camera briefly cuts to Cagalli's bedroom to show her curled up in her bed with the covers all crumple up. A missile could go off right next door and she still won't get up. The camera cuts back to Kenny and the others. Nick looks a little worried**

Nick: That's the second night in a row Cagalli's had trouble sleeping mates.

**Roxas looks at Nick unconcern**

Roxas: You worry too much Nick, everyone hits an insomnia period every now and then, even me. Although that is normally when I start imitating nocturnal animals.

**Kabira agreeing with Roxas turns back to face the crowd.**

Kabira: Well that definitely does stink for them, oh well I guess we'll have to go into town without them.

**Raheem for the first time now looks at Kabira surprise.**

Raheem: Go into town?

**Kabira nods her head now surprise with Raheem.**

Kabira: Well yes, why do you think I was so excited? I can't wait to go out there, bargain with some of the trading venders, see if I can't find some old friend, and eat the weird foods that are a combination of Haben and foreigner cooking.

**Raheem says to Kabira gently**

Raheem: Ms. Kabira this isn't a vacation.

**As best as he tried Raheem failed to not insult Kabira. Kabira's eyes open wide in shock then narrow in anger.**

Kabira: You think I forgot! You think I don't know that I have several people trying to kill me! You think I've forgotten that every second my father doesn't know who's trying to ruin him he gets closer to having a knife thrown in his back!

**Nick, Kenny and Roxas seeing the obvious conflict decide to get the heck out of their.**

Kenny: Um I think I hear my um computer beeping, I better go check it out to make sure it doesn't um explode.

**Kenny turns and runs. Roxas quickly follows after him.**

Roxas: That sounds dangerous I better go with you to make sure it's safe.

**Kenny and Roxas are getting out of there because they don't want to become involved but Nick turns and politely nods his head at Raheem and Kabira and respecting their privacy leaves. Raheem and Kabira completely absorb in their discussion barely notice them leave. Raheem on the defensive says**

Raheem: Of course I don't think that but

**Kabira still angry cuts him off**

Kabira: Then what! Is it too much to ask for a little break, a moment where I can relax and just forget about everything and just rest.

**Kabira for a moment looks extremely tired and Raheem not for the first time realizes just how much this ordeal has weigh on Kabira.**

Raheem (Kabira)

**And for a moment it looks like he might bend, but years of military and tactical training kick in and crush his compassion. He says softly but firmly**

Raheem: No it's not, but you can do it on the ship where it's safe, there's simply too many security risk for you to go into town. The fact that some people may recognize you will only help our persuaders find you faster, and in the crowded markets it would be impossible to see them coming.

**Kabira tries to argue**

Kabira: But

**However Raheem isn't yielding**

Raheem: No buts, we are not going into town and that is final!

**Raheem doesn't shout this at Kabira but he says this very firmly. Kabira sees that nothing she says is going to make Raheem change his mind. She puffs her cheeks out.**

Kabira: Fine!

**Kabira turns and storms away. Raheem sighs watching her go and thinks**

Raheem (I'm sorry Ms. Kabira but this is for your own protection.)

**The scene cuts slightly forward in time. Kabira is walking in a hallway, this hallway isn't as crowded as others but there's still a group of people gambling on a card game in the middle of it. Kabira walks up to them and asks**

Kabira: Hey have any of you guys seen Roxas?

**Some turn around and shrug while others turn and point in a direction. The rest are to focus on the card game. Kabira nods her head and thanks them**

Kabira: Alright thanks.

**Kabira turns and walks off. She enters what appears to be the bedroom section of the ship, there are a bunch of bunk beds in rows. The lights have been dimed and we can hear some deep breathing and grunting noises. Kabira begins to scan the rows and calls out**

Kabira: Roxas?

**Kabira catches sight of some movement on one of the bunk beds and after a moment she gets a reply**

Roxas: Kabira? I'm over here what's up?

**Kabira walks over to the bunk bed and begins talking.**

Kabira: Hey Roxas I was wondering

**Kabira stops as Roxas sits up and the covers slip slightly down. 2 things are reveal to us, the first is that even though Roxas has lifted up the sheet with her covering up her body from the neck down it's still plainly obvious that she has nothing underneath on. The second is a male partner underneath Roxas, because of the way Roxas is sitting up and has the covers angle we only see his head.**

**Kabira upon seeing all this connects the dots and turns tomato red, she immediately turns away and starts stuttering like crazy.**

Kabira: Oh, I-I-I um, I-I-I-I d-d-d-d-didn't k-kn-know you were um busy with um company, I'll come back!

**Kabira turns to run away but Roxas stops her.**

Roxas: It's fine, what is it you want?

**Kabira turns to Roxas shocked, her male partner however becoming increasingly frustrated says**

Male partner: Look honey, I didn't come here to hear some girls chitchat so if you're not going to send her away then I'm going.

**Roxas looks down at him very skeptical**

Roxas: Really, after having a look at this and coming this far you're really going to just leave rather than wait 5 minutes before continuing, are you really that shy or impatient?

**At the "having a look at this" comment Roxas gestures to her body, her statement shuts her male partner right up. Roxas satisfied he won't interrupt again turns back to the still very red and embarrass Kabira.**

Roxas: Kabira you have 5 minutes, go.

**Kabira still fluster tries to get back to focus**

Kabira: Um, ok right, you see I was wondering if you can help me with Raheem?

**Kabira is desperately trying to keep her gaze smack dead center on Roxas's face. She's doing a good job but every now and then we notice her eyes travel down to look at Roxas's male partner, but she quickly snaps them back up to look at Roxas.**

Roxas: Raheem? What and why?

**Roxas is definitely interested and excited. Kabira explains**

Kabira: I want to go out into town but Raheem won't let me, and unfortunately he knows me too well. He's watching all the exits like a hawk.

**Roxas connects the dots**

Roxas: So you need me to seduce Raheem long enough so you can get out, a feat only my awesome skills are capable of!

**Roxas boast. Kabira just rolls her eyes then says**

Kabira: Yes well I don't care what you do if you could just distract him long enough for me to slip into town that would be great.

**Roxas nods her head**

Roxas: Ok I'll do it but only because it will play into my larger plan for seducing Raheem. Just let me finish up here first.

**Kabira is excited and grateful**

Kabira: Thank you so much Roxas you have

**Kabira stops midsentence as Roxas turns and smiles seductively at her male partner.**

Kabira: Um I'm going to go now.

**Kabira turns and runs off before anything else happens. The camera cuts to the deck of the Dark-Angel, Kabira is leaning on the rails appearing to be watching the clouds. The camera turns and looks to show Raheem standing in the shadows of the door back inside the Dark-Angel. He's watching Kabira closely obviously suspicious**

Raheem (Hmm Kabira is just looking at the clouds. It's already mid-day I would have thought she'd tried to sneak off the ship by now.)

**Raheem smiles**

Raheem (Perhaps I'm not giving her enough credit, maybe she's mature more then I realize.)

**Another figure emerges behind Raheem in the darkness**

Roxas: Hey Raheem.

**Roxas says in her most seductive voice. Raheem surprise turns around to face her, the camera follows suit to reveal that Roxas is in her most seductive clothing. **

**The shortest skirt in the world showing off her most perfect legs, and the tightest T-shirt leaving absolutely nothing to the imagination, she finishes off the look with a lollipop in her mouth.**

**When Raheem sees her his head literally flips back and bangs into the wall behind him almost as if some invisible foe punch him, blood is gushing from his noise and he stutters out.**

Raheem: R-R-R-R-Roxas!

**Roxas gives him the perfect seduction smile**

Roxas: How's it going stud?

**As she says this she takes out the lollipop and with great show gives it a great lick down, poor Raheem is so shocked and stun that words completely fail him. Roxas seeing this inches even closer to Raheem.**

**Raheem quickly looks for an escape route, unfortunately he's back up against a wall and Roxas is blocking his only way out. Roxas invades Raheem's personal space, she puts a seductive hand on his shoulder and does the whole finger walk thing.**

Roxas: What's the matter Raheem, *meow* cat got your tongue?

**Roxas taps Raheem's lips with her finger and Raheem like any other straight man is paralyzed. Roxas with her other hand signals Kabira.**

**Kabira upon seeing Roxas signal nods her head and takes a rope ladder she had stash somewhere and tosses it over the side of the rails, then without Raheem noticing she climbs down it and off the ship. The camera cuts back to the office Shadow is using to fill out paperwork, Shadow is collapse on the desk.**

Shadow: Brian….hurting….no…..more.

**Jack is scanning over a stack of papers Shadow seems to have completed.**

Jack: Oh quit your whining, you're finish and it only took about 3 hours.

**Shadow jumps up when he hears this completely restored.**

Shadow: Yes, yes, yes, yes! The first thing I want to do is breathe some fresh air.

**Shadow walks over to a big window and tries to open it, but he can't, surprise quickly becomes annoyance as he tries to force it open.**

Shadow: God what did you do Jack weld this in place?

**Jack looks at Shadow like he's an idiot. She walks over to the window and lifts up a latch that was holding the window in place. Shadow slightly blushes having not notice it.**

Shadow: I saw that I was just testing you.

**Jack looks at Shadow nonbelieving**

Jack: Sure you did.

**She says sarcastically. Shadow just glares at her but chooses not to comment. He turns and leans out the window and takes a big gulp of air and sighs**

Shadow: Ahhh fresh air.

**A cross between chance and destiny Shadow spots Kabira jumping off the rope ladder and onto solid ground. She looks around to make sure Raheem isn't following then runs off afraid that he might appear. Shadow sees all of this.**

Shadow (Hmm I wonder what Kabira is up too?)

**The camera cuts forward in time, we're in the markets and the streets and they're still as crowded as ever. Kabira has put one of those desert hoods that protect you from the sun over her head in order to hide her face. She has in her hand some kind of meat on a Skewer. She thanks the bender she bought this from.**

Kabira: Thank you for the food Sir.

**She bows slightly. The bender tending to a bunch of meat sticks over a grill turns his head momentary back and replies**

Bender: You're welcome madam.

**Kabira turns and walks away from the bender with the meat stick in her hand. She walks over to some outdoor tables set up underneath a tent out of the sun. She doesn't sit down but just stands underneath the shade. She takes a bite out of the meat stick and judging from her expression it must be quite delicious. She says out loud to no one**

Kabira: AHhhh nothing beats Haben Kofta!

**Kabira says very happy, although she wasn't expecting it Kabira gets a response back.**

Shadow: Kofta so that's what this delicious food from heaven is called.

**The camera zooms out a little to reveal Shadow standing and eating a Kofta right next Kabira. How he manage to sneak up on her without her noticing is anyone's guess.**

Kabira: Oh yes it's not well known to outsiders but if you ask any local they'll tell you that the best food you can get in Haben Harbor is a Kofta.

**Shadow devouring the poor Kofta nods his head and says with a mouth full of food.**

Shadow: I see.

**Kabira and Shadow continue to eat their Kofta in silence for a moment. Kabira stops eating as she finally process the fact that Shadow is right next her and jumping up shouts in surprise**

Kabira: Shadow, what the heck are you doing here!

**Shadow looks at Kabira surprise that she's surprise**

Shadow: Eating of course, the food they serve on the Dark-Angel is terrible.

**Kabira is now angry and snaps**

Kabira: That's not what I meant, what're you doing following me?

**Shadow shrugs unconcern with Kabira's anger.**

Shadow: Since we're here in Haben Harbor I wanted to see the sights but since I don't know where anything is I decided to just follow you.

**Kabira blinks in surprise and takes a step back**

Kabira: Wait so Raheem didn't send you to look after me?

**Shadow finishing his Kofta and looks at Kabira like she's crazy.**

Shadow: Um no, first off why would he and second why would I do what he said?

**Kabira realizes she's being paranoid and looks down slightly embarrass but she still tries to shift the blame.**

Kabira: Oh well you should have still asked me before you decided to follow me like some kind of stalker.

**Shadow looks at Kabira slightly annoyed.**

Shadow: Ok may I please come with you around town?

**Kabira folds her hands and turns away.**

Kabira: No, what makes you think that I'd want a foreigner hanging around with me while I have fun in town and also you look like an idiot wearing that black jacket in this weather?

**Shadow looks at Kabira shock and insul.t**

Shadow: Ok first off I'm like cold blooded; I get really cold easily and besides my jacket looks awesome, second What! Oh come on!

**Kabira still has her back to Shadow but we can see from the smile she's trying to hide that she's just missing with him.**

Kabira: Nope sorry but I can't have some foreigner cramping my style.

**Shadow looks frustrated but suddenly he comes up with a different tactic.**

Shadow: Come on, a young a beautiful girl like yourself deserves a gentleman as an escort.

**Kabira turns to look at Shadow slightly surprise but she suddenly gives a fox smile and says**

Kabira: You absolutely right Shadow, now can you help me find one?

**Kabira smile gives her little game away. Shadow extremely annoyed and a little offended now gives a fake laugh and says sarcastically**

Shadow: HAHA very funny.

**Shadow turns and begins to walk away. Kabira realizes she might have push that too far and starts to chase after him to apologize.**

Kabira: Oh come on Shadow I was only kidding, look I'm sorry, I'll make it up to you by being your tour guide.

**Kabira catches up to Shadow. Shadow not one to hold grudges puts his elbow on Kabira's shoulder clearly enjoying the fact that there's finally someone shorter than him.**

Shadow: Don't worry about it now let's get going!

**Kabira doesn't look happy about Shadow being taller than her and she pushes his elbow off her shoulder annoyed.**

Kabira: Alright you better prepare yourself then because Haben Harbor can get wild pretty quickly.

**Montage time! The camera enters slideshow mode, we see pictures of street performers, fire jugglers, dancers, singers, magicians and bunch more people. We see Shadow and Kabira trying to play some Haben style instruments, Kabira and Shadow bargaining some traders for water guns. **

**We see Shadow Kabira and a group of local kids playing with the water guns in what appear to be a back ally. We're seeing both Shadow and Kabira laughing and having a good time. We see Shadow and Kabira in fishing boats enjoying a nice ride over the ocean surrounded by other fisherman.**

**Shadow attempts to do the karate kid thing which just like the karate kid ends with him falling into the ocean while Kabira laughs her head off. We see Kabira and Shadow helping an animal trader herd his escape animals back into their pen. We see Shadow spot some swords to which he starts comparing to his own. **

**The vender chases him away after a while. We see pictures of Kabira and Shadow dancing to some Haben street musicians along with other people. Throughout the whole slideshow Kabira and Shadow are laughing and having a good time, the montage ends. **

**The camera goes back to normal to show Kabira and Shadow collapse on a bench catching their breath from dancing. Shadow grinning like a loon says**

Shadow: That was freaking awesome.

**Kabira nods her head in agreement**

Kabira: Yes and you dance like a duck.

**Kabira teases Shadow. Shadow just glares at her**

Shadow: Well forgive me for not being a freaking ballerina.

**Before this discussion gets any further Shadow's stomach growls which in turns makes Kabira's stomach growl. Kabira looks embarrass by this but Shadow doesn't seem to care.**

Shadow: Looks like we're ready for dinner, what's a good place to eat at around here?

**Kabira is slightly annoyed by Shadow's attitude but she looks towards the setting sun and decides Shadow is right, she suddenly gets an idea.**

Kabira: I know we can go to old man Naif's place.

**Shadow not surprisingly has no idea what she's talking about.**

Shadow: And that would be?

**Kabira excited now grabs Shadow's hand and begins to drag him off towards their new destination.**

Kabira: Old man Naif is a cook and he makes the greatest fried lamb burgers you have ever eaten. He's a great guy, and he can tell the most fantastic stories you have ever heard. I always make sure to come and visit him every time I come to Haben Harbor.

**Shadow just shrugs trusting Kabira's opinion. Kabira leads Shadow throughout the streets and finally comes to stop at a small building. The lights are out and no one appears to be home. Kabira stops slightly surprise**

Kabira: Well that's weird they should still be open.

**Kabira looks towards the setting sun again to double check. Shadow shrugs and suggest**

Shadow: Maybe they've move.

**Kabira rolls her eyes at the idea.**

Kabira: Impossible old man Naif's family has lived in this house since his ancestors made it back before Haben was even establish as a country. He used to boast all the time that his ancestors who built this house were part of the first settlers from Earth to come to Sora, trust me if you'd heard him you'd know that he'd sooner cut off his own hand then move.

**Shadow just shrugs and accepts her answer. Kabira uncertain walks up the small mound of steps to the door and knocks. There's a moment of silence then a little peephole opens and someone's eye appears.**

Someone: I'm sorry ma'am but we are closed.

**Judging from the voice it's an older woman speaking. Kabira upon hearing the voice is relieved. She pulls down her hood and says**

Kabira: Even for an old friend Qadr?

**The person behind the door (Qadr) gasps in surprise and hurryingly opens the door.**

Qadr: Ms. Kabira forgive me I don't recognize you with that hood on.

**Kabira waves it off unconcern**

Kabira: Don't worry about it. May I come in?

**Qadr quickly nods her head**

Qadr: Oh yes, of course, of course, please come on in.

**Kabira walks into the house. Shadow goes to follow. Qadr seeing Shadow turns to Kabira confused. Kabira seeing the question answers Qadr**

Kabira: Oh this is Shadow, he's a friend of mine, Shadow this Qadr she's old man Naif's wife.

**Shadow shakes Qadr's hand**

Shadow: Nice to meet.

Qadr: And the same to you.

**The inside of the house looks like any restaurant, there are tables all about. Kabira walking in begins looking around**

Kabira: So where is old man Naif we're hungry and can used some of the greatest burgers in Haben; I'm a little surprise that you guys have the restaurant close, Naif likes to keep it open all night long.

**Qadr turns to look at Kabira surprise**

Qadr: You didn't hear?

**Shadow senses something amiss and takes a step back into the shadows. Kabira turns to look at Qadr confused.**

Kabira: Hear what?

**Qadr hesitates; at first one thinks that it's simply because she doesn't know how to tell Kabira but as the moment of silence drags on we realize that it's something more. The truth seems to be painful to tell, at last Qadr says**

Qadr: It's Naif, he's dead.

**Color drains from Kabira's face, as the big smile on her face slowly drops down. In shock she ask almost in a whisper**

Kabira: What.

**The camera cuts to a separate room, there are candles burning all around the room. In the back of the room is a frame painting of what one can assume be Naif. Underneath the painting is a pot. **

**Qadr is gently standing next to Kabira in front of the pot. Kabira looks almost sickly white. Shadow is standing awkwardly at the back of the room just trying to stay out of their way. Qadr begins to explain**

Qadr: 84; it was a good long life. On his death bed *sob* he told me that he was truly satisfied with how his life turn out.

**Qadr is trying to stop herself from crying. Kabira is still in shock**

Kabira: H-How, when?

**Qadr somehow managing to contain her tears says**

Qadr: He was *sob* just old. The doctors said his heart just gave out but in truth it was just old age, it happen last month. I knew how much you loved him and I sent an email to you, I'm surprise you didn't get it.

**Kabira still in shock just shakes her head.**

Kabira: I've been away from Haben and haven't been able to connect with its servers.

**Kabira takes a moment to look at the picture. The camera cuts forward in time Kabira and Shadow are on the porch about to leave. Shadow is already down the steps waiting for Kabira. Kabira is on the top of the steps with Qadr. She turns to Qadr and takes a deep breath to steady her nervous then says**

Kabira: I'm sorry I wasn't here for his remembrance, if you would allow me I would like to be there at his passing.

**Qadr nods her head vigorously**

Qadr: Of course we both always thought of you like our own grandchild but I have to tell you that I don't know when I'll be able to make the journey to Sanctus turris because of the fighting between the rebels and the royals.

**Kabira takes a step back confused/surprise/and a little scared. Shadow also picks his head up at this news.**

Kabira: Rebels? Royals? Fighting?

**Qadr is surprise to realize that Kabira has no idea what's going on. She hesitates to tell her then says**

Qadr: I guess since you've been out of Haben you wouldn't have heard, the situation here is rapidly deteriorating. Some of the more extreme anti-Shadi supporters have declare a revolution against your father, they call themselves rebels against an unfit ruler and have started to gather military Gundams and forces, they've even engage the normal Haben military in a few skirmishes and manage to hold their own. The main Haben military have declare undivided loyalty to your father and the crown, that's why we call them the royals.

**Kabira is reeling in shock and asks**

Kabira: Haben, Haben is at war with itself?

**Qadr once again hesitates to answer but she knows she must.**

Qadr: I'm sorry Ms. Kabira but it seem the extremist have had enough with your father's rule and no one can talk different to them and in turn the military have had enough of the extremist and have declare them traitors. With these 2 fractions at each other's throats Civil War has begun all but in official terms.

**The episode ends with dramatic music and a completely stun look on Kabira's face.**

_**Author's note: Name "Byron Lancaster" provided by Byron Lancaster with permission.**_


	39. Episode 38

Episode 38

**The episode opens up showing Kabira and Shadow walking down the streets at night. Unlike during the day the streets are practically deserted, there's hardly a soul in sight. Shadow is walking behind Kabira a couple of paces. **

**The camera focuses on Kabira and like anyone who found out that a good friend of theirs is dead and the country they loved and fought hard to protect is practically in a civil war all in the same night looks preoccupied. We start hearing audio flashbacks (same as normal flashback only the screen stays in the present while past dialogue is played). **

**We hear Qadr tell Kabira that Naif is dead, and that Haben is in civil war all but in official terms. Kabira shakes her head trying to clear her mind in order to get a better view and grasp of the situation and everything that's happen tonight, but it appears as futile as trying to put a dam around the shore, the waves just keeping hammering and crashing into the rocks. **

**The camera moves over Kabira to Shadow, one word to sum up how Shadow looks and feels right now is awkward. He's not really sure what to say and what to do. Unable to take the silence anymore Shadow just decides to talk about the first thing that comes to mind.**

Shadow: So it's pretty cold out here now.

**Kabira answers absent mindedly**

Kabira: That's because the temperature drops down close to 0 degrees in Haben at night.

**Shadow is slightly surprise by this**

Shadow: Oh, well it's a good thing I brought my jacket then, HAHAHA and you said it was stupid to bring my jacket.

**Kabira so distracted with her own thoughts doesn't even bother to answer. Shadow just sighs and doesn't quite know how to go on, after a moment he asks**

Shadow: So what's this Sanctus turris place you guys were talking about and what did you mean by passing and remembrance?

**Kabira finally comes to full focus on Shadow, she's almost relieve to have something else to think about.**

Kabira: In order to understand that you need to understand a traditional Haben funeral. In Haben when someone dies it's tradition to cremate the body, the ashes are put into a special pot design specially for the deceased, the funeral itself is held in 2 parts the remembrance and the passing. The remembrance is a party or celebration in honor of the deceased, anyone who has ever met him or her is invited without need for consent from the family; at the party people tell stories of the deceased and how they in turn knew them and interacted with them. The passing is the second act or part of the funeral, during the passing immediate family members travel to Sanctus turris in Azize carrying the remains of the deceased, Sanctus turris is to put it plainly a tower, it's Haben and also my belief that the top of Sanctus turris is the starting point to the stairway of Heaven.

**Shadow can't resist and asks**

Shadow: Stairway to Heaven, I'm surprise you guys didn't come up with some big fancy name for it.

**Kabira glares at Shadow for a moment and says**

Kabira: It actually does have a real name but I decided to simplify it for your small brain. Anyway as I was saying the main family takes the ashes of the deceases to the top of Sanctus turris and then from there they release the ashes to the wind. The body now turned to ash becomes part of the sands of Haben and protects and tests those still alive, the soul now free from the shackles of the body takes the first step onto the stairway of Heaven and begins the long climb up to paradise.

**Shadow proving once again he's not the brightest person.**

Shadow: So wait, there's like a giant staircase leading up to the stars in Azize.

**Kabira snaps a little angry**

Kabira: No you moron, the stairway is spiritual and can't be seen by humans; only spirits can see and climb the stairway.

**Shadow feeling like an idiot says**

Shadow: Oh, so um why did you ask permission to go to the passing then?

**Kabira realizing that Shadow didn't mean anything by his statement and is just an idiot calms down somewhat and explains**

Kabira: The passing unlike the remembrance is more of a sad occasion; it's only meant for those who knew the decease well so only family members have direct invitation; anyone else has to be invited in by them. The passing is the final goodbye to the decease, the time for the living to let go of the dead and move on, during the passing you're supposed to cry your heart out and let out every ounce of sadness then after you're done crying you're not supposed shed a single more tear for the dead.

**Shadow nods his head**

Shadow: I see so you must've been very close to this Naif guy if you wanted to say this final goodbye to him.

**Shadow was just thinking out loud but Kabira stops and takes this as a real question**

Kabira: I was 9 when I first met old man Naif, it was the first time I came to Haben Harbor, my father decided it was time for me to see the world so he brought me with him to a conference in Haben Harbor.

**Kabira smiles at the fond memory**

Kabira: Of course my dad knew at that age I couldn't stand conferences for more than 3 minutes, so he allowed me to go out and explore the town with my bodyguards. Hehe but at the time the locals didn't know me at all, the only thing they did know about me is that I was the daughter of Haben's ruler princess Kabira. At the time I didn't know anyone in Haben Harbor and no one wanted to get to know me, the adults thought I would be some kind of spoil rich kid that always got her way and they wouldn't let their kids play with me because they were afraid I'd get hurt and then they'd be in big trouble with my father; my menacing looking bodyguards didn't help matters much either.

Kabira: Since none of my bodyguards had ever been to Haben Harbor either they had no idea where to take me, so I must have ended up spending hours just walking and wandering around doing nothing, I was completely miserable. Then almost as if by destiny I found myself outside old man Naif's restaurant, by that point I was tired and hungry and just wanted to go home. I had dropped to the ground and started crying about how I was hungry and wanted to go home, my bodyguards being middle age soldiers with no families of their own had no idea how to take care of kids so they had no idea what to do with me but luckily old man Naif heard me and knew exactly what to do.

**Kabira lip starts to quiver and rivers to her dam heart start to overflow as tears rush down her face.**

Kabira: He, he came out there with his lamb burger and offer it to me for free, it was the first time I had it and it tasted like heaven, as I began to eat it he told me stories of adventure. Of heroes fighting the bad guys and doing the right thing, and I became completely enwrapped in it and from that day forth he became almost like a second grandfather to me. He stood up for me to the other locals and told them I was ok to play with, every time I visited Haben Harbor I always visited him and he'd always tell me great stories as I ate his great burgers but, but, but now he's dead and I'll never get to hear another story of adventure from him again, I'll never taste another one of his great burgers ever again!

**Kabira is bursting into full blown crying now. Shadow doesn't know what to say**

Shadow: Kabira.

**However that one word full of compassion is enough. Kabira suddenly turns around and throws herself at Shadow. She grips his shirt tight and starts crying into his chest.**

Kabira: Why didn't I tell him how much he meant to me, why didn't I tell him more how great his stories or burgers or how good he dresses or how much of a hero he was to me! Those stories inspired me to be a hero and do the right thing, they helped me decide to leave Haben in order to find out who was sabotaging my father and I did but the stories lied to me, even though I did the right thing the bad guys still win. My country is at civil war with itself and that's not how the story should end, the story should have gone with me coming back and telling my father the identity of the saboteur and stopping him before the civil war started and save the day! But the story was wrong it lied to me, I was too late and when I go to confront the story teller about this I found out that he's dead and gone. He left me with a lied of a story all alone with a problem I can't solve, WHY, WHY DID HE DO THAT!

**Kabira shouts full of sadness and anger, and a desire for answers. She continues to cry and cling onto Shadow as if the ability to stand has left her and if she let's go her world would disappear underneath her feet. **

**While Kabira is crying Shadow once again just looks awkward, as one can guess Shadow isn't really the born sensitive type so he has no idea what to do about Kabira crying, but as Kabira finishes talking Shadow suddenly gets hit by a meteor of clarity.**

Shadow: You know this story isn't over yet.

**Kabira with tears still in eyes looks up towards Shadow surprise. Shadow still looks uncomfortable and embarrass but like every man knows there comes a time when you have to suck up your embarrassment and do something that makes you uncomfortable.**

Shadow: You know I've been told that I spin a good story every now and then, so I do know a thing or 2 about how stories are structure and I can tell you that this isn't the ending hehehe far from it. If I had to guess this is the plot twist where the heroine comes home to find out that her good friend is gone and her home is on the blink of tearing itself apart and all hope seems lost etc. etc.

**Kabira has stop crying as she listens to Shadow. Shadow getting warped up in his own speech now looks down towards Kabira and smiles.**

Shadow: But you know what there is always hope in the deepest darkness of despair you have just got to be willing to see it. For example the lady said it herself the Civil War hasn't begun officially yet so that means we can still stop it we just got to keep moving forward.

**Shadow's words have sparked and lit the torch of hope inside Kabira's heart and she looks towards him with eyes full of admiration. Shadow now feeding off his own ego says**

Shadow: Besides this story can't end with the good guys getting beaten because if you're the heroine then that makes me the shady warrior that helps her along the way and as the warrior my pride won't escape defeat!

**Kabira looks at Shadow truly thankful**

Kabira: Shadow!

**Kabira once again throws herself at Shadow's chest only this time she's crying tears of hope. Shadow still a little uncomfortable decides nonetheless that the best course of action is to hug Kabira, so he does so gently.**

Shadow: Hey like I said I can spin a pretty good tail.

**Kabira can't help but laugh a little at Shadow's stupid joke and her tears once again dry up. Shadow continues to hug Kabira to make sure she's ok and it looks like for a moment everything is going to be alright but a new voice breaks the moment.**

Thug A: Ahhhh isn't this sweet a touching moment between a brother and sister.

**Three thugs have walk up to Kabira and Shadow while they were distracted. It's dark out with only the light from the street lamps to guide them they can't see either Shadow nor Kabira's faces which is why they made the mistake of thinking they were related. **

**Shadow can tell instantly that these thugs are up to no good not that any moron couldn't. He roughly pulls Kabira off him and forces her behind himself.**

Shadow: Look my friend has had a bad day and I don't like your guy's attitude so why don't you keep moving on.

**Thug A the leader appears unconcern with Shadow**

Thug A: Oh I'm so scared; see me trembling in my boots.

**The other thugs laugh at his stupid joke and they continue to advance towards Shadow. Shadow pulls back his jacket and brings up his sword and sheath. He puts his thumb on the hilt of his blade and pushes so that it pops out of the sheath slightly so as to make it easier to draw. He's got the thugs full attention now, thug A once again snickers**

Thug A: Well what do you know, the kids got a foreign sword, now you see by resisting that goes and pisses me off so instead of just robbing you now I'm going to kill you.

**Thug A makes a gesture with his hands, the other 2 goons spread out slightly to his side and all 3 of them draw their blades, sword freaks should recognize their type of sword as the Talwar a sword with a strong curve in it. Shadow seeing that fighting is unavoidable says to Kabira**

Shadow: Kabira can you please step back for a sec so I can kick these guys' asses and then we can go home.

**Shadow putting the sheath back on his belt draws his own Katana and gets in his stance, legs slightly apart he grabs his sword with both hands and points it towards his foes. Thug A smiles now seeing the glaringly obvious amateurish way Shadow is holding his sword and is in his stance.**

**Thug A grips his own blade with his left hand and moves his right foot slightly back some. He says with confidence to his minions**

Thug A: Oh looks like we got a wannabe swordsman here boys, you guys step back I'll teach this kid his lesson.

**The minions do what the thug says and take a step back, however they do surround Shadow and Kabira first to prevent them from escaping, not that Shadow wants to escape. With adrenalin pumping into his veins he looks very excited at the opportunely to fight.**

**Kabira on the other hand looks very nervous and is clearly uneasy about getting into a fight without her bodyguard Raheem however she does take a step away from Shadow to give him room to fight.**

Shadow: Teach me a lesson huh, I'll remember that when I send you home crying to your mama.

**Shadow tenses expecting the guy to lose his temper and come charging at him. Thug A however doesn't bite Shadow's bait. He begins to spin his sword with his right hand fingers on the hilt. He counter Shadow's words**

Thug A: Hehehe just try brat I dare you.

**For the first time ever or at least that we've seen Shadow looks uncertain. He wasn't expecting this kind of reaction, then he looks pissed.**

Shadow: Don't underestimate me!

**Shadow charges straight towards Thug A. Thug A smiles smugly wanting this to happen. Shadow attempts to perform a downward vertical slash but Thug A suddenly re-grips his sword at the last second just as it swings down so that the tip of the blade is pointing down and brings it up to block Shadow's attack.**

**Their blades clash as they both begin to push against each other. Shadow looks surprise by Thug A's sudden and easy block.**

Shadow (What! How did he block so quickly?)

**Thug A is also surprise but unlike Shadow he's doing a better job at hiding it.**

Thug A (Arrrr this kid's got some muscle on him.)

**Thug A adjusts his footing to try and compensate for the extra force he wasn't expecting but even that isn't enough to equal out his and Shadow's strength difference. His left hand twitches and he has to resist the urge to use it in order to help push back Shadow's blade, however due to Shadow's lack of experience he fails to see that he's about to push Thug A back.**

**Shadow's impatience gets the best of him, he breaks the duel and pulls his blade back in order to perform a second attack. Relief floods Thug A's face as Shadow pulls back the pressure but he quickly refocuses as Shadow attempts to perform a left horizontal slash at Thug A. **

**Thug A turns his blade around so the tip is pointing up and blocks Shadow's attack, learning from his past encounter Thug A instead of holding his ground and trying to push Shadow back rotates on his legs parrying Shadow's blade and successfully puts Shadow off balance. **

**Spinning around like a top Thug A gets behind Shadow and performs a quick downward vertical slash just as Shadow stumbles and regains his footing. Thug A was quick with his attack but Shadow is even quicker. Shadow almost sensing the blade coming dives forward into a barrel-roll and manages to dodge the attack with only receiving a minor scratch on his back. **

**Shadow quickly turns and gets on one knee with his left hand on the ground and his right holding onto his sword. He glares at Thug A and Thug A in turn glares at Shadow.**

Thug A: Hm you're a quick bug aren't you!

Shadow: You ain't seen nothing yet!

**Shadow shouts as he charges Thug A again. As Shadow runs towards Thug A he grips his sword with both hands. Thug A surprisingly takes up what can best be describe as a fencing stance, facing Shadow sideways while holding onto his sword with one hand and keeping his unarm hand behind his back.**

**Shadow begins to slash at Thug A but once again his attacks are wild and easily predictable. Shadow performs a downward vertical slash, a stabbing attack at the chest, some kind of spinning horizontal attack (his body literary spins, remember wild attacks) and a jump attack.**

**Thug A uses the tip and side of his sword to manipulate the path of Shadow's own blade, with Shadow's first attack he puts the side of his own sword against the side of Shadow's sword and pushes it causing the angle of Shadow's attack to be off and miss Thug A. **

**On the stab attack Thug A puts the tip of his blade on the tip of Shadow's sword and once again pushes it enough that the angle is off and it completely misses. Shadow stumbles forward past Thug A. Thug A turns himself so that his side is once again facing Shadow. **

**Shadow not wanting to give Thug A the chance to attack tries to attack while he spins around to face Thug A (spinning horizontal attack). Thug A trying to resist laughing at Shadow's more comedic then dangerous attack lightly jumps back avoiding the blow while Shadow stops and once again struggles to regain his footing. **

**Shadow is now getting frustrated and charges at Thug A to perform a jump attack. Thug A easily sidesteps it. Shadow's blade makes a dud cling sound when it hits the ground. Shadow grits his teeth in frustration but gets up and charges at Thug A again but it's useless. Thug A is deflecting all of his attacks with ease. Thug A gloats in front of him**

Thug A: You luck out kid, I was a level 4 master of the Shito sword fighting style so little uncoordinated attacks like this are nothing for me to block!

**Thug A puts the tip of his blade against Shadow's once again and deflects a stab attack. Sweat is beginning to come down Shadow's face as it becomes more obvious that he's just outmatch.**

Shadow (Damn It! Damn It! DAMN IT! Not again why can't I hit him, is a fighting style really that important?)

**Thug A lightly jumps back dodging Shadow's horizontal slash. Thug A smirks at Shadow. Shadow is breathing heavily from jumping and swinging his sword at Thug A, sweat is coming down his face and the tip of his sword is resting on the ground because Shadow is becoming too tired to hold his blade up.**

Thug A: If that's all you've got then I'll be going now.

**With that Thug A charges Shadow going on the offensive. Shadow surprise quickly picks up his blade and goes on the defensive. Thug A begins to perform all stabbing attacks aim at different parts of the body. Shadow is clearly not use to this type of fighting style and has no idea how to block against it.**

**He tries to whack away Thug A's sword with his own but that fails. Thug A stabs at Shadow's head, chest, right shoulder, left leg, left leg, chest, head, right arm. **

**Shadow whacking at Thug A's blade does manage to deflect it somewhat meaning that Shadow never does take a direct hit but it isn't a complete block and every attack except for the head and chest stab attacks manages to cut Shadow somewhere. Shadow being forced back grits his teeth in frustration as he desperately struggles to survive.**

Shadow (Arrrr Why! Why are his attacks so much more effective than mine?)

**In a matter of minutes Shadow is cover in small and medium size wounds. Their mostly all over his arms and legs, and although none look serious the sheer number of them make it obvious Shadow's situation is getting worse and soon he's cover in his own blood. **

**Thug A begins to perform a stab attack to the chest, Shadow sidesteps to the right. Thug A smirks expecting just this and Shadow realizes to late that the stab attack is a fake. Thug A's real attack is a right horizontal slash. Shadow jumps back barely avoiding a lethal blow but Thug A's sword still manages to cut Shadow across the chest. **

**Shadow jumps away from Thug A as his breathing gets heavier. Shadow's cuts are starting to bleed pretty heavily now but none are as bad as the one across his chest. Thug A on the other hand looks completely at ease and has no damage what so ever. Thug A is enjoying this one sided battle.**

Thug A: Come on after all that big talk is this really all you got kid?

**Shadow doesn't have a witty comeback this time, suddenly we hear Kabira shout**

Kabira: Shadow!

**There's fear in her voice. Shadow concern quickly turns to look at her. The minions getting bored waiting for their boss have decided to advance on Kabira, they're purposely going slow to take full advantage of Kabira's look of fear. Kabira is terrified and looks like a cornered rat as she backs up, there's no place for her to run. Shadow looks outraged and deeply worried.**

Shadow: Bastards attacking a little girl!

**Thug A just shrugs uncaring**

Thug A: You brought this upon yourself when you decided to resist.

**Shadow grits his teeth again but this time it's out of pure anger. Shadow charges Thug A with renewed vaguer. Thug A is still perfectly calm already expecting this kind of reaction. **

**Shadow begins the same kind of random attack on Thug A again and Thug A blocks them the same way but one can't help but notice that Shadow's attacks are faster than before but Thug A either doesn't notice or doesn't care.**

Thug A (Ha does he really believe this kind of attack will get through my defensives, why I can block this kind of random sword play all)

**Thug A is cut off. Shadow tried a jump attack again but Thug A steps back and easily avoids it, but suddenly on the down arch of the blade's swing Shadow's sword becomes a blur as he performs a stab attack at Thug A's face. Even though the attack itself isn't special the speed in which he performs it is beyond the ability of Thug A to block. **

**Only the slight movement of his head saves Thug A from near certain death and whether or not he did this on purpose is questionable. Shadow's blade slashes and badly cuts Thug A's cheek. Thug A stumbles back and howlers in pain. **

**If Shadow was smarter and more calm he would have used that moment of distraction to finish off Thug A but his eyes are lock on Kabira and he rushes past Thug A. Thug B starting to get bored of scaring Kabira decides to just finish her. Thug B begins to perform a right downward diagonal slash attempting to cut Kabira in half. **

**Kabira becomes like a deer in headlights and can't move, time slows down for a moment as we see Thug B's blade come ever closer to Kabira then Shadow appears in front of Kabira. His arms are spread open out to his sides; his sword is in his right hand pointed down. **

**Shadow having no time to block the attack simply uses his body as a shield to protect Kabira. Thug B's blade hits Shadow full force with nothing blocking it's path. Thug B delivers a very serious wound to Shadow. The cut is from his right shoulder to his left thigh and immediately begins to bleed heavily. Kabira shocked shouts**

Kabira: Shadow!

**Thug B is also surprise having not pay attention to Shadow and Thug A's fight, he didn't expect to see Shadow. The camera turns to face Shadow, his chin is on his chest as he struggles to keep conscious and not pass out from blood lose. He lifts up his head and his eyes exploded with his electrical intensity. He begins to speak with the same intensity**

Shadow: I won't let any of you touch a single hair on Kabira's head!

**Shadow's Neon gauntlet starts to glow, one can't help but notice that it's glowing brighter than normal. Kabira seeing Shadow's intense gaze before is nonetheless shocked by it now. This could be due to the fact that Shadow's voice seems to have a razor violent edge to it now that it didn't have when he spoke with Raheem.**

**There's no question this is a threat. Thug B is still surprise by Shadow's sudden appearance and his statement, which is why he doesn't react fast enough when Shadow re-grips his sword with both hands and charges him. Shadow performs a simple stab attack aim at Thug B's chest. **

**Thug B tries to move to block but it's too late, Shadow's sword hits Thug B square in the chest. Shadow's sword penetrates Thug B's chest; we can see the tip come out the other side. Thug B looks shocked and simply can't process what happen to him. **

**A thin line of blood begins to roll down his lip and his eyes glaze over as his legs crumbles underneath him and he falls to the ground like a ton of bricks. As Thug B falls to the ground Shadow pulls his sword out of him, there's blood all over the blade and we can see that Shadow now has a very serious look on his face. **

**The normal happy excited smile is gone and it's clear that Shadow is no longer having fun with this battle. Thug A has his left hand over the wound on his face, upon seeing Shadow strike down his comrade he shouts in rage**

Thug A: KILL HIM; don't let that freaking bastard get away alive!

**Thug C becomes enrage as well seeing Shadow slay his friend and charges him full of anger. Shadow is exhausted and he's turning really white from blood lose. Blood lose is causing the already tired Shadow to become weaken even further. **

**Blood is now all over Shadow and in some places has begun to dry and stiffen, however when Shadow sees Thug C he lifts up his sword and forces his body to once again move. Thug C's anger seems to be working in Shadow's favor, his sword attacks are just as sloppy and bad as Shadow's although since we haven't seen him fight before it is possible that he simply is the worst sword fighting out of the 3 thugs. **

**Thug C performs a downward vertical slash, an upward diagonal slash, a left horizontal slash and a stabbing attack. Shadow however is able to block the poor executed attacks, turning blade horizontal block, step back evade, turning blade vertical with tip pointing up block, and sidestep left.**

**Normally Shadow would start a counter attack right about now but fighting back is simply beyond him now, as we can see when the camera switches to his perspective. We can see the image of Thug C fade in and out of focus.**

Shadow (Damn so this is what Drake warned about when fighting in human vs. human battles.)

**Shadow has a quick flashback, we see Drack standing in the Dark-Angel's conference room with a projector. Shadow, Cagalli, Nick and Roxas are sitting down at the table. Drake taps on the projector and a picture of the human body comes up.**

Drake: Alright today we're going to be talking about the human body or more exactly the position of all the arteries and vital organs in the human body.

**He receives several moans and groans of protest from Shadow and the others.**

Shadow: Oh come on.

Roxas: This sucks.

**Drake annoyed snaps**

Drake: Quit you're whining before I decide to make you learn all of this while doing push-ups!

**This shuts everyone up. Cagalli folds her arms and asks**

Cagalli: And why again are we learning about this? We're mobile-I mean Gundam Pilots so why do we have to learn about this stuff?

**Shadow, and Roxas eagerly agree with Cagalli although whether they actually think she's right or just want to get out of the lesson is debatable, however Drake realizes that this is something he can't just wave off when even Nick goes against him.**

Nick: She has a point mate, I can understand that the Gundams are based on human bodies but learning about the arteries and vital organs still seems extreme and pointless.

**Drake sighs then begins to explain**

Drake: Fine since you guys don't understand I'll explain. If you guys were simply just some mindless soldiers then yea you wouldn't need to know this, serving in an army means you got hundreds of different people who do different things so you only need to know how to perform your job, whether that's piloting a Gundam or being a doctor. However you guys don't have that option, and no it's not just because you're a Gundam Team because I do know some Gundam Teams that's members range in the hundreds, it's because your team is small that you guys need to learn this.

Drake: Look around because you guys all that you've got, so I'm thinking ahead in the future, who knows when you'll have to know how to perform first aid on your friend in the middle of a battle in order to make sure they can survive long enough to get to a doctor, who knows when you'll be force to engage in human vs. human fight. When things like this happen do you want to be thinking "damn why didn't I ever bother to learn this stuff" or would you rather be thinking "gee it's a good thing I listen to Drake when he taught me this"?

**Cagalli gets Drake's point and although she still thinks this is a waste of time she does shut up. Shadow on the other hand still isn't completely sold yet.**

Shadow: Why would I need to know about this in a human vs. human fight?

**Drake eyes Shadow for a moment and then says coldly**

Drake: Blood lose, unlike in a Gundam Fight where if you get some small cut you can simply redirect the power and still be able to get your Gundam to perform at high levels in a human fight every cut you receive is like a ticking time bomb. As blood begins to pour out you'll begin to get weaker and weaker, as the number of these cuts build plus your weariness from the actual fighting you'll find that your strength will drop like a piano from a rooftop.

**The flashback ends with Drake saying**

Drake: And the worst case scenario is that you pass out from blood lose.

**We come back to the present as Shadow is still forcing his body to move and block Thug C's attack.**

Shadow (I guess I should have been more careful to avoid getting all these cuts oh well can't worry about that now.)

**Thug A comes up from behind Shadow and performs a stab attack aim at the center of his back. Shadow looking over his shoulder sees it coming and turns so that his side is towards Thug A and jumps back dodging the attack but he doesn't get a moment to rest as Thug C performs a downward vertical slash behind Shadow. **

**Shadow has to dive and roll in order to dodge the attack. He gets on one knee but when he goes to stand back up his eyes glaze over as his vision goes out of focus and he stumbles and falls back to one knee. Thug A smiles as he sees what's going on**

Thug A: What's the matter kid having trouble standing?

**Shadow grits his teeth in frustration**

Shadow (I'm nine-freaking-teen but everyone's got to call me kid! If I could stand I'd teach this guy a lesson, heh but I can't.)

**Shadow suddenly shouts**

Shadow: Kabira get out of here! Run to the Dark-Angel as fast as you can!

**The camera turns to look at Kabira, while the fights been going on Kabira has just been standing stun watching it not sure what she should do, upon hearing Shadow Kabira is still unsure what she should do.**

Kabira: No I can't just leave you.

**She shakes her head not wanting to abandon Shadow. Shadow annoyed shouts back**

Shadow: Don't worry about me I'll be fine, I'll be right behind you now just GO!

**Kabira still doesn't go. The Thugs are ignoring her and have their attention completely focus on Shadow. Thug A still with his sick and twisted smile shouts**

Thug A: Sorry but you're going to die right now!

**Thug A charges Shadow performing a stab attack aim at his chest. Shadow can see the attack coming but he simply can't move, in fact he looks like he's going to lose consciousness.**

Shadow (Damn can't move.)

**Even the voice inside his head sounds tired and weak. Kabira really scared now shouts**

Kabira: SHADOW!

**Thug A continues moving straight to Shadow, the camera swings around and centers on Shadow. At the last second just as it looks like Shadow is about to be killed someone steps in front of him and catches Thug A's wrist stopping the attack. We do a quick 4 way split screen to show a surprise Shadow, Kabira and Thug A and B. **

**The camera turns back to normal to reveal that Raheem has arrive just in time. Raheem has the whole calm silent rage thing going. Raheem has caught the wrist of Thug A with his right hand right as the tip of the blade touches Shadow's chest. Thug A is too shocked to even process what happen. **

**Raheem however reacts with the precision and power of a season and well trained solider. Raheem slides his left foot underneath Thug A while still holding his wrist and hooks Thug A's right foot and pulls it forward. Thug A is immediately thrown off balance and begins to fall backwards. **

**Raheem twists Thug A's wrist causing Thug A to lose his grip on his sword and pushes forward, palm slamming Thug A's arm into his chest into the ground. We hear the unmistakable sound of Thug A's wrist and a rib breaking. Thug A coughs up blood and instantly loses consciousness. **

**This whole attack takes place in seconds and Shadow eyes pop open as he watches with deep surprise as Raheem easily takes out an enemy he could not defeat. **

**Raheem gets up slowly but the way he gets up almost screams like he's forcing himself to remain calm and not go berserk on the last remaining Thug. Thug C upon seeing another comrade fall becomes enrage again and charges Raheem.**

Thug C: You bastard!

**Raheem slowly pulls out what appears to be a hilt of a sword from his pocket, but there's no blade it's just a hilt. The blade appears as it begins to extend from the hilt, the blade extends fully and stops to reveal it has no tip, the top is flat. The blade splits into 2, the side with bladed edge extends forward then stops. **

**The ending result is that Raheem's sword looks like a hollow rectangle with the blade on one side. Thug C performs a downward vertical slash. Raheem turns his blade sideways and holds it over his head blocking the attack without moving an inch back. Thug C tires a right downward diagonal slash which Raheem counters with a left horizontal slash. **

**Raheem goes on the offensive, his attacks are lightning fast and incredibly accurate showing that he is without a doubt a profession swordsman, left horizontal slash, right vertical slash, upward left diagonal slash, right horizontal. **

**Thug C is desperately trying to hold his own in this fight, but against a real swordsman he's outmatch. Raheem performs a powerful upward vertical slash. Thug C makes the mistake of trying to block the attack by turning his sword sideways but Raheem's sword swing is too powerful and Thug C's sword gets ripped from his hand and sent flying into the air. **

**Thug C looks like a deer in headlights and freezes, Raheem on the other hand shows no mercy and attacks without hesitation. He flips his blade around and bashes Thug C in the head with the dull edge. Thug C is knock to the ground like a bowling pin and is down for the count. There's a moment of silence as no one moves, then Kabira shouts**

Kabira: Raheem!

**Kabira runs over to Raheem and hugs him full of relief and starts crying tears of joy. Raheem putting his sword away gently hugs and comforts her.**

Raheem: It's ok Kabira, its ok; everything is going to be ok.

**Kabira after calming down a bit suddenly remembers Shadow. She lets go of Raheem swings her head around to look at him.**

Kabira: Shadow!

**She spots Shadow still kneeing where he is. She rushes over to him with Raheem right behind her. Shadow's eyes are closed and his breathing is shallow, Kabira is very worried**

Kabira: Come on Shadow answer me! Shadow open your stupid freaking eyes!

**Kabira looks extremely concern now. Shadow is still bleeding but it's coming out much slower now. The blood that has already come out has dried on his clothes making him look less like a living human and more like some grotesque statue. **

**One might even ask if he has passed on to the next world yet but Shadow quickly dashes these thought as he groans then says**

Shadow: Owww my ears. God Kabira I'm not deaf nor am I dead yet. Hahahah it's going to take a lot more than that to kill the great Shadow Zoomarey.

**Shadow laughs and says weakly. Relief floods Kabira's face and she wipes away her tears and says**

Kabira: Great my ass, the only thing you're good at is getting your butt kicked.

**Kabira gently teases him. Shadow is too weak to make a witty comeback. Raheem knees down beside him and begins to examine his wounds; however we can already tell that Shadow's wounds aren't something a Band-Aid can fix. As Raheem examines Shadow's wounds he begins to scold Kabira, he's angry (think father worry/angry)**

Raheem: Ms. Kabira what were you thinking going out without informing me! I'm your bodyguard; I know we had a disagreement about you going out into town but that's no excuse to ask Roxas to distract me while you leave the ship, it's a good thing Shadow saw you and decided to act as your bodyguard for the day but because of your reckless and thoughtless actions Shadow has suffer serious wounds that

**Shadow not yet dead and still capable of being angered, lifts up his head and his eyes once again show their electric current. He cuts Raheem off**

Shadow: Raheem I didn't hang out with Kabira all day because I felt I had to protect her, I spent all day with her because she's fun to be around and I protected her because she is my friend!

**Kabira and Raheem are surprise, Kabira is also touch, and while they just stand their shock Shadow smiles and makes a sad joke at his expensive.**

Shadow: Even though I did a crappy job protecting her, heh it makes me seem like a joke. How am I ever going to become the greatest Gundam Fighter ever when I can't even protect one little girl?

**Shadow's smile seems fake and sad. Raheem empathizes with Shadow almost instantly, and he puts a hand on Shadow's shoulder and says gently**

Raheem: You did good today kid, real good, you may not be strong enough to beat them yet but you were strong enough to keep them at bay until I arrived and Kabira didn't receive a single scratch so in my opinion you protected her just fine.

**Kabira suddenly sneezes. Shadow catches this and ignoring Raheem's comment he says**

Shadow: Ha look at you Kabira, and you called me an idiot for bringing my coat but now look who's the idiot. I'm all nice and warm while you're cold, but since you've been having such a crappy day I'll lend you my jacket.

**Shadow still weakly moves to take off his jacket. Kabira even more shocked shouts in protest**

Kabira: What! Wait you moron you're cover in wounds you need that jacket more

**Raheem cuts her off and takes the jacket from Shadow.**

Raheem: Thank you Shadow, now while don't you quit being so stubborn and get some rest.

**Shadow nods his tired head and finally drifts off to sleep. Kabira turns to Raheem to protest**

Kabira: Raheem I can't take Shadow's jacket, having all those cuts is bad enough but we need to keep him warm

**Raheem once again cuts her off**

Raheem: Ms. Kabira you will take and wear this jacket for Shadow, as a fellow warrior I can understand his pride. He feels like he failed today and in a way he did, to a warrior every battle is important every fight matters and to be beaten this badly again is almost intolerable to someone like Shadow because he tries his best every single time in the hopes that he is improving but the fact that he couldn't even protect his friend tonight must have hurt him more than any of these physical wounds so please wear this jacket so that he can feel like he accomplish something today.

**Kabira looks at Raheem deeply surprise and shocked, but after a moment's hesitation she takes the torn and bloody jacket.**

Kabira: Ok.

**Raheem nods his head and as Kabira puts on the jacket he gently picks up Shadow and puts him on his back.**

Raheem: We need to get back to the Dark-Angel right away, Shadow needs medical attention immediately.

**The scene ends with Kabira and Raheem jogging back to the Dark-Angel at a fast pace. The next scene opens up in what looks like an office. We can see computers everywhere and a bunch of people running around doing something important. We can also see that everyone is in uniform which means that this is most likely a military office. We hear someone shouting**

Head of Department: What! Are you sure about this Zagat?

**The camera turns to look at what is obviously the head of Department's desk (note from now on I'll be referring to the Head of the Department as HOD). Zagat is standing in front of the desk having his poker face serious look.**

Zagat: Of course I'm sure or else I wouldn't have boarded a volxta jet plane to get here from Azize in under 24 hours.

**A volxta jet plane is one of the fastest means of transportation in Sora just think small maybe 10 seated airplane that moves at Mach speeds that's super expensive to get a ticket. HOD looks uncertain we can see his assistant looking at photos. He unlike the HOD is clearly unconvinced and looks at Zagat annoyed.**

Assistant: Tell me Zagat do you have any actual proof because all I see here are pictures of a ship.

**The assistant throws the photos on the desk; now that we can see them we can see that they're pictures of the Dark-Angel. Zagat eyes narrow on the assistant clearly not liking someone challenging him but he plays the concern helpful citizen well.**

Zagat: Look gentleman I know that there's no physical proof but I and Councilman Fachtna have a strong reason to suspect this Gundam Team has been hired by the rebels to fight against the Haben military.

**HOD looks nervous and is worried about making the wrong decision.**

HOD: Tell me why did Fachtna feel the need to send one of his personal assistants out here to show me these pictures and tell me this when we could have had this conversation on the phone?

**Zagat looks at HOD for a second then he looks left and then right appearing to make sure no one is listening then leans in. HOD seeing this is something he doesn't want to discuss out loud leans in too, his assistant also leans in. Zagat begins to whisper**

Zagat: I'm sure you have heard about the king consulting several advisers and talking with some of his elite guard in secret private meeting which he has refused to disclose.

**HOD nods his head eagerly trying to show Zagat how much he knows.**

HOD: Yes, there are rumors going around that there's a crooked council member in the Haben council using founding for their region for personal means.

**Zagat takes one more look over his shoulder then sadly shakes his head.**

Zagat: I'm afraid the truth is far worse than that my friend. What I'm about to tell you guys is top secret and you can't discuss it with anyone do you understand?

**HOD and the assistant nod their heads**

HOD: Of course.

**Zagat satisfied goes on**

Zagat: What the king is doing isn't looking for another crooked politician but rebel spies.

**The assistant is shocked**

Assistant: Spies!

**Zagat nods his head**

Zagat: Spies. We have proof that numerous political and military officers have turned over to the rebel cause. No doubt that these greedy individuals seek to use the rebels as a means to advance their own selfish interest and ambitions in the government or military.

**HOD and the assistant become very worry when they hear this news but not in the way most would think. Zagat knows instantly what they're worry about and smiles, despite how good an actor Zagat is he still can't fully conceal the fox like coy smile.**

Zagat: I hope you won't take offense but we've done a complete and thorough background check on both of you and rest assure my friends we have found no evidence what so ever of you being involved in these horrendous acts which is why we felt we could trust you with this information.

**HOD and the assistant breathe a deep sigh of relief. They thought they were suspects. Zagat smiles like a salesman that can smell a big payout coming.**

Zagat: So I'm sure you can understand why this information had to be deliver to you in person and has to stay with only you 2.

**HOD and the assistant nod their heads**

HOD: Of course.

**HOD looks ready to give Zagat command of the entire department but the assistant isn't.**

Assistant: I agree that what you're saying makes sense, however we still can't just send our high ranking personnel to attack a ship we don't have positive identification on; the other department heads would have both are jobs if we waste valuable military Gundam Fighters on petty jobs like that. I recommend we send Salim's team.

**HOD finally proving he earns his job leans back in his chair and begins to tap his fingers as he thinks.**

HOD: It does make sense, Salim has a good amount of experience in battle, and he was also trained by one of the royal guard members.

**The assistant adds**

Assistant: And since he's still a relatively low member of the military nobody's going to think twice about him being sent on a verification assignment.

**HOD nods his head coming to the decision**

HOD: Agreed, Zagat we'll send Salim's team at once to investigate this Gundam team and if they are confirmed to be hired by the rebels then Salim will have authorization to apprehend them dead or alive.

**Zagat spreads his arms out wide and gives a mock smile.**

Zagat: Excellent that's all I could ask, thank you good gentleman for giving me some of your valuable time.

**HOD very pleased with Zagat's compliment tries to be modest.**

HOD: Oh don't worry about it Zagat.

**The assistant nods his head**

Assistant: Of course, to help Haben we would gladly give you years of our time.

**Zagat fake laughs**

Zagat: HAHAHA fortunately it won't come to that, anyway I'll be on my way so you gentleman can carry on with your fine work.

HOD: Very well then Zagat, I'll contact you with Salim's report.

**Zagat nods his head and walks away, as he walks away we can see his Loki (Norse mythology) smile grow bigger. The scene cuts back to Haben Harbor to show sunrise, the camera cuts into the Dark-Angel's medical bay just as we hear Shadow shout loudly**

Shadow: I'm so hungry!

**The camera turns to look at Shadow appearing fully recover in the medical bed. Kenny, Nick, Cagalli, Jack and Roxas are sitting around Shadow. We can also see Zuke leaning against the corner of the wall looking bored. Kenny is looking at Shadow like he's stupid**

Kenny: Here's a crazy idea why don't you try eating the food right in front of you if you're hungry.

**Shadow looks unhappy at the food that's sitting right in front of him. He begins to play with it with his fork.**

Shadow: I tasted heaven yesterday now I can't turn back, plus this food was pretty bad anyway.

**Nick laughs**

Nick: HAHAHHA, you got to do what I do mate and just chug it down. I barely even taste it now.

**Jack looks at Shadow crossly**

Jack: Or you could turn around and actually hire a better cook along with a Captain.

**Shadow looks at Jack annoyed**

Shadow: I'm working on it, I'm working on it.

**Nick, Roxas, Jack and Kenny laugh. Cagalli is looking at Shadow slightly amaze and begins thinking aloud.**

Cagalli: Sora technology is amazing, Shadow came here cover in cuts and half dead yesterday, but now less than a day later he looks completely restored and all it took was a little bath.

**Cagalli doesn't realize she's talking out loud. Shadow upon hearing her puffs out his chest and says with rising pride/ego**

Shadow: It's not all Sora technology, I've always been a fast healer; it's one of my many talents.

**Roxas smirks at Shadow and pops his bubble**

Roxas: Oh really and does that include getting your ass kick? Because from what I heard from Raheem you got your ass handed to you on a silver platter yesterday with a fight against some thugs.

**Shadow turns red in embarrassment. Nick and Jack once again laugh at Shadow**

Nick: HAHAHAHAHA she got you their mate!

Jack: HAHAHAH Shadow would you like some ice for that burn!

**Kenny turns to Cagalli and gives her some more information on Sora's medical technology**

Kenny: Anyway it wasn't a bath Cagalli, Shadow was dipped into chemical liquids that helped stimulate cell regeneration and of course we gave him a blood transfusion. The chemical bath however is pretty much standard procedure for patients with multiply middle or small cuts; if he had internal damage or other wounds the treatment would be different.

**Cagalli nods her head in understanding, then asks**

Cagalli: Ok I see, so what was that gel thing that was put on his wounds after he came out of the chemical bath.

**Shadow eavesdropping on the conversation adds**

Shadow: And why do I still have to lie in bed?

**Kenny explains**

Kenny: That was protective gel, damage cells dipped into a chemical bath become extremely vulnerable for about 2 days after, if you damage those cells while they're in hyper regeneration you can cause a series mutation which can permanently screw up your body. And the reason you have to stay in bed Shadow is because even with the chemical stimulation your cells still need 2 to 3 days to fully heal and for the chemicals to wear off.

**Nick slaps Shadow's knee**

Nick: So that means you're not going anywhere mate!

**Shadow just glares at him. Jack feeling a little sorry for Shadow decides to show some mercy.**

Jack: Don't worry Shadow we won't leave Haben Harbor until you're better. This way I finally get some time to work on some new mechanic designs on the Gundams.

**Kenny liking this idea**

Kenny: I can also put in new redesign programs that should increase the Gundam's efficacy.

**Roxas also adds excitedly**

Roxas: And me Nick and Cagalli can explore the town.

**Nick Cagalli seem to like this idea. Shadow seeing everyone's reaction sighs and accepts the idea. He then lifts up his head his eyes full of renewed energy, the episode ends with him shouting.**

Shadow: Then we leave Haben Harbor in 3 days!

_Author's Note: _**Ok 2 things I want to discus with you guys. 1. The Haben state religion is completely made up and comes from the bowls of my own mind and imagination, it is not based on any current or past religion and any similaries you may find with it and your own faith are just coincidence. I apologize if I offended anyone's faith that was not my attention, it is part of my belief that a thousand or so years from now when people live on a new world in a new land it would only be natural that a new religion forms. 2. To lyn09 (sorry for calling you out like this but rest assure you are not the only person to ask me this) Mr. 4 has not forgotten about Cagalli, it's kind of hard to explain since I don't want to give away future story plots so the best way I can explain this is by comparing this to the Itachi arch in naruto, we see Itachi and friend (not even going to try and spell sharkman's name) come and kick naruto and sasuke's ass once then disappear for the rest of part 1 and don't reappear till part 2, my point being that even though we don't see them doesn't mean they had forgotten about naruto (and please don't over think it with the Itachi secret plot thing). So I promise Mr. 4 will reappear in the story when he's watch Cagalli grow strong enough and is ready to pick her, this also goes for any of the other open cliff hangers, I know it may be hard to believe but I have a logical to my madness and I do have a general idea as to where my story is going. So rest assure all questions will be answer eventually. I hope this helps you lyn09 and others who had this question. P.S. Thanks for commenting on the reviews, other than reading the stats thing the reviews are really the only way I have of keeping track of how many people actually read my story and it's nice to know that I have more than like 3 people reading my story, not that I'd stop if I thought only 3 people were reading my story for a good story only needs a single person to read it in order for it to achieve its purpose! All for now. See-yea**


	40. Episode 39

Episode 39

**The episode opens up in a library, it's a pretty big place filled with thousands of books and judging from the color of the walls we can guess it's pretty old too. There's a couple of skylights scatter over the ceiling so the place is getting plenty of light but somehow that just seems to add to the oldness of it. **

**The camera looks down to show Byron sitting down at a table. There's a stack of books on the table and Byron appears to be reading each one of them carefully. He's taking notes down on a notepad. Hirsi walks out from behind a shelf of books and spots Byron**

Hirsi: Hey Byron.

**Hirsi walks over to Byron. Byron looks up and pushes his glasses back up his face.**

Byron: Hirsi? Well this certainly is a surprise; the library is the last place I would expect to see someone like you.

**Hirsi laughs a little taking Byron's comment as a joke.**

Hirsi: HAHAHA well that might be the case for normal soldiers who only train their bodies but I'll have you know that us elite royal soldiers train our minds as well, which of course is why we are elite soldiers. Although I also have to admit I'm surprise to find you here.

**Byron leans back in his chair, as he does so he flips his notepad upside. A small movement that would go unnoticed by most but Hirsi isn't most people. He's an elite soldier and his eyes narrow as he spots this movement immediately but he chooses to say nothing.**

Byron: True enough, it's rare to see anyone in the library any more, most people today get and read their books online. Some people would say that the age of physical books is over and that everything is going to be converted to an ebook and be read online.

**Hirsi nods his head and he looks a little sad**

Hirsi: Yes and I can't help thinking they're right, take a look around Byron, it's the middle of a non-work day and yet there's probably only 5 people in here counting you and I. I hear one of the council members are putting in for a motion to convert this library into an elibrary, and I still find myself trying to decide whether or not to support this deal or oppose it, maybe it would be best if we just surrender to the flow of time and succumb to the age of technology.

**Byron looks at Hirsi for a moment but he still looks unreadable. He fiddles with his glasses then says**

Byron: I disagree, technology is like alcohol; if you have a glass a day your life expectancy will increase but if you overuse it your life expectancy will be cut in half. Technology is the same, if we use it at just the right amount it can greatly help our lives but if we abuse it, it will consume us. Besides people have been saying for hundreds of years that the time of the physical book is over but look around, we're still in a library that holds hundreds of physical books; there will always be library like this because those PDAs will never be able to match the feel of a real book.

Byron: The feel of each page as we turn it, the smell of the pages, the feeling we get when we lay in a chair by the fire and rest the book on our knee; even though the PDAs make things easier in the long haul sometimes we human beings choose to take the hard way, the long way of doing things, so that we can stop to smell the flowers along the way because when the goal can be reach with the simple touch of a screen the goal itself no longer becomes important but rather the journey to the goal is what really matters.

**Hirsi's eyes open wide at Byron's almost poetic speech, he suddenly grins at him.**

Hirsi: I must say Byron I don't give you enough credit, you're more of a romantic then I thought.

**Byron in turn smiles at Hirsi**

Byron: I am simply a man that holds many interests nothing more nothing less.

**Hirsi nods his head then goes and picks up one of the books Byron is looking at**

Hirsi: That is certainly true, speaking of your interest do you mind telling me what book you're reading?

**Hirsi without waiting for a response looks at the cover of Byron's book; we see surprise on his face.**

Hirsi: A historical reference of Haben palace and how it came to be?

**Byron gets up and grabs his pad careful not to show Hirsi anything on it. He begins to walk away.**

Byron: Yes I like to read the history about things, I like learning about how things came to be today. I feel that gives me an edge in whatever I'm doing.

**Byron continues to walk away. Hirsi puts the book down on the table he looks up and his eyes suddenly look very serious.**

Hirsi: Tell me Byron whose side are you on? What is your true objective?

**Byron stops but doesn't turn around to face Hirsi, but we can see him smile**

Byron: It's as I said, I am a man with many interest nothing more nothing less.

**The scene ends with Byron walking away and Hirsi watching him. The next scene opens up showing Cagalli and Kenny walking together in the Gundam bay of the Dark-Angel. Kenny is talking excitedly**

Kenny: Oh man Cagalli you missed it, after you headed back to the ship Nick and I found this sweat trade all shop, I was able to find a new microprocessor computer chip for my computer for almost half its sailing price and Nick found a Luje Megel harmonicon.

**Cagalli doesn't look too impressed**

Cagalli: That sounds really interesting Kenny.

**She's being sarcastic. Kenny turns to her annoyed then says**

Kenny: You know Cagalli you're never going to meet a man if you keep running away every time we mention hitting the clubs, statistically speaking women who go home before dark rather than hitting the clubs or just going out are 76 percent less likely to be married before their late 40's if ever.

**Cagalli turns to glare at Kenny, her eyes are glowing slightly like the embers in a flame and her voice takes on a razor edge as she asks Kenny**

Cagalli: Oh really and where did you hear that?

**Kenny doesn't see the danger he's getting into and answers in a cheerily voice**

Kenny: The internet.

**Cagalli's glaring goes up a notch at Kenny's chilled answer. Kenny finally realizes how screwed he might be. He takes a step back afraid, and just as it looks like Cagalli might slap him we hear shouting**

Shadow: Oh come on please!

**Cagalli distracted turns to look at Shadow. Shadow now fully recovered is following Raheem around appearing to ask him something. Raheem looks annoyed**

Raheem: For the last time I said no!

**Cagalli turns to Kenny and says**

Cagalli: Shadow seems to have fully recovered in 2 days.

**Kenny snorts**

Kenny: He's only mostly recover, he should still be in bed but since this is Shadow it's a miracle that we were able to get him to stay in bed for 2 days.

**Cagalli nods her head in agreement**

Cagalli: That's for sure but what is he bothering Raheem about?

**Kenny smiles as he explains**

Kenny: Oh well you know how Raheem saved him and Kabira from those thugs, well he's now convince that the only way to improved his skills with a sword is to have Raheem teach him Haben's regia sword fighting style.

**Cagalli looks at Kenny confused**

Cagalli: Regia sword fighting style?

**Kenny realizes Cagalli's confused**

Kenny: That's Raheem's sword fighting style, I was able to figure it out by the way Shadow describe it.

Cagalli: Let me guess, you know this because of the Internet?

**Kenny mock offended**

Kenny: Uh don't underestimate the power of the internet; some people say that one who masters the internet will achieve the state of all knowing.

**Cagalli doesn't seem believing or impressed.**

Cagalli: Ah-huh.

**The camera spins around back to Shadow and Raheem. Shadow is not giving up**

Shadow: Raheem buddy friend I'm not asking for much, just 1 or 2 lessons, just so I can pick up a sword style.

**Raheem isn't going for it, and he's starting to look annoyed.**

Raheem: Ok for starters Regia isn't so simple a sword style that it can be pick up in 1 or 2 lessons, it takes years of dedication and hard work to master. Second only Haben's elite royal soldiers have the privilege to learn such a style, it's a reward for Haben soldiers that have worked hard and show exceptional skilled, the key word in there being Haben, which you are not. Third and lastly I'm Ms. Kabira's bodyguard which is a full time commitment, I can't simply leave her unattended while I go off and give sword teachings.

**Shadow still isn't giving up**

Shadow: Oh come on rules were meant to be broken, you basically just said that Regia should go to exception dedicated young men, which is what I am, so what if I'm not from Haben that doesn't mean I don't have the skill to master the style. As for Kabira, we can bring her with us while I train, she can read a book.

**Raheem sighs then says highly annoyed**

Raheem: A bodyguard has to be fully focus on the person he has to protect at all times, look what happen when I lost focus on Kabira because Roxas distracted me. Training you would place an unnecessary distraction on me, and besides shouldn't you ask your own master Diz Drake for training like this?

**Shadow sighs dejected**

Shadow: Drake's more a knife guy then a swordsman; he's only been training us in the basics you know getting our physical strength, speed, endurance and that other crap up.

**Raheem is about to comment when Roxas comes flying out of nowhere.**

Roxas: Raheem! I heard you called me, I'm coming my love!

**Raheem looks at Roxas fearful and turning to Shadow quickly says**

Raheem: No is still no, so please drop this.

**Raheem turns and takes off in the blink of an eye. Roxas is right behind him; Shadow pissed shouts**

Shadow: Well fine be that way! Sick him Roxas!

**The camera quickly turns back to Roxas, Roxas down on all fours chasing Raheem switches to canine imitations. She has her tongue sticking out and pants while pursuing Raheem. She barks in response to Shadow clearly having a great time. Shadow is still steaming about his encounter with Raheem as Kenny and Cagalli walk up to him.**

Kenny: Don't let it get you to Shadow, once Jack finishes making her last minute triple checks on all of the Dark-Angel's systems we'll be leaving Haben Harbor and heading straight to Azize and that's only about 2 day's journey so Raheem wouldn't have had much time to teach you much anyway.

**Cagalli isn't as nice as Kenny**

Cagalli: Shadow you're being childish and selfish, Raheem is a deeply devoted bodyguard, and that is a 24 hour 7 day job. He's got responsibilities to attend to, honestly Shadow you can't expect him to drop everything and give you a lesson.

**Shadow turns to her pissed**

Shadow: Well, yea, shut up! Anyway come on we got a sparring match now!

**Shadow grabs the back of Cagalli shirt's collar and begins to drag her away. Cagalli surprise grabs the front of her shirt's collar in order to stop the strangling.**

Cagalli: What, hold on Shadow I'm busy with other stuff at the moment I can't just drop everything either!

**Shadow is not going to lose this battle and his face takes on his stubborn/determine look.**

Shadow: No you've skipped our last 3 sparring practices so you're doing this one even if I have to drag you there myself!

**Cagalli is still struggling against Shadow but it doesn't appear to be going well.**

Cagalli: Come on Shadow I've been really busy and I don't have time for these stupid and pointless sparring matches.

**Shadow doesn't care**

Shadow: I don't care; you're making time right now!

**Kenny waves at them as Shadow drags Cagalli out of the Gundam bay.**

Kenny: Well have fun you guys, see you later.

**The camera cuts forward in time, we're in the gym/training area of the Dark-Angel. Cagalli and Shadow have pulled out mates and are stretching. Shadow is stretching his legs while Cagalli is stretching her arms. Cagalli still looks unhappy but she's resigned to participate.**

Cagalli: Alright Shadow let's make this quick, I'm a busy a person and I've got a lot to do.

**Cagalli goes over to the training weapon rack. The training weapons are exactly identical to the real weapons except the blades have been dull to the point that they can't cut. Cagalli picks up her Guan Dao.**

Shadow: Sure, I'll kick your ass as fast as I can princess.

**Shadow takes off his real Katana and picks up the training one from the rack. Cagalli crossing the mates to the other side is annoyed at Shadow's comment, what little fighting pride she has isn't going to take that.**

Cagalli: Ok just for that I'm not going to go easy on you even though you just recover from your fight with those thugs.

**Cagalli and Shadow are now on opposite sides of the mates facing each other. Shadow grins at Cagalli excited.**

Shadow: Good I wouldn't want you to.

**Shadow and Cagalli enter into a stare off. The camera first looks at Shadow, Shadow has grip his sword with both hands with the tip pointing at Cagalli. He's got a huge excited smile on his face. **

**The camera then turns to look at Cagalli, she's gripped her Guan Dao with both hands slightly spread apart, and the spear tip is pointed at Shadow. We can see a surprisingly focus look on her face, despite what she may think or say she's taking this fight seriously. **

**The camera continues to look back and forth between the 2 for a moment then as if a whistle that can only be heard by them blows they charge each other. Shadow performs a right downward diagonal slash at the same moment Cagalli performs a left upward diagonal slash. **

**Their blades clash as we hear a loud unmistakable bang noise and see sparks fly. Their attacks cancel each other out. We do a quick split screen to see both of them grit their teeth. Shadow pivots on his left foot left, while Cagalli turns to face him. Shadow is slightly faster this time and gets off the first couple of attacks. **

**Downward vertical slash, right horizontal slash, stab attack. Cagalli quickly dodges all attacks, sidestep left, duck down, and sidesteps right. Cagalli pivots on her right foot right facing Shadow's right side and begins her counterattack. Head stab, chest stab, right knee stab, and a upward vertical slash. **

**Shadow also successfully dodges all of her attacks, titles head left, sidestep right, jumps back, and dives to the left. Shadow barrel rolls on the ground but quickly hops back up and charges Cagalli going on the offensive but Cagalli isn't backing down either and launches her own assault of attacks. **

**Shadow upward right diagonal attack, Cagalli downward vertical slash, Shadow right horizontal slash, Cagalli left downward diagonal slash, Cagalli chest stab attack, Shadow left horizontal slash, Cagalli and Shadow downward vertical slash. Each attack cancels the other out and we hear the banging and see the sparks fly each time their blades touch. **

**We can see on both of their faces a fierce determination as neither one is willing to except defeat by the other. In their last attack their blades enter into a duel. They brace their feet on the ground as they attempt to push the other back. **

**They push with all their might but they're exactly even in strength and enter into a deadlock. The camera turns to look at both of their faces as they grit their teeth. Shadow grinning begins to talk**

Shadow: Oh man this isn't fair, you're a girl and I've been training nearly twice as much as you so how are you still just as strong as I am?

**Cagalli surprisingly grins back**

Cagalli: Ok first off that's sexists, just because you're guy doesn't make you automatically stronger than me, and second I've been in 2 wars so I've got more than the average muscle for a girl my age.

**Shadow blinks in surprise**

Shadow: Wait you've been in 2 wars?

**Shadow gets distract and loosens the force on his push. Cagalli sees this and doesn't waste it, she pushes with all her might on Shadow's blade and manages to push him back. Shadow gets thrown off balance for a moment as Cagalli performs a left horizontal slash.**

Cagalli: Yes back on Earth; remember I told you a little bit about it when I told you about Kira?

**Shadow quickly regains his footing and jumps back dodging the attack.**

Shadow: Oh yea the Bloody Valine thingy.

**This pisses Cagalli off and she shouts as she charges him**

Cagalli: It's the Bloody Valentine Wars you dumbass!

**She's intending to perform a stab attack aim at Shadow's chest. Shadow suddenly smiles as he sees this.**

Shadow (Yes this is just the right chance I've been waiting for to try out this new move.)

**Shadow sidesteps Cagalli's attack. Shadow let's go of his sword with his right hand and grabs Cagalli's right hand's wrist. Shadow sweeps Cagalli's legs out from under her. Cagalli looks surprise as her legs are kick out from under her. **

**Cagalli begins to fall to the left and upon instinct she let's go of her Guan Dao with her right hand and grabs Shadow's wrist trying to keep herself up. Shadow now looks surprise as Cagalli pulls him with her to the ground. Cagalli dropping her Guan Dao falls flat on her back. **

**Shadow by a cruel joke of fate falls face first onto Cagalli's flowers of heavenly delight (breast, I was trying to sound poetic and subtle at the same time). There's a moment pause as Cagalli groans then realizes there's something on her chest. **

**Shadow also groans and lifts up his face from Cagalli's chest but his chin is still resting on her breast, suddenly he realizes exactly where he is and how much trouble he's in.**

Shadow: Oh shit.

**Cagalli closes her eyes and clenches her fist as we can literary see her face turning red from her blood boiling, she says with growing rage.**

Cagalli: Shadow you have 30 seconds to get you head off my chest before I beat the shit out of you.

**Shadow clearly panicking starts to say**

Shadow: Cagalli this isn't what it looks like just give me a change to

**Cagalli still with her eyes close starts to count**

Cagalli: 1, 2, 30!

**Cagalli eyes pop open with an unmistakable fierily furry to which poor Shadow has the misfortune of being the target of. In the blink of the eye with incredible speed Cagalli grabs her Guan Dao and bashes Shadow across the face with the pole end sending him flying off her chest. **

**Shadow has just enough time to look up and see his own doom as Cagalli leaps to her feet and savagely attacks Shadow. The camera looks up to the ceiling as we hear Shadow's pleas of mercy.**

Shadow: OW, OW, OW, Cagalli, OW, I'm, OW, Sorry, OW, OW, mercy, OW you're going kill me OW, OW!

**We fast forward in time. Cagalli has calm down and is sitting down on the floor, there's sweat all over her face and the gel holding up her spike hair has begun to deteriorate thus making her hair begin to flatten. Cagalli runs her hand through her hair successfully re-spiking it. She looks slightly annoyed as she reluctantly says**

Cagalli: Ok I'm sorry; I might have slightly over reacted.

**The camera turns around to look at a bloody nose Shadow. He also looks a little black and blue obviously bruise. He's holding his head back pinching his nose trying to stop the bleeding.**

Shadow: A little!

**Cagalli still a little pissed off at Shadow snaps back**

Cagalli: Well you deserved it you pervert! Be thankful I didn't do worse to you!

**Cagalli has her fierily furry look in her eyes again. Shadow upon seeing this backs down showing fear**

Shadow: Ok, Ok, Ok, I'm sorry, I'm sorry! God this must be what they mean when they say hell has no furry like woman scorn.

**Cagalli calms down again, and they enter into an awkward silence. Shadow finally breaks the silence.**

Shadow: So you were in both of those Earth wars that must mean you piloted an earth Gundam!

**Shadow looks really excited now. Cagalli looks at him not sure where this is going.**

Cagalli: Um yes why?

**Shadow has kid in candy store eyes.**

Shadow: Oh you got to tell me all about it, how do earth Gundams work, what kind of weapons do they have, and the battles you got to tell me all about the battles you were in, are you as good as you made your brother out to be?

**Cagalli holds up her hands to slow Shadow down.**

Cagalli: Shadow look war isn't some kind of game, there's no safety device in earth Gundams so getting shot down equals death. A lot of good people lost their life fighting in battles that could have been avoid if people were just willing to let go of their fear of others who are different.

**Cagalli looks like she's thinking of the past. Shadow suddenly takes on a serious tone**

Shadow: I know that.

**Cagalli turns to look at him surprise. Shadow turns and stares at the ceiling as he begins to speak**

Shadow: I know that war is bad, I know that a lot of good if misguided people lose their lives in it, and I know that I probably sound like the biggest douchebag in the world right now but I can't help. Every night when I go to bed I dream of Gundams, I dream of great and epic Gundam fights, I feel most alive when I'm piloting Nightwing and fighting against a tough opponent. I love everything to do with Gundams, from how their built, how they fight, what abilities they have, what weapons they have, and of course the Gundam Fights themselves.

Shadow: To soldiers who don't want to fight but fight in wars nevertheless to end the fighting I must seem to be the biggest A-hole in the sky; one of those grass is always greener on the other side thing; but I can't help it, it's like breathing to me, I couldn't stop it even if I wanted to it's just who I am. And I don't want to stop it, I refuse to accept the feeling I get from piloting Nightwing is wrong! I refuse to believe that fighting just for the sake of fighting is wrong! I refuse to believe that Gundams and other weapons like them are bad just because some use them to hurt others!

Shadow: I can understand the tired soldiers who wants a world of nothing but peace but why can't they understand me and the world of battle and fighting of which I dream and wish for. I don't force my world upon them but yet if I don't accept the world they want I'm the villain that thinks hurting people is good. Heh guess that's why the word irony was invented.

**Cagalli looks at Shadow speechless. Shadow looks truly sad for a moment but then like the setting of a sun it's gone and his smile is once again back.**

Shadow: Are you just trying to avoid my question of how good you are in an earth Gundam, let me guess you and your brother were the 2 best earth Gundam Pilots but now that you've come to Sora you're on the bottom of the barrel again.

**Cagalli getting over her shock of Shadow laughs**

Cagalli: HAHAAHAHA, not even close I'm not even 1/50th as good as Kira is in a Gundam but speaking of avoiding questions you never did tell me what you were trying to do with that whole grab my wrist and foot swipe thing?

**Shadow blushes slight embarrass when he explains**

Shadow: Well you see I was trying to copy a move Raheem did when he fought the thugs but it kind of went horribly wrong.

**Cagalli looks interested**

Cagalli: Really what was the move supposed to be?

**Shadow blushes again fully aware of how stupid he's about to sound.**

Shadow: Um well I'm not really sure.

**Cagalli now looks at him surprise and annoyed**

Cagalli: Wait you don't know how the move went?

**Shadow is embarrass/offended**

Shadow: Look I had lost like over half my blood, I was tired from the battle, and I was pretty much having a staring contest with the grim reaper so forgive me if I can't remember exactly how it went.

**Cagalli waves him off**

Cagalli: Fine, what do you remember about the move?

**Shadow thinks for a moment then says**

Shadow: I'm positive that he grab the other guy's wrist, and then he did some kind of fancy foot swipe and push the thug into the ground.

**Cagalli nods her head thinking**

Cagalli: Ok, well let's start with the foot swipe, can you tell me more about it?

**Shadow tries to remember**

Shadow: Not really, even if I was in perfect health when I saw it I still don't know if I could remember it, I mean he literary did it in a split second. But I do know the thug started to fall backwards after he did it.

**Cagalli looks surprise**

Cagalli: Backwards not to the sides? Are you sure?

**Shadow nods his head**

Shadow: Yes, I can't remember much of the move but I'm 100 percent positive after the foot swipe the thug started to fall backwards before Raheem push him into the ground.

**Cagalli thinks of something new**

Cagalli: Push him, or did he palm slam him into the ground?

**A spark in Shadow's memory triggers**

Shadow: Yes, yes, yes that was it, a palm slam attack straight into the ground.

**Shadow is excited. Cagalli nods her head and puts everything together.**

Cagalli: Ok, so Raheem's attack move has 3 parts, a wrist grab, a foot swipe, and a palm slam.

**Shadow still excited nods his head and continues on**

Shadow: Right so now all I have to do is figure out how each one of these things are perform and then how they work together to get the end result!

**Cagalli thinking says**

Cagalli: I don't think we have enough information though, can you remember anything else?

**Shadow shakes his head**

Shadow: No.

**Cagalli tries a different approach**

Cagalli: Well what did you hear?

**Shadow looks at her confused**

Shadow: Hear?

**Cagalli is a little annoyed at Shadow's nonbelieving attitude.**

Cagalli: Yes hear, close your eyes and think back, were their sounds that you heard that were distinctive?

**Shadow shakes his head**

Shadow: I didn't hear anything out of the ordinary.

**Cagalli annoyed snaps**

Cagalli: You didn't even close your eyes! Close your eyes now and try to think back!

**Shadow looks at Cagalli slightly irritated but never the less closes his eyes and tries to think back.**

Shadow: *moment's pause* no I don't think

**Shadow stops in mid-statement. We have a quick and brief flashback of Raheem palm slamming thug A into the ground. We can hear the unmistakable snapping sound of bone. We come back to the present and Shadow begins to speak excitedly**

Shadow: Wait I heard a snapping sound, a snapping sound!

**Cagalli encourages Shadow to remember more**

Cagalli: A snapping sound, good now what kind of snapping sound?

**Shadow thinks harder**

Shadow: It was like something broke, wood or

**Shadow eyes pop open as both he and Cagalli realize at the same time what the sound was.**

Shadow and Cagalli: Bone!

**Cagalli starts thinking trying to process this new information.**

Cagalli: So Raheem broke one of the bones of the thug when he performed that move, but which bone? I don't think it's a rib bone, Raheem is strong but I doubt he's strong enough to break a rib with just a palm slam; and foot swipe wouldn't normally break a leg. Did Raheem twist the thug's arm in anyway?

**Shadow shakes his head.**

Shadow: No, I would have definitely notice if he did that. Wait, just before Raheem palm slam the thug into the ground, the thug cried out and drop his sword. Raheem must have twisted the thug's wrist!

**Cagalli finishes connecting Shadow's dots.**

Cagalli: And palm slamming a twisted wrist into the ground would definitely break it. So the twisting of the wrist disarms the opponent and weakens their defensive and offensive ability; the foot swipe obviously puts the opponent off balance and unable to block any attacks, and the palm slam finishes the guy off. Um what is it?

**Cagalli has noticed Shadow staring at her.**

Shadow: You've been really helpful with me trying to figure out how this move works.

**Cagalli is offended.**

Cagalli: What are you trying to say!

**Shadow quickly goes to calm her down.**

Shadow: No I wasn't suggesting that you wouldn't help me if you could; I was just surprise that you were able to help. You kind of acted like, like

**Shadow trails off trying to think of the word he's looking for, and then it hits him.**

Shadow: Like a cop.

**Cagalli blinks in surprise and blushes slightly embarrass.**

Cagalli: Oh well I do read a lot of detective novels.

**Shadow is now surprise**

Shadow: You do?

**Cagalli looks at him annoyed**

Cagalli: Yes, mysterious are my favorite genre.

**Shadow grins and teases her a little**

Shadow: I'm surprise the princess would be interested in such a category, I thought you'd be too busy or would think it encourage violence, or wasn't saint like enough for a member of the government.

**Cagalli glares at Shadow**

Cagalli: Ok just because I'm a politician doesn't mean I don't sometimes sit back and enjoy a nice book to read, and I love mysterious, I love trying to piece together clues like puzzle's in order to figure out who done it.

**Shadow realizes he might have actually hurt Cagalli's feelings holds up his hands in a gesture of peace.**

Shadow: Hey I'm not complaining I personally like mysterious too, it's just since you never mention it before I never thought you did.

**Cagalli gets that far off look in her eyes**

Cagalli: Well I guess I just didn't think about talking about it, I mean it's not like I get asked these types of questions often. Heh in fact I can't remember the last time someone asked me a personal question like that, I guess that's the breaks working as a politician, it's always "what do you think of this bill?" or "what action do you think should be taken against this problem?" or one of my personal favorites "What's your stand on this argument?". I probably shouldn't be surprise since, I spend 14 hours a day in a cabinet office looking at documents that need to be sign or discuss solutions to problems with the other cabinet members.

Cagalli: I don't have a social life outside of the Orb government, in fact the only time I interact with other people outside of work is when I go to one of the political parties, but when I go to them I kind of just go into auto-pilot. All the questions, the talks, the discussions are all just the same, it's almost robotic and I've gotten to the point where I can have a conversation with someone while only being half-awake. But do you really want to know the saddest thing, the few times when I do get a break, and I'm talking really few, I just end up staying home and reading a book. I've completely forgotten how to go out and have fun and have a social life or maybe I just never really knew.

**Cagalli looks really sad. Shadow looks at her for a moment then looks up.**

Shadow: Well you don't have to worry about that now, you obviously won't be returning to Orb for a while so you can just forget about all that political crap and as for having fun, just leave that to us. Jack, Kenny, Roxas, Nick, and myself all know how to have fun so if you've forgotten how to then just stick with us and we'll reteach you because that's what friends do.

**Cagalli looks at Shadow deeply surprise and moved. Shadow stretches then gets up.**

Shadow: Well as nice as this whole sappy bounding moment is, it's not helping me master this move. Come on get up Cagalli, the best way to figure out how the foot swipe work is through trial and error, and even after we figure out that I still have to be able to perform everything at once. So let's go.

**Cagalli blinks shakes her head then smiles as she gets back up.**

Cagalli: Alright but don't think that I'm just going to stand here and be your test dummy.

**The scene ends with Shadow grinning at her and replying.**

Shadow: Who me?

**The next scene opens up showing Jack, Kenny, Nick and Roxas walking into the gym. Roxas on all fours sniffing the ground is leading them; Nick and Kenny are carrying something. They walk in to see Cagalli and Shadow having a heated discussion.**

Shadow: Tom Hercs on top of being the greatest prodigy detective on the east coast of Myrtus is a rising star in mixed martial arts!

**Cagalli annoyed replies**

Cagalli: Eras Shady is a chief consultant for police and he's also a Leading Private in the Orb military, unlike this Tom person he solves crime to honor his family name, the Shady's have a long history of being in the Orb military and police.

**Shadow rolls his eyes as Jack, Kenny, Roxas and Nick walk over to him.**

Shadow: Ok just because Tom works as private detective and charges for his help doesn't mean he's a bad guy, he just likes the freedom to pursue a case how he sees fit and not have to justify every single little detail to a boss.

**Nick breaks into their conversation**

Nick: See I told you mates that we found them together arguing now pay up.

**Shadow and Cagalli being too involved in their discussion failed to notice them come in.**

Shadow: Guys!

**Jack and Kenny take out their wallets and hand Nick some cash. Jack rolls her eyes at Shadow's obvious surprise.**

Jack: Nice to see that you notice us.

**Nick turns to Roxas for his money. Roxas gets up from walking like a bloodhound and goes back to standing on just her legs as she stretches her back.**

Roxas: How about I just give you a lap dance instead?

**Nick blushes in embarrassment and quickly pulls back his hand**

Nick: Um, n-no, no, no that's, that's ok don't worry about it mate.

**Shadow sensing opportunely exclaims**

Shadow: I'll pay for a lap dance!

**Roxas looks at him bored**

Roxas: Sorry money isn't enough to make up for the uninteresting difference.

**Shadow looks crushed. Cagalli looks at him annoyed**

Cagalli: Serves you right pervert.

**Kenny hands Cagalli the bag. Cagalli looks at it then in it and pulls out a sandwich.**

Cagalli: A sandwich?

**A loud rumble comes from Shadow and Cagalli's stomach. Kenny laughs at them**

Kenny: HAHAHAHA yea we figure you guys be hungry.

**Shadow grabs the bag from Nick and begins to viciously devoured the sandwiches Kenny and the others brought.**

Shadow: Thaghks thahgis is sogh goothf. (Thanks this is so good)

**Shadow says with a mouth full of food. Cagalli begins to eat her sandwich in a very lady like manner while eyeing Shadow with distaste.**

Cagalli: For the love of god Shadow would it kill you to try to act like a gentleman while eating instead of some half-starved thug?

**Shadow eyes her annoyed; he chugs a drink Kenny gave him to clear his throat.**

Shadow: Well sor-ry princess for being hungry.

**Cagalli's brow wrinkles in irritation as she snaps**

Cagalli: And how many times do I have to ask you to stop calling me princess!

Shadow: Until you stop acting like a spoiled brat.

**Shadow and Cagalli look like they might actually get into a fight. Nick quickly calms them down by changing the subject.**

Nick: So mates what were you guys arguing about earlier?

**Surprisingly both Shadow and Cagalli look at Nick annoyed**

Shadow: We weren't arguing, we were talking

**Cagalli adds**

Cagalli: Discussing

**Shadow corrects himself**

Shadow: We were discussing who is the best detective.

**Jack looks at them confused**

Jack: In the world?

**Cagalli elaborates**

Cagalli: In the fictional world, Shadow meant to say we were discussing who is the best story book detective in the world, and it's obvious Eras Shady in "The Soldier's Riddles" series.

**Shadow quickly puts his 2 cents in.**

Shadow: Yea right Tom Hercs in "Path to truth" series is 10 times better than this Eras guy.

**Shadow and Cagalli while still eating their sandwiches glare at each other.**

Jack: I may not know much about detective stories but won't the best fictional detective be Sherlock Homes?

**Both Shadow and Cagalli roll their eyes**

Shadow: Well of course.

Cagalli: Obviously.

**Shadow explains**

Shadow: We both decided not to count Sherlock Homes since he's like the god of detectives and it wouldn't really be fair to everyone else.

**Jack looks annoyed by this answer but doesn't say anything. Kenny surprise looks at Cagalli.**

Kenny: I didn't know you liked mysteries Cagalli.

**Cagalli looks at him a little bit annoyed**

Cagalli: Is it really that surprising?

**Roxas answers**

Roxas: Yes, don't get me wrong Cagalli I love you and all but whenever I talk with you it's all business, what's the stats of this, how far have you come on that, what supplies do we need.

**Jack nods her head in agreement**

Jack: Yea you never talk about movies, books, or music or just plain things you like. You never just have a conversation with someone for the sake of learning more about them or letting them learn more about you.

**Nick adds the final nail to the coffin**

Nick: I agree with them mate, every time I ask you about movies or things you're interested in you just brush me off and tell me you can't talk because you're too busy at the moment.

**Cagalli is looking at everyone shocked, but feeling pressure she goes on the defensive.**

Cagalli: That's because I am busy, I have to look at crew reports, financial plans, ship stats, supplies needed, my Gundam stats and a whole bunch of other paperwork so forgive me if I simply don't have time to talk about the weather.

**Shadow, Kenny, Jack, Nick and Roxas look at each then turn back to Cagalli. Shadow says in a voice that he thinks is obvious**

Shadow: But why are you doing all that extra work?

**Cagalli blinks surprise and looks at them.**

Cagalli: Huh?

**Jack glaring at Shadow explains**

Jack: Remember we talk about this, on a normal Gundam Team's ship half that stuff you said is the Captain's job to do but since we don't have one yet we've divided the work load up. I handle all of the Ship's and Gundam's stats.

Kenny: I do the financial plans.

Nick: I handle the crew reports.

Roxas: I find all the supplies we need and get them to the Dark-Angel.

**Shadow grins and points to himself**

Shadow: And I make all the big decisions, like what supplies to get, how much to spend on them, major crew complaints and so on. Cagalli you were only supposed to go around and make a list of all the supplies we need.

**Cagalli is clearly uncomfortable and irritated.**

Cagalli: I know that and I finished it in an hour.

**Roxas doesn't get the problem.**

Roxas: Ok, that was kind of the point of giving everyone something little to do so we didn't have to spend so much time doing it.

**Jack now turns to glare at Cagalli**

Jack: What is it Cagalli did you not trust us to get our work done!

**Jack sounds pissed and everyone turns to glare at Cagalli. Cagalli quickly goes to deny this.**

Cagalli: No, it's just

**Cagalli has trouble thinking of a good excuse but Shadow has figure out the true reason.**

Shadow: It's not that she doesn't trust us it's simply that she's a workaholic, the fact that she finish her work in an hour and had nothing else to do probably drove her crazy.

**Nick, Kenny, Jack and Roxas after thinking about this for a moment all nod their head in agreement.**

Nick: That's true mate.

Jack: I could see that.

Kenny: That definitely sounds like Cagalli to me.

**Roxas looks at Cagalli worried**

Roxas: Cagalli if you keep working your bosoms this hard they're going to deflate.

**Cagalli's face turns a deep shade of red from anger/embarrassment.**

Cagalli: I'm not a woraghtjhhtlic

**Everyone turns to look at Cagalli surprise, but Cagalli is the most surprise. She looks down to see that she's subconsciously crammed an entire sandwich into her mouth during mid-sentence. Everyone suddenly burst into laugher**

All: HAHAHAH

Shadow: Nice one Cagalli.

**Shadow holds up his hand for a high-five but Cagalli deep red from pure embarrassment throws daggers at him with her eyes. She finishes chewing her sandwich**

Cagalli: I can't believe I just did that.

**Cagalli says still in a stun voice, suddenly her stomach roars in anger at the absence of incoming food. Cagalli now moves from embarrassment to anger.**

Cagalli: AND WHY AM I SO HUNGRY!

**Shadow finishing off another sandwich also looks confused**

Shadow: Yea, I just ate like 10 sandwiches and I'm still hungry.

**Nick, Jack, Kenny and Roxas laugh**

Kenny: HAHAHHAAH I would think you'd be hungry.

**Cagalli looks annoyed**

Cagalli: What's that supposed to mean?

**Nick laughs**

Nick: HAHAHAHAH mates do you have any idea how long you've been up here?

**Cagalli and Shadow look confused by this question**

Cagalli: Um maybe an hour or 2.

Shadow: I would say 2 why?

**Nick grinning answers**

Nick: Try 12, you mates have been up here for 12 hours, it's past midnight.

**Both Cagalli and Shadow are shocked by this.**

Cagalli: What!

Shadow: No way!

**Jack nods her head**

Jack: Yea, we left Haben Harbor about 8 hours ago, I was looking all over the place for you Shadow to tell you but then I got tired of looking and decided to just give the order to leave Haben Harbor myself.

**Roxas adds**

Roxas: And I was looking for Cagalli's bosoms at lunch but didn't see you.

**Kenny also joins in**

Kenny: And when I talk to the cook and found out that Shadow didn't show up for dinner I started to get worried.

**Nick taking out the money he earn from Kenny and Jack says while counting it.**

Nick: Roxas, Jack and Kenny came to me all worried that something had happen to you mates but I told them you'd lost track of time while arguing with each other.

**Roxas happy that she got out of the bet jumps up and down like a rabbit and says**

Roxas: Then Nick made a bet with us and then I tracked you guys down.

**Shadow looks a Roxas curious.**

Shadow: How did you track us down?

**Cagalli however already has a gut feeling on how.**

Cagalli: Let me guess

**Roxas proud cuts her off**

Roxas: I imitated a bloodhound and sniff you guys out.

**Shadow looks impressed. Cagalli looks a little creep out.**

Shadow: Cool!

**Kenny choosing to ignore Roxas's unique way of finding people asks with growing curiosity.**

Kenny: Still though did you guys really spend all that time talking about fiction books characters?

**Jack isn't buying that for one second**

Jack: Yea come on guys what were you really doing that was so important that made you guys lose track of time that badly and miss lunch and dinner?

**Cagalli goes to answer**

Cagalli: Oh we were just

**But Shadow jumps up and cuts her off**

Shadow: Doing this and that, *yawn* well like you guys said it's after midnight I'm tired and Cagalli's tired so we're heading to bed.

**Shadow grabs the surprise Cagalli's shoulder and begins to drag her out of the room. Nick, Roxas, Jack and Kenny are clearly unhappy about this.**

Jack: Oh come on now I'm really curious.

Kenny: Yea Shadow remember sharing is caring.

**Roxas enjoying this little guessing game shouts**

Roxas: Oh my god did you 2 go at it like rabbits in a breeding ground.

**Nick trying to resist laugher whistles at this and goes along with it.**

Nick: Good job mate, nothing helps tension like good old fashion mate and lady relief.

**The camera turns to Shadow and Cagalli and follows them out of the gym. Shadow and Cagalli both have annoyed looks at the little joke but Cagalli has more pressing concerns at the moment, mainly the guy dragging her around.**

Cagalli: Shadow I'm not a piece of luggage you can just drag around and why didn't you want me to tell the others that we were training?

**Shadow stops looks around to see that none of the other D-crew members are paying any attention to them then leans in uncomfortably close to Cagalli's face.**

Shadow: Cagalli the whole point of a secret move is that it's a secret.

**Cagalli definitely looks uncomfortable with Shadow this close to her face but that passes as she looks at Shadow skeptical and like he's paranoid.**

Cagalli: Even from your own allies?

**Shadow rolls his eyes like the answer is obvious.**

Shadow: Of course, I mean I trust these guys with my life but when I pull out my secret move it's going to be 10 times more impressive to them if they don't know about it.

**Cagalli looks at him unimpressed and like he's stupid.**

Cagalli: So what you're saying is that you're sacrificing practically for looks?

**Shadow is annoyed by her attitude**

Shadow: Well when you say it like that it sounds stupid. Cagalli if you want to be a professional Gundam Fighter then this is the type of thing you need to do, *yawn* anyway it's late so I'm heading to bed good night.

**Shadow backs away from Cagalli and begins to walk away. Cagalli agitated shouts at Shadow.**

Cagalli: But I don't want to be a professional Gundam Fighter!

**Shadow just waves at her as he yawns and walks away. The camera cuts outside to show that it's night time and the moon is way high up in the sky. The Dark-Angel is moving along the desert at a good steady pace. **

**The Dark-Angel's paint scheme makes it hard to tract in the dark with the naked eye. The camera turns around to reveal a ground ship, a ship with wheels that can't fly or hover, watching the Dark-Angel from a hill. **

**The camera zooms in on a single person dress in what's obviously a uniform holding night vision binoculars. The man holding the binoculars lowers them.**

Salim: So that's the terrorist's ship.

**Salim lifts a neon gauntlet up and talks into it. The episode ends with him saying.**

Salim: Jose prepare the ship, we attack at dawn.


	41. Episode 40

Episode 40

**The episode opens up showing Salim walking through a Gundam bay, he seems to be doing checks on the Gundams. All of the pilots are by their own Gundams doing checks. Salim is watching all of the pilots making sure none of them are slacking off, satisfied he looks at his Neon gauntlet to get the time.**

Salim (Only 2 more hours left until we begin the attack.)

**Salim walks over to an elevator and gets in. The camera follows him, the elevator goes up. Salim leans against the elevator's back wall and thinks back. We have a flashback, we see Salim on the bridge; one of his crew members calls him over.**

S-crew A: Sir we're receiving a coded message from HQ.

**Salim turns towards the crew member surprised.**

Salim: A coded message?

**Salim walks over to S-crew A's terminal and looks at the computer screen. The image is snow but we still have audio.**

HQ: Salim rebel's ship spotted in Haben Harbor, destroy; sending ship identification number now.

**We exit the flashback as the elevator comes to a halt at the bridge. Salim snaps to focus and walks onto the bridge.**

Salim: Jose give me a status report.

**The one we can assume is Jose turns around from his terminal and updates Salim.**

Jose: We're currently 30 kilometers ahead of the rebel's ship, all systems and Gundams as per your orders have been double checked and everything has a green light.

**Salim stands in the center of the bridge but doesn't take a seat. He hesitates and then turns to S-crew A.**

Salim: Are you sure that that was a code message from HQ?

**S-crew A looks surprise by this question.**

S-Crew A: Of course, it was in the same format as the confidential mission and it was also on HQ's channel.

**Salim nods his head already knowing this. Joes looks at him worried and asks**

Joes: Sir do you have reason to doubt this mission is from HQ?

**Salim shakes his head**

Salim: No it's just, never mind. Tell all pilots to standby in their Gundams 10 minutes before sunrise stop and turn 180 degrees, ready all missile tubes and Tukelse cannons to fire on the terrorist's ship. If we time this right we'll fire just as the sun rises as they become momentary blind, by the time they realize what hit them their ship will already be crippled and unable to move and fight back. We'll send in our Gundam Teams to finish them off.

**Everyone turns around and begins to follow his order however Salim still looks troubled.**

Salim (I went over this a dozen times and everything keeps coming up as fine so why do I keep getting the feeling that something is wrong with this mission HQ gave me. No I'm about to enter battle if I get distract I'm dead, I'll worry about the details later.)

**The camera cuts forward in time and outside. The Dark-Angel is still moving across the desert at a good pace, there's light in the sky indicating dawn isn't far away. The camera cuts into the Dark-Angel's bridge, we see Kenny and Rini sitting in bridge. Rini is typing on her computer while Kenny is leaning back in his chair hands behind his head.**

Kenny: This sucks, why do I have to be stuck with nightshift?

**Rini sighs but in an effort to be social talks**

Rini: It can't be help, Alan has to sleep too and you're the only one who knows how to operate the auto-pilot program so you have only yourself to blame.

**Kenny sighs defeated**

Kenny: I know, sometimes I feel I'm too much of a genius for my own good.

**Rini looks at him irritated that he managed to reverse the insult to a compliment but suddenly stops and looks up as if some instinct just kicked in.**

Rini: It's almost dawn.

**Kenny looks at her confused**

Kenny: Huh well yea I would guess so why?

**Rini turns to him and looks very serious.**

Rini: Stop the ship.

**Kenny looks at her even more confused about this request.**

Kenny: What why?

**Rini clearly doesn't want to give the answer and with obvious annoyance asks**

Rini: Look can you just stop the ship until the sun rises?

**Kenny isn't one to just blindly follow orders**

Kenny: No, I'm not just going to stop the ship because you asked me too.

**Rini very annoyed now is starting to sweat and panic is beginning to form on her face.**

Rini: Look when I was a soldier and coming back from a mission with my troops a terrorist cell ambush our transport just as the sun rose. The exact moment we were blinded by its light they fired at us. We were able to fight them off but because of their first strike we ended losing over half our people and that's why I trained myself to always know when sunrise was and always had my team stop and go on high alert until the sun rose and our eyes adjusted so please just stopped.

**Kenny looks at her surprise by this outburst but his good nature gets him moving once again and he reluctantly turns around and stops the ship. The camera cuts outside to show the sun rise just as the Dark-Angel comes into view of Salim's land ship. The camera cuts inside Salim's land ship's bridge as he shouts**

Salim: Fire!

**The camera cuts back outside to show Salim's land ship fire all its missiles and cannons just as the light from the sun hits its back creating a perfect shield from view. The camera spins around to show the Dark-Angel stop suddenly. **

**This saves the ship's life as the missiles and cannon ball things hit the area right in front of the Dark-Angel, no doubt that if the ship had continue moving it would have taken serious damage. The camera cuts inside the Dark-Angel's bridge as all the computer screens light up red and start blinking as alarms goes off.**

**Kenny and Rini spin around in their seats and begin to rapidly type at their computer terminal. Kenny with shocked shouts**

Kenny: Detected missile and cannon explosions dead ahead.

**Rini in an emotionless voice says**

Rini: Ship detected 3 kilometers ahead; it seems to be a land based ship.

**Rini can't resist gloating a little at her victory.**

Rini: I told you that if we were going to get attack it'd be just as the sun rises.

**Kenny panicking shouts**

Kenny: THIS ISN'T THE TIME FOR THAT!

**Kenny turns around in his seat and slams a big red button. The camera cuts to different areas of the ship to show red flashing lights go off as well as a loud speaker phone.**

Speaker phone: All hands to battle stations we are under attack, repeat all hands to battle stations we are under attack!

**The message plays over and over again; we see a bunch of sleeping bodies jump awake at this. The camera cuts into Jack's bedroom to show her snap awake**

Jack: What the hell!

**The camera cuts to the Gundam bay right behind Zuke's Gundam to show Zuke leaning on a wall. His chin was resting on his chest and he appears to be sleeping, he lifts his head up at the noise. The camera then cuts to Shadow's bedroom to show Shadow dive deeper under the covers to try to block the noise.**

Shadow: I don't want to get up!

**The camera cuts to Nick's bedroom to show Nick hopping out of bed appearing un-bother by this early morning rise.**

Nick: Time for another days work already?

**The camera cuts in Cagalli's room to show Cagalli suddenly jerk awake and get tangle up in her covers as she stumbles and falls out of bed.**

Cagalli: OW

**The camera cuts to outside Roxas's door, by this point all of the D-crew members are up and running around trying to put on their clothes and get to their battle positions at the same time. Roxas's door slams open to reveal a very pissed off Roxas still in her PJ's.**

Roxas: I SWEAR THE PERSON RESPOSIBLE FOR WAKING ME UP THIS EARLY IN THE MORNING IS GOING TO SUFFER!

**The camera cuts back to the Dark-Angel's bridge, Kenny and Rini are rapidly typing at their terminals.**

Kenny: It's still going to be a couple of minutes before everyone gets up and gets here.

**Kenny is panicked. Rini takes charge.**

Rini: There not going to just give us that time, turn on the energy shield, set the beam CIW's to counter any more incoming missiles and begin evasive maneuvers.

**Kenny still panicking begins to ramble**

Kenny: Ok I understood everything except the evasive maneuvers, I mean what do you mean by that, that could mean anything; it could mean go left go right

**Rini annoyed snaps**

Rini: Just circle them god damn it! I'm going to shoot at them with the high energy beam cannon.

**The camera cuts to Salim's land ship's bridge, the main screen is showing the Dark-Angel. Jose typing on his terminal gives Salim the bad news.**

Jose: Sir it looks like we missed them.

**Salim shocked snaps**

Salim: How!

**Jose after typing for a moment more says**

Jose: It appears that they stop short of where we predicted they'd be.

**Salim curses**

Salim: Damn did they pick us up on radar. Fire another round of missiles at them also launch the Gundam Teams.

**The camera cuts outside to show Salim's ship fire missiles at the Dark-Angel but this time the Dark-Angel is fully ready for it. It evades the majority of the misses and the few that come close to hitting it get shot down by the beam CIW's let alone getting past the energy shield that activates.**

**The Dark-Angel circles to the left of Salim's land ship. The Dark-Angel is fast and quickly is facing Salim's land ship's left side. The camera cuts into Salim's ship's bridge, Jose shouts**

Jose: Sir the enemy ship has circle to our left side!

Salim: What!

**The camera cuts to the Dark-Angel's bridge and looks over Rini's shoulder, on her screen is a targeting dot that she's pointing at Salim's land ship. She zooms in to see the Gundam Catapult open up, she licks her lips then says**

Rini: Oh no you don't.

**She fires. The camera cuts outside to show the Dark-Angel fire its high energy beam cannon at Salim's land ship. **

**The camera swings around to show a Gundam get on the catapult but just as it's launching the high energy beam blast hits the sand right next to the catapult sending up a wall of sand completely blinding the pilot as he's fired from the catapult. **

**The pilot is unable to do a correct launch and is fired straight into a sand dune. The camera cuts into Salim's ship's bridge just as the shockwave hits. Everyone grits their teeth then Salim shouts**

Salim: Begin counter-evasive maneuvers!

**Jose shouts back to him**

Jose: Sir the enemy's high energy beam blast created a sand screen that blinded Tor as he was launching from the catapult!

**Salim with concern shouts**

Salim: Is he ok!

**Jose nods his head**

Jose: It appears so but his Gundam crashed into a sand dune and ejected the safety pod, and also a layer of sand is now covering the catapult preventing any more launches.

**Salim grits his teeth even harder.**

Salim: That was my mistake I didn't expect them to be able to counter attack so quickly, get them to clear off the sand as fast as possible!

**Jose nods his head**

Jose: Yes Sir.

**The camera cuts outside to show the wheels of Salim's land ship stat to spin rapidly and kick up sand as his ship begins to counter circle the Dark-Angel. The camera cuts into the Dark-Angel's bridge to show Rini satisfied.**

Rini: There that should give us some time before we have to deal with their Gundams.

**Kenny doesn't get her thinking at all**

Kenny: You missed!

**Rini looks at him offended**

Rini: I wasn't trying to hit them I was trying to make them double think their next move. I was trying to make them think that we're more ready and able to fight them then they thought, forcing them to reevaluate their plan. It was a tactic to buy us time so we could get out asses straight.

**The camera cuts to Alan's bedroom room. Alan looks frustrated, he using a hand rail by his bed to pick himself up and lower himself onto his wheelchair. He rolls out into the hallways and struggles to make his way through them to the bridge as everyone is running around going in all directions.**

Alan: Move it, get out of the way; clear a path!

**No one is paying him any attention and Alan is finding it increasingly difficult to maneuver around them in his big wheelchair short of running them over. Alan is looking increasingly frustrated but just as he's force to stop again as people block his path someone throws firecrackers in front of him, they go off. **

**Surprise the D-crew members jump to the sides making a nice clear path for him to travel down. Alan also surprise turns around to see where the firecrackers came from. Ciro annoyed as crap comes walking up to Alan with Thomas right behind him.**

Ciro: The man said move, so move you jackasses!

**Ciro throws more firecrackers at people starting to re-block the path while Thomas sings**

Thomas: RA, RA, RA, RA We must all work together like a flowing stream.

**Alan rolls forward and Ciro matches pace with him, Thomas runs behind them. Alan annoyed says**

Alan: Thanks but I didn't need your help, I had it under control.

**Ciro looks at Alan unbelieving**

Ciro: Right.

**Alan can see the doubt in Ciro's tone of voice, which pisses him off, he snaps back**

Alan: Screw you asshole!

**Thomas tries to sooth them both with a song**

Thomas: DOE, FA, RA we are one team we need to get along LAAAAAA!

**Both Alan and Ciro ignore Thomas**

Ciro: Look don't get me wrong, I didn't help you out because of some stupid sense of pity for the handicap, I did it because the first rule of battle is to have your human shield and getaway drive in arm's reach.

**Alan, Ciro and Thomas reach the elevator. Alan still looks annoyed**

Alan: That's a stupid rule.

**The camera cuts to a different section of the ship, Raheem and Kabira are also trying to make their way to the bridge without getting run over by the scrambling D crew members.**

Kabira: Raheem what's going on, who's attacking us now?

**Raheem watching Kabira protectively says honestly**

Raheem: I don't know Miss. Kabira but I know where we can find out.

**The camera cuts once again to a different part of the Dark-Angel, this time its outside Shadow's bedroom door. Cagalli is angrily banging against the door.**

Cagalli: Shadow get the hell up right this freaking minute!

**The door slowly opens to Shadow half-asleep and annoyed**

Shadow: Man what's with all this racket can't a guy get some sleep?

**Cagalli extremely pissed grabs the collar of his shirt and begins to drag him.**

Cagalli: You stupid freaking dumbass moron Neanderthal, we're under attack and here you are trying to go back to sleep! It's a good freaking thing that I decided to double check on you.

**Shadow has fallen back asleep**

Shadow: *Snore*

**The camera cuts back to the bridge to show the doors open as Zuke and Nick walk in at the exact same time.**

Nick: What's going on mates?

**Kenny is relieved and begins to explain while Zuke walks over and begins to look at one of the terminals himself.**

Kenny: Nick thank god, I don't know one minute we were just cruising along and the next someone opens fire at us.

**Rini guesses**

Rini: It's probably one of our guest's killer fans.

**The metaphor doesn't go to waste on Nick and Kenny. Zuke eyeing the data looks bored.**

Zuke: Is this it? This low level opponent wasn't even worth the walk up here.

**Nick eyeing Zuke clearly annoyed says**

Nick: So I guess you're not going to help us this time either?

**Before Zuke answers Thomas, Alan, and Ciro are the next to come. They quickly rush to their terminals.**

Ciro: You know I would appreciate you guys not getting attack so early in the morning.

**Kenny turns to Ciro annoyed**

Kenny: Right because we definitely had a choice on when we're getting attack.

**Kenny says sarcastically. Ciro glares at Kenny and if one didn't know better one could swear he was contemplating throwing a firecracker at him, but he's quickly distract as Rini begins to fill everyone in.**

Rini: The enemy ship is about 3 kilometers away from us counter-circling us.

**Kenny follows Rini's train of thought**

Kenny: We've already turned on the energy shield and put the beam CIWs on a program to shoot down any incoming missiles.

**Thomas and Ciro take their seats at their terminal and begin to rapidly type**

Ciro: I'm activating the linear cannon.

Thomas: RA, RA, SO, I'm readjusting the program for the beam CIWs and energy shield configuration.

**Alan rolls next to his seat at the helm and lifts himself up from his wheelchair and climbs into it, once he's settle into the seat he turns to fold his wheelchair up and put it away but before he can the camera cuts back to Salim's land ship's bridge as he shouts**

Salim: Missiles fire!

**The camera cuts outside to show Salim's land ship fire its missiles at the Dark-Angel. The camera cuts into the Dark-Angel's bridge to show Kenny shout just as Jack, Roxas, Raheem and Kabira walk in.**

Kenny: Incoming missiles!

**Alan looks at his wheelchair and only hesitates for a moment before turning around flipping a switch we can assume turns off the auto-pilot and pushes the steering wheel to the left. The camera cuts outside to show the Dark-Angel stop going to the right and instead move to the left dodging the missiles. **

**The camera cuts back inside the bridge of the Dark-Angel to show that the sudden change in movement has cause a vibration throughout the ship, everyone not sitting stumbles a little as they struggle to maintain their footing and poor Alan's wheelchair bashes into a wall clearly out of reach for Alan. Alan looks at it upset but then turns back to focus at the matter hand, Ciro annoyed asks**

Ciro: Alan can you get behind the ship I want to shoot its engines out with the linear cannon.

**Alan pushes the steering wheel left then pulls it down, then turns it slightly to the right.**

Alan: This isn't a car; I can't just make a sharp U-turn and get behind them.

**Ciro is annoyed by this statement but Rini couldn't care less about it.**

Rini: That doesn't matter just stop the ship for a moment and I'll end this with a single shot from the positron cannon.

**Kenny however doesn't approve of this plan**

Kenny: The positron cannon takes up way to much energy, if you miss it'd be a huge waste.

**Rini is offended**

Rini: I can hit a moving target over a mile away and when I do hit them with the positron cannon they'll be completely destroyed.

**Ciro pissed at being forgotten breaks into this argument.**

Ciro: It will increase your chances of hitting them if I shoot out their engines first.

**Rini now also getting irritated says**

Rini: Which is unnecessary because I can hit a moving target!

**Thomas rings out in a song**

Thomas: SO, FA, FA this is why we need a captain.

**Raheem nodding his head reflects**

Raheem: It would certainly help having someone with clear authority giving commands and making decisions.

**Nick also agrees**

Nick: The mate has a point.

**Ciro takes a second to look around**

Ciro: Yes and speaking of leaders one would wonder where our idiot team leader is.

**He doesn't have to wait long for his question to be answer as Cagalli walks in still dragging along the sleeping Shadow; she hears Ciro's question and answers**

Cagalli: The freaking moron is right here still sleeping; nothing I do can seem to wake him up.

**Zuke can't help but laugh**

Zuke: HAHA that's not surprising considering how thick that stupid natural's head is. A bomb could go off beside him and I doubt he have enough brains to wake up.

**Jack getting serious annoyed, irritated and just plain pissed off walks up to the Captain's seat and once again takes command.**

Jack: That's enough, for the time being I'm reinstating myself as temporary captain.

**Ciro looks at her challengingly**

Ciro: Oh and why should we follow you?

**Jack in no mood to take Ciro's crap pulls out her wrench and throws it at him. Her wrench hits Ciro in the head.**

Ciro: OWWWWWW

**She begins pulling out more nuts, bolts and screws from her many pockets and throws them at his head.**

Jack: Because I SAID SO!

**Ciro covering his head with his hands for protection from the hail of tools now surrenders.**

Ciro: OW alright OW I OW give OWWW!

**Jack stops throwing stuff at him and takes command without another challenge.**

Jack: Good, now put the enemy on the main screen, let's see who's attacking us.

**Roxas still very pissed paces like an angry panther and snares**

Roxas: Yes let's see who the bastard's responsible for taking away my sleep!

**Kenny quickly types on his computer, the main monitor flickers for a moment then shows Salim's land ship. Jack, Raheem, and Kabira all recognize it at once.**

Jack: That's a land battle tank class ship!

Raheem: Impossible

Kabira: That's a Haben military ship!

**All three of them say at the same time. A red light starts flashing on Kenny's screen and he shouts**

Kenny: Incoming cannon fire!

**The camera cuts outside to show the cannons on Salim's land ship fire. The camera cuts back inside to show Jack refocus and shout**

Jack: Evade!

**We see Alan yank the wheel back. The camera cuts outside to show the Dark-Angel move backwards and dodge the cannons as the sand dunes in front of it explode. The camera cuts back inside the Dark-Angel's bridge as Kabira distressed asks**

Kabira: Why is a Haben military ship firing on us?

**Cagalli quickly answers Kabira's question to ease her troubled mind.**

Cagalli: They must not know you're on board and are mistaking us for an enemy ship.

**Nick adjusts his hat and nods his head**

Nick: Makes sense to me mates; Haben is in a civil war now so the mates probably got jumpy at us because we're an unknown ship.

**Cagalli turns to Kenny and asks an obvious question**

Cagalli: Have you tried contacting them?

**Kenny stressed rolls his eyes and says sarcastically**

Kenny: No I've been baking cupcakes and cooking tea OF COURSE I'VE TRIED CONTACTING THEM! They're scrambling all of the radio waves in the area.

**Raheem sadly nods his head**

Raheem: That's standard procedure in engaging an enemy ship in Haben military book; it's to prevent us from calling in back up.

**Kenny already knowing this says**

Kenny: Yea and in this case it also prevents us from contacting them and telling them they're attacking the wrong guys!

**Kabira trying to think of a solution to the problem that doesn't involved fighting suggest.**

Kabira: Maybe if I go outside and reveal myself they'll stop firing.

**Zuke snorts at this idea**

Zuke: Yes and you become an easy target for snipers hired by your enemies you stupid natural.

**Nick doesn't like Zuke's tone**

Nick: Watch your manners when speaking to a lady mate.

**Nick threatens making a motion to reach for his gun but Raheem cuts him off.**

Raheem: Zuke is right, if we do that we'd be playing right into our true enemy's hand.

**Kabira looks frustrated and clearly doesn't want to fight against her own people. Cagalli sees this and puts a comforting hand on her shoulder. Kabira looks up into Cagalli's eyes as Cagalli smiles at her.**

Cagalli: Don't worry Kabira, we may have to fight against them but we won't target the ship directly, we'll only target the weapons and engines so that way no one will get hurt.

**Kabira is comforted by these words but Ciro, and Rini turn around outrage.**

Ciro: Are you out of your freaking mind, do you realize how much of a disadvantage that puts on us?

Rini: Plus even shooting at only their weapons is still going to get the people closest to it killed, it may minimize deaths but it won't eliminate it.

**Cagalli turns to them angrily**

Cagalli: And what do you think we should do?

**Ciro replies coldheartedly**

Ciro: Isn't it obvious? We shoot to kill, we didn't start this fight and they're the ones who shot to kill first so why shouldn't we?

**Cagalli is shocked by Ciro's cold logic and replies**

Cagalli: Even though they attack us if we fight back with the intent to kill it will only lead us to more sorrow, chaos and

**Ciro sick cuts her off. He rolls his eyes and shouts**

Ciro: Oh will you cut all the saint crap out! If a half starved kid comes up to you in an ally way to kill you for your food, I don't care who you are or how saint like you are there are still only 2 options. You let the kid kill you so he can survive or you shoot first, there is no if ands or buts when facing the end of a gun barrel it's kill or be killed and I have no intention of letting someone kill me.

**Cagalli is shocked by the seemingly flawless logic of Ciro and is left speechless. The camera cuts to Salim's land ship's bridge; Salim is watching the Dark-Angel on his own main monitor.**

Salim (They're responding well to our ambush, it confirmers our fear of them being well trained. If we let this ship join up with its terrorist allies it can cause numerous casualties to our side in major battles. We must destroy it now.)

**Salim is cut from his train of thought by Jose**

Jose: Sir the teams have finish cleaning off the Gundam catapult.

**Salim nods his head pleased**

Salim: Good, turn the ship around 60 degrees port so that they won't get another shot at our catapult again, tell the Gundam Teams to launch as soon as they can.

**The camera cuts back to the Dark-Angel's bridge to show that Cagalli still hasn't replied back to Ciro's twisted logic, suddenly Kenny's screen starts flashing red. Kenny shouts**

Kenny: They're launching their Gundams!

**The main screen zooms in to show the catapult turn on and launch another Gundam, Rini curses.**

Rini: Damn they're using their own ship to block my shot.

**Jack quickly makes a decision**

Jack: Look Ciro it doesn't matter what the reason you still can't fire at the ship's engine because it's not located at the back like an air or water ship. A land ship moves using high powered wheels designed for the specific environment and the engines are dead smack in the center of the ship. Anyway since we can't decide what to do about their ship I trust we can all agree to take out their Gundams since they have the safety devices.

**No one complains about this. Jack nods her head and smiles smugly to herself.**

Jack: Good then Cagalli, Roxas, Nick and Shadow get your Gundams and get out there!

**Roxas definitely looks a little too eager for this.**

Roxas: Finally some payback!

**Nick however notices a problem**

Nick: Um mate I think you're forgetting something, Shadow is still out cold.

**All eyes turn to Shadow now. Shadow has spread out on the floor completely oblivious to the world around him. Raheem looks at him slightly jealous.**

Raheem: I almost envy the way he can sleep like that without a care in the world.

**Kabira nods her head**

Kabira: Shadow is definitely a person who does things his own way.

**Cagalli starting to get extremely mad says**

Cagalli: Yes well good luck getting him up, I've tried everything and he still won't budge.

**Jack however doesn't back down from this challenge**

Jack: Oh yea well let me give it a whack.

**Jack gets off the Captain's chair and walks over to Shadow. She picks him up by the collar and brings his head to her eye level, as quick as a cobra Jack pulls out her wrench and whacks Shadow on the back of the head as she starts yelling**

Jack: Shadow wake up, come on wake up, there's a Gundam fight going on and we need you to pilot Nightwing!

**The combination of the pain and yelling seems to slightly awaken the sleeping moron.**

Shadow: Wh-what Gundam fight, where?

**Shadow says groggily slowly coming to full awareness. Jack baits him more**

Jack: That's right, there's a Gundam Fight going on right outside and you get to be a part of it if you WAKE UP!

**Jack begins to slap Shadow with the wrench. After the first 2 slaps Shadow blinks and pain starts to resister in his mind.**

Shadow: OW What the OW hell Jack OW!

**Jack seeing Shadow is awake flips him around and begins to push him out of the bridge.**

Jack: Finally you're awake, to make a long story short we're being attack by a Haben military ship who we think thinks we're a rebel ship but they're scrambling the radio waves so we can't contact them to tell them so get out there kick all of their Gundam Fighter's asses until we figure out what to do next.

**Jack pushes Shadow out of the bridge and into the hallway; Nick, Roxas and Cagalli have already walk outside and are waiting for Shadow. Shadow turns around to ask Jack a question but she doesn't give him a chance.**

Jack: Hurry up AND GET GOING!

**The door slams shut in Shadow's face, after a moment of staring at the door Shadow turns around to the others and grins.**

Shadow: Well just another day on the Dark-Angel right guys.

**The camera cuts to Salim's land ship's bridge, Salim begins giving battle instructions.**

Salim: Have the Gundam Teams spread out in a net like fashion to the east, we're going to attack the terrorist's ship from the west and drive them into them. Prepare to fire another round of missiles at the terrorist's ship's port side.

Crew: Yes Sir!

**The camera cuts outside to show a good number of Gundams begin to move towards the Dark-Angel's right side while firing their beam rifles at it. **

**The shield is protecting the Dark-Angel from any damage but the Dark-Angel is force to move at a slower pace as to not run into any of the Gundams. The camera cuts back to inside the Dark-Angel's bridge, Jack has resumed her seat in the Captain's chair while Zuke, Raheem and Kabira take their positions at the back of the room. Thomas sings**

Thomas: SO-SO-SO enemy Gundams approaching from the right hand side.

**Jack grits her teeth thinking**

Jack: Until Shadow and the others can launch we're going to have to hold them off ourselves. Kenny fire missiles at them to drive them farther back, Thomas use the beam CIWs to keep them at bay and adjust the shield's screening to 78 percent.

**Raheem curious asks**

Raheem: Shield screening?

**Kenny eagerly explains**

Kenny: It's a new program I was inspired to invent after the storm situation. What it does is it adjusts the shields energy laying system, think like how fast an atom moves. Atoms that move completely free around are gasses, they allow anything to pass by them, atoms that are limited to how much they can move are liquids, they only allow certain things to pass through them and last atoms that can't move at all are called solids and they don't allow anything to pass through them. When the screening level is at 0 it allows all things to pass and when it's at 100 it becomes like a brick wall and lets nothing pass.

**Raheem and Kabira nod their heads. Kabira has a question**

Kabira: But wouldn't it make more sense to keep it at 100 all the time?

**Kenny shakes his head**

Kenny: No because the higher the screening level the more energy it consumes, and once it pass the 80% mark it becomes a 2 way wall. You see screening levels below 80 allow for us to fire our weapons without affecting the shield but once it goes over 80 the shield begins to block all attacks from the inside as well as the outside, like a solid brick wall.

**This makes sense to Kabira. Jack is getting slightly annoyed**

Jack: I hate to break this fascinating lesson but can we save this for a more optimal time like let's say when we don't have a military ship trying to kill us, and Kenny FIRE THE FREAKING MISSILES!

**Kenny quickly turns in his seat a little frighten of Jack.**

Kenny: Right.

**The camera cuts outside to show the Dark-Angel's shield get a tad bit darker. The Gundam teams are still firing at it but it doesn't appear to be creating a dent. The camera does a split screen, Salim on the left, Jack on the right, they both say at the same time.**

Jack and Salim: Fire!

**The camera returns to normal as both ships launches missiles. The Dark-Angel's missiles hit the area where Salim's Gundam Teams are. Several of the Gundams are hit or a missile lands close by them and explodes. Some of the Gundams raised up their shields for defense while others jump away. **

**Whatever the case maybe they've broken rank and have stop firing at the Dark-Angel. Salim's land ship's missiles hit the left side of the Dark-Angel's shield pushing the ship towards the now injured line of Gundams. The camera cuts inside Salim's land ship's bridge to show a frustrated Salim clenches his fists.**

Salim: Damn it, have the Gundam Teams spread out so they don't become another freaking big target for the terrorist's missiles! Get us behind them too, where their defensives are lower!

Crew: Yes Sir!

**The camera cuts to inside one of the Dark-Angel's hallways, Cagalli, Shadow, Nick and Roxas are running along the hallways full throttle jumping over fallen objects, sidestepping and wall hopping around people and flinging down stairs, as they charge into the changing rooms. The camera cuts to inside the Dark-Angel's bridge, Jack pissed snaps at Thomas**

Jack: What the freaking hell Thomas! Why didn't the beam CIWs shoot down those missiles!

**Jack demands an answer. Thomas looks nervous and for the first time in while he doesn't sing when he speaks**

Thomas: I-I had turn off the beam CIWs missile lock-on programs in order to adjust it but then when I went to adjust the shield screening levels I must have forgotten to turn it back on.

**Ciro outrage yells at him**

Ciro: What do you mean you forgot to turn it back on!

**Kenny also starts shouting**

Kenny: And you don't turn it off to adjust the program, you open a sub-window underneath it and do an auto-filtration program!

**Thomas looks sorry and says while looking at the ground.**

Thomas: I didn't think of that.

**Jack not one to act as an ass sighs then says**

Jack: Fine now you know, don't let it happen again.

**Thomas with new determination in his voice sings**

Thomas: LALALALALLALA I WON'T!

**He turns around and begins typing extremely fast on his computer. A red light starts blinking on Rini's computer. Rini turning around types on it then says**

Rini: The enemy ship is heading straight towards us.

**Raheem and Kabira gasp in shocked**

Kabira: What!

Raheem: Are they trying to ram us!

**Alan narrows his as he sees what the enemy is doing.**

Alan: Relax guys I got this!

**Alan pushes the wheel forward; all eyes turn to him very afraid.**

Kenny: What are you doing!

Ciro: Are you nuts!

Jack: Stop the ship!

Raheem: We're going to collide!

**Alan grins and says in a voice full of long forgotten excitement.**

Alan: Calm down, I've got everything under control; this is just like one of those games of chicken tag I played with my collage friends.

**Kenny isn't relieve at all**

Kenny: Chicken, as in the game where 2 cars drive straight at each other hoping the other will swerve out of the way?

**Alan still full of excitement nods his head.**

Alan: Yup that's the one.

**Kenny looks even more panicked now. The camera cuts to Salim's land ship's bridge, Jose looking nervous shouts.**

Jose: Sir the enemy ship is coming straight at us!

**Salim looks shocked.**

Salim: What! Bring it up on the main monitor!

**The main monitor flashes to show the Dark-Angel heading straight towards them. Salim grips his teeth**

Salim: Those crazy sons-of-bitches are trying to ram us, evade!

**The camera cuts outside to show Salim's land ship adjust its course so it's going to go to the left of the Dark-Angel. The camera cuts inside the Dark-Angel's bridge to show Alan give an almost psychotic smile.**

Alan: HA knew it, they're not trying to ram us they're trying to get behind us but they'll have to do much better than that now hold on!

**Alan turns and tilts the steering wheel super-fast and hard. The camera cuts outside to show the Dark-Angel spin 60 degrees so that the front side is facing Salim's land ship's right side and drifts right past the oncoming Salim's land ship. **

**The camera quickly cuts back inside the Dark-Angel's bridge to show Jack, Kenny, Ciro, and Rini grip their chairs to stop themselves from getting thrown around. Zuke, Raheem and Kabira brace themselves against the wall for the same reason. Alan alone isn't screaming but has the total psychotic smile spread across his face. **

**He spins the steering wheel in the opposite direction. The camera cuts outside to show the Dark-Angel spin 60 degrees in the opposite direction so that it's now behind Salim's land ship. The camera cuts inside Salim's land ship's bridge, Jose shouts**

Jose: The enemy ship is behind us now!

**Salim is shocked**

Salim: What! Arrr well aren't those bastards maneuverable.

**Salim smiles confidently**

Salim: Too bad they don't realize that my land ship doesn't have any blind spots. Fire the talpzon cannon!

**The camera cuts outside to show a huge cannon on top of Salim's ship swerve and turn to point at the Dark-Angel. The camera cuts inside the Dark-Angel's bridge to show Alan grinning quiet pride. Kenny and Kabira are amazed**

Kenny: That was amazing Alan!

Kabira: You're incredible!

**Alan is very proud. Rini suddenly shouts bursting his bubble**

Rini: The enemy is locking on to us with some kind of really big cannon!

**Jack and Raheem become extremely scared when they hear this. Jack shouts trying to hold back panic**

Jack: Put it on the main monitor!

**The main monitor flashes and shows the massive cannon pointing at them. Jack and Raheem gasp shock/scared**

Jack: That's a high powered iron cannon!

Raheem: The talpzon!

**It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what Jack's next words were**

Jack: Evade! Put the shields on maximum! Don't let them hit us with that thing.

**Raheem grabs Kabira and forces her to the ground. Kabira surprise shouts**

Kabira: Raheem!

**Raheem with obvious fear in his voice says**

Raheem: Ms. Kabira please brace yourself for impact.

**The camera cuts outside to show the Dark-Angel beginning to back away from Salim's land ship, but they're not fast enough. The camera cuts to inside Salim's land ship's bridge just as Salim shouts**

Salim: FIRE!

**The camera cuts outside to show the massive cannon on top of Salim's land ship fire. All we see is a metal blur and then moments later we hear the sonic boom. The object hits the ground right next to the Dark-Angel creating a huge explosion as all the sand around the area gets sent up into the air. **

**The Dark-Angel's left side lifts high into the air and for a moment it looks like it's going to capsize. The camera cuts into the Dark-Angel's bridge as Alan spins the wheel left, then right, tilts it up and then spins it right again while pulling the wheel towards himself. **

**The camera cuts back outside to show the Dark-Angel move a few kilometers away from the area of the explosion just on its right side, then the left side slowly comes down and lands on the ground. **

**The Dark-Angel spins a little and faces Salim's land ship. As Salim's land ship stops moving it becomes all too clear that this ship has no front or back side. The camera cuts into Salim's land ship's bridge to show Salim with a very serious look on his face.**

Salim (This is the first time a ship I have faced has survive a blast from the Talpzon this close without at least capsizing. These terrorist are certainly not to be taken lightly.)

**The camera cuts into the Dark-Angel's bridge, no one looks very happy after that.**

Thomas: Doe, doe, doe shields at 74% power.

**Ciro curses**

Ciro: What the hell was that, it managed to cause this much damage without even hitting us, imagine how much if it had!

**Raheem answers Ciro's question**

Raheem: It was the Talpzon cannon, the Haben's military ship's most powerful weapon. A direct hit would have almost certainly shatter the shield and cause damage to the exterior of the ship.

**Kenny rolls his eyes**

Kenny: Great so now we know to avoid that thing if it fires again.

**Raheem shakes his head**

Raheem: They won't be firing it again, the Talpzon can't shoot consecutive shots and it takes at least 10 minutes to reload.

**Alan grumbles**

Alan: I guess that's something to be grateful for.

**Another red light starts flashing at Ciro's terminal.**

Ciro: It looks like our friends the enemy Gundam teams have recover from the missile blast and have regroup behind us and have started to advance on us.

**Jack grits her teeth.**

Jack: Arrr can we fire another round of missiles at them?

**Rini shakes her head.**

Rini: They're too spread apart; firing another round of missiles at them would be pointless.

**Jack grits her teeth frustrated but suddenly Shadow appears on the main monitor. He's dress in his Gundam suit and he's got the classic excited grin on.**

Shadow: So it doesn't look like we missed the fight yet.

**Kabira surprise shouts**

Kabira: Shadow!

**Kenny however is annoyed**

Kenny: What took you so long!

**Shadow looks at Kenny annoyed**

Shadow: Hey I was going as fast as I can.

**Cagalli, Nick and Roxas also appear on the main monitor now. Roxas is raving to go**

Roxas: Enough talk, Kenny activate the catapult and launch us!

**Kenny looks at Roxas slightly surprised**

Kenny: Wow you really don't like people who wake you up early in the morning do you?

**Roxas rolls her eyes and says**

Roxas: Obviously!

**The camera cuts to the Gundam bay, Cowboy, Quanlier, Nightwing and La Rouge are all standing by the catapult. We hear Kenny's voice as the catapult activates and the Gundam bay doors open.**

Kenny: Activating catapult, all systems checked you guys are good to launch when you want.

**Quanlier's tail is waving angrily side to side. Quanlier hops onto the catapult seconds after Kenny finishes speaking. The camera cuts into Quanlier's cockpit to show a very pissed off Roxas ready to fight.**

Roxas: Roxas Quanlier I'm kicking so freaking ass!

**The camera cuts outside to show the catapult launch Quanlier; Cowboy, La Rouge and Nightwing watch her go. The camera cuts inside La Rouge's cockpit to show a mildly surprise Cagalli, Nick appears on her helmet screen and whistles**

Nick: Wow I wouldn't want to be the mate that step on that kitty's tail.

**Cagalli also a little worried says**

Cagalli: You better go next Nick to make sure she doesn't get into any trouble.

**Shadow appears now on Cagalli's helmet screen and he doesn't look happy.**

Shadow: Oh come on why can't I go next, I could also watch out for Roxas?

**Cagalli looks at Shadow annoyed**

Cagalli: It's because Nick is smarter and more mature then you Shadow.

**The camera cuts outside as Nightwing puts a hand over its heart and clenches its other hand, then cuts back to Cagalli as Shadow says in a dramatic voice.**

Shadow: Uh my pride.

**Nick chuckles a little at the joke.**

Nick: Heheheh well I better be going then, don't want the mate to disappear on us again.

**The camera cuts outside to show Cowboy step onto the catapult, then cuts inside Cowboy's cockpit to show Nick's eyes become razor sharp as he gets serious.**

Nick: Nick Mu launching in Cowboy He-yea!

**The camera cuts outside to show the catapult launch Cowboy leaving just La Rouge and Nightwing. The camera cuts inside La Rouge's cockpit to show an uncertain Cagalli, Shadow pops up on Cagalli's helmet screen again grinning.**

Shadow: You excited yet Cagalli?

**Cagalli despite herself rolls her eyes**

Cagalli: Oh yes because I'm just thrilled to be fighting against poor misinformed soldiers who are only guilty of trying to do the right thing.

**Cagalli says with heavy sarcasm. Shadow looks annoyed by this statement**

Shadow: Well when you say it like that we look like douchebags. Stop worrying so much about all the big details, everything will work out fine in the end, just sit back and enjoy the moment.

**Cagalli looks at Shadow like he's an idiot and is about to say something about it when the camera cuts outside to show Nightwing push La Rouge onto the catapult. The camera then cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to reveal a grinning Shadow.**

Shadow: Kenny Launch her!

**Kenny is on Shadow's helmet screen. Kenny grins and nods his head**

Kenny: Right!

**The camera cuts inside La Rouge's cockpit to show a startled Cagalli.**

Cagalli: What, oh no not again!

**Then camera cuts outside to show La Rouge take a step towards Nightwing but it's too late. The catapult launches La Rouge onto the battle field. Nightwing hops on last. The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show the grinning Shadow brimming with excitement. He shouts**

Shadow: Shadow Zoomarey piloting Nightwing, let's go!

**The episode ends with the camera cutting outside to show Nightwing getting launch from the Dark-Angel onto the battle field.**

**Author's note: Hey their guys I just wanted to wish all my readers and I guess all the other people too (but since they don't read my fanfic they probably won't get this message) a happy holidays, I hope you guys enjoyed my holiday gift to you of a double episode release because I work really hard to get it all done in time. Whether you're with family, hanging out with friends, getting some action or just drinking alone enjoying a relaxing day off from working hard all year long, I hope that your days be filled with warmth and happiness whatever that might be for you. Other sentimental crap.**

**Happy Holidays:)**


	42. Episode 41

Episode 41

**The episode opens up with an eagle's eye view of Salim's land ship facing off against the Dark-Angel. The camera zooms in on the Dark-Angel to show that some of Salim's Gundams have finally gotten inside the Dark-Angel's shield. The camera cuts inside the Dark-Angel's bridge, Thomas sings in a voice that is unusually happy for this situation.**

Thomas: LA, RA, DOE, enemy Gundams have gotten pass our energy shield perimeter.

**Jack curses**

Jack: Damn it! Can't we move away from them?

**Alan looks irritated at this question**

Alan: I can't move while launching Gundams!

**Jack looks embarrass at the answer realizing that this was obvious; however she directs her own self-annoyance at Kenny.**

Jack: Kenny hurry up and launch Shadow and the others!

**Kenny rapidly typing at his computer says**

Kenny: I'm going as fast as I can!

**Jack not happy with this answer decides to just focus her efforts on something else.**

Jack: Thomas keep holding them off as best you can with the beam CIWs.

**Thomas nods his head**

Thomas: FA, ME, RA right away.

**The camera cuts outside to show the enemy Gundams getting closer to the Dark-Angel, some are holding their shields up to block the beam CIWs while others are staying close to the ground using the sand dunes as cover.**

**The beam CIWs don't appear to have hit any of them and the only thing they seem to be doing is slowing the advance of the enemy Gundams. The Dark-Angel's Catapult comes out and moments later Quanlier comes flying out. Quanlier lands stumbling only for a moment on the sand dunes then straights up and takes off for the closest enemy Gundam. **

**The enemy Gundam just has enough time to raise its beam rifle before Quanlier jumps up and does a left downward diagonal claw slash on its head. Quanlier lightly lands on its legs as the enemy Gundam's head section splits into many slices which all fall along with the body to the ground. **

**Quanlier with a happy wave of its tail goes off after the next enemy Gundam. The camera turns back around to show Cowboy being launch from the Gundam Catapult. **

**Cowboy lands solid on the ground with both feet but the sand dune suddenly avalanches forward not being able to take the sudden weight. Cowboy's feet slip forward as a result. The camera cuts inside Cowboy's cockpit to show a very surprise Nick**

Nick: Whoa boy!

**Nick starts waving his arms wildly trying to regain his balance. The camera cuts outside to show Cowboy mimic Nick's movement but it's no use and Cowboy falls flat on its back. The camera cuts back inside Cowboy's cockpit again, Nick groans a little as he slightly sits up**

Nick: OW what the hell mate?

**Nick eyes pop open. The camera cuts outside to show 3 enemy Gundams all with beam rifles locked on Cowboy. In the next heart beat Cowboy brings up its shield which luckily it didn't drop when it fell and uses it to cover its head and chest section just as the enemy Gundams open fire. **

**Cowboy's shield blocks all of the attacks so far but there's no room for Cowboy to get back up. Cowboy begins to push on the sand with its legs and slides on the sand attempting to get away from its attackers. The camera cuts inside Cowboy's cockpit to show Nick gritting his teeth in frustration.**

Nick: Arrr not good, don't you mates no it isn't right to hit a mate when he's on the ground?

**The camera cuts outside to show that Cowboy is in serious trouble. It's all Cowboy can do to hold its shield over itself and block the attacks, luckily for Cowboy La Rouge comes to the rescue, if you want to call it that. **

**La Rouge is launch from the Dark-Angel's Catapult but unfortunately for La Rouge and luckily for Cowboy the enemy Gundams are exactly where La Rouge is landing. La Rouge falls right on top of 2 of the enemy Gundams, surprise the third Gundam stops firing on Cowboy. The camera quickly cuts to inside the enemy Gundam's cockpit to show a very startled pilot.**

Enemy Pilot: Huh

**The camera cuts outside to show the enemy Gundam turn to face La Rouge but before the pilot has even a moment to process what just happen Cowboy while lying down draws its beam rifle and fires 2 rapid shots at the enemy Gundam, one at the right leg and another at the head. **

**The last enemy Gundam falls to the ground with a thump. La Rouge rolls off the bodies of the enemy Gundams and slowly sits up. The camera cuts inside the La Rouge's cockpit to show Cagalli gritting her teeth in pain and rubbing her back.**

Cagalli: Owwww.

**Nick appears on Cagalli's helmet screen, he's smiling**

Nick: Thanks for the help mate, and great job you got 2 of them in one shot.

**Cagalli looks at Nick for a moment confused and annoyed then looks to the side and sees the enemy Gundams she landed on and memory hits her like a frying pan, which also includes anger.**

Cagalli: Nick stop grinning right this second!

**Cagalli is clenching her fist tightly and desperately trying to control her anger. Nick finding the whole situation just too funny can't stop grinning or giggling which isn't helping matters. **

**The camera cuts outside to show Nightwing launch from the Dark-Angel, Nightwing once again attempts to finally land on its feet. The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show an excited Shadow.**

Shadow: I can feel it this time I'm going to land!

**However Shadow eyes open wide in surprise. The camera switches to his point of view, we see La Rouge right where Shadow is going to land. We cut back to inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow panicking. He begins to wildly swing his arms and legs to try and slow himself down. He shouts out**

Shadow: Cagalli what the hell, get the hell out of the way!

**The camera quickly cuts to inside La Rouge's cockpit to show a startled Cagalli. Cagalli looks up to see the incoming Shadow. **

**The camera cuts outside to show La Rouge jump to its feet but the sand gives out from underneath its feet and La Rouge falls backwards and barrel rolls down the sand dune getting out of Nightwing's way, unluckily for Nightwing because it started to wave its arms and legs to slow down its fall it can no longer land correctly. **

**Nightwing is able to adjust its landing angle enough so that it falls on its ass and not some other weird angle. Sand gets kick up into the air and for a moment both La Rouge and Nightwing just lay where they landed, then fuel by anger they both jump up and get into each other's faces. **

**The camera does a split screen to show a pissed off Shadow and Cagalli glaring at each other. They begin to shout**

Shadow: Cagalli you asshole you ruin my landing, I was finally going to land straight on my feet and you ruin it!

Cagalli: Shadow you freaking jackass you almost landed on top of me!

**They're both talking at the same time and it's kind of hard to make out how much is actually getting through.**

Shadow: What the hell were you doing there anyway!

Cagalli: Why the hell where you trying to land exactly where I landed moments before!

**They're glaring at each other gritting their teeth clearly extremely pissed off but we can see the gears turning in their heads as they realize their missing a piece of the puzzle, suddenly the missing piece of the puzzle appears in the form of Kenny. **

**The screen goes back to normal to show Shadow in Nightwing's cockpit. Kenny appears on his helmet screen looking very concern.**

Kenny: Are you guys alright?

**The camera switches to inside the Dark-Angel's bridge close to Kenny's terminal. We can see both Shadow and Cagalli on his terminal screen, both Shadow and Cagalli realize at the same time that Kenny is the source of all their trouble and of course they let him know it.**

Shadow and Cagalli: KENNY!

**Kenny jumps back slightly intimidated**

Kenny: AH what I did?

**The camera cuts to inside La Rouge's cockpit to show a very pissed off Cagalli.**

Cagalli: Kenny you freaking idiot didn't you scan the area of landing before launching us!

**The camera cuts back to Kenny. Kenny has the "crap I forgot to take out the garbage" look on his face.**

Kenny: Ohhhhh

**Both Shadow and Cagalli don't respond well to this.**

Shadow and Cagalli: What do you mean oh!

**Kenny looks nervous and gives a little nervous laugh.**

Kenny: Hehehe I guess I might have forgotten to check the landing area first before launching you guys.

**Shadow and Cagalli are seriously about to go off on him but suddenly the camera cuts outside to show an enemy Gundam sneak up behind Cowboy. La Rouge and Nightwing don't see it because they're too distracted. **

**The enemy Gundam raises its beam rifle and is about to shoot Cowboy in the back of the head when Quanlier comes up from behind it and jumps on its back. The enemy Gundam falls face first to the ground and its shot goes wild missing Cowboy. **

**Cowboy, Nightwing, and La Rouge turn around surprise. Quanlier quickly uses its beam claws to stab the head of the enemy Gundam, the camera cuts inside Quanlier's cockpit to show a deeply focus Roxas, Roxas's focus look vs. Shadow's focus look is more animalistic, almost as if she's more animal then human. **

Roxas: As much as I love to see Cagalli get angry, your breast tend to juggle slightly when you're pissed off, we are in the middle of a battle here, and these BASTARDS STILL HAVE TO PAY FOR WAKING ME UP!

**The camera cuts outside to show that with that Quanlier takes off to purse more prey. The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow moving on and refocusing.**

Shadow: Roxas is right, we still have a battle to win! We'll deal with you Kenny later but for now just tell us who we're fighting.

**The camera cuts to inside the Dark-Angel's bridge to show Ciro shout**

Ciro: Incoming cannon fire!

Jack: Evade!

**The camera cuts outside to show the Dark-Angel move left dodging the cannon fire. We cut back to inside the Dark-Angel's bridge to show Kenny typing away at his computer.**

Kenny: Good news is that all the Gundams you're fighting are the same. They're solider type Haben class Gundams.

**The camera cuts outside to show Cowboy, La Rouge and Nightwing trying to spread out to attack the enemy Gundams but the sand is giving them problems and it seems it's all they can do to stay on their feet. The camera cuts to inside La Rouge's cockpit to show Cagalli annoyed at not being able to understand how Kenny's information helps them.**

Cagalli: Great, so that tells us?

**Kenny explains in more detail**

Kenny: The solider type Gundam is just a military mass produced upgraded version of the Basic Original, the class doesn't really matter because it's just based off the country. The solider Gundams are slightly faster, stronger and more agile then the Basic Original.

**The camera cuts to inside Cowboy's cockpit to show a grinning Nick.**

Nick: So what you're basically saying mate is that they're better than our Gundams.

**Kenny is about to reply to this when Jack pops up on his helmet screen and she looks pissed**

Jack: NO! What Kenny is saying is that a normal solider Gundam is better than a normal Basic Original Gundam. However your Basic Original Gundams aren't normal, I've been doing a bunch of modifications on their systems and design plans so they're definitely 10 times better than any factory mass produce model so stop wasting Kenny's time with meaningless questions!

**Jack is offended with the idea of her Gundams being inferior to any other.**

Jack: Now hurry up and take out those Gundams!

**With that Jack cuts off the communication line the Gundams have with the Dark-Angel. Nick is slightly bother with Jack's attitude.**

Nick: Is it me mates or does Jack act bossier when she's acting as temporary Captain?

**The camera cuts to inside La Rouge's cockpit to show Cagalli dismissed Nick's concern.**

Cagalli: She's just trying to act like what she thinks a Captain would act like.

**The camera cuts to inside Nightwing's cockpit to show a grinning Shadow**

Shadow: Whatever it doesn't matter, she's right let's go kick some ass!

**The camera cuts outside as La Rouge goes left, Cowboy goes right and Nightwing charges straight towards them. The camera cuts to an eagle eye view of the battle, we can see Salim's land ship swing around to the Dark-Angel's left side. The camera cuts inside Salim's land ship's bridge as Salim shouts**

Salim: Fire!

**The camera cuts outside to show missiles fire from Salim's land ship. The camera cuts inside the Dark-Angel's bridge to show a red light start blinking on Ciro's terminal. Ciro looking annoyed says**

Ciro: Incoming missiles.

**Jack is about to shout something when Ciro interrupts**

Ciro: Let me guess; evade.

**Jack turns to look at him annoyed while Alan already starts yanking the wheel in a new direction. The camera cuts back outside to show the Dark-Angel move right dodging most of the missiles and the rest are shot down by the beam CIWs. The camera cuts inside Salim's land ship's bridge, Salim is taping his foot thinking.**

Salim (What's going on, why haven't they tried to attack us yet?)

**Jose breaks Salim's thoughts**

Jose: The terrorist's ship has just released their Gundams.

**Salim looks to Jose trying to think 3 moves ahead.**

Salim: Bring it up on the main monitor.

**The main monitor flashes then breaks into 4 sections, each showing a different Shadow Knight Gundam. Quanlier is jumping, running and taking out enemy Gundams left and right. Cowboy is shooting down enemy Gundams but it's making sure not too move much and when it does move you can see that it's very unsteady on the sand. **

**La Rouge and Nightwing are doing even worse they're constantly stumbling and tripping which ironically saves them from being shot a couple of times. Salim watches the screen for a few moments then dismisses them.**

Salim: Only the animal type Gundam seems to be a threat, the other 3 are obviously rookies and have no idea how to fight in the desert. Have all our Gundam teams focus their efforts on taking out that animal Gundam but tell them to watch out for that green one it's a pretty good shot with that beam rifle, the other 2 will probably fall on their own weapons. Switch back to the terrorist ship.

**The monitor flashes back to the Dark-Angel, Salim stares at the screen for a moment scratches his cheek then says**

Salim: Prepare to fire the missiles and cannons separately on my mark.

**The camera cuts outside to show the Dark-Angel and Salim's land ship circling each other. The camera cuts inside the Dark-Angel's bridge, Ciro is still looking annoyed**

Ciro: So are we planning on attacking any time soon or are we just going to continue doing this whole chicken shit dance?

**Jack turns to glare at Ciro**

Jack: Ciro shut up.

**Ciro shuts his mouth but there's an uneasy silence as Rini and Alan seem to agree with Ciro. Kabira looks uncomfortable knowing she's one of the sources of the problem. Raheem still looks unreadable. Jack grits her teeth**

Jack: Alan keep evading any missile or cannon fire, Thomas lower the shield screening level to 63% and Thomas can you please try to shoot down the missiles that Alan can't dodge.

**Thomas smiling boldly sings**

Thomas: RA, LA, DOE, on it.

**Since Jack can't attack she quickly decides to do something else to keep her and everyone else's attention busy**

Jack: Kenny how are Shadow, Cagalli, Nick, and Roxas doing?

**Kenny is surprise by this question but doesn't challenge Jack on it. He types on the computer and brings up the Gundam Fighters on the main monitor. He doesn't look to thrilled.**

Kenny: Not good, the only one who's actually able to run without stumbling and getting shot is Roxas.

**The camera focuses on the main monitor as Kenny speaks to show Quanlier running fluidly through the sands as if it's been doing this all its life. The monitor's camera turns to look at a long line of enemy Gundams focusing all of their firepower on Quanlier. They're firing their beam rifles at the charging Quanlier. **

**The monitor's camera turns back to look at Quanlier to show Quanlier still running at full speeds dodging the attacks. Quanlier is moving too fast and the enemy Gundams aren't the best shots in the world; all of the beam bullets are falling behind it. Quanlier reaches the line of Gundams and tears them apart. **

**Quanlier jumps on top of the first enemy Gundam it reaches and in one swift movement rips off its right arm with its right beam claw, its left arm with its left beam claw and its head with its beam teeth. An enemy Gundam raises its beam rifle at Quanlier and fires. Quanlier side jumps left dodging the beam bullet which hits the enemy Gundam's fallen ally. **

**Quanlier charges the second enemy Gundam and delivers a powerful upward vertical beam claw slash. The enemy Gundam falls backwards to the ground but Quanlier is already gone. The camera turns away from the monitor, Ciro looks impressed and satisfied.**

Ciro: Well at least someone is taking action against the enemy.

**Alan also looks impressed and afraid**

Alan: Remind me not to piss off that crazy chick, she's freaking scary as crap.

**Raheem nods his head**

Raheem: It's very impressive that she's able to fight this well on the desert.

**Jack getting over how impressive Roxas is asks**

Jack: Anyway what about the others Kenny, you said they weren't doing well.

**Kenny quickly typing on his computer exclaims**

Kenny: Yea that might be an understatement.

**The camera looks back up to the main monitor, the main monitor's screen flashes then breaks into 3 sections showing Cowboy, Nightwing, and La Rouge. Cowboy is staying as still as possible while shooting at enemy Gundams, but the enemy Gundams are staying well clear out of its range of fire and Cowboy isn't hitting many of them. **

**Cowboy seeing this is force to try to move forward to get them in range, but Cowboy stumbles a lot and its slow going for it to make any progress forward. Nightwing and La Rouge are even worse. Nightwing being purely a close range fighter can't even get close to any enemy Gundams. **

**The moment it gets any speed in its run it trips and falls face first into the sand. The enemy Gundams could literary do laps around Nightwing. La Rouge is doing just as bad, La Rouge having given up on getting close to any enemy Gundams for close range combat is taking its beam rifle and firing it at the enemy Gundams. **

**Sadly La Rouge isn't used to the kickbacks of firing a gun as well as Cowboy and the sand is only making it worse. Each kickback is causing La Rouge to stumble and sometimes trip. **

**Nightwing and La Rouge are definitely tied for worse in this sad little fight. The camera turns around to look away from the main monitor back to Jack. Jack can't watch anymore and turns away.**

Jack: Enough Kenny, god if I watch any more I might be sick.

**Ciro is shaking his head**

Ciro: A temporary Captain that doesn't want to attack and Gundam Pilots that can't even get their Gundams to stand on their feet.

**Rini sighs deeply**

Rini: We're so screw.

**Thomas says in a cheery voice**

Thomas: LA, RA, DOE, FA this is why you learn where all the escape pods are.

**Kabira looks at them a little surprise**

Kabira: Way to have faith in your fellow crew mates.

**Rini, Ciro, and Thomas aren't offended at all. Jack moves from disgust to anger.**

Jack: Damn it, why are Shadow, Cagalli and Nick piloting their Gundams like a bunch of newborn babies?

**Raheem recognizes the problem immediately**

Raheem: It's the sand; I've seen this a 100 times with people who have never fought in the desert before.

**Jack still looks upset and clearly doesn't get it.**

Jack: But I already reconfigure the Gundams to fight in the desert.

**Raheem shakes his head**

Raheem: But the Pilots aren't used to fighting in the desert, Pilots that haven't fought in the desert before don't know how to displace their weight on the sand correctly. Sand isn't as stable as regular earth so you have to watch how much weight you're putting in one place. They put too much weight on one foot which causes the sand dunes to collapse in on itself and in turn causes them to trip.

**Kenny turning around in his seat to face Raheem asks**

Kenny: Ok well can't you give them some advice Raheem?

**Raheem once again shakes his head**

Raheem: It's not something that came be taught, it just takes lots of practical experience.

**The camera cuts to inside Salim's land ship's bridge, Salim shouts**

Salim: Fire the cannons at their starboard side then wait a 15 second interval and fire missiles at their port side!

**The camera cuts outside to show the cannons on Salim's land ship fire at the Dark-Angel's starboard side. The camera cuts inside the Dark-Angel's bridge to show a red light start blinking on Rini's terminal, Rini shouts**

Rini: Incoming cannon fire right side!

**Jack grits her teeth and shouts**

Jack: Evade!

**Alan yanks the wheel to the left. The camera cuts outside to show the Dark-Angel move left dodging the cannon fire but seconds later missiles are launch from Salim's land ship towards the Dark-Angel. The camera cuts back in the Dark-Angel to show Ciro shout**

Ciro: Incoming missiles now!

**Alan doesn't even bother to wait for Jack to give the order to evade and yanks back on the wheel. The camera cuts outside as the Dark-Angel moves backwards as the missiles hit the land in front of it. The camera cuts into Salim's land ships bridge, Salim seeing weakness shouts**

Salim: Charge them, keep the pressure up with the cannons and get the missiles ready to fire on my mark!

**The camera cuts outside to show Salim's land ship rush forward towards the Dark-Angel cannons still blazing. The Dark-Angel is moving backwards trying to evade the cannon fire as best as it came but like everyone knows going forward is a lot faster than going backwards. **

**The canon fire is hitting the shields but hasn't broken through yet. The camera cuts inside the Dark-Angel's bridge to show Jack gritting her teeth still unsure of what the next move should be. Ciro is also gritting his teeth but unlike Jack he knows exactly what should be done and is not afraid of making his opinion known.**

Ciro: Come on already give the order to attack or we're all going to get killed!

**Jack however isn't ready to accept that yet and shouts**

Jack: Alan try to evade to the left and get some distance from them.

**Alan, still pulling on the wheel with all his might, says through gritted teeth**

Alan: I'll try.

**Alan suddenly brings the wheel forward then pushes left on it. The camera cuts outside to show the Dark-Angel stop suddenly then move left at full speeds but Salim has already predicted they try something like this. The camera cuts inside Salim's land ship's bridge as Salim shouts**

Salim: Fire the missiles!

**The camera cuts outside to show that the Dark-Angel has move forward and was planning on shooting passed Salim's land ship on its left side. Salim's land ship shoots its missiles from its left side. The missiles hit the Dark-Angel's shield on the right; several missiles get past the beam CIWs and hit the energy shield. **

**The missiles explode and the Dark-Angel is forced left. The camera cuts inside the Dark-Angel's bridge to see the vibrations shake the ship, everyone grits their teeth and braces against the impact. **

**The camera cuts to inside Salim's land ship's bridge, Salim takes a step towards the main monitor and it's clear that he's full of excitement at sensing his enemy weakening.**

Salim: Charge them again, aim the missiles at their port and starboard side and aim the cannons at them dead center!

**We see the helmsmen hit a few buttons and switches. The camera cuts outside to show Salim's land ship prove once again it has no sides and just charges the Dark-Angel without even bothering to turn around, missiles and cannons are fired from Salim's land ship at the Dark-Angel. **

**The Dark-Angel is under heavy fired and it becomes quickly obvious that it's pin down. The camera turns to look down at Quanlier, Quanlier although faster and more agile then the enemy Gundams is heavily outnumbered and becomes surrounded. **

**Quanlier is hunching its shoulder and waving its tail slowly looking more and more like a corner animal. The camera cuts inside Quanlier's cockpit to show Roxas growling steady as her eyes flicker left and right.**

Roxas: Alright who wants to get their ass kicked next!

**The camera cuts outside to show the enemy Gundams open fire on Quanlier. Quanlier nimbly jumps around dodging the beam bullets. The camera once again cuts inside Quanlier's cockpit to show Roxas gritting her teeth as sweat begins coming down her face, she can't keep this pace going.**

Roxas (Arrrrr ok I might have bitten off more than I can chew this time.)

**Roxas remembers something that Drake said in one of their lessons**

Roxas (Drake: When you're surround your best course of action is to break through the circle at its weakest point.)

**Roxas looks annoyed that Drake's advice just pop in her head and she grumbles**

Roxas: Like that isn't already obvious you douchebag.

**The camera cuts outside to show Quanlier spot a single enemy Gundam in the circle appearing to be alone guarding that part of the circle. Quanlier dodging the beam bullets charges the enemy Gundam. Quanlier is able to dodge all of the enemy beam bullets and gets close to the lone single enemy Gundam. **

**Quanlier pounces intending to rip the enemy Gundam apart in seconds and then make a break for it, but this enemy Gundam isn't like the other poorly trained soldiers and as quick as a bursting dam raises its shield and performs a shield bash. **

**The shield not only blocks Quanlier's attack but bashes it in the face and sends it flying back into the center of the circle. Quanlier lands on its side and slides a little on the sand. **

**The camera quickly cuts to inside the enemy Gundam pilot's cockpit to show a grinning confident Pilot, and judging from a battle scar on his face he's got experience to back up that confidence.**

Enemy Pilot A: Sorry little kitty but that trick may work on the rookies but I've been working as a soldier for way to long for an animal Gundam pounce to work on me.

**The camera cuts outside to show Quanlier dazed stumble to its feet. The enemy Gundam quickly comes in while Quanlier is still recovering and delivers a powerful kick into Quanlier's side sending Quanlier tumbling once again. **

**The camera looks away and turns to Cowboy who is moving like a turtle across the sand to get closer to the enemy Gundams to get them in firing range. Upon seeing Quanlier's situation Cowboy tries to pick up the pace but ends up stumbling and has to stop in order to regain its balance. The camera cuts inside Cowboy's cockpit to show a frustrated Nick.**

Nick: This isn't good mates; we're nothing more than newborn cows out here trying to stand on our feet.

**The camera cuts outside and turns towards La Rouge, La Rouge is still having a hard time walking in the sand as well. The camera cuts inside La Rouge's cockpit to show Cagalli with the same frame of mind.**

Cagalli: Nick's right Shadow, we're going to get crush if we keep going like this we have to change our strategy.

**The camera cuts outside again and swings over to show Nightwing lifting itself up from the sand. Nightwing having tripped and landed face first in the sand again is now on its hands and knees. Nightwing's face is looking down at the ground. **

**The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow, Shadow looks frustrated as well but there's more to it. He's also tired from the constant tripping, falling and picking himself up again only to do it again. **

**The desert sun is high in the sky and the temperature has definitely risen into the 100s, sweat is pouring down his face and he has to blink a couple of times to avoid getting it in the eye.**

Shadow: I know, I know, just give me a minute to think.

**The camera cuts outside for a moment to show Nightwing look up as it prepares to once again pick itself up but as luck would have it Nightwing ends up looking straight at the Dark-Angel. The Dark-Angel is still under heavy fire from Salim's land ship and is obviously cornered. The camera cuts back inside Nightwing's cockpit to show a stun Shadow.**

Shadow: The Dark-Angel.

**Shadow simply can't process what's happening; Raheem appears on Shadow's helmet screen.**

Raheem: Shadow I think it's time we retreat.

**The camera switches viewpoints back to the bridge on the Dark-Angel, Shadow, Nick, and Cagalli are all on the main monitor. We can see shockwaves from the missile and cannon explosions rock the ship. Shadow looks shocked by this very thought. Raheem has step forward to proposed this idea.**

Raheem: It's time we all face the facts, this situation has grown worse by the minute; we should fallback and regroup and think about a new plan.

**Jack reluctantly nods her head**

Jack: I hate to agree with him Shadow but Raheem's right we're just too badly outmatch here.

**One by one like a spreading plague the other Shadow Knights express their doubt as well.**

Ciro: If we can't fight back we might as well run.

Rini: Although these military guys are far from the best soldiers I've seen they're still too much for us to handle at this time.

Thomas: Doe, doe, doe shields are at 67%.

Alan: There's no sense in being stubborn with pride if we're going to die.

Kenny: We won't be running away, we'd just be withdrawing for now so you guys can get more practice piloting your Gundams in the sand then next time you'll be ready to fight.

Nick: They're right mate it's better to live today so that we can train tomorrow.

Cagalli: If we fall back, or put up a white flag they might stop scrambling the communication network and let us explain to them we're not the enemy.

**The only ones who don't say anything are Zuke and Kabira. Kabira looks extremely nervous and since she considers this whole affair her fault doesn't feel she has a right to participate in the discussion. **

**Zuke is a little harder to figure out, considering this fight beneath him Zuke has slip into the shadows at the back of the bridge and remains silent but he's focus on Shadow slightly interested in what he's going to do. The camera switches viewpoints again back to inside Nightwing's cockpit. **

**Shadow is still on his hands and knees and he looks increasingly frustrated. He closes his eyes as he tries to force himself to think, when Shadow closes his eyes the background around him fades to black so that it appears Shadow is in the black abyss. Images (Shadow's thoughts/memories) start flashing across the darkness. **

**We see clips of the Warden vs. Shadow fight, of Drake vs. Shadow, Nick and Cagalli fight, Zain vs. Shadow, Alex vs. Shadow, and Shadow vs. the Thugs. The clips shown are the moments when Shadow was doing the worse and getting his ass kicked, suddenly as if all his jumbled thoughts fall together like pieces of a puzzle everything just clicks and Shadow knows with absolute certainty what should be done.**

Shadow: No.

**The scene goes back to normal, as we see Shadow in Nightwing's cockpit. Raheem and Cagalli talk at once in protest.**

Raheem: Don't be stubborn my friend.

Cagalli: Shadow this is no time for your stupid ego.

**But when Shadow lifts up his face they stop dead in their tracts. Shadow's eyes have taken on a whole new level of fierce determination.**

Shadow: No today we're not retreating! Today's our day to win! I'm tired of losing; I'm tired of always getting my ass kicked in a fight. I don't want us becoming one of those Gundam teams that always runs away when they think the fight is too much for them and says that they're just going to train hard and come back to defeat their opponent later when they're stronger because you don't just get stronger from training you get stronger from pitting yourself up against opponents who are just as strong or stronger then you!

Shadow: I can feel that today is our day, today we don't back down from this fight even though we're getting crushed right now, today we get stronger by fighting tough opponents that we have no guaranty of defeating, today we push ourselves beyond anything we've ever done so far and go beyond our limit, TODAY WE WIN!

**The camera cuts around to show everyone deeply surprise, then slowly grins begin to appear. The camera stops and focuses on Nick**

Nick: Heh mate's right, what was I thinking turning tail like a scared kitten after stumbling a little on this sand, a true man doesn't does run away from a problem he deals with it.

**The camera cuts to the Dark-Angel's bridge, although we don't see any physical change from the bridge crew somehow everything just seems lighter, more confident. Shadow turns to Ciro**

Shadow: Ciro prepare to fire the Linear Cannon at the enemy ship, Rini and Kenny prepare to fire your um respective weapons.

**Kenny looks at Shadow annoyed now**

Kenny: You don't know what weapons we operate do you?

**Shadow wisely chooses to ignore this question. Jack looks confused and a little nervous at Shadow proposing to attack the Haben army ship.**

Jack: Shadow you want us to attack a Haben army ship?

**Shadow answers without hesitation**

Shadow: Hell yes!

**The camera cuts into inside La Rouge's cockpit, Cagalli is very upset and angry with Shadow over this action.**

Cagalli: Shadow we can't attack the Haben army ship!

**Shadow extremely annoyed with Cagalli snaps**

Shadow: Um in case you didn't notice THEY'RE ATTACKING US!

**Cagalli isn't backing down**

Cagalli: But that's because of a misunderstanding.

Shadow: Gee really well why don't you tell them the real story WHEN THEY STOP SHOOTING AT YOU!

Cagalli: Look if we attack there ship we'll be hurting a lot of innocent people!

Shadow: But it's ok if they hurt slash kill us!

Cagalli: I didn't say that! But if we attack them just because we were attack don't you see that it will start a never ending cycle of pain and sadness!

**Cagalli shouts at Shadow. Shadow waits a moment for Cagalli to catch her breath from shouting and looks her evenly in the eye.**

Shadow: Cagalli that logic only implies when the situation is personal, they're not attacking us because they hate us personally, they don't even know us, they're attacking us because that's their job. I know that and I'm not holding it against them but I have no desire to die today, nor lose this battle because we were holding back so I'm going to fight and kick they're unlucky ass but it's not personal. Besides as a fellow warrior I know that I'd be pissed if I found out that my opponents were holding back on me.

**Cagalli still isn't satisfied with Shadow's answer**

Cagalli: Are you trying to pull the whole "we fight because we have no choice" speech!

**Cagalli says this very angrily. Shadow looks her dead in the eye and says with a very powerful and serious voice.**

Shadow: There's always a choice, another option to choose if you're willing to look but this is how I chose to understand them and in turn how I make myself understood, this is how I live my life.

**Cagalli has never met anyone like Shadow before and for the first time in a long time she's speechless. The camera cuts back to the Dark-Angel to show Ciro and Rini look pleased with Shadow's decision to attack.**

Rini: I think I just gain some respect for you Shadow.

Ciro: Finally I get to attack; I'll aim for their bridge and finish this off in one shot

**Shadow cuts him off**

Shadow: No you won't, you'll aim only for their weapons and areas were they're least likely to have many crew members.

**We can see Cagalli blink once again getting hit by shock. Kabira also looks shocked but we can see that she's a little relieved as well. Ciro and Rini are outrage.**

Rini: And now I lost respect for you.

Ciro: We already had this conversation, just aiming for their weapons will still cost some of their crew members their lives and it will endanger our own because it puts a huge handicap on our offensive options

**Shadow cuts Ciro off, his eyes have an electrify current to them and Ciro is cut off by their intensity.**

Shadow: I don't care; preventing some death is better than going on a slaughter. I don't care if it's harder or more difficult if you can't do it then get out of the bridge and find me someone who can!

**Everyone is taken aback by Shadow's sudden intense and almost overwhelming attitude. Ciro remains stun for a few moments more than looks away and grumbles**

Ciro: Fine, I'll only aim for their weapons and places where there are less likely to be people, besides I never said I couldn't do it's just more annoying.

**Rini shrugs her shoulder**

Rini: Well I guess it wouldn't hurt to have a difficult target to aim for, if I always only aim and try to hit easy targets I'll get rusty.

**Jack laughs a little at Shadow**

Jack: HAHAHA ok Shadow you win we'll stop holding back against the Haben military ship but what about you how are you planning on mastering your footing in the sand.

**Like a meteor that comes and goes in the blink of an eye Shadow's serious attitude disappears and is replace by his normal lay back fighting loving face.**

Shadow: Don't worry I'm just about to get the hang of it.

**Kenny grins at Shadow and says**

Kenny: So basically you're going to BS it.

**Shadow puts up a thumbs up and grins**

Shadow: Yup!

**The camera cuts to inside La Rouge's cockpit, a slow grin begins to spread across Cagalli's face.**

Cagalli: Heh I guess there's no stopping Shadow when he gets like this.

**The camera cuts to inside Cowboy's cockpit to show Nick with the same grin.**

Nick: Nope, I guess we just got to go with the mate.

**The camera cuts outside to show Nightwing, Nightwing is on the edge of a sand dune. The camera zooms in and focuses on Nightwing's right foot. Nightwing's right foot appears to be slipping and sinking into the sand again, but surprisingly Nightwing lifts up its foot and places it solidly on the ground. **

**Nightwing stops slipping and actually looks stable on the ground. Nightwing lifts its beam saber up to the sky. The camera cuts into inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow in the exact same position, he shouts out loud.**

Shadow: Listen up world it's time for the Shadow Knights to make their comeback LET'S GO!

**The camera cuts outside to show Nightwing take off again, Cowboy and La Rouge take off right behind him. The camera moves to show the ship battle, the Dark-Angel is still getting hammer by Salim's land ship. The camera cuts to inside the Dark-Angel's bridge to show the crew look revive and ready to go. Jack starts giving orders**

Jack: Rini fire the positron cannon right in front of the enemy ship, Kenny the moment they do fire the missiles in wing pattern, Ciro you'll fire the linear cannons last dead center!

**The screen splits into 3 parts to show Ciro, Rini, and Kenny nod their head.**

Ciro, Rini and Kenny: Right!

**The camera cuts outside to show the positron cannon start charging. The missiles hatches open and the linear cannons get in position. The camera cuts into Salim's land ship's bridge as Jose shouts**

Jose: The enemy ship is preparing to fire its positron cannon!

**Salim looks unsurprised**

Salim: So they're going to fight back, evade.

**The camera cuts outside to show Salim's land ship stop attacking long enough to move back just as Jack wanted. The positron blast hits directly in front of Salim's land ship and sends up a huge cloud of sand blocking the ship's view. **

**The camera cuts back into Salim's land ship's bridge to show the shockwave of the positron cannon rock the bridge, Salim grits his teeth as steadies himself. A red light starts blinking on Jose's computer**

Jose: Incoming missiles from our port and starboard side!

**The camera cuts outside to show missiles appear from the right and left side of the dust sand cloud the positron blast kick up. They're moving in an arch towards the Salim's land ship's right and left side. The camera quickly cuts back into Salim's land ship's bridge to show Salim finally look surprise.**

Salim: Damn Evade!

**The camera cuts back outside to show Salim's land ship move forward in an attempt to dodge both sets of missiles, a big mistake. Moments after the missiles appear the linear cannonballs burst from dead center in the sand cloud heading straight at Salim's land ship. Salim doesn't even have time to blink before all 3 attacks hit. **

**The linear cannonballs hit Salim's land ship's cannons and destroys them. Salim's land ship's beam CIWs shoot down some of the Dark-Angel's missiles but a lot make it through and hit the beam CIWs and missile hatches. **

**The explosions rock the ship violently. The camera cuts inside the bridge to show Salim get thrown to the floor. After the vibrations subside Salim angrily gets up and shouts**

Salim: Damage report!

**There's a bunch of red lights blinking, Jose typing at his computer says**

Jose: Very bad sir, 90% of side A's cannons have been destroyed, 50% of beam CIWs and 80% of the missile launchers of side B and D have been destroyed.

**Salim clenches his fist definitely pissed now**

Salim (Bastards using a positron cannon for a diversion while they launch 3 separate attacks)

**Salim shouts**

Salim: Rotate us to side C, begin evasive maneuvers 12.

**The camera cuts outside and turns to show Nightwing running towards the crowd of enemy Gundams that's surrounding Quanlier. **

**Nightwing still looks like its stumbling and slipping more then it's actually running but one can't help notice that every step Nightwing takes seems to be better than the last, stronger firmer more stable than the last, and it's slowly becoming clear that Nightwing is beginning to master movement on sand.**

**The camera cuts into inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow grinning like a loon clearly enjoying every moment of this fight.**

Shadow: Cagalli, Nick cover me!

**The camera cuts outside to show Cowboy and La Rouge a little ways behind Nightwing. Nightwing picks up its pace as it becomes better able to walk on the sand, although Cowboy and La Rouge are also getting better moving on the sand they're still not able to keep up with Nightwing's sudden burst of speed. The camera cuts inside Cowboy's cockpit to show Nick surprise shout out**

Nick: Hey wait mate!

**The camera cuts into inside La Rouge's cockpit to show an angry Cagalli shout**

Cagalli: Shadow you moron we can't cover you if you're too far ahead of us!

**The camera cuts outside to show Nightwing pay no attention to the warnings of its team mates and charges straight at the first enemy Gundam it sees. **

**The enemy Gundam Nightwing is targeting is on the outskirts of the crowd that's surrounding Quanlier but it still has its beam rifle pointed at what it believes to be the center where it thinks Quanlier is. **

**The enemy Gundam doesn't appear to be paying any attention what so ever to Nightwing and the others. Nightwing with its beam saber drawn is coming up right behind it. The camera quickly cuts into inside Nightwing's cockpit to show a pissed off Shadow.**

Shadow: Hey bastards don't underestimate me!

**The camera cuts back outside to show Nightwing jump up intending on performing a jump attack however Nightwing stumbles on the sand at the last second. The enemy Gundam finally hears him coming. The camera does a split screen over the enemy Gundam to show the enemy Pilot.**

Enemy Pilot B: What the

**The screen returns to normal as the enemy Gundam backs up which saves it from being cut in half, unluckily for Nightwing Shadow hasn't quite master the landing on sand thing. Nightwing stumbles on the sand when it lands and slips sliding face first in the sand. **

**The enemy Gundam turns to look at Nightwing. Nightwing's tumble causes the enemy Gundam to simply ignore how close it came to being destroyed. The camera cuts into enemy Gundam's cockpit. The enemy Pilot doesn't seem worried**

Enemy Pilot B: Huh it's that rookie terrorist Pilot Salim told us to not worry about, I can't believe I didn't notice him until just now, well then again I'm surprise he made it this far considering how much he was stumbling and tripping early.

**The camera switches to the enemy Pilot B point of view, we can see Nightwing on the ground. The camera moves past Nightwing as a couple of the enemy Gundams in the crowd look over to see what's going on. A new window pops up on the helmet's screen to show a couple more enemy Gundam Pilots appear. They seem more curious then concern.**

Enemy Pilot C: Hey man what's going on?

Enemy Pilot B: Don't worry about it; it's just one of those rookie pilots Salim told us to ignore. I'm just going to finish him off.

**Enemy Pilot C just shrugs**

Enemy Pilot C: Ok just make it quick.

**The screen goes back to normal to show Enemy Pilot B just laugh**

Enemy Pilot B: HAHA no problem.

**The camera cuts outside to show the enemy Gundam put its beam rifle away and draw its beam saber. Nightwing gets to its feet and charges the enemy Gundam again. The camera cuts into Nightwing's cockpit to show a stubbornly determine Shadow shouting**

Shadow: I'm not going to lose!

**The camera cuts outside to show Nightwing perform a left downward diagonal slash. The enemy Gundam easily sidesteps left of Nightwing dodging the attack as it does the camera does a split screen to show Enemy Pilot B say with extreme confidence.**

Enemy Pilot B: Predictable. This fight is over!

**The camera returns to normal to show the Enemy Gundam begin to perform a downward vertical slash at Nightwing while Nightwing is still moving forward due to the force of its own attack. The camera looks down to Nightwing's right foot, it looks like Nightwing is going to slip again but suddenly it straightens up and stabilizes on the sand. **

**Nightwing as quick as lighting spins around and using the force from its first attack increasing its speed Nightwing performs a left horizontal beam slash. The Enemy Gundam isn't even halfway through its attack when Nightwing cuts it in half with its beam saber. **

**The enemy Gundam didn't even have time to process what happen before it splits in 2 parts that crash into the sand, the sand acts like a cushion that muffles the noise. Upon hearing the noise some of the enemy Gundams in the crowd turn around to see what happen. The camera splits into multiply parts to show the shocked enemy Pilots**

Enemy Pilot: No way.

**The camera then moves over to Nightwing and the screen splits to show Shadow grinning with determine excited pride.**

Shadow: Alright who's next!

**The screen returns to normal as Nightwing charges the enemy Gundams. Nightwing's movements are a lot better now and one can hardy tell he's fighting on sand instead of regular earth. **

**The first enemy Gundam is so shocked at Nightwing taking out that other enemy Gundam and its new found ability to move on the sand that it doesn't even move as Nightwing performs a downward vertical slash cutting it in half, this however does cause the 2 closest enemy Gundams to start moving. **

**The one on Nightwing's left starts to raise its beam rifle to shoot Nightwing, the one on Nightwing's right starts to put its beam rifle away to draw its beam saber. Nightwing on a roll now takes one step towards its left and performs an upward right diagonal slash cutting off the hands of the enemy Gundam that was about to shoot it. **

**Then Nightwing brings its blade down cutting the handless enemy Gundam in half. The enemy Gundam on Nightwing's right has manage to draw its beam saber and begins to perform a downward vertical slash. Nightwing turns around and quickly counters with a right horizontal slash. **

**The 2 blades clash and for a moment sparks fly but Nightwing's attack is stronger and Nightwing forces the enemy Gundam's beam saber up in the air. The enemy Gundam stumbles backwards and Nightwing uses this chance to cut it in half with a downward left diagonal slash. **

**As this Gundam falls more enemy Gundams in crowd start turning around and noticing Nightwing. Several of them raise their beam rifles and prepare to shoot Nightwing down, but they're cut off when beam bullets come flying down on them preventing them from getting a single shot off. **

**Some are destroyed in the first instant while others just manage to raise their shields to block the attack. The camera turns around to reveal the beam shots came from Cowboy and La Rouge. La Rouge is firing its beam rifle and it looks like it's gotten adjusted to the kickbacks and the sand. The camera cuts inside La Rouge's cockpit to show Cagalli looking focus.**

Cagalli: Arrr they're sure are a lot of them.

**Nick pops up on Cagalli's helmet screen.**

Nick: Cagalli I'll going to go right and stop them from even thinking of encircling us, you keep giving the mate cover.

**Cagalli nods her head**

Cagalli: Right.

**The camera cuts outside to show Cowboy run right, judging from Cowboy's movements it appears Cowboy has figure out how to maneuver on the sand, and now that Cowboy can move correctly its beam shots are even more accurate and fast. **

**In less than a minute Cowboy has taken out 10 enemy Gundams. The camera turns to Nightwing and La Rouge. Nightwing and La Rouge seem to have fallen into a pretty simple but effective attack pattern. **

**La Rouge's shots aren't as fast or as accurate as Cowboy's but it's definitely requiring some skill and concentration to either block or dodge the beam bullets or else they'll hit, and Nightwing is maneuvering left, right and all around. **

**Its quick, fast and strong, although the enemy Gundams could overwhelm either one with sheer numbers La Rouge and Nightwing are doing well keeping the enemy Gundam's attention divide and taking them out in a good team strategy. **

**Now whether they're doing this on purpose or it's just working out that way is up to debate. The camera moves over the heads of the enemy Gundams towards the center of the crowd. Quanlier is still on the ground and the enemy Gundam is still winning the fight. **

**However the ring of enemy Gundams around Quanlier seems to be falling apart as they begin to hear and notice the commotion La Rouge, Nightwing and Cowboy are making and go to investigate it. **

**The enemy Gundam fighting Quanlier also seems to finally notice what's going on. The camera cuts into inside the enemy Gundam's cockpit to show the Pilot looking around trying to see what's going on.**

Enemy Pilot A: Hmm there seems to be something going on over there, I better finish this up so I can go check it out.

**The camera cuts outside to show the enemy Gundam raise its beam rifle at Quanlier who is literary right next to the enemy Gundam's feet but just as it looks like the enemy Gundam is going to fire Quanlier's eyes flash. **

**Quanlier still lying on the ground spins around its tail sticking up as straight as a pole. The tail spin sweeps the legs out from underneath the enemy Gundam. The enemy Gundam falls flat on its back. The camera cuts inside Quanlier's cockpit to show a pissed off Roxas.**

Roxas: Bastard I show you what happens when you kick a tiger!

**The camera cuts outside to show Roxas charge the enemy Gundam. The camera looks away from the Gundam battles and looks towards the ship battle. **

**The Dark-Angel evades cannon fire from Salim's land ship and counters with its missiles; in turn Salim's land ship evades and destroys the missiles with its beam CIWs. The camera cuts to inside Salim's land ship's bridge to show Salim looking deep in concentration.**

Salim: Evasion pattern delta, rotate the ship to side B prepare to fire the cannons then fire the missiles on side D.

**Jose turns and interrupts Salim**

Jose: Sir

**Salim snaps at Jose**

Salim: WHAT!

**Jose flinches a little in fear but says anyway**

Jose: It's our Gundams they seem to be in trouble.

**Salim is shocked**

Salim: What! Bring it up on the main monitor!

**The main monitor flashes to show the Gundams. It's true the Shadow Knights although out number seem to have the upper hand. Salim grits his teeth**

Salim (Damn it why now of all times, they must have just been faking acting like rookies in order for us to lower our guard, damn it I can't believe I fell for that! And with the enemy ship's power we're absolutely going to need the Gundams. I guess that just leaves me with one choice.)

**The episode ends with Salim turning around and walking towards the exit**

Salim: Tell the Gundam bay to prep my Gundam I'm going out.


	43. Episode 42

Episode 42

**The episode opens up showing the Dark-Angel running from Salim's land ship. Salim's land ship is firing its cannons but it doesn't appear to be doing much good. The camera cuts inside the Dark-Angel's bridge to show Ciro tapping his fingers against his terminal's computer looking very confident. Rini turns and looks at him annoyed**

Rini: This plan of yours isn't going to work.

**Ciro just grins at her**

Ciro: Just you wait and see, me and my buddies did this a couple of times when we were being chased by the cops and it worked every time.

**Kenny now really curious asks**

Kenny: Why were the cops chasing you and your buddies?

**Ciro looks annoyed by this question**

Ciro: Don't worry about that.

**Alan griping the steering wheel tightly says**

Alan: Alright all set.

**Ciro smiling leans forward in his seat and begins typing on his computer. He begins to count down.**

Ciro: Ok here we go guys, 3, 2, 1.

**The camera cuts outside as Ciro countdowns, the camera is doing an eagle eye view of the battle. We see the Dark-Angel still being chased by Salim's land ship but somehow the Dark-Angel's movements seem weird, almost like instead of being chased the Dark-Angel is leading Salim's land ship somewhere. **

**When Ciro gets to 2 the camera zooms in on something in front of Salim's land ship, missiles. Somehow there are missiles in the desert sand that haven't exploded yet. When Ciro gets to 1 the edge of Salim's land ship's rolls right over the missiles. The missiles exploded and the tip of Salim's land ship gets sent flying into the air. **

**The camera cuts inside Salim's land ship's bridge to show the bridge crew get shaken around quite a bit. The camera cuts back outside to show the side of Salim's land ship almost go straight up in the sky and for a moment it looks like it's going to capsize but then the weight of the ship and gravity kick in and bring the ship back down. The camera cuts inside the Dark-Angel's bridge to show Ciro snap his fingers.**

Ciro: Damn. I thought for sure that'd capsize them.

**Rini looks smug**

Rini: Knew it.

**Jack turns and grins confidently at Ciro.**

Jack: I told you that that amount of explosives wouldn't be enough to capsize them.

**Ciro glares at Jack for a moment. Rini turns around in her seat and holds out her hand towards Ciro. Ciro grumbles for a moment then takes out his wallet and gives her some cash.**

Ciro: Arrr I must have underestimated how much that shipped weight.

**Kabira is looking at them shocked and a little annoyed**

Kabira: Shouldn't you guys be taking this battle more seriously?

**Everyone just ignores her. Raheem steps forward towards Kenny and asks**

Raheem: How are the Gundam Fighters doing?

**Kenny looks at Raheem surprise that he cares.**

Kenny: Um very well, see for yourself.

**Kenny hits a few keys on his keyboard and his terminal's monitor blinks to show the Shadow Knights, and Kenny wasn't exaggerating when he said they were doing very well. Quanlier is still engage with Enemy Pilot A. We continue were the fight left off last, Enemy Gundam A is on the ground Quanlier jumps up into the air and is about to pounce on it. **

**The camera cuts into Enemy Gundam A's cockpit to show the Pilot grit his teeth then cuts back outside to show at the last second Enemy Gundam A rolls out of the way dodging the assault. Quanlier lands on the sand, the camera quickly cuts inside Quanlier's cockpit to show Roxas grit her teeth in self-annoyance.**

Roxas: Damn missed!

**The camera cuts outside as Enemy Gundam A hops up and points its beam rifle at Quanlier and open fires, as it does that the camera does a quick split screen to show him shout**

Enemy Pilot A: Here eat this!

**The screen returns to normal. Quanlier however is just as fast and quickly moves out of the way. The camera moves over to show Cowboy also kicking some ass. Cowboy is running parallel to a group of Enemy Gundams its beam rifle is ablaze as it rains beam bullets down upon them. **

**Every beam bullet hits something, a head shot, an exposed limb, even a chest shot if the enemy Gundam doesn't remember to raise its shield. The enemy Gundams are trying to retaliate but Cowboy is circling them and keeping them confused and often times clashing into each other. **

**Some of them are able to get off some shots but the few shots they do get off are either block by Cowboy's shield or miss completely. The camera moves over to La Rouge and Nightwing, La Rouge is still firing its beam rifle at enemy Gundams while Nightwing mows down enemy Gundams with its beam saber. **

**One enemy Gundam has its beam rifle drawn and is pointing it at Nightwing. Nightwing is charging at the enemy Gundam but it's obvious that the enemy Gundam is going to be able to get a shot off before Nightwing gets there, but just as its about to fire a beam bullet hits the sand right next to the enemy Gundam. **

**The enemy Gundam surprise turns its head to look at the source of the attack. It's La Rouge and that's the last thing the enemy Gundam sees as Nightwing cuts it in half. A second enemy Gundam appears behind Nightwing and performs a downward vertical beam slash. **

**Nightwing noticing the attack spins around and turning its blade horizontal blocks the attack. The enemy Gundam and Nightwing enter into a duel as they both begin to try to push the other back but the duel doesn't last long as Nightwing overpowers the enemy Gundam and pushes/throws the enemy Gundam back. **

**The enemy Gundam stumbling takes one step back then gets shot right in the chest by a beam bullet. The camera turns to show the shot came from La Rouge. The camera cuts inside La Rouge's cockpit to show Cagalli grin slightly satisfied with her shot. Shadow pops up on her helmet screen, he's grinning too**

Shadow: Not bad Cagalli, I'm so proud of you, you finally took out a Gundam; even though I kind of threw it into your beam bullet.

**Shadow teasing Cagalli is fake crying tears of joy. Cagalli slightly offended glares at Shadow and says**

Cagalli: Ok just so you know I have shot down Gundams before.

**Shadow looks at her unbelieving**

Shadow: Sure you have.

**Shadow says with obvious sarcasm. Cagalli eyes become like sharp piercing needles as she glares at Shadow, but before she can say anything the camera cuts outside to show a beam bullet fly right by La Rouge's left check. The camera cuts back inside La Rouge's cockpit to show Cagalli jump slightly startled. Shadow laughs at her**

Shadow: HAHHAHA, well I better not distract you anymore Cagalli, hate for you to get shot because of me.

**Cagalli spends one last second glaring at Shadow before focusing back on the battle. The camera cuts inside the bridge of the Dark-Angel and moves over to show Raheem still standing over Kenny. Raheem's eyes are wide open in shock. Kenny is looking at the screen impressed and happy for his friends.**

Kenny: Well that's Shadow for you, the stubborn idiot always masters what he sets his mind to, Nick is a Cowboy and statistics show that cowboys adapt 37 percent faster to changing situations than normal, and Cagalli is like really smart so of course she'd figure out how to operate her Gundam in the desert.

**Kenny goes on typing on his computer thinking this answer satisfied Raheem but Raheem still looks very deeply shock.**

Raheem (Incredible simply amazing, no those words are an underestimate to this situation. It normally takes an average Pilot who hasn't been to the desert before a couple of days or a week at most to get used to operating their Gundams on the sand, it was rare and impressive for Roxas to pick it up so quickly but for Shadow, Nick and even Cagalli to understand and readjust their footing in under 30 minutes to account for the sand, it's like there are 4 prodigies on broad this single ship.)

**Kabira has also moved over to look over Kenny's shoulder. She's watching Cagalli and Shadow's fight.**

Kabira: You know I'm surprise Cagalli and Shadow can fight so well together considering how often they argue?

**Kenny looks at her surprise having never really notice it before.**

Kenny: Yea, you're right and it's not like they ever practice team moves or stuff like it, it just sort of comes naturally to them.

**Raheem still getting over his shock says absent mindedly**

Raheem: It's not really that surprising, their opposite personalities complement each other, Shadow's quick to react but impulsive while Cagalli is always thinking but hesitates too much on making a decision.

**Kabira and Kenny look at Raheem still confused. Raheem seeing this sighs and tries a different approach.**

Raheem: Ok think of Shadow and Cagalli's personalities like puzzle pieces, although to the naked eye they appear as different as can be when place together they match each other perfectly. So even though Cagalli and Shadow have never practice team moves together their fighting instincts have them act in such a way that they just naturally complement each other's moves, they're probably not even aware of it.

**Kenny and Kabira nod their heads. Kenny smiles suddenly as he draws his own conclusion from Shadow and Cagalli's behavior.**

Kenny: And it could also be like the old saying says, opposites attract.

**Kabira looks at Kenny momentary surprise, then smiles liking the idea of Shadow and Cagalli as a couple.**

Kabira: Yes, there would be nothing more romantic then 2 soul mates meeting on the battlefield and working so perfectly together that they don't even realize it.

**Raheem however rolls his eyes at this.**

Raheem: That's not what I meant, it's not like this never happens it's just a little rare but I've known several people this has occurred too, *sight*why is it though that whenever it's a male female partnership people always jump to that, if it's a male male or female female partnership no one thinks twice but suddenly a male female partnership and everyone thinks ohhh their soul mates when in reality they simply just work well together nothing more.

**Kabira and Kenny look at Raheem annoyed at their bubble being burst. Kabira turns away from Raheem and faces Kenny.**

Kabira: Well I like my reality better.

**Kenny nods his head agreeing**

Kenny: I second that.

**Raheem extremely annoyed now snaps**

Raheem: That's not reality that's fantasy!

**Raheem speaks louder then he intended which draws Jack's attention. Jack snaps annoyed and angry**

Jack: Kenny what the hell are you doing, get back to work!

**Kenny jumps and quickly turns around in his seat and begins rapidly typing on his computer.**

Kenny: Oh right, sorry!

**The camera cuts outside and moves over to Salim's land ship. It's still unmoving and we can see some smoke still coming from the area the missiles exploded, slowly we can see the Gundam Catapult extend from Salim's land ship. The camera moves inside to show another Solider Haben Gundam but the color scheme for this one is different. **

**The other Solider Haben Gundams just have a tan brownish color scheme but this Gundam has a bright Orange and Yellow color scheme. The camera cuts inside the Gundam's cockpit to show Salim in a matching Pilot suit, Jose is on his helmet screen.**

Salim: Jose what's the damage report on the ship.

**We can see Jose typing on his computer**

Jose: Wheel tracks 4D through 7F have been damage, the repair teams are currently working on switching them out but it's going to take time and until then we'll only be able to maneuver at 37 percent efficiently.

**Salim is clearly unpleased by this but he knows there is nothing he can do about it so he moves on.**

Salim: Well I guess I'll just have to leave it in your very capable hands Jose, now tell me what's going on out there what's Jubal doing?

**Jose nods his head and begins giving Salim a quick rundown of what's going on.**

Jose: Jubal is currently engaging the enemy animal type Gundam.

**The camera cuts quickly outside to show Jubal's Gundam (enemy Gundam A) is still engage with Quanlier. Jubal's Gundam is firing its beam rifle at a charging Quanlier. Quanlier while charging forward is weaving in and out of the beam bullets dodging all of them. The camera cuts inside Jubal's Gundam's cockpit to show Jubal grit his teeth in annoyance.**

Jubal: Arrrr so a beam rifle is useless against you, FINE THEN I'LL JUST USE MY SWORD!

**The camera cuts outside to show Jubal's Gundam throw away its beam rifle and draws its sword. In one swift movement as Quanlier is about to jump up to pounce on Jubal's Gundam Jubal's Gundam draws its sword and performs a tilted right horizontal slash. Quanlier jumps over Jubal's Gundam dodging the sword strike. **

**Jubal's sword hits the sand and sends quite a bit of it up into the air. Quanlier lands lightly behind Jubal's Gundam. The camera cuts inside Quanlier's cockpit to show a very pissed off Roxas.**

Roxas: Don't take me lightly because I'm piloting an animal Gundam!

**The camera cuts outside to show Quanlier spin around and roar as it once again jumps to attack Jubal's Gundam. The camera cuts back to inside Salim's Gundam's cockpit as Jose continues with giving Salim the battle situation.**

Jose: The Gundams we have identify as Basic Originals are currently engaging the rest of our Gundams.

**Salim closes his eyes and thinks for a moment. He opens them again with a strategy in mind.**

Salim: Thank you Jose, launch me towards the closest Basic Original enemy Gundam. I'm going to take out those 3 first then I'm going to double back and help Jubal.

**Jose nods his head**

Jose: Roger that Sir, preparing to launch your Gundam now.

**The camera cuts outside to show the Gundam Catapult activate. Salim's Gundam braces itself to be launch. The camera cuts inside Salim's Gundam as Salim says**

Salim: Captain Salim of the Haben first line army Piloting a Solider Haben Gundam launching!

**The camera cuts outside to show Salim's Gundam launch from Salim's land ship. The camera moves over to show the Dark-Angel fire its high energy beam cannon, linear Cannon and its missiles at the same time. **

**The high energy beam blast hits the missiles which causes an explosion. The explosions create a smoke screen which momentary covers up the linear cannon blast, but the linear cannon blasts burst through the smoke screen a moment later and Salim's land ship just barely dodges it. **

**The camera cuts inside Salim's land ship's bridge to show the shockwaves from the blast shake the ship. The camera cuts to inside the bridge of the Dark-Angel as Kenny, Ciro and Rini start going down each other's throats.**

Rini: You freaking morons what the hell were you doing firing your attacks when I was firing!

**Kenny angrily responds**

Kenny: What was I doing, I said I was firing the missiles!

Ciro: Yea, and you waited all of 1 second before firing not giving anyway the chance to say something! And you Rini your high energy beam blast threw off my linear cannon shot!

**Apparently the 3 simultaneous attacks wasn't done on purpose and the anger in the bridge is only rising.**

Rini: You shouldn't have even fired to begin with, at least Kenny said something but you just went ahead and fired!

Ciro: Because I had the freaking shot and what about you, you didn't say anything!

Rini: That's because Jack told me to fire, it was a given!

**Jack interrupts their argument by throwing wrenches at them. She scores a direct hit as each of her wrenches hit them all in the head.**

Ciro, Rini and Kenny: OWWWWW!

**Ciro rubbing the back of his head grumbles as he glares at Jack.**

Ciro: Just how many wrenches do you have?

**It should be pointed out that he says this in a very quiet voice so as not to be heard. Jack angry shouts at them**

Jack: In case you guys forgot I'm acting as temporary Captain so no one should be firing without first checking with me!

**Kenny bows his head and actually looks sorry. Ciro and Rini look at Jack annoyed but can't argue since she's right, suddenly a red blinking light goes off on Kenny's terminal breaking the silence. Everyone turns to watch Kenny as he begins typing on his computer.**

Kenny: A new Enemy Gundam just launch from the enemy ship.

**Jack looks at Kenny surprise**

Jack: Is it a different model?

**Kenny shakes his head**

Kenny: No it's still a solider type Haben Gundam but its color scheme is different.

**Raheem looks startled by this**

Raheem: It is, can you bring it up on the main monitor?

**Kenny begins typing on his computer**

Kenny: Sure no problem.

**As the main monitor blinks to show Salim's Gundam Jack annoyed says to Kenny**

Jack: Kenny didn't we just have this whole discussion of running everything by me first literary moments ago!

**Before Kenny can reply. Raheem recognizing the color scheme says**

Raheem: That's a high ranking officer's Gundam.

**Jack surprise turns around and asks**

Jack: A high ranking officer, you mean like the Captain?

**Raheem hesitates before answering**

Raheem: Possibly but not for certain, whoever's piloting that Gundam is definitely someone in charge of that ship.

**Ciro shrugs his shoulders uncaringly.**

Ciro: So what their leader has decided to join in on the Gundam fight, I mean it's not like he's that much better than his underlings' right?

**Raheem eyes Ciro coldly.**

Raheem: I wouldn't bet on it.

**The camera cuts outside to show Cowboy standing in one spot now and firing on the enemy Gundams. The camera turns towards the enemy Gundams to show 4 of them get shot in the head in rapid session but just as the 5th one is about to be shot down Salim's Gundam comes over to its side, grabs it and literary tosses it out of the way of the beam bullet. **

**Salim's Gundam crouches next to the Gundam it just saved ready to move left or right if fire upon. The camera cuts inside Salim Gundam's cockpit to show Salim looking at Cowboy, although looking isn't really the right word it's more along the lines of analyzing. We see the Pilot of the Gundam he just saved appear on his helmet screen. The Pilot looks very grateful.**

Pilot: Thank you Sir.

**Salim still focus on Cowboy nods his head and says**

Salim: Don't worry about it but for future reference make sure you always keep your shield a few inches away from your face, that way you still have a clear line of sight when firing your beam rifle and when the enemy returns fire you have enough time to block.

**The Pilot nods his head**

Pilot: I will Sir.

**The camera cuts outside to show Salim's Gundam get up. The camera moves over to Cowboy. Cowboy still has its beam rifle drawn and pointed at Salim's Gundam. The camera cuts inside Cowboy's cockpit to show Nick look unusually focus. Nick's not stupid he can tell when he's up against a skilled opponent.**

Nick (He dodge my shot, no the mate did more than that; he predicted where my shot was going and moved his mate out of the way.)

Nick: Cagalli can you come over here?

**Cagalli appears on Nick's helmet screen, she looks confused.**

Cagalli: Huh, um sure I guess why what's going on?

**Nick looks nervous as a single bead of sweat comes down his face.**

Nick: Just get over here as fast as you can mate, I think I'm going to need help taking out this guy.

**The camera cuts outside as La Rouge walks over to stand next to Cowboy. Salim's Gundam draws its sword; it looks to be a broad sword, and grips it with both hands as it appears that Salim's Gundam doesn't have a shield. La Rouge has its beam rifle drawn and pointed at Salim's Gundam. **

**There's a moment standoff between La Rouge, Cowboy and Salim's Gundam, then the next La Rouge and Cowboy open fire. Salim's Gundam dodges the shots and charges forward, Salim's Gundam is charging forward in a zigzag fashion. Quanlier is the fastest Gundam on the Shadow Knights but it has nothing on the speed of Salim's Gundam. **

**Salim's Gundam dodges all of the beam bullets with ease and in less than 10 seconds Salim's Gundam is in front of La Rouge. The camera does a quick split screen to show a shocked and stun Cagalli and Nick.**

Nick: Fast!

Cagalli: Crap!

**The screen returns to normal to show La Rouge move its shield in front of its head and chest section clearly expecting a sword strike of some kind but that's not what happens. Salim's Gundam stops in front of La Rouge takes one step back and performs a roundhouse kick. **

**Salim's Gundam catches La Rouge's shield using its own foot as a hook and yanks La Rouge's shield to the right across its own chest and exposes its left arm. Salim's Gundam pivots on its left foot does a complete 360 and performs an upward vertical slash cutting off La Rouge's exposed arm. **

**La Rouge falls backwards as both its left arm and shield fall to the ground. The camera does a quick split screen to show Cagalli scream**

Cagalli: AHHHHH

**The screen returns to normal as Cowboy rushes forward to help. We enter another split screen to show Nick worry then enraged**

Nick: Cagalli! You bastard attacking a woman!

**The screen returns to normal as Cowboy raises its beam rifle and fires but Salim's Gundam is just as quick and still on one foot jumps high into the air dodging the attack. Cowboy looks up into the air but Salim was smart and made sure the sun was behind him. Salim's Gundam is just a blur and it's impossible to see its exact position with the sun behind it. **

**Cowboy raises its shield to block an expected attack. Salim's Gundam delivers a very powerful kick to Cowboy's shield. Cowboy braces itself against the sand and manages to hold its ground. **

**The camera does a split screen, Nick on the left Salim on the right. Nick is gritting his teeth and we can see veins pop on his face as he desperately fights to hold his ground. Salim however looks perfectly at ease, he grins and says**

Salim: Not bad being able to block me sky kick, but let's see how you handle this!

**The screen returns to normal as Salim's Gundam stomps its second leg down upon Cowboy's shield. The resulting force is too much for Cowboy and Cowboy's shield is ripped away. As Cowboy stumbles backwards the camera quickly cuts inside Cowboy's cockpit**

Nick: Damn it!

**The camera cuts outside to show Cowboy lift up its beam rifle and grips it with both hands then swings around to show Salim's Gundam land squarely on top of Cowboy's shield, twist around and charge forward preparing to perform an upward vertical slash. **

**The camera looks up so we don't see the result of the duel but we do hear the sounds of metal hitting metal and beam fire. The camera looks down to show Cowboy and Salim's Gundam. They're a couple of feet apart with their backs facing each other, they both have their weapons drawn. **

**The camera turns and focuses on Salim's Gundam; we can see that its right shoulder is grazed still red and smoking. The camera cuts inside Salim's Gundam's cockpit to show Salim look extremely focus for a second, but then his shoulders relax and he grins**

Salim: Heh you grazed my right shoulder, impressive but it cost you too much.

**The camera cuts outside and spins around to look at Cowboy. We see both of Cowboy's hands and beam rifle fall to the ground having been severed from Cowboy's arms by Salim's Gundam's sword. **

**Cowboy drops to its knees as it raises its arms to stare at where its hands use to be. The camera cuts inside Cowboy's cockpit to show Nick freaking out. He's staring at his hands and his eyes are going all big eye. He says with a shaky voice**

Nick: My hands, I can't feel my hands!

**We can see Kenny appear on Nick's helmet screen, he begins trying to calm Nick down.**

Kenny: Nick calm down, Nick listen to me what your feeling right now is only the NS system. Your real hands are fine, do you hear me Nick your real hands are fine!

**Nick is starting to shake and is too freaked out to listen to Kenny. The camera cuts outside to show the Dark-Angel dodge cannon fire from Salim's land ship. The Dark-Angel responds by firing its linear cannons but Salim's land ship manages to dodge them. **

**The camera looks down to show Salim's Gundam turn around and look toward Cowboy. The camera cuts inside Salim's Gundam's cockpit**

Salim: Huh, well it looks like someone isn't use to the NS systems bad side effects, too bad but I guess the merciful thing to do is to activate the safety device which will automatically cut off the NS system however the only way I can do that is by either cutting off the head section or stabbing the chest section of the Gundam. *sigh* Oh well at least I'll be 100 percent positive that he won't be trying to attack me again.

**The camera cuts outside as Salim's Gundam slowly makes its way towards Cowboy. The camera spins around to Nightwing as Nightwing slices another enemy Gundam in half. The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow looking very happy and excited.**

Shadow: Oh yea I'm on a freaking roll!

**Kenny appears on Shadow's helmet screen. He's out of breath and any idiot could see something's wrong, speaking of idiots.**

Shadow: Kenny's what's wrong!

**The smile is gone from Shadow's face he's very serious. Kenny still breathing heavy manages to spit out.**

Kenny: Nick *pant, pant, pant* Enemy Gundam *pant, pant, pant, pant, pant* not responding.

**Shadow puts it all together and nods his head.**

Shadow: Got you Kenny, don't worry I'm on it!

**The camera cuts outside to show Nightwing scan the area and spot Cowboy and Salim's Gundam. Nightwing connects the dots and charges; Nightwing is running at full speeds towards Cowboy trying to reach it in time. The camera moves over to show Salim's Gundam bring its sword up preparing to chop off Cowboy's head section. **

**The camera spins around again to face Nightwing, Nightwing is still rushing forward. We can see its thrusters going on full blast but even still it's obvious that Nightwing isn't going to make it on time. The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow gritting his teeth in deep frustration and he shouts**

Shadow: NO STOP, COME ON NIGHTWING GO FASTER!

**The camera looks down to show Shadow's Neon gauntlet start to glow then cuts outside to show Nightwing's eyes flash, its thrusters seem to increase in output but it still doesn't look like it's going to be enough. **

**Then in a last attempt of desperation Nightwing throw its beam saber at Salim's Gundam. The camera spins back over to Salim's Gundam, Salim's Gundam is just about to swing its blade down to behead Cowboy. The camera cuts inside Salim's Gundam's cockpit to show Salim hear the beam saber.**

Salim: huh

**The camera cuts outside to show Salim's Gundam turn its head and notice just in time Nightwing's beam saber coming straight at it. Salim's Gundam quickly takes its sword and bashes the beam saber away. Salim's Gundam's sword only hits the beam part of the beam saber. **

**Nightwing's beam saber still active flips in the air then lands tip first in the sand a little ways away. Salim's Gundam doesn't have time to process what happen as Nightwing comes upon it, time slows down as the camera cuts inside Salim's Gundam's cockpit to show a very surprise Salim.**

Salim (Where did he)

**The camera cuts outside as time goes back to normal to show Nightwing slams into Salim's Gundam at full speeds, a football player would be jealous at Nightwing's tackle. The force of the tackle causes Salim's Gundam to drop its sword into the sand. Salim's Gundam with Nightwing on top falls to the ground. **

**The camera does a quick split screen to show Salim get his breath knocked out of him. The camera cuts outside to show that Nightwing is far from done yet. Nightwing brings up its fist as the camera does another quick split screen to show a very pissed off Shadow.**

Shadow: AHHHHHHHHHH

**The screen returns to normal to show Nightwing begin to punch Salim's Gundam's head, one punch to the right cheek with the right hand, one punch to the left cheek with the left hand, one more punch to the right cheek with the right hand. **

**On the third punch the camera cuts inside Salim's Gundam's cockpit to show Salim's head snap to the left. His face contorts and to an unknown eye it looks like he just got punch by an invisible fist, however his head straightens up and his eyes take on a burning look as Salim becomes enrage. He screams**

Salim: AHHHHHHHHHHHH

**The camera cuts outside to show Salim's Gundam's head move to the right dodging Nightwing's fist which hits the sand next to Salim's Gundam's head. Salim's Gundam quickly grabs Nightwing's right arm and yanks it to the right causing Nightwing to fall from a top of Salim's Gundam. **

**Then Salim's Gundam performs a very powerful kick to Nightwing's stomach. Nightwing rolls a little from the force of the kick but quickly recovers as it gets on its knees and crawls towards its beam saber; Salim's Gundam does the same with its sword. Both Gundams reach their weapons at the same time and quickly jump up and turn to face each other. **

**They both charge each. Salim's Gundam performs a left horizontal slash while Nightwing performs a right downward diagonal beam slash. The 2 blades clash as sparks fly. **

**Nightwing quickly pulls back on his attack, and begins to launch a series of new attacks, downward vertical beam slash, left horizontal beam slash, right upward diagonal beam slash, a stab attack to the head. **

**Salim's Gundam goes on the defensive but it doesn't look like Salim's Gundam is having much trouble blocking the attacks. The camera cuts inside Salim's Gundam's cockpit to show Salim now analyzing Shadow.**

Salim (I see, even though this Gundam Fighter doesn't have a particular style he tries to make up for it by overwhelming his opponent with his speed and power but that only works against poorly train and weak Gundam pilots. Heh I guess that means I got to be stricter with the training regiment for my Pilots.)

Salim: Too bad for you though that I'm very well physically trained!

**The camera cuts outside to show Salim's Gundam duck down dodging Nightwing's left horizontal beam saber slash. Salim's Gundam kicks Nightwing in the chest, Nightwing stumbles backwards from the force of the kick as Salim's Gundam pops up and charges going on the offensive. **

**The camera cuts to inside the Dark-Angel's bridge, we hear an explosion and see the vibration shake the ship. Jack snaps**

Jack: Thomas what's the remaining power level for the shield!

**Thomas hitting a few keys on his computer sings**

Thomas: LA, Ra, Doe, 54 percent.

**Jack isn't thrilled about this but she knows it could be worse, turning to Kenny she asks**

Jack: Kenny how is Shadow, Cagalli, Nick and Roxas doing?

**Kenny typing on his computer shakes his head.**

Kenny: Not that great, La Rouge lost its left arm and shield and Cowboy lost both its hands and beam rifle.

**Jack is definitely pissed about this**

Jack: They did what to my Gundams! When I get my hands on Cagalli and Nick, *deep breath* ok what about Shadow and Roxas?

**Kenny brings Nightwing and Quanlier's battles up on the main screen.**

Kenny: They're both fighting against some really tough opponents.

**Jack grits her teeth seeing the fights and knows that they're in no position to do anything to help.**

Jack: Alright tell Nick to return back to Dark-Angel for repairs.

**Kenny hesitates for a moment then says**

Kenny: I can't.

**Jack turns to him shocked/angry then snaps**

Jack: What do you mean you can't!

**Kenny looks down embarrass then says**

Kenny: Well Nick as you know has never lost a Gundam Fight much less get his arm cut off, so he hasn't

**Jack's patience is low already and she quickly cuts Kenny off**

Jack: Spit it out Kenny!

**Kenny cuts the crap and puts it bluntly**

Kenny: Nick is too freaked out from having his Gundam's arms cut off to even listen to me much less pilot Cowboy into the Dark-Angel.

**Jack is in no mood for sympathy and snaps**

Jack: Well have Cagalli go over there and slap him back to reality!

**The camera cuts outside to show Jubal's Gundam perform a downward vertical slash. Quanlier rolls left dodging the attack. Jubal's Gundam performs a tilted horizontal slash. **

**Quanlier curls into a ball dodging the attack again. Quanlier goes on the offensive; uncurling Quanlier tries for another tail sweep of the legs. The camera cuts inside Jubal's Gundam to show Jubal growing extremely annoyed shout**

Jubal: That won't work on me twice!

**The camera cuts outside to show Jubal's Gundam jump dodging the attack. Quanlier jumps to its legs and pouncing towards Jubal's Gundam. Jubal's Gundam raises its shield and tries to perform a shield bash. The camera cuts inside Quanlier's cockpit to show Roxas shout**

Roxas: You're not the only one that learns from their mistake!

**The camera cuts back outside to show Quanlier quickly relax its body which allows itself to roll off the shield and land lightly to one side of Jubal's Gundam. As quick as a fox Quanlier turns around and pounces towards Jubal's Gundam again. Jubal's Gundam dives to the left dodging Quanlier's beam claws by a hair. **

**Jubal's Gundam getting on one knee performs a charging horizontal slash at Quanlier. Quanlier jumps back as Jubal's blade slashes at the sand creating a wall of sand in the air. The camera swings around to show Nightwing and Salim's Gundam still fighting each other but their more in the background type view. **

**The camera is really center on Cowboy still on its knees staring at the place where its hands used to be. La Rouge now missing its left arm and shield comes walking over to Cowboy. La Rouge stops and stands right in front of Cowboy but Cowboy doesn't even appear to notice it. The camera cuts inside La Rouge's cockpit to show Cagalli angry.**

Cagalli: Nick, Nick come on snap out of it!

**The camera cuts to inside Cowboy's cockpit to show Nick still too freaked out to hear anything, although Cagalli appears angry one can almost sense an underlying concern in hear voice, her anger is definitely a front to cover how worry she is about Nick. **

**The camera switches back to inside La Rouge's cockpit, we can see Cagalli clench her fist in growing frustration, she suddenly shouts**

Cagalli: Damn it you stupid Cowboy I said snap out of it!

**Cagalli lifts her good hand, because of the NS system she can't feel her left arm, and begins to bring it down. As she's bringing it down the camera cuts outside to show La Rouge mimicking Cagalli. **

**La Rouge slaps Cowboy hard in the face. The camera cuts inside Cowboy's cockpit to show the invisible hand slap Nick. The slap finally gets the stun brain of Nick working again.**

Nick: Owwww what the hell mate!

**We can see Cagalli on Nick's helmet screen; she breathes a sigh of relief at hearing Nick speak.**

Cagalli: Nick you froze up when that new enemy Gundam cut off your Gundam's hands, man you had me worried there for a second.

**Nick surprise looks at his hands again for a second and comments**

Nick: Oh yea; man this is so weird mate, when I turn off the NS eye link I can see my hands but I still can't feel them. I don't know how you deal with this all the time mate.

**Cagalli is slightly offended at this comment**

Cagalli: I don't get my Gundam's limbs cut off that often. Anyway come on Nick our Gundams are too damage to continue fighting, we have to return to the ship to get repairs.

**Nick turning back on his NS eye link nods his head.**

Nick: Ok mate.

**The camera cuts outside to show Cowboy and La Rouge head off in the direction of the Dark-Angel. The camera turns and moves over to Nightwing and Salim's Gundam's fight. Salim Gundam moves in a swift decisive way, it doesn't so much as stomp around on the ground as most Gundams do but slides its feet on the sand, its moving with the sands. **

**Salim's Gundam slides forward and performs a downward vertical slash. Nightwing turns its beam saber sideways and blocks the attack but its forced to take a step back. Salim's Gundam does a quarter turn. Nightwing thinking it sees an opening charges forward but Salim's Gundam plans on this and quickly uses its right leg to kick Nightwing in the chest. **

**As Nightwing stumbles backwards Salim's Gundam sliding forward rotates back to starting position, using the force from the slide and rotation Salim's Gundam increases the power of its downward diagonal slash. **

**Nightwing once again tries to block the attack by turning its blades horizontal but it's off balance and Salim's Gundam's attack is even stronger from the added power. Nightwing is knock to the ground. Nightwing lands on its back, but it quickly rolls left as Salim's Gundam stabs the ground where its chest was lying at only moments before. **

**Nightwing rolling some distance away jumps to its feet and stares at Salim's Gundam thinking about its next move. The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow in deep concentration.**

Shadow (This guy's tough but he's not on Zain's level, I think I'm no I'm sure I can take him.)

**The camera cuts inside Salim's Gundam's cockpit to show Salim look troubled.**

Salim (I don't know what I was thinking of when fighting a terrorist Gundam Pilot but this isn't it. This guy's fighting style is nowhere near as violent and viscous as I thought it would be, it's almost like a kid's. Lots of potential with a great foundation but reckless and lacking actual structure, if he had joined the Haben military I'm sure he would have made a great solider and I can't help wonder what made him join with these terrorists.)

**Salim doesn't have more time to ponder this as the camera cuts outside to show Nightwing charge Salim's Gundam. Nightwing jumps up and starts to twist in the air in order to build more momentum in its attack. Nightwing performs a downward left diagonal attack, Salim's Gundam however counters with an upward vertical attack. **

**Their blades clash and for a moment it looks like Salim's Gundam is the weaker one as it begins to buckle under Nightwing's attack. The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow look triumphed.**

Shadow: HA I got you now bastard!

**The camera cuts inside Salim's Gundam's cockpit to show Salim only look worried for a second before he smiles confidently.**

Salim: I don't think so.

**The camera cuts outside to show that instead of trying to fight any further against Nightwing's attack Salim's Gundam drops back in a barrel roll. Nightwing falls with Salim's Gundam. **

**The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show a surprised Shadow then cuts outside as Salim's Gundam uses its legs to grab Nightwing and forcefully rolls Nightwing underneath it. Nightwing drops its beam saber as Salim's Gundam rolls on top of it. **

**Salim's Gundam puts its knees on top of Nightwing's arms pinning them down. The camera cuts inside Salim's Gundam's cockpit to show Salim crack his knuckles.**

Salim: Now I've got you, time for some pay back for those punches earlier.

**The camera cuts back outside as Salim's Gundam begins to punch Nightwing's head section, left, right, left, right, almost like a trained boxer Salim's Gundam alternates each fist as it punches Nightwing. Nightwing subconsciously rocks with each punch. Each time its body rocks a little higher into the air. **

**The camera momentary cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow taking a beating from the invisible hands then cuts back outside, after a lot of punches. Salim's Gundam reaches for its sword however at the same time Nightwing manages to wring its right arm free and grab its own beam saber. **

**Salim's Gundam brings its blade down intending to stab Nightwing in the head. The camera does a split screen to show Shadow grit his teeth and Salim shout**

Salim: Nice try but not good enough!

**The screen returns to normal as Nightwing performs a horizontal beam slash, as one would imagine since Nightwing has an enemy Gundam sitting on top of it and only one arm free it's attack is a little sloppy but it gets the job down as it hits Salim's Gundam's sword on its way down. **

**Nightwing's attack manages to alter Salim's Gundam's sword's angle enough that it manages to mostly miss Nightwing's face. Salim's Gundam's sword still grazes Nightwing's cheek a little, but it's only a minor cut that doesn't even break through the armor. The camera quickly cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow's eyes wide open as he knows just how close he came to being defeated.**

Shadow (Damn that was close; I got to get out of this position!)

**Shadow glances to his right and sees his beam saber; he suddenly gets the "light bulb" face**

Shadow (That's it!)

**The camera cuts outside to show Nightwing flip its beam saber around and stab the ground, then using the beam saber as leverage it forcefully raises itself and Salim's Gundam off the ground. The camera does a momentary split screen to show a shocked Salim**

Salim: What!

**The screen returns to normal to show Salim's Gundam jump off Nightwing. Salim's Gundam gets some distance from Nightwing and gets into its fighting stance. Nightwing also gets into its fighting stance; both Gundams begin to have a stare off with each other. The camera cuts inside Salim's Gundam's cockpit to show Salim.**

Salim (Using his beam saber for leverage to pick himself up and throw me off, that's pretty clever.)

**Salim despite himself grins, he's enjoying this battle. The camera cuts outside and turns around to face Nightwing; the camera does a split screen to show Shadow also enjoying this fight. The screen returns to normal as both Gundams charge each other. The camera turns around to look at the Dark-Angel. **

**The Dark-Angel has stopped moving and is standing in one place. Salim's land ship has begun to fire its missiles at the Dark-Angel but the Dark-Angel holds its ground and uses its beam CIWs to shoot them down. The camera cuts inside the Dark-Angel's bridge, Thomas spins around in his seat and sings**

Thomas: Doe, LA, FA, RA I don't know how much longer I can keep up with destroying their missiles.

**Kabira definitely looks nervous about this news but she's even more nervous about Thomas's uncaring and almost happy attitude.**

Kabira: Then why are you singing in a happy tone!

**Thomas just turns and grins at her**

Thomas: RA, RA, ME because life is better when you express it with music and besides singing sad songs depresses me.

**Kabira doesn't look any happier about this but Jack getting annoyed says**

Jack: Look Kabira we can't move until we get Cowboy on board so just deal with it, and speaking of Cowboy Kenny where are they?

**Kenny typing on his computer says**

Kenny: They're right next to the ship, they're coming on now.

**The camera cuts outside to show La Rouge helping Cowboy into the Dark-Angel's Gundam bay, La Rouge isn't actually in the Dark-Angel's Gundam but is simply lifting Cowboy into it. The camera cuts inside Cowboy's cockpit.**

Nick: Thanks for the help mate.

**Although Nick is trying not to show it his pride has clearly been wounded. We can see Cagalli on Nick's helmet screen, she seems a little more relax now that they're within stepping distance of the Dark-Angel but it doesn't appear that she's notice Nick's wounded pride.**

Cagalli: Don't worry about it Nick its fine.

**Cagalli dismissing Nick's shame pushes Nick over the edge.**

Nick: No, it isn't fine mate! The man is the one that should be taking care of the lady, it's the man's job to protect a lady from thugs and not only did I failed horribly in protecting you against that enemy Gundam you've got to waste your time carrying my broken machine to the Dark-Angel.

**Nick is obviously taking his loss hard. Cagalli is stun having not thought it a big deal; she quickly searches for words of comfort to say to Nick**

Cagalli: Um, Nick we all lose sometimes the important thing is to learn from our mistakes and besides you shouldn't just think of me as a lady but also as your team mate, we help each other when we need it.

**Nick isn't too thrilled at Cagalli's words but it does calm him down a little. The camera cuts outside to show the handless Cowboy walk into the Gundam bay. La Rouge reaches up and is also about to climb in when the Gundam bay doors suddenly close. **

**La Rouge surprise quickly lets go of the edge and falls to ground. The camera cuts inside La Rouge's cockpit to show a very annoyed and mad Cagalli.**

Cagalli: What the hell!

**We can see Jack pop up on Cagalli's helmet screen, Jack also looks annoyed and mad.**

Jack: That's what I should be asking, what the hell do you think you're doing trying to come back on the Dark-Angel when we're in the middle of a battle!

**The camera switches viewpoints to inside the Dark-Angel's bridge, we can see Jack still sitting in the Captain's chair although she's starting to look a little antsy. Cagalli is on the main monitor and she still looks pissed.**

Cagalli: What do you mean my Gundam's obviously too damage to continue fighting!

**Zuke chooses to make his presence known at this point**

Zuke: Awwww the poor little natural baby can't fight any more because she got a little boo-boo. Tis you naturals are so frail, if a strong wind blows on you you'd break.

**Cagalli is glaring at Zuke extremely pissed off but Zuke is once again leaning against the back wall with his eyes close, he doesn't consider Cagalli worth a single second of his time, which of course only makes Cagalli madder.**

Cagalli: It's not like I just have some small scratch my entire Gundam's left arm has been cut off and I've lost my shield!

**Jack also turns to glare at Zuke but she refocuses back on Cagalli. She takes a breath then says with great distaste.**

Jack: As much as I hate to say it I agree with Zuke; it's not like you lost your dominant hand you can still fight.

**Raheem steps forward and tries to convince Cagalli to keep on fighting as well**

Raheem: Cagalli I also pilot a Gundam so I'm also well aware of how difficult it is to fight with only one arm but it's not impossible and besides you still have both your beam rifle and Guan Dao.

**Cagalli looks down for a minute and bites her lip.**

Cagalli (Well actually I dropped my beam rifle when that enemy Gundam cut off my arm but if I tell Jack that she'd be even more pissed.)

**Kabira a little angry steps forward to defend Cagalli.**

Kabira: That's enough guys let Cagalli come back inside, her Gundam is really damage and, and I don't want anyone getting hurt because of me.

**Kabira's statement shocks everyone. Kabira looks extremely guilty, Raheem upon seeing this exclaims**

Raheem: Ms. Kabira this fight isn't your fault.

**Kabira suddenly bursts with overwhelming guilt**

Kabira: But it is my fault, it's my fault that Fachtna somehow tricked the Haben military into thinking that we're the enemy and it's my fault that you guys can't go all out against them, if you guys get hurt or if anyone dies it's going to be all my fault!

**Kabira looks like she's close to tears and everyone is stun into silence for a moment, even cold hearted Zuke has lifted his head to look over at her. No one knows what to say in response to this but suddenly Cagalli begins to speak.**

Cagalli: It's not completely your fault.

**All eyes turn to Cagalli surprise; it's strange although the voice is indeed coming from Cagalli at the same time it feels like it's not. The voice seems to be coming from somewhere else, somewhere deep inside Cagalli and even Cagalli herself looks surprise at it.**

Cagalli: Sure you may have been the spark to ignite this powder keg but the powder keg was already there long before you came. You didn't create this problem you tried to solve it but there is no denying that you did ignite a very volatile situation but if you hadn't done it someone else would have so don't take the full credit for this mess, only take your share.

**The voice coming from inside Cagalli although weak at first seems to be growing stronger more confident like a waking power that is finally floating to the surface after a long hibernation and Cagalli's own resolve seems to be growing.**

Cagalli: Sure in trying to do good you made the situation worse but you know what sometimes things need to be worse before they can get better, the same way you need to take out a rotten piece of wood from an old building so that a new one can be put in. It's true that Fachtna did trick the Haben military into attacking us because you were on board but we knew we'd be in dangerous battles when we agree to protect you and as for holding back well even if you weren't here we wouldn't attack full force against a ship that was being tricked into attacking us.

**Cagalli's confidence is growing even stronger and even Zuke is force to look up and acknowledge her presence. Kabira is calming down but suddenly by an overwhelming urge Kabira asks**

Kabira: But what about you Cagalli, your Gundam is damage and

**Cagalli cuts Kabira off with laughter and a smile.**

Cagalli: HAHAHAHA, oh don't mind me I was just acting spoiled and stupid, really my Gundam is fine I'm just missing an arm I'll be perfectly alright, and I'm sorry Jack, Zuke for giving you guys a hard time with that. Let me give you some advice Kabira, people who turn around and tell you when your acting spoiled and stupid are the ones who truly care about you, never forget that.

**Everyone is looking at Cagalli shocked by her new found confidence or maybe it would be more accurate to say with her re-found confidence. Kabira is looking at Cagalli with eyes full of marvel and idolization.**

Cagalli: Well I better be going now, Roxas and even that idiot Shadow are fighting against our opponents ace fighters so that just leaves me to protect the Dark-Angel from the rest of the Haben military Gundams, so see you guys at dinner by the latest.

**As Cagalli speaks the camera switches to inside La Rouge's cockpit, at the end of her speech Cagalli closes the communication window connecting her to the Dark-Angel, and for a moment Cagalli just stands there with a smile brimming with confidence, but just like a one shot cannon Cagalli's confidence quickly leaves and once again sinks deep inside herself as Cagalli's logic comes back.**

Cagalli (Oh crap what the hell did I just get myself into! Go out there and fight them with just one arm and I don't even have my beam rifle any more, what the hell was I on just now agreeing to that. The only thing I have left to defend myself with is my Guan Dao and I'm not even sure I can hold that with one hand let alone fight with it. Arrr I can't just go back and ask them to let me into the Dark-Angel after that big speech, I'd look like an ass.)

**We switch to Cagalli's POV to see Haben military Gundams start to approach her and the Dark-Angel, then we switch back to inside La Rouge's cockpit as Cagalli grits her teeth.**

Cagalli (Arrr more Haben military Gundams)

**Cagalli glances over her shoulder back at the Dark-Angel**

Cagalli (Shadow and Roxas are busy already fighting and Nick's Gundam is too damage to fight. The Dark-Angel would be at a serious disadvantage if it has to fight both the land ship and their Gundams.)

**Cagalli suddenly pictures Kabira close to breaking out in tears. Cagalli grits her teeth**

Cagalli (I guess this is like the saying says either put up or shut up, since I've already talked big now I've got no choice but to act big!)

**The camera cuts outside to show La Rouge reach and take out its beam Guan Dao with its remaining arm. La Rouge fumbles with it for a moment but manages to grab and hold it with one hand. **

**La Rouge charges the enemy Gundams. The episode ends with a freeze frame of La Rouge charging the enemy Gundams, Cagalli's image is over La Rouge with her battle face on.**


	44. Episode 43

Episode 43

**The episode opens up showing the Dark-Angel fire its missiles at Salim's land ship. Salim's land ship responds by firing its own missiles, both sets of missiles hit each other at the exact same time canceling each other out. **

**The camera looks down onto the battlefield to show La Rouge charge an enemy Gundam with just its beam Guan Dao. La Rouge performs a jump attack but the enemy Gundam turns its sword sideways and lifts it over its head blocking the attack. **

**The enemy Gundam with ease pushes La Rouge back then performs a left horizontal beam slash but it's too slow and La Rouge is already gone. La Rouge is running away from the enemy Gundams but its being pursued by them. The camera cuts inside La Rouge's cockpit to show Cagalli panicking.**

Cagalli (Damn it I can't generate any power in my Guan Dao attacks with just one arm!)

**The camera cuts outside to show that the enemy Gundams have open fire on La Rouge but like previously stated they aren't the greatest shots in the world and the fact that their target is moving makes it even harder for them. **

**All of their shots miss and don't even come close to hitting La Rouge. The camera cuts inside La Rouge's cockpit to show Cagalli looking scare/angry/and just plain pissed off.**

Cagalli: God damn it in this state I can only be a decoy to distract the remaining enemy Gundams while everyone else fights! Arrr if I'm going to have any hope of winning this fight I'm going to have to find my beam rifle and of course NOT GET SHOT!

**As Cagalli shouts this the camera cuts outside to show La Rouge still running as fast as it came away from its pursuing enemy Gundams. The camera moves over to show Nightwing and Salim's Gundam's battle, they're currently in an intense sword fight (beam saber is listed under the sword category). **

**Nightwing performs a downward vertical beam slash, right horizontal beam slash, upward left diagonal beam slash, and a stab attack at the chest. Salim's Gundam blocks these attacks, turning blade horizontal then vertical, then sidestep right then left. The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show that surprisingly Shadow looks to be analyzing Salim.**

Shadow (Here it comes, after playing defense for 3 to 5 strikes he begins his counter attack with a kick.)

**The camera cuts outside to show that true to Shadow's prediction Salim's Gundam turning its blade horizontal blocks Nightwing's downward vertical beam slash, and performs a straight kick intending to hit Nightwing in the stomach but Nightwing quickly brings up its left leg and blocks the kick with its left kneecap. The camera quickly does a split screen to show a shocked Salim.**

Salim: He blocked my kick!

**The screen returns to normal to show Nightwing pull its beam saber back then still standing on one leg Nightwing jumps up and kicks the still surprise Salim's Gundam with its right leg. **

**Salim's Gundam doesn't have enough time to block the attack and takes the hit straight in the gut. Salim's Gundam goes sliding back a couple of feet but it manages to stay on its legs and not get knocked down. The camera cuts inside Salim's Gundam's cockpit to show Salim breathing heavy.**

Salim (This guy's already starting to read my movements.)

**The camera cuts to inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow also breathing heavy.**

Shadow (This is good, I'm starting to be able to predict his movements, heh it's just like Drake said.)

**Shadow has a brief flashback of his time training with Drake. Shadow has his head down on a table sleeping. Drake annoyed walks over and punches Shadow hard in the back of the head. Shadow jumps awake, his nose is all bloody and to one side obviously broken.**

Shadow: OWWWWWWWW you son of a bitch, you broke my nose!

**Drake doesn't seem to care.**

Drake: Good a broken nose builds character and maybe you'll actually learn not to sleep during one of my lessons.

**Shadow has his hand over his face and is stomping the ground with his feet in pain and his eyes are tearing up.**

Shadow: Owwwwwwwwwwwww god freaking damn it, it hurts so much!

**Drake looks at Shadow and sighs**

Drake: Oh quit your whining; here let me take a look at it.

**Drake forcefully pulls Shadow's hand away from his face and then easily grips the struggling Shadow's chin and begins examining Shadow's nose. After a moment Drake with his free hand takes Shadow's crooked nose and resets it. Shadow screams in pain as Drake smiles satisfied with his work lets go of Shadow.**

Drake: There that should allow your nose to heal correctly but you should still see the doctor later on to make sure.

**It's hard to tell how much of that Shadow actually heard considering how much pain Shadow is in.**

Shadow: OWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

**Drake rolls his eyes**

Drake: Oh suck it up you big baby, geez how are you going to be the best Gundam Fighter ever if you can't even tolerate this much pain?

**Shadow is obviously still in a lot of pain but Drake's jab at his pride works and Shadow sucks it up and stops screaming, although his eyes are still a little watery he glares at Drake. Drake notices the glare but seems unimpressed**

Drake: Don't glare at me like that; it's your own fault for sleeping during one of my lessons.

**Shadow still glaring at Drake says with contempt**

Shadow: How can you even call this a lesson when you're just having me watch some stupid boxing fights and on video no less!

**Drake eyes Shadow annoyed**

Drake: This is training for you to learn how to analyze and read your opponents movements.

**Shadow is not satisfied with this answer**

Shadow: Then why am I the only one that has to sit here and watch this!

**Shadow demands. Drake is highly annoyed with Shadow's tone of voice. A knife appears on the desk Shadow is sitting at. Shadow deeply startled falls backwards.**

Drake: It's because out of all the Gundam Fighters for your team you're the stupidest and have the least battle experience.

**Shadow looks down his pride wounded again**

Shadow: No that's not true, I have more battle experience then no wait I guess Nick with all his cowboy brawls has more, but no Roxas has a lot of battle experience fighting against animals but OH CRAP even Cagalli has more battle experience fighting on Earth, nooooooo this can't be happening!

**Shadow's pride once again takes a beating. Drake eyes Shadow on the ground sulking.**

Drake: You believe that Cagalli is from Earth?

**Shadow quickly getting over his depression says**

Shadow: Cagalli believes she's from Earth.

**Drake and Shadow look at each other than Drake grins**

Drake: Heh, yes, yes she does. Anyway Shadow being able to read and analyze an opponent's movements may seem like an obvious thing but it is one of the most important skills a Gundam Fighter can learn, if you're fighting someone who is stronger than you then the only hope you have is being able to read and predict their movements so you have to master this ability as best you can. Normally you'd just have to accumulate a large amount of battle experience to raise this skill but since that would take forever and you're already way behind the others we're going to do special training to try to get that skill of yours up.

**The flashback ends and we come back to the present, we still see Shadow in Nightwing's cockpit.**

Shadow (It's just like Drake said, even though this guy maybe stronger than me if I can read his moves then I can still beat him.)

**The camera cuts outside to show Salim's Gundam charge Nightwing, as it does so the camera cuts inside Salim's Gundam's cockpit to show Salim with his own crazy excited grin on.**

Salim: It's going to take more than reading my moves to beat me!

**The camera cuts outside to show Nightwing charge in response, the camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow with the same kind of grin.**

Shadow: Let's take this thing into overtime!

**The camera cuts outside and moves over to show Quanlier's battle. Quanlier isn't doing so hot anymore and is currently on the defensive. Jubal's Gundam is swinging its sword superfast, downward vertical slash, downward right diagonal slash, downward left diagonal slash, tilted right horizontal slash, stab attack at the head. **

**Quanlier is jumping all around desperately dodging the attacks. The camera cuts inside Jubal's Gundam's cockpit to show Jubal enrage, and his rage is feeding his power.**

Jubal: You freaking cat go down already!

**The camera cuts outside to show Quanlier try to jump over Jubal's Gundam. The camera does a quick split to show to show Jubal shout**

Jubal: That's not going to work anymore!

**The screen returns to normal to show Jubal's Gundam literary toss its shield up into the air hitting Quanlier straight in the chest. Quanlier falls to the ground hard on its side. The camera cuts inside Quanlier's cockpit to show the breath get knock out of Roxas. Roxas gritting her teeth rolls over.**

Roxas: Damn it!

**Roxas is starting to sweat heavily. The camera cuts outside to show Quanlier roll to the right dodging a stab attack. The camera looks up to the ship battle, Salim's land ship is in full reverse trying to get some distance from the Dark-Angel. The Dark-Angel is firing its linear cannons, high energy beam cannon, and missiles. **

**Salim's land ship is firing its cannons and missiles at the Dark-Angel to try and slow it down but the Dark-Angel is pressing right on through it relying on its energy shield and beam CIWs for protection. Salim's land ship is taking heavy damage but all the damage is directed at its weapons and there's hardly any damage to Salim's land ship's hull. **

**The camera cuts inside Salim's land ship's bridge to show everyone getting shaken by the vibrations. Jose is sitting in the Captain's chair gritting his teeth, he shouts**

Jose: How soon to those wheel tracts are change!

**One of the crew members shouts back**

Crew: 10 minutes at least!

**Jose isn't excepting that answer**

Jose: Make it happen in 5!

**The crew member looks at Jose shocked**

Crew: But that's impossible

**Jose doesn't want to hear it**

Jose: Look I'd let you take 5 weeks to get it down if I had it but at this rate WE AREN'T GOING TO LAST 10 MINTUES!

**The camera cuts outside to show La Rouge still running from enemy Gundams and dodging the beam bullets looking around desperately for its beam rifle. The camera cuts inside La Rouge's cockpit to show Cagalli with eyes wide open turning her head wildly around searching for her fallen beam rifle.**

Cagalli (Beam rifle, beam rifle, beam rifle, damn it where'd I drop that stupid thing!)

**The camera cuts outside to show La Rouge suddenly spot it. La Rouge stops moving and just stares at it, the camera does a quick split screen to show Cagalli just standing their shocked having not really believe she would be able to find it. Of course beam bullets speeding right by its head gets La Rouge moving again. **

**La Rouge dives towards its beam rifle as the enemy Gundams close the distance between them. La Rouge slides belly first on the sand just manages to catch it and pick it up. La Rouge still lying on the ground rolls over and opens fire on the fast approaching enemy Gundams. **

**Since La Rouge only has one arm and is lying on the ground its aiming skills are off so all of La Rouge's shots are wild and don't even come close to hitting their target, however they do succeed at getting the enemy Gundams to back up, but soon they begin to fire back. The camera cuts inside La Rouge's cockpit to show a frustrated Cagalli grit her teeth.**

Cagalli (Great, I manage to find my beam rifle only to be pin down, just Great!)

**The camera cuts back outside to show La Rouge roll over behind a small sand dune for some cover. La Rouge continues to fire at the enemy Gundams. The camera moves over to show Quanlier once again falling hard to the ground. **

**The camera swings around to show Jubal's Gundam a little bit of a distance away. The camera cuts inside Jubal's Gundam to show Jubal calming down somewhat.**

Jubal: You gave me a good run kitty but THIS ENDS NOW!

**The camera cuts outside to show Quanlier notice La Rouge pin down. The camera cuts inside Quanlier's cockpit to show Roxas looks shocked and worried.**

Roxas: Cagalli!

Roxas (Cagalli is pinned down, she needs help!)

**Roxas turns to glare at Jubal. The camera cuts outside to show Quanlier get shakily to its legs. The camera cuts back inside Quanlier's cockpit to show that Roxas's glare has been turn up 3 notches and her eyes like slits, the way a tiger's would be.**

Roxas: That's it I had it, first you woke me up from my sleep, second you dented the crap out of my beautiful Quanlier, and now you're trying to beat up Cagalli and GOD HELP YOU IF YOU SO MUCH AS SCRACH ONE OF HER PERFECT BOSOMS!

**Roxas lets the threat go unspoken, and she shouts**

Roxas: I DON'T HAVE TIME TO WASTE ON YOU!

**The camera looks down to show Roxas's Neon Gauntlet start to slightly glow then cuts outside as both Quanlier and Jubal's Gundam charge each other. The camera does a momentary split screen to show Jubal and Roxas's determine faces. **

**The screen returns to normal to show Jubal's Gundam raise up its sword to perform a left downward diagonal slash but before it begins its swing Quanlier jumps up, does one flip in the air then begins to come down hind legs first. The camera does a split to show Roxas shout**

Roxas: Kangaroo kick!

**The image of a Kangaroo is momentary shown over Roxas then the screen returns to normal. Jubal's Gundam looks up and we enter another split screen to show Jubal look unimpressed.**

Jubal: That trick is no different from Salim's double sky kick!

**We see Jubal's Gundam lower its sword and raise its right left arm noticing too late that it no longer has its shield. Jubal looks shocked as his mad rage comes back to haunt him.**

Jubal (My shield!)

J**ubal doesn't get another moment to think about this as Jubal's Gundam's arm gets hit full force by Quanlier's hind legs. We hear and see the force of from Quanlier's attack make a big solid dent in the arm and probably damage the inner motors and gears. Jubal's Gundam's arm is knocked into its chest which knocks it off its feet. **

**Jubal's Gundam lands flat on its back which causes Quanlier to be standing straight up on its hind legs on top of Jubal's Gundam. Quanlier raises its front paws high in the air as the camera does a quick split screen to show Roxas**

Roxas: Bear paw crusher!

**The camera returns to normal to show Quanlier bring its beam claws smashing down into Jubal's Gundam's head. Jubal stun from the first attack doesn't even have time to blink before the beam claws pierce his Gundam's face. **

**Without even waiting a moment to gloat Quanlier jumps off Jubal's Gundam and rushes towards La Rouge's aid. The camera looks up to show the Dark-Angel dodge another round of Salim's land ship's missiles. The camera cuts inside the Dark-Angel's bridge to show Jack grit her teeth and start giving orders**

Jack: Ciro fire the linear cannon, Rini prepare to fire the high energy beam cannon right after that; Kenny what's the stats of Cowboy!

**Kenny typing on his computer shakes his head.**

Kenny: Not good the head mechanic down there says that it's going to take at least 5 hours to fix just Cowboy's hands.

**The camera cuts to inside the Gundam bay to show an angry Nick. Nick has taken his helmet off and put his cowboy hat on but is still in his Gundam Pilot suit. Nick is yelling at the mechanic.**

Nick: Come on mate you're joshing me, I know for a fact that Jack has spare arms that she was experimenting on! You don't have to even put them both on just put one arm on so I can go out there and fire a gun!

**The mechanic is shaking his head**

D-Mechanic: Look even if I did that it would still take at least an hour.

**Nick snaps**

Nick: Well do it anyway! It's better than just sitting here waiting for the battle to end!

**The camera cuts back to the bridge, it looks like Jack shares Nick's view.**

Jack: 1 hour to do a single arm change, I could do them both in half that time maybe even sooner!

**Thomas sings out**

Thomas: LA, RA, FA but they aren't you DOE.

**Jack turns to glare at Thomas but looks away because she knows he's right. Jack instead just grits her teeth in frustration.**

Jack (Damn it, if I were down there I could get Nick's Gundam repair and have him out of their in no time.)

**The camera cuts outside and spins around to show La Rouge still pinned down by enemy Gundams. They're steadily advancing towards La Rouge's position and unfortunately for La Rouge moving on one's stomach is kind of hard. The camera cuts inside La Rouge's cockpit to show Cagalli desperately thinking of a way out of this.**

Cagalli (This isn't good, I'm surrounded and outgun and at this rate I'm not going to last long!)

**The camera cuts outside to show the enemy Gundams fanning out so as not to take any chances of La Rouge escaping. Quanlier comes flying over a sand dune heading straight towards the enemy Gundams. Quanlier does a barrel roll rolling right into one of the enemy Gundam's legs knocking it straight to the ground. **

**In a graceful swam like manner Quanlier jumps to its feet then jumps on top of another enemy Gundams quickly claw slashes its head then hops right in front of La Rouge and turns around growling at the enemy Gundams. **

**The enemy Gundams surprise by the sudden surprise attack stop firing and back up. The camera cuts inside La Rouge's cockpit to show a surprise Cagalli.**

Cagalli: Roxas? What are you?

**Roxas appears on Cagalli's helmet screen, she's grinning like a sly cat.**

Roxas: Don't worry Cagalli I won't let a single person so much as scratch your perfect ripe bosoms until I seduce you and rock your world in bed.

**Cagalli looks at Roxas shocked for a moment then becomes extremely pissed when Roxas's words fully process in her brain.**

Cagalli: THAT'S NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN YOU PERVERTED FREAK!

**Roxas chooses to ignore Cagalli's statement as she says**

Roxas: Well got to go kick some ass see you later!

**The camera cuts outside as Quanlier charges the enemy Gundams. La Rouge lays down some cover fire for Quanlier. The camera spins over to Nightwing's and Salim's Gundam's fight. **

**Salim's Gundam performs a downward vertical slash, Nightwing blocks by turning its blade horizontal, and then taking a step back to get some distance Nightwing performs a right horizontal slash. Salim's Gundam lightly jumps back dodging the blow, and then performs a downward right diagonal slash, Nightwing performs a left diagonal slash. **

**The 2 clash together as we see the sparks created by metal and beam, both blades are slightly trembling from the amount of force the pilots are forcing upon their arm. The camera cuts to inside the Dark-Angel's bridge to show that Raheem, Kenny and Kabira are currently watching Shadow's fight. **

**Raheem is scratching his chin thinking, Kenny multitasking says**

Kenny: This is a pretty good fight, they both seem about equal.

**Kabira however notices Raheem's face**

Kabira: Raheem?

**Raheem after a moment more to think says**

Raheem: I didn't notice it at first but I think that person Shadow is fighting is using Regia sword style.

**Kabira and Kenny are both surprise by this**

Kabira and Kenny: What.

**This time they remember to whisper so as not to anger the crazy woman with wrenches.**

Kenny: Wait didn't you tell Shadow that only elite royal Haben soldiers are allowed to learn that?

**Kabira already knowing the answer to Kenny's question asks her own**

Kabira: Does that mean Shadow's fighting an elite royal soldier?

**Kabira definitely sounds concern. Raheem after a moment of thinking shakes his head.**

Raheem: No I don't believe so, elite royal soldiers normally pilot a different type of Gundam and besides he seems to be using only Regia's basics so I don't think he's perfected the form yet.

**Kenny looks confused now.**

Kenny: Ok so what does it mean?

**Kabira thinking aloud says**

Kabira: Well it could be that whoever Shadow is fighting is in training to become an elite royal soldier.

**Raheem nods his head in agreement**

Raheem: I also believe that to be the most likely answer.

**Raheem seems like he's going to say more than stops. Kabira and Kenny are too absorbed in watching Shadow's fight to notice.**

Raheem (There's something about the way this guy performs Regia that seems vaguely familiar but I just can't seem to place it.)

**The camera cuts outside to show that both Nightwing and Salim's Gundam are still locked in their duel and then cuts inside Salim's Gundam's cockpit to show Salim breathing heavy.**

Salim (This is taking me way to long, the plan was to beat the 3 Basic Original Gundams then back up Jubal against that animal type Gundam but this fight is taking longer than I've ever expected. I did manage to take out one and seriously damage the other Basic Original Gundams but that animal Gundam is strong and I don't think Jubal can beat him without any support, not to mention my ship is in serious trouble and needs some Gundam support.)

**Salim looks like he's hesitating about something but then he comes to a decision.**

Salim: I'm saying this right up front kid I don't like pulling out an advance Regia technique on a rookie; it leaves a bad taste in my mouth, but you've kind of put me in a bind so I've got no choice.

**The camera cuts outside to show Salim's Gundam break the duel and jump back slightly. Nightwing once again thinking it sees weakness charges forward. Salim's Gundam slowly spins its blade until the tip is dip into the sand. The camera quickly cuts to the Dark-Angel's bridge to show Raheem recognize the pose. His eyes pop open in surprise and he shouts with fear.**

Raheem: Oh no, SHADOW MOVE BACK!

**But just like anyone who's yelled at their TV, the person on the monitor doesn't respond. The camera cuts outside just as Nightwing gets right in Salim's Gundam's face. **

**Salim's Gundam performs an upward vertical slash; however that slash was never intended to hit Nightwing but instead create a moment's sand screen blocking Salim's Gundam from Nightwing's line of sight. The camera does a quick slip screen to show Shadow deeply startled by this.**

Shadow: A Sand Screen!

**Shadow notices just in time Salim's Gundam's sword cut through the sand screen targeting Nightwing's head. Nightwing raises its beam saber blocking the attack. We're still in split screen so we can see the triumphed look on Shadow's face as he shouts**

Shadow: HA is that all

**Shadow is cut off as a look of shock rips across his face. The screen goes back to normal as the camera zooms out a bit to show that Nightwing's legs have been sweep out from under it. **

**While Nightwing's legs are still off the ground Salim's Gundam just using its right shoulder hits Nightwing hard in the chest similar to a tackle only with just its shoulder. Nightwing gets sent flying into the air for a moment then comes crashing down hard onto the ground, barrel rolls for a moment then stops face first in the sand. The camera cuts inside the Dark-Angel's bridge to show Kenny and Kabira shocked**

Kenny: What the hell was that!

Kabira: What happen!

**They begin talking at the same time; Raheem steps in and explains in a grim voice**

Raheem: That was the Desert whiplash, an advance Regia move, you put the tip of your blade into sand and then just as the enemy attacks you send it flying into the air blinding them for only a moment. The moment they're blind you perform a sword slash aimed for the head while at the same time perform a foot swipe, then after the attacks you finish with a shoulder tackle. It's not an easy move to master, it requires perfect timing and flawless execution but he pulled it off extremely well for someone who has yet to master the whole style.

**Raheem frowns as something tugs at the corners of his mind the camera cuts outside to look at Salim's Gundam then cuts inside its cockpit.**

Salim: Not bad rookie blocking the first strike of the Desert whiplash, only about 3 in 10 are able to do that too bad though that's why there's a simultaneous foot swipe and shoulder tackle.

**Salim looks deeply proud of himself for a moment admiring his own skill but that look is soon devour by another shock**

Salim: No way!

**The camera cuts outside to show Nightwing although wobbly and struggling get to its knees. The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow coughing and feeling his ribs. He flinches when he touches them.**

Shadow: *groan* god that tackle hurt like shit.

**The camera swings around to Salim's Gundam, Salim's Gundam brings up its sword and charges Nightwing intending on doing a stab attack to the chest. The camera cuts inside Salim's Gundam's cockpit to show Salim look unsettled.**

Salim (I have to finish him off now before he has a chance to recover.)

**The camera cuts outside to show that Nightwing although still unstable has managed to get to its feet. The camera cuts back inside the Dark-Angel's bridge to show a very worried Kabira exclaim**

Kabira: He's charging Shadow!

Kenny: Why is Shadow just standing there!

Raheem: He must be still stun from the Desert whiplash!

Kabira: We got to do something to help him!

**Everyone is talking really fast. Kenny is already on what Kabira said, typing extremely fast he opens up a communication line with Shadow.**

Kenny: Shadow watch out!

**The camera cuts to inside Nightwing's cockpit just as Shadow receives the message. Shadow blinks twice then wildly turns his head. We switch to Shadow's POV to see Salim's Gundam coming straight at him. **

**Time slows down as the camera goes back to normal POV to show Shadow look panic for a moment but then a sudden calm spreads across his face as if some inner instinct takes over. **

**We have a quick flashback to when Raheem used that palm slam move to take out that thug. The flashback then changes to when Shadow was training with Cagalli, Cagalli falls to the ground.**

Cagalli: Owwww

**Shadow is jumping up and down clearly excited and happy**

Shadow: Yes, yes, yes, yes I finally figure it out; it was a hook type foot swipe!

**Cagalli gets up slowly and rubs her head, she seems to be slightly annoyed but at the same time there's a grin on her face. She's having a good time.**

Cagalli: Yes and it only took you about 100 tries.

**Shadow is smirking at Cagalli, nothing could ruin his mood.**

Shadow: You're just jealous that I figure it out first.

**Shadow sits next to Cagalli. Cagalli just waves him off.**

Cagalli: Whatever, you do realize that you still need to put everything together then be able to perform it within a second when needed; you're still far from mastering the move.

**Shadow looks slightly depressed by this.**

Shadow: Way to burst my bubble.

**Cagalli just shrugs**

Cagalli: I'm just saying how it is.

**Shadow jumps up with new found determination.**

Shadow: Well then we better get started let's go Cagalli!

**Cagalli looks at Shadow not surprise by this.**

Cagalli: Geez don't you ever get tired you hyper monkey?

**Shadow begins teasing Cagalli.**

Shadow: Awww what's the matter princess your little toes hurt?

**Cagalli glares at Shadow not liking the princess thing and gets up anger restoring her.**

Cagalli: No I just thought I'd save you from getting your butt kicked by me.

**Shadow laughs**

Shadow: HAHAHAHA like that would ever happen.

**Cagalli glares at Shadow and snaps**

Cagalli: Yes well guess what it's my turn to try the move on you!

**Shadow blinks in surprise having forgotten this. We come back to the present to see everything still in slow motion; Shadow takes a deep breath.**

Shadow (Don't hesitate, remember the feeling I had when I first did the move perfectly.)

**We enter into another flashback, Shadow falls hard to the floor; he appears to have been whack in the chest.**

Shadow: Owwwwwwww

**Cagalli is standing over him with her training Guan Dao in hand; she sighs at him and asks**

Cagalli: Hey Shadow as much fun as it is stabbing you in the chest this is kind of getting old, what do you say to taking a break I mean we've been at this for at least an 2 hours straight and you could probably use a rest?

**Shadow stubbornly gets onto his legs**

Shadow: No! Not until I do it right at least once.

**Cagalli seeing the stubborn look on his face knows he can't be reason with and sighs.**

Cagalli: Idiots will be idiots I guess.

**Shadow ignoring this comment takes on a look of extremely concentration. Cagalli seeing this sighs again then charges him doing another stab attack aim at the chest, time slows down in the flashback. **

**The screen begins to flip between the flashback and the present, when it's flipping to the present it's showing Salim's Gundam charging Nightwing. The camera stops on the present and cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow's eyes take on a fierce determine look.**

Shadow (I remember, I REMEMBER THAT FEELING!)

**The camera looks down to show Shadow's Neon gauntlet start to slightly glow again. The camera cuts outside to show Nightwing dropping its beam saber catches Salim's Gundam's wrist with its right hand just as the tip of the sword touches Nightwing's chest. **

**Nightwing forces the wrist slightly to the right so that the sword is no longer pointed at Nightwing but just lightly brushes its side. Nightwing quickly slides its left foot under Salim's Gundam's legs and hooking Salim's Gundam's right leg forces it forward while at the same time twisting Salim's Gundam's wrist. **

**Salim's Gundam drops its sword and starts falling backwards. Nightwing pushes Salim's Gundam's wrist into its chest as Nightwing palm slams Salim's Gundam into the ground. We hear metal, gears and motors snapping and breaking. We enter into another flashback, Shadow has twisted Cagalli's wrist and foot swipe her making her unbalance. **

**Cagalli is falling backwards as a triumph Shadow grins preparing to do the finisher. Cagalli however has a look of extreme pain and fear on her face.**

Cagalli: Shadow stop!

**She shouts. Shadow realizes just in time that if he actually does perform the finisher he might serious hurt Cagalli. He lets go of her wrist but the force of movement still has Cagalli fall to the floor and Shadow fall on top of her. There's a moment as both take huge gulps of air then.**

Shadow: I did it.

**Shadow says weakly. Cagalli groans and replies**

Cagalli: Great can we take a break now?

**We come back to the present to see Salim's Gundam lying on the ground unmoving, Nightwing staring at it takes a step back. The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow breathing even harder than normal but suddenly the triumphed hits him.**

Shadow: Yes, yes, yes, I did it, I did it, I was able to use that new move I learn in an actual Gundam fight!

**Shadow is jumping up and down and is punching the air in his manner of joy. The camera cuts outside for a moment to show Nightwing mimicking Shadow's movements then cuts inside the Dark-Angel's bridge, Kenny is cheering his friend's victory.**

Kenny: Alright way to go Shadow!

**Kabira blinks surprise and then turns to Raheem asking**

Kabira: Wasn't that the move you used on those thugs the other day?

**However when Kabira turns to look at Raheem, Raheem has a look of complete and absolute shock on his face.**

Raheem (Th-that's impossible, he only saw that move once and he was near death at the time.)

**Raheem without even knowing it begins to speak aloud**

Raheem: When could he have ever train to practice that move?

**Kenny hearing Raheem's question connects the dots**

Kenny: Oh it must have been when Shadow and Cagalli had that 12 straight hours training session.

**Like getting slap in the face twice the wheels of shock keeps hitting Raheem.**

Raheem: HE MASTERED THAT TECHINQUE IN 12 HOURS!

**The camera cuts outside to show Nightwing still dancing around high off his own victory. The camera looks down at Salim's Gundam still lying on the ground. The camera cuts inside Salim's Gundam's cockpit to show Salim hurt but not dead or defeated.**

Salim (OW my wrist, if the NS system on my right hand wasn't cut off my wrist would have surely been broken.)

**Suddenly Salim remembers something**

Salim (That move just now; that was Regia's desert flare move! Only a member of the elite royal guard would know it. Who in the world taught that move to this kid?)

**The camera cuts outside to show Salim's Gundam get up, its right hand hangs limply by its side, its sword in its left hand. The camera spins around to show Nightwing notice the movement and jump back in surprise. The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow look surprise and a little unease.**

Shadow: Holy crap this guy can take a beating too.

**The camera cuts outside to see that Salim's Gundam and Nightwing are once again in a standoff. The camera cuts inside Salim's Gundam's cockpit to show a single drop of sweat slide down Salim's face.**

Salim (Looks like the NS system for my right arm has been cut off not that it matter with its right wrist broken.)

Salim: Jose.

**Jose appears on Salim's Helmet screen**

Jose: Yes Sir?

**Salim thinks about something for a moment then says**

Salim: Jose I want you to stop scrambling the ship open communication line and try to contact the opposition's ship.

**Jose is definitely surprise by this**

Jose: What! You want us to try talking to those terrorist!

**Salim grits his teeth, he knows how stupid he sounds but he has to go with his gut.**

Salim: Jose I can't explain it right now but I don't think they're terrorists.

**Jose isn't convince at all.**

Jose: You don't think!

**Jose's attitude finally pisses Salim off.**

Salim: Jose last I check I WAS THE CAPTAIN! So shut the hell up and do what I say!

**Jose clearly unhappy grits his teeth and says reluctantly**

Jose: Yes Sir.

**The window with Jose on it disappears. Salim looks at Nightwing, the camera switches to inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow moping.**

Shadow (Man and I thought I found my finisher move, but what kind of finisher move doesn't finish an opponent off.)

**Salim appears on Shadow's helmet screen surprising/startling/scaring the shit out of Shadow.**

Shadow: What the hell, who are you!

**Shadow jumps startle. Salim actually chuckles.**

Salim: Heheh I knew it you are a rookie.

**This comment pisses Shadow off and he glares at Salim.**

Shadow: I'm no rookie! Who the hell do you think you are just coming out of nowhere and calling me that!

**Salim grins, the sort of grin an older student gives to a younger student.**

Salim: Duh I'm the person you've been fighting against this whole time.

**Shadow blinks surprise.**

Shadow: Wait, you're the pilot of the Gundam I'm fighting now! That's impossible they're using some kind of communication scrambler to block communication.

**Shadow is obvious skeptical of Salim. Salim rolls his eyes**

Salim: Wow you really have no clue, the ship communication scrambler only effects ships. Gundams communicate on a completely different type of radio signal; no one has been able to make a scrambler capable of scrambling its signal; why do you think you've been able to communicate with your ship and other Gundams?

**Shadow grits his teeth not sure whether to believe Salim or not, he asks**

Shadow: Well what about you how come you haven't tried to contact me sooner and why now?

**Salim grins realizes that although Shadow is lacking in information he isn't stupid.**

Salim: Well I haven't tried to contact you before because I thought you were a terrorist and frankly who wants to hear terrorist ramble about how they're right and everyone else is wrong. As for why now, well I'm curious, who taught you the Desert flare?

**Shadow looks confused.**

Shadow: The what?

**Now Salim blinks in surprise.**

Salim: Wait you don't even know the name of that move you just perform?

**Shadow now realizes what Salim is talking about.**

Shadow: Ohhh that move, so it's called the Desert flare really?

**Shadow takes a moment to think about this. The camera cuts to inside the Dark-Angel's bridge, Kenny is typing on his computer.**

Kenny: Hey guys, it looks like Shadow is talking to the enemy Gundam.

**Everyone turns to look at Kenny now surprise and interested.**

Jack: What are they saying?

**Kenny shakes his head.**

Kenny: With the scrambler I can only hear Shadow's side of the conversation huh?

**Kenny suddenly blinks in surprise and stops in mid-sentence. Kabira looks a little scare and asks**

Kabira: What is it?

**Kenny hardly believing it himself says**

Kenny: The scrambler, the enemy has turned it off; we can communicate with other ships now.

**Everyone is speechless by this news, everyone that is except Raheem.**

Raheem: Kenny can you redirect the person Shadow is talking to, to the main monitor.

**Kenny coming back to focus says**

Kenny: Um sure.

**Kenny types on his terminal a moment more than Salim along with Shadow appear on windows on the main monitor. Salim slightly surprise exclaims**

Salim: Well that didn't take you guys long to patch me through to your commanders.

**Raheem blinking in surprise shouts**

Raheem: Salim!

**Raheem steps forward in Salim's line of sight. Salim upon seeing Raheem shouts in response**

Salim: Raheem!

**Now everyone is looking back and forth between Raheem and Salim. Jack asks**

Jack: Um Raheem I'm gonna assume that you know this guy, now tell me how?

**Salim grins as one of his mysterious are solved and speaks first.**

Salim: Ahh so that's how the kid knew the Desert Flare you're teaching him too.

**Shadow picks up on the teaching thing and says with surprise.**

Shadow: Teaching?

**Salim smiles at Shadow remembering a pleasant memory.**

Salim: Yup, Raheem was my instructor in learning the basics about being an elite royal solider although I'm still far from perfecting my training.

**Everyone is once again surprise by this news; suddenly Salim's eyes narrow as he remembers why he's here.**

Salim: Raheem have joined up with the rebels have you betrayed Haben!

**Salim demands to know. Raheem getting over his shock glares at Salim his pride insulted.**

Raheem: How dare you! I have not betrayed Haben nor have I joined the rebels!

**Salim is angry now and doesn't fully believe Raheem.**

Salim: Then why are you with these Gundam Fighters! Why aren't you back at the capital and where is your own Gundam!

**Raheem also looks angry his pride deeply insulted but before he can say anything Kabira steps forward.**

Kabira: Wait please don't fight I can explain.

**Salim looks at Kabira, it takes him a moment to recognize her but he does and his mouth drops open.**

Salim: Princess Kabira, what are you…..

**Salim is too stun for a moment to talk. Zuke growing bored and getting annoyed steps forward and begins to talk.**

Zuke: Yes this is princess Kabira and we were hired to protect her not fight against the Haben military by the rebels or do you think that Kabira has join the rebels to overthrow her father so why don't you stop firing on us already.

**No surprise Zuke comes across as rude and arrogant. Salim takes a moment to process everything then says**

Salim: Jose order everyone to cease firing at once, I believe the situation calls for a meeting don't you?

**Salim asks Raheem. Raheem nods his head.**

Raheem: Agreed.

**Salim smiles**

Salim: Great I'll be right out.

**The camera cuts forward in time, the Dark-Angel and Salim's land ship are parked next to each. Salim and Jose are walking across the sand to meet Jack, Kenny, Raheem, Kabira and Nick. Jack is carrying a large box. La Rouge and Quanlier as well as a couple of Soldier Haben Gundams are standing nearby just in case anyone tries something. Salim makes contact first.**

Salim: Raheem my friend it has been a while.

**Raheem and Salim shake hands, while they're shaking hands Jack puts down her box and begins to open it. Jose still suspicious of them quickly draws his gun and points it at Jack.**

Jose: Stop right there!

**Nick however is just as quick and has his own gun drawn and pointed at Jose.**

Nick: Unless you want a bullet in the head mate I suggest you point that gun away from my mate.

**Salim and Raheem quickly turn around and put down the fire.**

Salim: Jose put down your gun this instant!

Raheem: Nick please lower your weapon!

**Jose lowers his weapon but still doesn't look happy.**

Jose: Sir they started it with that box.

**Jose nods towards Jack. Jack annoyed opens up the box to reveal some kind of folded table and chairs, she says in a deep sarcastic voice.**

Jack: Congratulations you just caught me trying to set up a table and some chairs so that we don't have to stand here in the hot desert talking.

**Jose blushes slightly embarrass as Jack angrily begins to set up the table and chairs. Salim grins and says to Raheem.**

Salim: I'm sorry; Jose here is a little paranoid.

**Raheem returns the smile**

Raheem: I'm sorry as well; Nick is a little overprotective of females.

**Nick also having put his gun away grumbles**

Nick: A mate always protects the woman.

**Jack finishes setting up the table and chairs, everyone begins to sit down. Salim still standing says**

Salim: So let's get this meeting started.

**Kenny quickly exclaims**

Kenny: But we can't Shadow isn't here yet.

**Salim looks at Kenny confused**

Salim: Shadow?

**Raheem quickly explains**

Raheem: Yes Shadow is the name of the leader of this Gundam Team, ah here he is now.

**The camera swings around to show Nightwing walk over and stop. Nightwing takes a knee then the cockpit opens. Shadow comes out; he's already taken off his helmet and begins walking towards Salim and the others. Salim is deeply surprise and says in a quiet voice to Raheem so that the others don't hear.**

Salim: That kid is the leader of the Gundam Team hired to escort you and Ms. Kabira?

**Raheem actually looks a little embarrass**

Raheem: Unfortunately his team was the only one available at the time, and something is better than nothing.

**Salim nods his head in understanding as Shadow walks up to them. Shadow and Salim take a moment to size each other up. Salim speaks first**

Salim: So you're the kid that was piloting that Gundam, I thought you'd be taller.

**It's true that Salim is taller than Shadow but nevertheless Shadow is insulted.**

Shadow: Why you bastard I'll have you know 3 things, 1 I'm nine-freaking-teen, 2 that Gundam has a name and its Nightwing, and 3 I'M NOT SHORT you're just freakishly tall!

**Salim blinks surprise at Shadow then laughs**

Salim: HAHAHAHA you've got spunk.

**Shadow is surprise by Salim's response. Salim holds out his hand towards Shadow.**

Salim: The name's Salim and yours?

**Salim is smiling at Shadow. Shadow looks at the hand for a moment then smiles back and shakes it.**

Shadow: I'm the great, the magnificent, the average height Shadow Zoomarey.

**Salim isn't surprise at all by Shadow's introduction. The episode ends with him smiling and saying**

Salim: Well Shadow let's take a seat, I think you guys have a story to tell me.


	45. Episode 44

Episode 44

**The episode opens up at night; Salim's land ship is still parked next to the Dark-Angel. We can see a bonfire between the 2 ships. There appears to be a celebration going on between Salim's crew and the Dark-Angel's crew. **

**We can see some kind of boar roasting over a fire and lots of beer kegs. Thomas is on a makeshift stage singing a pretty nice song. The camera turns and looks at Jose standing a little outside the circle of light; he appears to be antsy and clearly doesn't like this party. Salim with 2 beers in hand and a smile on his face walks over to him.**

Salim: You know it says something about a man when he chooses to stand alone in the dark rather than enjoy the warmth of a party.

**Jose still looks unhappy and he turns to sulk at Salim.**

Jose: Forgive me Sir if with all the information we just learn I don't feel like partying.

**Salim standing next to Jose frowns as he too remembers**

Salim: I know.

**We enter into a flashback; Salim, Jose, Kabira, Shadow, Raheem, Nick, Jack and Kenny are sitting at the table in the middle of the desert. Jose and Salim look distressed.**

Jose: To think that Councilman Fachtna is the one responsible for all the troubles in Haben and that he's trying to set up the King, it's just so unimaginable….

**Jose lets the thought hang in the air as he struggles to process what they learned. Jack thinking they don't believe Kabira starts to talk.**

Jack: But Kabira saw it or do you think she's lying!

**Jack asks challengingly. Kabira looks to Jack a little touch that she's defending her so fiercely.**

Kabira: Jack.

**Salim takes his fist and slams it down on the table.**

Salim: THAT BASTARD! I don't believe that Ms. Kabira is lying; that and the intel telling us that you guys were terrorist came from Zagat Fachtna's lap dog only confirms this theory. He's the one true traitor!

**Salim is extremely enraged and griping his teeth and fist hard. Jose on the other hand just looks hopeless.**

Jose: Yes but what are going to do about it, the only proof we have is just circumstantial.

**Kabira isn't ready to give up yet.**

Kabira: Yes but if I go to my father and tell him then we can launch a real investigation and then once we find real physical proof we can let everyone know that everything is all Fachtna's fault and then everything will get better once he's been arrested and put locked away in a deep dark cell.

**Jose slowly shakes his head.**

Jose: It won't be that simple.

**Nick looking annoyed says**

Nick: Why not mate?

**Salim answers**

Salim: Because the rebel leaders won't wait that long.

**Now all eyes turns to Salim shocked. Raheem exclaims**

Raheem: What do you mean Salim!

**Salim is trying to process everything while at the same time explaining what he knows.**

Salim: Reports are sketchy at best, I mean no one knows how or where or when the rebels got military grade weapons or how they've become so organized. At first it was just a small group here and their rioting against the government nothing the regular police couldn't handle but then more and more kept sprouting up and their weapons kept getting better to the point where only the military could hope to beat them, I hear that they even have Gundams of their own. Right now the only thing that is giving the Haben military an edge is the fact that all these groups weren't cooperating with each other but that's changing too, reports are coming in that these groups are on the move and that the rebels are gathering east of Azize.

**Kabira eyes open up wide in fear. Raheem also has a grim look on his face as he makes the connection.**

Raheem: Once the rebels gather all of their forces they will cease to be an armed protest group and become an army that rivals the Haben military.

**Salim finishes Raheem's thoughts**

Salim: And once that happens the Council members will have no choice but to take this act as an official declaration of war and respond, the Civil War will have officially begun.

**Everyone suddenly takes on a more solemn tone. Kabira says with absolute misery.**

Kabira: So I'm too late, there's nothing I can do.

**No one can say anything in response, in truth they're thinking the same thing that is of course except Shadow.**

Shadow: Well let's throw a party.

**Everyone turns to Shadow and of course they're all looking at his stupid grin like he's crazy. Nick whistles**

Nick: I got to say mate I didn't see that one coming.

**Kenny nods his head in agreement.**

Kenny: I agree with Nick how did you jump from Haben is doom there's no hope left to let's party?

**Shadow looks at Kenny annoyed; he folds his arms and leans back in his chair as he says**

Shadow: Simple I can't think with this depressing atmosphere, beer and music will help with getting the brain juices flowing.

**Jack whacks Shadow with her wrench.**

Jack: You stupid asshole is that the best excuse you can come up with!

**Shadow is rubbing the back of his head and is about to say something when Salim speaks.**

Salim: I agree with him.

**Now all eyes turn to Salim shocked.**

All: What!

**Salim grins warming up to the idea, he leans back in his chair as he stretches his back.**

Salim: Shadow makes a good point although he failed to properly explain it, right now we all have the defeatist attitude and how are we ever going to come up with a plan to beat Fachtna when we have the mindset that we already lost. Besides we've been talking for a while now and our crews are probably starting to get antsy, they deserve a little rest and some relaxation. Master Raheem how's the saying go may we meet tomorrow when cooler minds prevail.

**Raheem smiles and the flashback ends with him replying**

Raheem: You got it right but I believe that saying only applies when everyone is mad beyond a simple deep breathe cool down.

**We come back to the present; Jose and Salim are still standing next to each other a little bit outside the range of the light. Salim takes a sip of his beer.**

Salim: I know that you don't feel like partying but if you don't start acting like you want to then the crew is going to pick up on it and I don't want them knowing what's going until we have a better idea of what we're going to be doing.

**Jose looks at Salim surprise.**

Jose: You think Ms. Kabira and those kids will think of something?

**Salim takes another sip of his beer then smiling he says**

Salim: It's like they say Jose, strokes of genius happen when we least expect them; anyway that's enough talk on this matter we'll have plenty of time for it in the morning so as your commanding officer I order you Jose to get drunk and get laid, god knows how long it's been for you.

**Jose starts turning a little red then exclaims**

Jose: I'll have you know that I get plenty of action, in fact at the last port we docked at

**The camera zooms out as Jose tells Salim his story and spins around to show Shadow, Cagalli, Nick, Kenny, Roxas and Jack sitting at a table Jack set up. Everyone is having a beer except Cagalli who is drinking some water. Cagalli also is the only one who appears to be nervous and unhappy. Roxas notices this.**

Roxas: Cagalli honey your beautiful breast will start to sag if you keep frowning like that.

**Cagalli looks at Roxas annoyed**

Cagalli: You know Roxas just once I wish I can get through dinner with you without you making some kind of comment about my breast.

**Cagalli is acting like a bitch which surprises everyone. Roxas leans back a little surprise at Cagalli's attitude and Jack whistles.**

Jack: Wow something really is bothering you.

**Cagalli glares at Jack then turns to glare at Shadow.**

Cagalli: Yes something is bothering me, how can you guys act so calm and relax and party with the very people who only moments before we're trying to kill us!

**Now that everyone knows what's making Cagalli upset they relax. Kenny, Jack and Shadow even start to tease her a little.**

Shadow: Cagalli I'm surprise at you, you out of all people I would expect would not judge a person by their past.

**Shadow is holding his head up a little high in an attempt to look like he's looking down at Cagalli; however the whole effect is ruin when Shadow can't suppress his grin. Jack and Kenny go along with it.**

Jack: Yea Cagalli how conceited of you.

Kenny: You should totally feel ashamed.

**Jack, Kenny, and Shadow are trying really hard not to laugh but it's not working. Cagalli is trying to beat them to death with her eyes, unfortunately this is only causing them to laugh harder.**

Cagalli: Look I'm not saying they're bad people or that we should kill them or anything like that but still don't you think it's just a little uncomfortable to go from shooting at each other with guns to partying with tons of alcohol?

**Everyone shakes their head**

All: No.

Nick: Whenever I got into bar fights in my hometown after the fight me and the mates would go around and split the tab, you know if the bar-tender hadn't kick us out yet.

**Kenny taking a huge gulp of his beer says**

Kenny: Yea I mean it's not like we hold it against them that they tried to kill us.

**Cagalli highly annoyed rolls her eyes.**

Cagalli: Right because that would just be crazy.

**She's being sarcastic; Jack takes a sip of her drink.**

Jack: They were just doing their job and no one die so all's good and forgotten.

**Shadow begins savagely eating his plate of meat.**

Shadow: Oh my god this is so much better than the food on the Dark-Angel.

**Shadow says with a mouth full of food, Nick nods his head and comments**

Nick: This is why I'm telling you mate that you need to hired a better cook.

**Shadow grumbles**

Shadow: I'm working on it, I'm working on it anyway Cagalli you got to learn to let go of the past you know live for the now.

**Cagalli looks at Shadow annoyed**

Cagalli: Right.

**She says right really slowly in a deep sarcastic voice, before anyone can reply another voice interrupts**

Jubal: So you're the pilot of that animal Gundam.

**Everyone turns around, Jubal has walk up behind Roxas. Roxas turns around and looks at him up and down then raising one eyebrow asks**

Roxas: Do I know you?

**This seems to bother Jubal.**

Jubal: I'm the pilot of the Gundam you freaking bunny hop on then stab in the face with the claws.

**Roxas looks at Jubal confused for a moment more then she figures out who Jubal is.**

Roxas: Wait you're the pilot of that really annoying Gundam that kicked me in the chest!

**There's an awkward pause as everyone begins to look back and forth between Roxas and Jubal. Jubal and Roxas are glaring at each other but after a moment Jubal folds his arms and looks away.**

Jubal: You're not that bad of a pilot, you should feel proud not many people can say they beat me in a Gundam Fight.

**Jubal is blushing slightly embarrass at his defeat but trying to pass it off as no big deal. Roxas sees this blinks in surprise then smiles and says in response**

Roxas: Thanks you're not bad either, you almost had me at the end their especially when you threw your shield at me, I never saw it coming. The name's Roxas by the way.

**Jubal turns back to look at Roxas and smiles, some of his pride has been restored.**

Jubal: Well thank you Roxas but that move turned out to be my downfall in the end. Oh and my name's Jubal.

**Roxas takes a moment to look Jubal up and down again. Jubal although a little skinny is muscular and his skin has been tan from years under the hot blazing sun. Roxas smile turns into a seductive smile and she says coyly**

Roxas: How about we talk more about it as we get refills on our drinks.

**Jubal not being a fool sees what Roxas is getting at and smiles in response**

Jubal: Well then let's go.

**Roxas is about to get up but Cagalli goes and putting her hand on Roxas's shoulder prevents Roxas from moving. Jubal looks at them with one eyebrow raised. Roxas looks at Cagalli confused then turns to him.**

Roxas: I'll be with you in just one moment.

**Jubal just shrugs and walks away. Roxas turns to Cagalli**

Roxas: What's up?

**Cagalli hardly believing the unconcern in Roxas's voice asks**

Cagalli: You're not going to sleep with that guy are you?

**Roxas licking her lips says**

Roxas: Hell yea, he's pretty hot.

**Cagalli is even more shocked**

Cagalli: Less than a day ago he was trying to kill you!

**Roxas thinks about this for a moment then says**

Roxas: I didn't think about that but it kind of makes him seem hotter, you know like the raw animal violent passion.

**Cagalli is looking at Roxas a little disturb but Cagalli is slowly coming to the conclusion that she simply can't reason with Roxas. Cagalli puts her head on the table and moans**

Cagalli: God why am I the only sane person here!

**The others just laugh at her; Roxas smirks at Cagalli then leans in close to Cagalli's ear almost touching it with her lips and says in a voice full of seductive passion**

Roxas: Awwww it's cute how jealous you are, I'll tell you what if you feel that strongly I'll let you join us in a threesome.

**Cagalli startled by the invasion of her personal space and Roxas's words jumps, stumbles and falls out of her chair. Kenny and Shadow also fall out of their chairs but for a very different reason. Cagalli makes a vomiting sound and says**

Cagalli: Ick, ewwwwwwwwwwww not a chance in hell!

**Kenny and Shadow jump to their feet very excited**

Kenny: The image of Roxas and Cagalli in a threesome was so great and strong it knocked me out of my seat!

Shadow: THIS IS SO NOT FREAKING FAIR, I'm 10 times hotter than that guy I should be the one having a threesome with Roxas and Cagalli!

**Roxas looks at Shadow a little bored and not really surprise at his response**

Roxas: Um you're not hotter than Jubal.

**Roxas didn't mean to sound extremely cold but she did. Cagalli turning so red that one would mistake her for tomato shouts at Shadow**

Cagalli: I'M NOT HAVING A THREESOME WITH ANYONE!

**Roxas and Shadow both look at Cagalli for a moment then turn back to look at each other.**

Roxas: Well that's fine we don't have to sleep with anyone but each other.

**Shadow nodding his head says**

Shadow: That goes for me too; I'd be more than happy to sleep with just Cagalli.

**Roxas and Shadow look at each other as they share a common dream. Cagalli however is looking at them with building rage.**

Cagalli: THERE'S NO CHANCE IN HELL THAT I WILL EVER SLEEP WITH EITHER ONE OF YOU!

**Cagalli filled with rage impulse picks up her plate and any other objects on the table she can get her hands on and proceeds to throw them at Shadow and Roxas. Shadow gets nailed in the face and chest several times. Roxas being 10 times more nimble then Shadow dodges everything Cagalli throws at her, turning to Shadow she says**

Roxas: Well Shadow I've got a hot guy to screw so can you handle this whole Cagalli anger thing?

**Shadow ducks down under the table preventing Cagalli from having a clear shot to throw what appears to be a beer bottle at him. Shadow is looking at Roxas shocked and mad**

Shadow: What no! This is as much your mess as it's mine!

**Roxas completely ignores Shadow.**

Roxas: Thanks see you later.

**With that Roxas disappears leaving a puff of smoke in her wake leaving poor Shadow with the still enrage Cagalli. While this entire ordeal has been going on Nick, Jack and Kenny have been sitting down at their table laughing at Shadow's expense. Shadow realizing he's not getting any help from them tries to reason with Cagalli himself. While trying to dodge silverware he says**

Shadow: Come on Cagalli you should take it as a compliment that both me and Roxas think you're hot I mean do you think we'd tried to sleep with an ugly person OWWWW.

**Bad news Cagalli manage to hit Shadow good news it was just a spoon. Shadow tries a different approach.**

Shadow: I was kidding, kidding you know one big joke, can't you take a joke Cagalli.

**Shadow can't catch a break tonight, upon hearing him Cagalli turns even redder looking more like a volcano now.**

Cagalli: Me being hot was a joke! What the hell is that supposed to mean, are you saying I'm ugly!

**Shadow gets the "Crap" look on his face as he begins to panic.**

Shadow: No, no, no that's not what I

**Shadow drops down just barely missing a chair that Cagalli just threw at him. Cagalli isn't even listening; other than the table Cagalli has run out of things to throw at him. Shadow finally accepts the fact that Cagalli simply isn't going to calm down for a while. **

**Cagalli is beginning to scan the area looking for more things to throw at Shadow. Shadow having no desire to become a human target turns around and gets the hell out of there.**

Shadow: Well see you guys later; I'll be damn if I let Roxas sleep with more women than me…...again!

**Shadow runs off before Cagalli can find anything more to throw at him. Cagalli noticing Shadow gone finally starts to calm down. Nick whistles at her**

Nick: Geez mate don't you think you might have gone a little overboard?

**Jack nods her head in agreement**

Jack: Remind me not to ever get you that worked up.

**Cagalli having a level head now says embarrass by her behavior**

Cagalli: I know, I know I shouldn't have acted like that but I couldn't help it, those stupid perverts just always find a way to hit my buttons especially Shadow. Talking to that moron is like talking to a little kid, he has no sense of responsibility everything to him is a game. I can't believe he talked Kabira into having a party, he's completely oblivious to how the world works and he never takes anything seriously he's always got to act like the class clown and if anything doesn't make sense to him instead of trying to understand it he blows it off.

**Cagalli takes a breath now that she's finish venting. Kenny stirring his drink says without thinking**

Kenny: You know Cagalli the way you and Jack have sudden burst of temper; you could almost be sisters.

**Kenny realizes just as the words leave his mouth he's made a mistake. Jack and Cagalli at the same time jump up and shout at him**

Jack and Cagalli: Who's got a temper!

**Nick slaps his leg and holds his hand over his mouth in order to contain the laughter building inside. Kenny backs down under the glares of the girls and says**

Kenny: Heheh did I say that? I must have had too much to drink, oh look at the time I wanted to go talk with that Jose guy; there's just so much I need to learn about the programming of a ship.

**Kenny gets up and begins to run away when he stops. Cagalli and Jack getting over their anger of Kenny take their seats, in Cagalli's case Kenny's seat. Kenny turns around and looks at Cagalli, he's got a very serious look on his face.**

Kenny: Cagalli

**Cagalli looks up at him**

Cagalli: Huh what is it Kenny?

**Kenny stares directly into Cagalli's eyes; he begins to speak slowly as if to make sure every word gets through.**

Kenny: There's more to Shadow then you think, he's a lot more observant of his surrounding then you give him credit for.

**Cagalli is truly surprise and can't think of anything to say in response. Kenny turns back around and walks away. Cagalli looks down at her glass of water to think, after a moment Jack gets up stretches then says**

Jack: Well I'll see you guys later.

**Nick curious tips his hat up and asks**

Nick: Where are you off to mate?

**Jack looks self-annoyed and says**

Jack: Well since I just spent the last half-hour cleaning sand from just Cowboy's circuits I obviously didn't make the Gundams as sand proof as I thought, I thought that I might talk to one of their mechanics and ask for some advice. They live in a desert for crying out loud someone must have had this problem before.

**Nick waves her off**

Nick: Well just be safe out their mate, see yea later.

**Cagalli still distracted by what Kenny said without looking says**

Cagalli: See you later Jack.

**Jack walks away leaving just Nick and Cagalli at the table. Nick looks at the still distracted Cagalli, after a moment he smiles and asks**

Nick: Would you like to talk about it mate?

**Cagalli doesn't need to be asked twice**

Cagalli: Nick do you think I was *searching for the right word* rude when I was talking about Shadow?

**Nick takes a sip of his beer then says**

Nick: If by rude you mean bitchy and if by talking you mean ranting then yea you were mate.

**Cagalli blushes as she realizes Nick is right. Cagalli doesn't say anything in her defense and she does begin to look like she feels bad. Nick after waiting a moment says**

Nick: But Shadow and Roxas were being overly perverted today so it is normal that you would lose your cool mate and say things you wouldn't normally say.

**Cagalli looks up at Nick grateful; Nick pulls his hat a little bit down covering his eyes as he gets up.**

Nick: I will say one thing though mate, Shadow may be a lot of things but he never judges anyone not even you.

**Nick tips up his hat to make eye contact with Cagalli, his piecing blue eyes shin with sincerity.**

Nick: And trust me mate I don't like insulting a woman but you are not above perfection there are a lot of things Shadow can judge you on but he chooses not too.

**Cagalli looks like she just got slap in the shock kind of way and the scene ends with Nick turning around and walking away. The next scene opens up with an eagle eye view of the party which is still in full swing. The camera zooms in to show Jack talking with who we can assume to be Salim's head mechanic. **

**The camera moves over to show Nick talking to several people in a group conversation. The camera finally comes to rest on Raheem. Raheem is on top of a little sand dune at the edge of the crowd overlooking everyone. Salim climbs the sand dune and walks up next to him, for a moment neither one speaks as both men just drink their beer in silence. Raheem breaks the ice.**

Raheem: I'm glad to see that you're doing well Salim; it's been a while since we last met.

**Salim nods his head**

Salim: That's true after the academy they assign me out all the way to east coast which is quite a ways away from Azize so it's no wonder that we never see each other.

**Salim looks a little sad at this. Raheem takes another sip of his beer then smirks back at Salim.**

Raheem: Although it's true we don't see each other as much anymore I still hear many things about you. You handle the Litnur incident beautifully and the skirmish with the Oflok rebels ended with your victory. There's already talked about giving you a pay raise for your achievements.

**Both Raheem and Salim laugh at this.**

Salim: Hahaha joy I get a pay raise not that I can use it considering I spend 10 months out of the year on board a ship.

**Both Raheem and Salim calm down a little**

Raheem: I will admit though that I was a little worried that all your achievements were going to your head and you were neglecting your Regia training but after watching your battle with Shadow I'm relieve to see that you still kept up your training and have develop the basics into your own fine style.

**Salim smiles and stands up a little straighter we can also see his ego growing. Raheem also sees this and decides to bring it down a notch.**

Raheem: But you're still too overconfident, you let down your guard too early in the fight and you also didn't start using some of the Regia special moves until way too late in the fight even though it was obvious earlier that regular basic swordplay would only just barely beat Shadow if he did lose to you.

**Salim looks crestfallen.**

Salim: You're right as always Raheem, I didn't want to use the Regia special moves against Shadow because at the time I thought he was a traitor to our country and having the Regia special moves used against you is an honor something no traitor deserves bestowed upon them unless absolutely necessary.

**There's a moment of silence as both guys sip their drinks then Raheem says**

Raheem: But overall I'm happy with how you did and make no mistake Salim I am proud of the fine Haben Solider you have become and the even better royal solider you're becoming.

**Words fail to describe the light that shines bright in Salim's eyes as he hears this compliment.**

Salim: Thank you master.

**There's another pause but this time it's more awkward considering neither of the guys is a hugy dovey type but even still one can feel the atmosphere of the pride and joy between the old master and the growing up student, after another big gulp of his beer Salim changes the subject.**

Salim: So speaking of Shadow is he your new pupil?

**Salim isn't jealous but he is mildly curious. Raheem shakes his head.**

Raheem: No he asked me if I could give him some lessons regarding basic swordplay but I decline.

**Salim now looks shocked.**

Salim: What then how did he know the Desert Flare?

**Raheem hesitates for a moment then says**

Raheem: He witness me perform it once against a group of thugs that were about to attack Ms. Kabira.

**Salim looks very surprise and whistles**

Salim: He was able to teach himself the Desert Flare, it took me a whole week to just get the gist of it and god knows how many times you had to show it to me; he must be very gifted.

**Salim looks impressed and a little envious of Shadow but Raheem shakes his head again.**

Raheem: Although it certainly looks like he's gifted at first glance I've discover he's not, you see 2 nights ago he and his sparring partner Cagalli spent 12 hours straight figuring out how the move was perform and then working to be able to perform it correctly. From what his sparring partner Cagalli tells me Shadow has yet to fully master the Desert Flare and can only do it about 1 in every 10 attempts. You have to keep in mind that you only practice the Desert Flare 2 hours a day with Sundays being your day off which means you had practice the same about of time Shadow did and you both reach the same level, Shadow simply choose to do it all in one shot. Although it is still slightly impressive it shows without a doubt that Shadow does not have any special talents or gifts.

**There's a moment of silence then Salim says soberly.**

Salim: Hard work and stubborn determination can be a gift as well Master Raheem.

**Salim puts in the "master" part to show he means no disrespect to Raheem. Raheem looks at Salim surprise for a moment then smiles proud of Salim's wisdom.**

Raheem: Yes you are right Salim.

**Salim takes a sip of his beer then says**

Salim: So I'm surprise to see you up here without Ms. Kabira I was sure that someone as overprotective as you won't let her out of your sight.

**Raheem looks a little annoyed at this comment**

Raheem: I prefer the notion that I'm a good bodyguard thank you, and Ms. Kabira wanted some time alone to think.

**Raheem nods off to the distance to show that he has a clear line of sight looking at Kabira. Salim smirks a little realizing that even while talking Raheem has never lost sight of Kabira.**

Salim: So why don't you want to train Shadow?

**Raheem once again looks at Salim annoyed**

Raheem: It's not that I don't want to teach Shadow I can't teach him because it goes against military law.

**Salim rolls his eyes unimpressed.**

Salim: If I recall correctly the military law only states that it's prohibited to teach anyone not native from Haben Regia there's nothing in it that says you can't teach the kid basic swordplay god knows the kid needs that at least.

**Raheem skeptic raises his left eyebrow.**

Raheem: Basic swordplay?

**Salim getting a little antsy just standing in one spot begins to shake his shoulders and arms**

Salim: Yea you know the basics we teach to the regular soldiers at basic training, it's not like we teach them anything special that anyone with actual swordplay knowledge wouldn't already know so what could be the harm.

**Raheem is looking at Salim with building annoyance**

Raheem: Look even if all of that is true the fact remains that I simply don't have time to train anyone, being a bodyguard takes all of my time if I take my eyes off Kabira for a second there's a chance a sniper could take her out, and I can't allow that to happen I can't even allow for the chance of that to happen!

**Salim holds up his hands in peace.**

Salim: Ok, Ok, Ok I get it Raheem breathe.

**This ends their conversation. The camera moves over to show Kenny talking with Jose, they seem to be having a great conversation. The camera moves past them to show Rini and Ciro having a discussion with some of Salim's crew members. **

**The camera finally moves over to show Cagalli looking around, she still has her glass of water and she seems to be looking for something. She spots Thomas resting from one of his shows, she walks up to him and asks**

Cagalli: Hey Thomas have you seen Kabira?

**Thomas turns to look at Cagalli mildly surprised.**

Thomas: LA, RA, FA, DOE I saw Kabira walk off in that direction.

**Thomas nods towards the edge of the crowd; Cagalli turns to look at it then turns back to him.**

Cagalli: Thank you Thomas.

**She begins to walk away when Thomas sings out to her**

Thomas: RA, RA, ME, say hi to Shadow for ME.

**Cagalli confused turns back to look at him.**

Cagalli: Shadow?

**Thomas nods his head,**

Thomas: FA, DOE, DOE Shadow came to ME just a few moments ago and asked the same question then walked off.

**Cagalli looks very surprise by this. The camera move over to Kabira, Kabira is sitting alone on the desert sand well away from warmth of the fire and the just barely in reach of the pleasant music and glow of the flame. She looks in deep though, suddenly she lets out a huge sigh and puts her head in her hands and begins to rub her temples vigorously.**

Shadow: Got a headache Kabira?

**Due to Shadow wearing all black he seems to come out of nowhere in the darkness. Kabira jumps a little startled then asks slightly afraid.**

Kabira: Shadow?

**Kabira is trembling, Shadow looks at her confused.**

Shadow: Yea who do you think I am a ghost?

**Shadow comes closer to Kabira, as he does so his figure becomes more distinct and clear. Kabira breathes a sigh of relief having actually feared he might be a ghost.**

Kabira: No of course not don't be stupid.

**Kabira is obviously lying and Shadow for once spots it, grinning he says**

Shadow: Hehe you actually thought I was a ghost hahahah.

**Shadow is having trouble stopping himself from laughing. Kabira blushes embarrass when a new voice calls out.**

Cagalli: You can't really blame her for thinking that since you're all dressed in black, I mean god I would have thought you're some kind of ghost or an assassin and if I didn't know you I'd think you're a Goth.

**Cagalli walks over to Shadow and Kabira. Shadow looks at Cagalli annoyed and highly offended.**

Shadow: My clothes are awesome thank you. The only thing that would make it more perfect would be a black cloak.

**Cagalli having heard this story before looks at Shadow skeptical but Kabira asks**

Kabira: A cloak?

**Shadow turns to Kabira happy that he finally has someone interested in his fashion choice.**

Shadow: Yes a cloak, it's a known fact that cloaks are awesome and that anyone who wears them are also awesome.

**It takes all of 4 seconds before both Kabira and Cagalli start laughing their heads off.**

Kabira and Cagalli: HAAHAHHAHAHAH

**Shadow glares at them.**

Shadow: Laugh all you want but when I get my cloak which totally exists somewhere out there my perfect outfit will be complete.

**Kabira and Cagalli stop laughing and calm down. Shadow and Cagalli take a seat next to Kabira on the desert sand. Shadow on Kabira's left and Cagalli on Kabira's right, there's a moment of calmness then Cagalli asks**

Cagalli: So you have a headache.

**Shadow interrupts before Kabira has a chance to comment.**

Shadow: It's a party-stress headache, they happen when you stand alone in the dark while a party is going on.

**Both Cagalli and Kabira turn to look at Shadow to see if he's serious. Shadow smiles at them both indicating he is.**

Kabira: A party-stress headache, really?

**Kabira is very skeptical. Shadow nods his head and puffs out his chest in pride.**

Shadow: Hey it's a real thing, I doubted it too but I decided to test it out anyway and man it felt like a monkey was hitting me in the head with a hammer.

**Cagalli rolls her eyes.**

Cagalli: Don't you think that's more because of the lack of booze then the actual partying.

**Shadow blinks surprise having never even considered that before. Kabira shakes her head but still can't hide the smile on her face.**

Kabira: Well I definitely don't have that.

**Cagalli turns to Kabira and says gently**

Cagalli: You were thinking about what you should do next.

**Kabira drops her shoulders down and sighs sadly**

Kabira: That obvious huh.

**Shadow gives a short little laugh**

Shadow: HA like that was hard to figure out, it's not like there's much that could beat your country going to civil war.

**Cagalli sensing Shadow was going to make a joke cuts him off**

Cagalli: Normal civilians would be completely freaked out trying to figure out what to do, how they can stop this, but your dad is the ruler of this country not only do you care about what happens to your country but you also feel responsible for what happens to it; it's natural that you'd be stressed out.

**Kabira does a deep sigh**

Kabira: That tells me why I'm stressed out but it doesn't actually fix the problem.

**Shadow smiling broadly says**

Shadow: You know what helps me when I'm stressed out, partying.

**Kabira looks at Shadow slightly annoyed. Cagalli has already moved past that and snaps at him.**

Cagalli: Shadow would you give it a rest; no one in their right mind in this position would feel like partying they just want to be left alone until they figure out how to solve the problem!

**Kabira looks at Cagalli surprise to find that she knows exactly how Kabira feels. Shadow doesn't look bother at all by Cagalli shouting at him in fact he just lays down on the sand and looks up at the stars.**

Shadow: Well that's ok I guess.

**Cagalli blinks not expecting this reaction from Shadow. Kabira looks at Shadow a little confused and curious.**

Kabira: What do you mean just ok?

**Shadow still staring at the stars begins to speak slowly**

Shadow: Well it's ok to do that sometimes but for really hard problems it doesn't work well, are brains are like computers and solving an answer to a hard problem is like trying to download a really huge file. Just like a computer is always downloading the file our brain is always try to work out a solution to any problem we really want to know the answer to, but just like trying to force a computer to download it faster if we try to force our brain to solve something faster then it's able to we'll only end up slowing it down. That's why I like to party when I have a problem I can't solve, walking away from the computer while your thing downloads and doing something else and before you know it it'll be finish, just like in the middle of the parties the answer suddenly just pop in my head. You got to stop trying to chase after the answer but instead let it flow to you Kabira.

**Both Kabira and Cagalli look at Shadow shocked not expecting any wisdom to come from him. Kabira is the first to recover and sighing reluctantly lies down next to Shadow and looks up at the stars.**

Kabira: Fine I get your whole relax and let the answer come to you thing but that doesn't mean I'm ready to go party.

**Cagalli after a moment joins them, she lies down next to Kabira and putting her hands behind her head looks up at the stars.**

Cagalli: You know just because we're sitting her relaxing doesn't mean we can't work out the answer, we've just got to be gentle about it.

**Kabira looks depressed.**

Kabira: Where would we even start?

**Shadow answers without hesitation**

Shadow: Figuring out what the biggest problem facing us right now would be about as good as any place to start.

**Cagalli nods her head in agreement.**

Cagalli: You can't find a solution if you first don't know what the problem is.

**A gentle breeze blows over the 3 as Kabira takes a moment to think about this then says**

Kabira: I just, I want to know what I should do now. I thought that if I just was able to reach Azize and tell my father about Fachtna's evil plans then that would solve everything, but now after listening to what Salim told me about the rebels I'm not sure if that's good enough, I guess that was too simplistic to hope for. I'm not stupid I know this is the moment of truth, the fate of my entire country rest on my decision right here and now, I wish I knew if I was making the right choice, I wish I had choices to choose from.

**Kabira is starting to sound really distress. Cagalli gets a faraway look in her eye then says slowly**

Cagalli: You know Kabira I too face a situation once where a lot of people were going to be effected by my decision and I was so scared that I wouldn't make the right one that I didn't even want to pick a choice but luckily a friend of mine gave me some words of comfort that really helped me out. She told me "first you decide, then you just do" and that was the only way we could live our lives.

**Cagalli smiles fondly at the memory. Kabira turns to Cagalli surprise for a moment then smiles comforted slightly**

Kabira: Thanks Cagalli but that would really help me more if I had more options to choose from, right now the only thing I can think of doing is going to my father and telling him what I know.

Shadow: What's your ultimate goal in all of this Kabira?

**Kabira now turns to Shadow confused.**

Kabira: Goal?

**She doesn't get what he's asking**

Shadow: What's the number one thing you want to achieve?

**Kabira still doesn't get**

Kabira: Achieve? I don't want to achieve anything I just what to bring peace to Haben.

**Shadow getting slightly annoyed says**

Shadow: So your ultimate goal is peace.

Kabira: I guess so.

Shadow: Ok then what makes you think that just telling your father what you know is going to make that happen?

**Kabira looks at Shadow stumped.**

Kabira: Well I

**Kabira doesn't know what to say, she's never really thought that far ahead. Shadow has**

Shadow: You were planning on relying on your father to know what to do with the information.

**Kabira blushes as she realizes that's exactly what she was planning on doing. Shadow goes on**

Shadow: Kabira you're never going to amount to anything if you always rely on someone else to do things for you.

**Kabira turns even redder at this. Cagalli turns to look at Shadow annoyed and a little pissed.**

Cagalli: Shadow!

**Shadow however isn't backing down**

Shadow: It's true, it's ok to ask for help every now and then but it crosses a line when you are always expecting others to do things for you, you don't think you can do yourself. If you always rely on others then eventually there's going to come a point in your life where all those people you relied on are too busy to come and help you and when that happens you're going to realize you can't do anything yourself!

**Shadow sits up when he says this to Kabira, both Cagalli and Kabira look at Shadow shock by his electrifying intensity. What Shadow just said seems to be one of his core principles that he has built himself upon. Kabira grits her teeth and says with growing frustration.**

Kabira: But I can't! I…I….I don't know the first thing about politics when it comes down to this stuff, I really don't know any politics at all most of the time I just try to feel my way along and do what everyone else is doing but I really have no clue

**Cagalli almost in a trance says**

Cagalli: Where you're going.

**Kabira and Shadow both look at Cagalli surprise although Kabira is more surprise**

Kabira: How did you

**Cagalli gets another faraway look in her eyes only this one isn't a pleasant memory, she sits up.**

Cagalli: It feels like you're in a dark building where you can't see the walls, you see other people walking and you can feel the walls but you still don't know where you're going. Your stumbling, and tumbling and all the time you're terrify you're going to make a mistake, turn somewhere and get lost but as much as that scares you if you stop going forward, if you stop moving you're scared that the darkness which is your own ignorance and inexperience will swallow you whole and you'll never be let out. That scares you more than anything; that fear surpasses any other you have.

**Cagalli looks a little pale as she remembers a very unpleasant memory. Shadow is still looking at Cagalli surprise but Kabira is just shocked beyond words. Kabira sitting up whispers almost afraid of the answer**

Kabira: How do you know that?

**Cagalli shakes her head letting the bad memory pass through like a cold then she smiles gently at Kabira.**

Cagalli: That doesn't matter right now, what does matter now Kabira is that you do know the answer to this even if you don't realize it.

**Kabira doesn't get it**

Kabira: What do you mean; I have no idea how to stop this civil war.

**Shadow suddenly presses**

Shadow: Yes you do, you've spent years being drag around by your father to all of his stupid meeting, you've watch him as he talked, you've watch while all of the other politicians work you know this Kabira.

**Kabira is shaking her head**

Kabira: No, I mean I saw it all but it's not like I understood any of it.

**One should get the feeling that Cagalli and Shadow are doing the whole good cop bad cop thing. Shadow is being aggressive trying to press Kabira for an answer while Cagalli is being more gently and relaxing, although this doesn't seem to be something they plan but just naturally occurred.**

Cagalli: You understood more than you think, you just need to have confidence in yourself. Now tell me what is a civil war?

**Kabira blinks confused**

Kabira: A civil war is when a country is at war with itself.

Shadow: That's not a real answer; give us a politically correct answer.

**Shadow begins to speak faster giving Kabira less and less time to answer. Kabira starts going into politician mode answering the questions immediately relying on instinct.**

Kabira: A civil war is a conflict within a country in which politic parties disagree over one or many issues and feel that they can't reach a solution through talks so instead fight each other with weapons.

Shadow: Ok now is it safe to assume that people with the same politic opinion can be counted as one body, one person.

Kabira: Well yes I guess but that's

**Cagalli almost sensing where Shadow is going with this follows along.**

Cagalli: Then really a civil war is like two neighbors fighting each other.

Kabira: Well in like the most simplistic way yes but

Cagalli: But there's a third factor, a guy who lives across the street who's been instigating both parties, he's been spreading false rumors to each party saying "he said that" or "he insulted your mother" or even "He called you a stupid moron" getting them to the point where they're at each other throats.

Shadow: Now you know this what do you do to stop the fight?

**Kabira answers without thinking**

Kabira: I'd tell them both that he's lying and spreading false rumors about them but what does any of this have to do with

**Kabira's eyes seem to open wide as something clicks inside of her. Cagalli and Shadow smile as they see her get it.**

Kabira: I'd tell them both, both; it's not enough to tell me dad about Fachtna he's only one side of the conflict I need to talk to the rebels.

**Kabira's eyes suddenly sparkle with a new determine look.**

Kabira: I'm going to find the rebel leaders and tell them the truth; I'll prove my dad's innocent's in their eyes and show that it was really Fachtna that was behind all the troubles in Haben. Once they know the truth they'll have no reason to wage war on the Haben military.

**Shadow begins to rub his hands excitedly.**

Shadow: Great so now that we got that all settle let's party.

**Cagalli highly annoyed leans over and slaps Shadow on the back of the head.**

Cagalli: Geez you moron you've got a one track mind.

**Shadow begins to rub the back of his head while glaring at Cagalli, Kabira starts giggling at them.**

Kabira: Hehehe you guys sure are something.

**Both Cagalli and Shadow turn to glare at Kabira**

Cagalli and Shadow: What's are you trying to say!

**Kabira burst into full on laughing.**

Kabira: HAHAHHAHAHAH *deep breath* nothing, anyway how about instead of going to that party we just relax and watch the stars?

**Kabira putting her hands behind her head lays back down on the sand and looks up at the stars. Cagalli looks at Kabira surprise but Shadow just shrugs his shoulders and lays down beside her.**

Shadow: That's cool, watching stars is always awesome.

**Cagalli stares at Shadow for a moment**

Cagalli (Shadow Zoomarey I just can't figure you out, I can't tell what you will do, how you'll act, how smart you are, what you want out of life or even why you want to fight so bad. Everything about you is just so random and out of the ordinary, even the name you chose for yourself Shadow Zoomarey. I've used aliases myself so I'm no stranger to the reasons why people get them, most of the time it's to escape from something in your past but people like that normally pick a dull name, something easily forgotten or that blends in with a crowd; a name that one can hide with so why why would you pick a name that sticks out like a flare in a dark alley? At first I thought you were just crazy and desperate for attention but I don't get the "look, look, look at me" feeling from you and although you're weird you're definitely sane enough to understand your surrounding so why pick that name, out of all the names in the world why that one.)

**Shadow notices Cagalli staring and asks**

Shadow: What do I got something on my face?

**Cagalli realizing she's been staring comes up with a quick excuse on the fly.**

Cagalli: Yes, a little smudge on your right cheek.

**Shadow begins to rub his right cheek. Cagalli sighs in relief then lays down next to Kabira as she says**

Cagalli: You got it.

**Shadow stops rubbing his face**

Shadow: Oh thanks. You know the stars seem brighter tonight then last night.

**Now that Shadow pointed that out Kabira realizes it too**

Kabira: You're right; there must have been a storm in the area recently. In Haben after a storm the skies get really clear and the stars look brighter than normal.

**Cagalli turns her head at them both surprise having not notice it herself, she suddenly smiles and the episode ends with her thinking to herself.**

Cagalli (Well one thing's certain about Shadow, Kenny was right he's a lot more observant then I gave him credit for.)


	46. Episode 45

Episode 45

**The episode opens up in the daytime; we can see both ships still parked next to each other only this time no one is outside. The camera cuts inside the Dark-Angel, we're in the lunchroom and we can see Shadow, Cagalli, Kabira, Raheem, Jack, Kenny, Nick, Zuke, Salim and Jose although Roxas is also in there she doesn't count because she's in the corner curled up like a cat taking a nap.**

**The lights are dim and everyone is hunch over looking at a hologram map of Haben. The map although shrunk down to fit all of Haben on the table still shows all the hills and towns and stuff in 3 dimensions and in color too, in fact if one didn't know it they'd assume there looking at a small tiny world. Jose points to a spot on the map.**

Jose: We are here.

**The spot Jose pointed at turn's red, he then points to what we can assume be a city not too far away.**

Jose: And Azize is here.

**Nick whistles**

Nick: That seems pretty close to me mate.

**Salim nods his head.**

Salim: It is, probably only a couple of hours away.

**Jose then points to a new location left of Azize and very much out of the way from the first point to Azize.**

Jose: Now from what little intelligence we have been able to gather we know that the rebels are gathering in this general area; their exact location is unknown.

**Jack looking at the map thinking out loud says**

Jack: That's about 2 days out of our way.

**Kenny nods his head.**

Kenny: Definitely a good size detour.

**Kabira is taking all this in and has a look of deep thought upon her face. Raheem is unable to contain himself any more.**

Raheem: Ms. Kabira I am opposed to this plan!

**All eyes turn to Raheem not really surprise by his reaction. Raheem is full of worry and concern.**

Raheem: It is foolhardy to go and meet with the rebel leaders! Although they hold no grudge against you personally the fact is you are the daughter of Shadi Tahsin the man they hold fully responsible for all of the problems in Haben and of course let's not forget the small detail of the fact they're trying to overthrow him! Who is to say they won't just shoot you the moment they realize who you are!

**Kabira isn't backing down.**

Kabira: That's a risk I'm willing to take.

**Raheem is about to comment back when Shadow cuts in.**

Shadow: Hey Raheem you shouldn't worry about stuff like that I mean that is what you're paying us for.

**Raheem glares at Shadow not liking him backing Kabira. Zuke has been (drum roll) leaning against the back of the wall in the corner of the room seemingly looking like he's better than everyone else (big surprise right). He now comes forward and says**

Zuke: You're wrong natural.

**Everyone turns to look at Zuke; Nick tenses a little ready to throw a punch at Zuke just in case.**

Nick: How do you figure that mate?

**Zuke doesn't even bother looking at Nick instead he faces Shadow and says**

Zuke: Our mission is to get those 2 naturals to Azize alive and in one piece. Bringing the naturals to a rebel base is not only out of the way but also increases the risk factor of one of them being killed; overall it lowers the odds of accomplishing the mission.

**Cagalli folds her arms and looks at Zuke annoyed on many levels.**

Cagalli: That would be true Zuke if we only cared about our own goals and look at the world in only a cold calculated objective way, but we're not.

**Zuke just glances at Cagalli annoyed/looking down at her then sighing turns back to look at Shadow.**

Zuke: Please little natural girl, if you don't have anything intelligible to say then try to refrain yourself from speaking.

**Cagalli looks super pissed and a little fluster.**

Cagalli: Why you

**However Zuke isn't even bothering to look at her and Cagalli other than yelling at him has no idea how to handle him, so she simply just bites her tongue as Shadow begins to speak.**

Shadow: Well yea it's a lot more dangerous and we do have to get Kabira to Azize but no one said anything about what route we have to take.

**Zuke looks at Shadow annoyed by his stupidity.**

Zuke: It's a given that we take the shortest route to Azize.

**Shadow smiles knowing he has Zuke.**

Shadow: No it's assumed we take the shortest route but Kabira wants to take the scenic route.

**Zuke's lower left lip twitches in annoyance.**

Zuke: It's illogical for us to agree to do this.

**Shadow shrugs uncaring**

Shadow: Logic is boring besides Zuke are you saying you can't handle some rebels if they did somehow manage to beat me, Nick, Cagalli and Roxas?

**Roxas starts kicking in her sleep upon hearing her name. Nick grins enjoying Shadow gaining the upper-hand in the conversation. Zuke looks at Shadow annoyed for a moment then turns away.**

Zuke: Do whatever you want if you all die then I'll just complete the mission myself.

**Zuke goes back to his spot on the wall. Raheem is looking increasingly upset as he realizes he's losing ground with Kabira, Salim however comes forward.**

Salim: Ms. Kabira if I might be so incline to speak I would like to say that your father has already tried to negotiate with these people. He's sent delegates to talk with them and try to reason with them but each time the rebels leaders refused to even listen, so even though you know about Fachtna what makes you think they'll take even one second to listen to anything you say?

**Kenny has to agree with this**

Kenny: That's true I mean you have to admit Kabira you are the daughter of their most sworn enemy, even if they don't shoot you at first sight they probably won't believe you when you tell them Fachtna is behind all this, they'll just think you're lying to protect your father.

**Raheem looks relieve to see that someone is finally taking his side but Kabira remains unwavering.**

Kabira: I still have to try, please Raheem, I need to do this.

**Kabira eyes seem full of a desperate but determine sadness. Raheem has trouble meeting her eyes and finally looks down as he says**

Raheem: I'm still opposed to this plan Ms. Kabira but I will follow you wherever you go.

**Kabira looks at Raheem grateful. Salim rubs his hands together excited.**

Salim: Well then it's decided, we'll travel to the Locquin region and

**Kabira interrupts Salim**

Kabira: Well actually Salim I'll be going alone with the Shadow Knights and Raheem acting as my protectors.

**Kabira looks uncomfortable as she says this, and only gets more uncomfortable as Salim turns to face her shocked.**

Salim: But Ms. Kabira and I mean no disrespect to the Shadow Knights we as Haben soldiers cannot just simply leave you here with minimum protection.

**Shadow, Nick, Kenny and Jack very obviously don't like being called "minimum" protection. Roxas still sleeping, Zuke leaning against the wall and Cagalli don't care. Kabira knowing she's offended Salim can't find a way out of this awkward situation; however Raheem comes to her rescue.**

Raheem: You misunderstand Salim; we're not having you come with us because you have an even more important task we need you to accomplish possibly the most important mission you will ever have.

**Raheem has gotten Salim and Jose's complete attention now.**

Raheem: We need you to travel to Azize and report directly with his majesty in order to inform him of everything we know and what Ms. Kabira is attempting to do. The least we can do is stall the rebels from attacking; this way the King can have more time to launch a full investigation against Fachtna and our words will carry more weight with the rebels if there is actual physical proof behind us.

**Salim reluctantly nods his head, he looks very unhappy.**

Salim: Very well, I'll lead the investigation myself if I have too, we'll take Fachtna down.

**The scene ends with Shadow clapping his hands together looking pump up.**

Shadow: Alright then let's get started!

**The next scene opens up showing Salim and Jose departing back to their ship. Shadow, Kabira, Kenny, Nick and Raheem are saying goodbye to them. Kenny shakes Jose's hand**

Kenny: Goodbye Jose and thank you for the tip on the Arthmise program.

**Jose smiles back**

Jose: Think nothing of it, I wish you well on your journey Kenny.

**Salim first salutes Kabira**

Salim: Ma'am may the spirits of the desert sands protect you.

**Kabira nods her head**

Kabira: Thank you Salim, and may they travel with you.

**Kabira takes a step back and Shadow takes a step forward.**

Shadow: Feel free to come back for a rematch any time Salim, although it would probably just end in your defeat again.

**Kabira looks at Shadow disapprovingly.**

Kabira: Shadow your ego is showing.

**Salim however just grins at Shadow's enthusiastic self-confidence.**

Salim: I'll remind you that you only broke my Gundam's wrist and didn't actually defeat me.

**Shadow grins liking Salim's open confidence.**

Shadow: I guess that's all the more reason you have to come back for that rematch.

**Salim chuckles**

Salim: Heheh then I will, see you around and make sure you get stronger Shadow.

**Shadow high-fives Salim and says while walking away**

Shadow: Catch you later Salim.

**Raheem is the last one to walk up to Salim, both look each other in the eye and seem to tell all they need to without saying a word.**

Raheem: Well it looks like this is goodbye for now Salim.

**Salim nods his head.**

Salim: It sure seems that way Raheem; take care of yourself and may the desert sprits watch over you.

**Salim and Raheem shake hands.**

Raheem: And may they watch over you as well.

**Salim pulls Raheem in close then glancing over his shoulder to make sure Shadow doesn't hear says quietly in Raheem's ear.**

Salim: I have been giving considerate thought to what you said about being a full time bodyguard and how it leaves you with no time to train anybody but as a bodyguard whose sole purpose is to protect Ms. Kabira won't it make more sense to take the risk of allowing yourself to be somewhat distracted to train Shadow so that in the future when you're being attack by enemies you can rely on Shadow for help rather than forcing yourself to do all the work? After all it's like you said only a foolish man thinks he can do it all himself.

**Raheem blinks surprise as Salim begins to walk back to his ship with Jose by his side. The camera cuts forward a little in time to show Salim's land ship and the Dark-Angel begin to move in opposite directions. **

**The camera of course follows the Dark-Angel, we cut inside the Dark-Angel's bridge to show Alan, Kenny and Shadow. Shadow has his elbows on top of Kenny's chair and is leaning on it. Alan and Kenny have their shirts off and Shadow has taken his coat off and is carrying it over his left shoulder. Alan looks at him annoyed and asks**

Alan: It's freaking 98 degrees in here why are you even carrying that thing?

**Shadow glances at Alan then says stubbornly**

Shadow: Because it's my favorite coat. God why is it so hot in here?

**Shadow moans. Kenny wipes sweat off his brow then says**

Kenny: It can't be helped; Jack needed to turn off the AC in order to fix a couple of the systems on the Dark-Angel's shield generator.

**Alan grumbles**

Alan: This sucks, if I weren't smack dab in the middle of desert I'd quit this stupid job.

**Shadow just glares at Alan a little insulted.**

Shadow: Well if you really feel that way then feel free to leave at the next town we stop at…which is?

**Shadow turns to ask Kenny. Kenny rolls his eyes.**

Kenny: Since we don't know the rebels' exact location we're going to be stopping in one of the towns in the area Jose pointed out to us and gather some intelligence. Also while we're there we'll probably resupply our water stock and other things we need.

**We hear the fans turn on as the AC comes back to life. Alan, Shadow and Kenny breath a huge sigh of relief as Cagalli walks in.**

Shadow: I never knew air could feel so good!

Alan: Thank god! Any longer and I'd have been cooked like those eggs we ate this morning.

Kenny: Don't remind me, those things could hardly have been called eggs after god knows what that freaking poisoner we call the cook did to them.

**Cagalli is wearing a very lose T-shirt that's already drench in her sweat, maybe because of the heat but she can't help giggling a little at Kenny's comment.**

Cagalli: Hehehhe well you know Kenny we wouldn't have to put up with this hideous cooking if a certain team leader would do his job and hire a better cook.

**Cagalli smirks at Shadow and Kenny and Alan don't even bother to contain their laugher. Shadow stubbornly says**

Shadow: I am working on it, OK!

**The AC seems to be starting to take effect as Cagalli waves Shadow's comment off.**

Cagalli: Sure you are, just like you're working on finding a Captain, poor Jack looks like a bird in a cage the way she's buried in paper work but anyways that's not why I came here. Drake's on the monitor in the conference room asking to speak to us.

**Shadow blinks surprise**

Shadow: Hmm that's weird I wonder what Drake wants?

**Kenny getting up from his chair just shrugs his shoulder.**

Kenny: Drake's probably just calling to ask for an update on our progress, he is our manager after all.

**Shadow also gets up from leaning on Kenny's chair and turns to Alan**

Shadow: Alan you got the bridge under control?

**Alan shoos him away with his hand as he says**

Alan: No problem.

**Cagalli looks at him unconvinced**

Cagalli: You should still give Ciro a call, just in case we get attack again.

**Alan glares at her annoyed but grumbles**

Alan: Fine.

**The camera fast forwards in time to the conference room, we can see Jack, Kenny, Shadow, Cagalli, Roxas, and Nick sitting down at the table facing the main monitor. On the main monitor we can see Drake looking a tab bit impatient.**

Drake: I see everyone's here but Zuke.

**Shadow looking around curious asks**

Shadow: Where is Zuke?

**Nick sticks up his nose annoyed and replies**

Nick: The mate told me that a meeting of this significance was beneath him from even taking one look at.

**Nick is clearly anger by this but Drake just shrugs his shoulders unconcern.**

Drake: I expected something like that from him but anyway give me a full report of everything that's happen from the beginning of your mission.

**Once again the camera cuts a little bit forward in time; Drake who appears to be sitting at a desk is twilling his fingers thinking. Shadow much to Cagalli's obvious annoyance has his feet up on the table says**

Shadow: And that's basically everything that's happen.

**Everyone is waiting for Drake to say something. Drake after a moment stops twilling his fingers and says**

Drake: Well since this is your first mission I guess I can't complain too much but there's obviously a large amount of room for improvement.

**Everyone shocked waits a moment more expecting there to be more but when Drake doesn't say anything else Cagalli gets up and exclaims**

Cagalli: That's it! That's all you have to say, aren't you even a little bit surprise to find out that Kabira is a princess!

**Drake looks at Cagalli annoyed**

Drake: Although it is a little surprising I don't see how it makes a particular difference in your mission. You still have to get her to Azize and besides it's not like you guys are doing anything stupid like getting involve in Haben's civil war by agreeing to escort her to some high danger location, HAHAHAHHA that would just be really stupid.

**Drake continues to laugh as an awkward pause hits the Shadow Knights. Drake calms down then takes on a serious look and says slowly**

Drake: I am upset though about one matter. YOU have not been following the strict training regiment I left you!

**Drake shouts accusingly and points at Cagalli, all eyes turn to a slightly startled Cagalli however she quickly recovers.**

Cagalli: Wait how would you even know if I'm doing it or not?

**Cagalli annoyed asks**

Drake: Would you swear on your honor as Orb's chief representative that you had?

**Kenny, Jack, Nick and Roxas roll their eyes thinking Drake's playing into Cagalli's delusion. Cagalli though hesitates before answering giving Drake all the proof he needs.**

Drake: I rest my case.

**Shadow, Jack, Nick, Kenny and Roxas say unanimously**

Shadow, Jack, Nick, Kenny and Roxas: Guilty.

**Cagalli now highly annoyed snaps back at them**

Cagalli: This isn't a real trial you jerks! Drake I don't have time to do your stupid training regiment I mean really 200 push-ups with 30 pound weight, 400 laps around the Gundam bay with 45 pound weight, 100 pull-ups with 20 pound weight who has time to do any of this daily!

**Cagalli demands but before Drake can respond Nick rubbing the back of his head uncomfortable says awkwardly**

Nick: Um I kind of do mate, I didn't do everything at once and instead spread it throughout the day but I got it all done.

**Roxas holds her head up proudly**

Roxas: That's stupid it's better to do it all at once like pulling off a Band-Aid.

**Shadow with his hands folded nods his head and seconds that motion**

Shadow: So true.

**Shadow and Roxas high-five as Cagalli glares at them pissed but she knows saying something now would only worsen her position. Shadow seeing Cagalli's frustrated anger face laughs at her**

Shadow: HAHHAAHA serves you right for giving me a hard time with the sparring practice.

**However Drake is quick to beat Shadow back down.**

Drake: I wouldn't laugh Shadow since you're also not following the training regiment I laid down.

**This surprises everyone.**

Kenny: Wait Drake I've seen Shadow train, I remember how annoying it was watching him do push-ups when we were watching the bridge.

**Drake turns to look at Kenny once again looking annoyed.**

Drake: I never said he wasn't training; he's over training.

**Jack obviously doesn't get it.**

Jack: So you're upset because he's doing more then asked?

**Drake is becoming increasingly more annoyed.**

Drake: No I'm upset because he isn't allowing his muscles enough time to recover and process the workout. Overworking is just as bad as not working at all so Shadow would you just stick to the training schedule. Roxas could you distract Shadow by giving him some pointers on how to pick up woman, I've seen some of his pickup lines and they suck.

**Roxas perks up at this request no doubt she's very proud of her seduction skills.**

Roxas: Sure no problem.

**Shadow on the other hand is offended.**

Shadow: I can pick up women on my own just fine thank you!

**Roxas however is too excited to even listen to Shadow**

Roxas: Don't worry Shadow with my excellent guidance you'll be able to pick up 3 women with hardly any effort at all.

**Shadow looks like he's about to say something but his man hormones intrigue by the idea of picking up multiple women prevents him. Cagalli looks at them disgusted.**

Cagalli: Perverts.

**Drake sighs**

Drake: Anyway that's all for now.

**Shadow turns to Drake clearly upset.**

Shadow: Wait you're not going to yell at Cagalli for not doing her training?

**Cagalli also looks surprise and a little curious by this but she's doing a good job of hiding it. Shadow looks angry at this injustice. Drake looks bored.**

Drake: No, I fully expected her to blow it off and fail at doing any of the training I listed.

**Everyone looks shocked by this statement; Cagalli's shock however quickly turns to anger.**

Cagalli: If you knew I wasn't going to do it then why even bother giving me the training regiment!

**Drake eyes the angry Cagalli evenly.**

Drake: I gave it to you in the off chance that you might actually prove me wrong but you didn't.

**Cagalli looks like she just got slap. Drake sighing again turns to look at Shadow.**

Drake: Shadow I think you should just fire her, as long as she's always glancing over her shoulder she'll never take her training seriously nor improve as a Gundam Fighter.

**Nick, Roxas, Jack and Kenny all look angry about this but Shadow speaks before anyone says anything.**

Shadow: That's not happing Drake, Cagalli stays.

**Shadow and Drake eye each other evenly then Drake sighs and shrugs his shoulder as he says**

Drake: Do whatever you want but I'm telling you she's just going to be a burden to your team.

**Shadow merely looks at Kenny but it's enough. Kenny instantly reading Shadow's mind takes out his laptop and hitting a few keys turns off the communication link cutting Drake off. The monitor turns black.**

Cagalli: The nerve of that jerk talking to me like that telling me that always glancing over my shoulder! That's absurd I'm not always glancing over my shoulder!

**Cagalli so angry storms off, however because of her anger Cagalli failed to notice the uncomfortable silence of everyone else, after she leaves Kenny says**

Kenny: You know Drake wasn't lying, sometimes during Gundam fights I see Cagalli just for a flicker of an instant look over her shoulder even though there's obviously no one behind her.

**Nick nods his head**

Nick: I've noticed that too mate.

**Jack thinking out loud says**

Jack: Do you think Cagalli is afraid of fighting?

**The others look uncertain about this but Shadow cuts that thought off right away.**

Shadow: No, Cagalli does get a little scared in a fight but that's not why she's looking over her shoulder, there's something else.

**The scene ends with Shadow looking puzzle by this something else. The next scene opens up at night showing Salim's land ship traveling at good speeds. The camera cuts inside the bridge to show a relax bridge crew. Salim walks in and in a pleasant mood asks**

Salim: Jose how are we making on time?

**Jose smiling nods his head**

Jose: Great Sir at this rate we'll reach Azize by dawn.

**Salim looks happy about this suddenly the noise of static fills the air. The source of the sound is coming from Jose's terminal, everyone surprise turns to look at it.**

Voice: Come in Salim. Come in this is headquarters I repeat can you hear me.

**The static is making the voice sound distorted. Jose looks excited and answers**

Jose: Hello headquarters this is Salim's ship we read you loud and somewhat clear.

**Salim hasn't said anything yet but he appears to be thinking.**

Salim (This feeling, it's the same uncomfortable nervousness I felt the last time headquarters called. It's like every instinct in my body is screaming at me to be on guard.)

**While Salim is thinking headquarters responds**

Voice: Why have you failed to destroy the rebels support ship?

**Jose still excited says**

Jose: Of course they still think the Shadow Knights were hired by the rebels to fight against the Haben military I'll informed them that the intel was wrong and that the Shadow Knights were really hired to be Ms. Kabira's escort to Azize.

**Jose hitting the talk button is about to say something when like a solar eclipse all the thoughts in Salim's head line perfectly up giving him the answer.**

Salim: Jose wait don't!

**All eyes turn to Salim questioningly**

Jose: Sir?

**Salim is grinning and full of self-confidence.**

Salim: It was bothering me for a while about that last transmission but I couldn't figure it out until just now. You're not really headquarters are you?

**Everyone is shocked.**

Voice: Salim have you lost your mind?

**Salim isn't buying it though**

Salim: Please just drop the act, the thing that was bothering me is the fact that you're using the scrambler coder and the secret frequency channel. Although both are common ways to receive secret missions normally headquarters would use one or the other. The only reason we have 2 different ways is in case one becomes compromise we don't have to worry about giving out secret orders while we find another method to replace it. A real Haben soldier would know that.

**Salim's crew begins to nod their heads as they realize he's right.**

Crew: Yea he's right.

Crew: That kind of mission is way too unimportant to use both methods.

Jose: But that means this person is a fake!

**Jose points to the static on the screen surprise and a little afraid, suddenly we hear an all too familiar chuckle.**

Zagat: Heheheh looks like I've been found out.

**Zagat appears on the screen, many of the crew members gasp in surprise. Zagat is grinning like a serial killer that has corner his pray.**

Salim: Zagat!

**Salim is clenching his fist tightly trying to control his growing rage.**

Jose: Y-You mean headquarters didn't give us the orders to attack the Shadow Knights.

**Zagat still grinning explains his plan with joy.**

Zagat: Well not entirely, as much as I tried to convince your commanders to do the whole attack first ask questions later thing they were dead set against it so I simply decided to rearrange their orders.

**Salim thinks back on the first message he receive.**

Salim: You recorded commands true message and rearrange it to fit your own purpose.

**Zagat grins quiet pleased with himself.**

Zagat: Bingo

**It's taking all of Salim's self-control to contain his rage.**

Salim: You cowardly bastard you couldn't beat the Shadow Knights using your own strength so you tried to trick us into doing it for you! Why don't you come out from whatever hole you're hiding in right now and fight me, I know that even you don't have access to the military secret frequency tower so you must be hacking into the signal on our end. I'll take you on one on one!

**The camera cuts outside to show true enough Zagat is in a little camp within goggle range of Salim's land ship. We can see a little dish on top of his tent and a bunch of computers hook up, Zagat is sitting at a table drinking some coffee. We can see Salim on his monitor; Zagat looks amused by this proposal.**

Zagat: Sorry Salim but I'm not stupid I know that there's no way for me to win against you in a fair fight.

**The camera cuts back to inside Salim's land ship's bridge to show Salim look frustrated at not being able to kick Salim's ass. Jose gaining strength from Salim says**

Jose: Your time to act cocky is soon coming to an end Zagat, your plan has failed and now we're going back to HQ to report to the king himself about your and Fachtna's treasonous actions.

**Zagat once again chuckles.**

Zagat: Hehehe it's funny how you believe that to be true.

**This statement catches both Salim and Jose off guard.**

Zagat: You see I'm not some low life amateur that makes one great plan, I make sure that all my plans are multi layered, plans within plans you see that way when one plan fails another simply comes forward to take its place.

**Now both Salim and Jose are beginning to look worried**

Salim: What are you

**Zagat goes on cutting him off; once again one should be getting the whole serial crazy killer feeling from him.**

Zagat: It's true the first layer of my plan was to simply trick you guys into killing Kabira, since that plan is broken the second layer of my plan was for the Shadow Knights to have Kabira transfer over to your ship after all most royalty feel better on their own military's ship rather than an outsiders but once again that fail. Now the third layer of my plan is to have the Haben military send out their elite royal soldiers to attack the Shadow Knights.

**Salim is beginning to look increasingly uneasy.**

Salim: The military won't send out their elite royal soldiers against a simple E rank Gundam team.

Jose: And why would you want Ms. Kabira on our ship?

**Zagat looks at them as if realizing they're still here.**

Zagat: Ah yes you're right Salim they wouldn't but once news gets back to them that you all have been killed by the Shadow Knights well of course they'll have to take them seriously. After all you are a highly respected soldier whose skills are known and I'm sure with a little nudge from me I can get them to send out the royal soldiers. Oh that also answers that other guys question about why I wanted Kabira on your guy's ship.

**Salim looks incredibly angry by Zagat's threat.**

Salim: You think you can kill us all that easily Zagat!

**Zagat suddenly burst into full on psychotic laughter.**

Zagat: HAHAHHAHAHHAH you don't get it do you Salim I've already killed you.

**Zagat with the devils grins spins an object in front of the screen, it appears to be a trigger of some kind, for the first time fear creeps into Salim's face.**

Salim: That's

Zagat: I would say that next time be careful who you let onto your ship but for you there's not going to be a next time.

**Time slows down as Zagat moves to press the trigger. Salim's shock face just has enough time to process what happen.**

Salim (Don't tell me that time we stop to resupply at the village before we fought the Shadow Knights.)

**We have a brief flashback of Salim's land ship stopped in a village being resupply. We see Salim standing their checking off a list as boxes are being carried in. The camera focuses in on one person with a hood up who just walk by Salim, it's Zagat grinning. We come back to the present as time returns to normal to show Zagat hit the trigger.**

**The camera cuts to different parts of Salim's land ship to show huge explosions as the bombs Zagat planted go off. The fire consumes many people instantly. The camera cuts to the bridge for the final time to show Salim close his eyes as he thinks.**

Salim (Damn and I wanted to have a rematch against that kid too.)

**A bright light consumes the bridge including Salim as the bomb underneath the bridge goes off. The camera cuts outside just in time to show Salim's entire land ship explode in a burning blaze of defeat, like being stab in the back on a deserted island there's nothing honorable about this death. **

**The tears the flame cries could be because of the ship's cheated death on a battlefield with its guns still shooting or because of the sad fact no one will know its tale. One voice though stands out from the requiem the flames and melting metals are playing.**

Zagat: HAHAHAHHAHHAHAHHA don't worry Salim your death won't be wasted it will be the tools of which I will used to end Kabira HAHAHAHHAHHHAHAH!

**The scene ends with Zagat's demonic laugher ringing in the darken red desert night. The next scene opens up in the middle of a sparring match between Roxas and Shadow. There's a crowd of people gather around them watching the fight including Nick, Raheem and Kabira. Shadow with his training sword charges Roxas, Roxas on her hands and feet in her classic tiger stance just grins at him.**

Shadow: Take this!

**Shadow begins to wildly swing his sword around trying to hit Roxas however Roxas just as quick switches stances.**

Roxas: Monkey stance.

**Roxas now gets on 2 slightly bent legs and begins to dodge all of Shadow's attacks. The camera turns around to look into the crowd as this goes on, a lot of the D-crew is betting on the outcome of the fight.**

D-crew A: I'll betting 50 on Roxas.

**The man standing next to him pretends to be uncertain.**

D-crew B: I don't know Shadow seems to be on point today.

**Roxas jumps back dodging a horizontal slash by Shadow and crouching down performs a 90 degree vertical kick but much to everyone's surprise Shadow dropping his sword catches Roxas's leg with both hands.**

Shadow: HAHA!

**Even Roxas is surprise but she doesn't get much time to think as Shadow lifts her up and throws her. We turn back to the 2 guys.**

D-crew B: I'll take that bet.

**D-crew A isn't as enthusiastic as he was before. The crowd is really starting to get into the fight with many people yelling at victory calls for their fighter.**

Crowd: Come on Roxas kick his ass!

Crowd: Go Shadow you got her on the ropes!

**Roxas does a flip in the air and lands lightly on her feet, immediately she charges Shadow and launches a series of claw slashes. Shadow unlike Roxas is struggling to block all of her attacks. The camera looks over to show Kabira also getting swept up in the crowd's excitement.**

Kabira: Raheem look at Shadow go he's on fire today!

**Raheem however is not as impressed.**

Raheem: Hmm his sword play is terrible as usual.

**Kabira looks at Raheem surprise by his attitude.**

Kabira: That's really cold Raheem.

**Raheem looks a little regretful about his statement. He seems to be a little stressed out, the camera turns back around to show Roxas jump back from her assault and take on a new pose, she's on 2 legs sticking out 2 fingers on both of her hands; charging forward she shouts**

Roxas: Woodpecker strike!

**Roxas hands become a blur as they begin to poke Shadow all over his body. Shadow manages to last all of 4 seconds before the force of the attack literary launches his body out of the ring with the ring being just a bunch of mats. **

**Shadow falls hard on his back outside the ring. We hear several moans and cries as people begin to fork over their money. The camera moves over to show a surprise Kabira.**

Kabira: What happen, how did Roxas do that?

**Raheem rubs his chin now impressed.**

Raheem: Not bad, poking Shadow once would have done little damage but by poking him in rapid pace within milliseconds of each strike the force she generated was enough to send Shadow outside the ring. It's a good thing that she took off her claws before performing that move, even with the blades dull it would've still cause a lot of damage to Shadow.

**The camera moves over to Shadow, Shadow groans as he sits and begins to rub the back of his head.**

Shadow: Owwww

**Roxas standing straight up grins looking down on Shadow.**

Roxas: So what does that make it Shadow, 67 wins me and only 3 wins you.

**Shadow stops rubbing his head glaring at Roxas snaps**

Shadow: 4 wins thank you very much!

**Roxas can't stop grinning. Nick steps in though before this gets out of hand.**

Nick: Easy there mates this is supposed to be training remember.

**Shadow folding his arms looks annoyed.**

Shadow: Yea, yea, yea I know...…I want a rematch!

**Roxas grins ready to go another round but Nick once again interjects.**

Nick: Hold on a second guys, you're skipping Cagalli's turn.

**Roxas and Shadow are slightly surprise having forgotten.**

Shadow: Oh yea that's right.

Roxas: Where is Cagalli, I can't wait to grope her breast.

**Shadow waits a second then turns to Roxas.**

Shadow: So what we've move beyond the point where you're not going to even bother to pretend to correct yourself.

**Roxas huffs**

Roxas: Heh I believe my intentions are pretty clear there's no sense in trying to cover it up.

**Nick is looking around a little worried.**

Nick: Is she going to not show today too? I was hoping that after Drake yelled at her today she'd make the effort to come down and prove him wrong.

**The crowd is beginning to become restless and some begin making cat calls.**

Crowd: Come on start the next match already!

Crowd: Cagalli never bothers to come so just skip her turn already!

Crowd: Yea I need to make the money I just lost on Shadow back up!

**Roxas annoyed responds to this last comment.**

Roxas: Shut up already Ted, that's what you get for betting against me!

**The crowd is becoming even more restless and they begin to boo, Shadow suddenly stands up.**

Shadow: We've already finish the amount of sparing time Drake wanted us to do so why don't you guys clean up.

**Nick looks at him curious.**

Nick: What about you mate? What are you going to do?

**The camera looks straight up to show a very angry Shadow; he cracks his knuckles as he says.**

Shadow: I'm getting tired of this shit, I'm going to kick Cagalli's ass.

**Shadow marches off. The camera cuts to a different part of the ship, we can see both Cagalli and Kenny walking down a hallway. Cagalli holding what can best be described as an I-pad is typing on it while discussing something with Kenny.**

Cagalli: We really need to repair area 3 section 2 of the Dark-Angel as soon as possible.

**Kenny also typing on his laptop while talking.**

Kenny: But we don't have enough Tyle 4/7 metal sheets left to finish the repairs.

**Cagalli scratching her chin thinking.**

Cagalli: But if we weld together two 2/7 metal sheets then we should be able to patch it up until

**Shadow breaks into the conversation shouting**

Shadow: Cagalli!

**Cagalli stops and turns to look at Shadow marching over.**

Cagalli: Shadow?

**She seems mildly surprise. Shadow stops in front of Cagalli and says in a loud tone**

Shadow: You missed sparring practice, AGAIN!

**Shadow is definitely angry. Cagalli looks at him confused by the obvious anger.**

Cagalli: Oh well sorry but I was busy discussing where we were on the repairs with Jack and Kenny.

**Cagalli doesn't seem to care much about the sparring practice unlike Shadow.**

Shadow: Fine, how much of the training sheet have you finish!

**Shadow demands to know. Cagalli is beginning to get annoyed with Shadow's attitude.**

Cagalli: What? This is stupid I have things to do.

**Shadow however isn't letting this go, as Cagalli turns around Shadow grabs her shoulder and forcefully spins her around to face him.**

Shadow: What have you done so far on the training regiment!

**Shadow demands to know again. Cagalli is glaring at Shadow not liking the rough treatment and slaps his hand off her shoulder.**

Cagalli: None OK!

**Cagalli is beginning to raise her voice as well. Kenny having step back away from the 2 is watching the fight looking uncomfortable however he's not the only one. Cagalli and Shadow are beginning to create a scene and more of the crew is beginning to take notice of them. Shadow is looking at Cagalli in disbelief.**

Shadow: None, how could you not do anything! How hard is it to do at least 20 push-ups when you first wake up in the morning, you just roll out of bed onto the floor and start push-upping!

**Cagalli is starting to get angry with Shadow**

Cagalli: I don't understand why you care so much it's not like Drake ever expected me to do them in the first place!

**Shadow and Cagalli's voices are getting higher.**

Shadow: So what you're just going to prove him right and not do anything!

**Cagalli clenching her fist**

Cagalli: I don't give a damn what Drake thinks! I am BUSY Shadow getting things down around this ship, unlike you who just goofs off so of course you've got plenty of time to waste!

Shadow: You know you have got some series control issues lady! You think that if you're not involved in every single little affair the whole place is just going to collapse around you!

Cagalli: Well maybe if you were doing your job correctly I wouldn't have to be a control freak!

**Shadow suddenly grabs Cagalli's shirt and brings her face close into his, both of them are glaring at each other and their shouting is only getting worse.**

Shadow: I don't get you.

**Shadow doesn't yell this but the electric intensity in which he speaks brings this argument into a whole new level. Cagalli is looking at him stun by the irony.**

Cagalli: You don't get me!

**Shadow begins shouting again**

Shadow: That's right; let's cut the crap! This isn't about how I run my team or how you think I should run it, this is about the Gundam Fights!

Cagalli: What about the Gundam Fights!

Shadow: The moment you step foot out onto the battlefield YOU DON'T FIGHT WITH EVERYTHING YOU HAVE!

**Cagalli blinks now having been caught off guard with this statement.**

Cagalli: What are you talking, of course I fight with everything

**Shadow cuts her off**

Shadow: NO YOU DON'T, I've fought with you in those sparring matches I drag you to so I know what level you're capable of fighting and that's why I know that for whatever god damn reason you're HOLDING BACK WHENEVER YOU GET ONTO THE BATTLEFIELD!

**Cagalli is even more surprise, but her surprise once again transforms into anger.**

Cagalli: WHAT KIND OF IDIOT DO YOU THINK I AM! OF COURSE I'M NOT HOLDING BACK WHEN I'M IN A SERIOUS BATTLE!

Shadow: THAT'S A LIE! JUST LIKE IT'S A LIE THAT YOU DON'T GLANCE OVER YOUR SHOULDER IN BATTLE!

Cagalli: I ONLY LOOK OVER MY SHOULDER WHEN THERE'S SOMEONE ATTACKING ME!

Shadow: THAT'S JUST ANOTHER LIE! I'VE SEEN YOU LOOK OVER YOUR SHOULDER WHEN THERE'S NO ONE THERE! At first I thought you were just getting one of those nervous escape thoughts, understandable I got them too but you kept doing it and the more you kept doing it the more I began to realize that you weren't looking for a way to escape you were waiting for someone to appear.

Cagalli: WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!

**Cagalli definitely doesn't want to go there, but Shadow keeps pushing.**

Shadow: I'M TALKING ABOUT YOUR BROTHER!

**Cagalli now becomes deeply surprise**

Cagalli: My brother? You mean Kira?

**Shadow nods his head**

Shadow: That's right Kira, now don't get me wrong but from what you told me this Kira guy sounds like a nice person.

**Cagalli getting over her shock somewhat asks**

Cagalli: Yes so what, what does Kira have to do with anything?

**Shadow shrugs his shoulder**

Shadow: Nothing, in fact he sounds pretty amazing especially when he comes out of nowhere all the time to save you.

**Cagalli is glaring at Shadow not liking the way he says that and where he's going with this.**

Cagalli: What's your point Shadow?

**Shadow is still glaring at Cagalli**

Shadow: My point is maybe you've come to rely on Mr. Kira saving you too much, maybe you've stopped trying your hardest to win in these battles because you've got in your mind that if it gets tough Kira will just come out of nowhere and save you!

**Shadow shouts accusingly**

Cagalli: No! That's not true!

**Shadow just pushes on through ignoring Cagalli.**

Shadow: I just don't get you! I can understand the need for teamwork and helping each other when we get into a pinch but if I had someone who was always bailing my sorry ass out of trouble, always saving me, then I'd be pissed! I would be pissed at myself, at being so weak that I needed that person to always come to my aid but YOU, you have gotten to the point where you just expect it. What's running through your head, "oh why should I even bother to try Kira will just come and beat them all for me so there's really no point."

**Cagalli breaking free from Shadow's grip on her shirt slaps him hard across the face. We can see that she cut his lip.**

Cagalli: I DON'T THINK LIKE THAT, AND I DON'T GLANCE OVER MY SHOULDER LOOKING FOR HIM!

**She screams at the top of her lungs. Shadow rubs his cheek, then enrage he turns to face Cagalli and is about to throw a punch of his own when Nick intervenes.**

Nick: Whoa that's enough mates, time for you guys to chill.

**Nick having walked up behind Shadow grips him in a headlock. Shadow struggles for a minute but quickly stops and calms down. Nick turns to Cagalli and says**

Nick: That's enough Cagalli mate, you guys are making quite the ruckus.

**For the first time since their argument began Shadow and Cagalli take a look around to realize that they've attracted a huge crowd of people around them. It won't be that far a stretch to say that 90 percent of the crew was gathered here, both Shadow and Cagalli are breathing heavily. Shadow shakes Nick off then turns around but before he walks away he says**

Shadow: Fine whatever, forgive me for being worried.

**Cagalli blinks surprise then says with obvious disbelief and contempt.**

Cagalli: Worried?

**Nick thinking there's going to be another fight tries to step in-between the 2 again but Shadow manages to get the last word in.**

Shadow: That's right worried, I'm worried for you Cagalli because as you are now you're heading for a real ass-kicking. This country is close to civil war and the people we're up against aren't no pushovers, there's going to come a point where we're each going to have to fight strong Gundam Fighters one on one. Now me, Nick, and Roxas are ready for that time, we have been training and working are asses off to get stronger to make sure that we'll be ready when the time comes. Although we can't guaranty a win we know that we'll be able to hold our own, but Cagalli you're nowhere near ready, if you go into a one on one battle as you are now the only thing you'll be heading for is a thorough beat down and guess what, you'll be on the receiving end.


	47. Episode 46

Episode 46

**The episode opens up with an eagle's eye view of a small town. The town is too small to have a shipping bay so the Dark-Angel is just parked next to it. The Dark-Angel is not alone there are also several other ships parked next to the town, in fact it's starting to look like a ship parking lot. The camera zooms into the town to show Raheem leading Cagalli and Nick into the town. There aren't many people on the streets which is making Cagalli a little nervous.**

Cagalli: Compare to Haben harbor this place is a ghost town.

**Nick slides his fingers gently along his hat making sure it's low enough to keep the sun out of his eyes. To the average person Nick's right hand appear to be dangling at his side but to one with training Nick's hand is just a little too close to his gun hostler to be accidental. Nick's sharp eyes are constantly scanning the area just in case.**

Nick: Be careful mate, something doesn't feel right.

**Nick is talking to Cagalli. Cagalli looks at him confused but Raheem glancing over his shoulder looks at Nick approvingly.**

Raheem: You've got good instincts cowboy. This is what we in Haben call a wayward town, basically although it's a part of Haben and the military protects it the entire town is completely self-staining. They rarely get tourists and the only time they do get outsiders is when people are traveling between the major cities and need to resupply.

**Cagalli still doesn't get it**

Cagalli: Ok and the point is?

**Raheem's eyes are also scanning the area.**

Raheem: The point is that even though this town is greatly smaller then Haben Harbor it should still have people busy about going on with their day. Shoppers tending to their stores, costumers looking for items, kids playing in the streets, and even the occasional dog or cat but for it to be this badly deserted on the streets; something is scaring the locals to stay indoors.

**Cagalli connects the dots.**

Cagalli: All those ships outside the town.

**Raheem nods his head.**

Raheem: Some might be the rebels stopping on their way to the meeting point, but most are probably other low rank Gundam teams like yourself.

**Nick looks surprise to hear this, he whistles.**

Nick: The rebels most be loaded mates, to hire this many Gundam teams.

**Raheem still walking with strong and brisk strides shakes his head.**

Raheem: No, most if not all have probably come on their own accord.

**This surprises both Cagalli and Nick.**

Cagalli: What.

Nick: Why?

**Raheem momentary looks over his shoulder surprise they don't know, then he remembers they're still new Gundam Fighters.**

Raheem: Oh that's right you guys are still a relatively new Gundam Team. Well what you don't know yet is that a lot of low rank rookie Gundam teams tend to flock like vultures to rebels opposing a Government.

**Cagalli looks angry over this.**

Cagalli: Animals! Trying to profit from the pain of others!

**Raheem tilts his head to the side thinking.**

Raheem: Well I wouldn't go that far, although money does play a role in their getting involve the real reason most Gundam Teams come down is to make a name for themselves.

**Nick looks at Raheem not getting it.**

Nick: What do you mean by that mate?

**Raheem explains**

Raheem: Well you guys know how hard it is getting a job being an E-rank team and all, well most people don't trust E or D rank teams to get an assignment done. They end up getting the crappy jobs that only the poor people with no money pay them to do and as I'm sure you already know running a Gundam Team isn't cheap. If you don't come from money then you need missions in order to pay for supplies for your Gundams.

Raheem: However therein lies the problem, you can't get good high paying missions unless you have a good rank, you can't get a good rank unless you fight in the Gundam Fights, and you can't hope to do well in Gundam Fights if you don't have your Gundam properly maintain which of course requires money. That's one of the leading reasons as to why Gundam Teams drop out, but there is a way around that dooming cycle, if you get hired by rebels going against their country's government then you are presented with the greatest opportunity of all, you get to be known. If you do well in battle and survive then your reputation will skyrocket and even though you hold a low rank people will be more willing to trust you with higher rank missions because you've proven yourself.

**Nick gets most of it.**

Nick: I see mate, but still it's kind of hired to believe that the rebels have enough dough to hire this many Gundam Teams.

**Raheem laughs**

Raheem: HAHAAHAHHAHA no, no, no the rebels have hardly any money, mostly likely only 2 or 3 of these Gundam Teams will be hired.

**Cagalli now really doesn't get it.**

Cagalli: Then why?

**Raheem answers without her even having to finish the question.**

Raheem: They're competing against each other, it's a known fact that almost all rebel groups are poor and because it's a known fact the low rank Gundam teams flock to them. They know that the rebels can't afford a better Gundam team so they have no choice but to pick from what they got.

**Cagalli still looks angry.**

Cagalli: That's no excuse! Just because they're having financial aid problems is no reason for them to turn around and help cause more pain and sorrow!

**Raheem stops and turns to face them.**

Raheem: I didn't say it was Cagalli now calm down before you bring too much attention to us. Ok the art of information gathering is hard complex and takes years to master but well since we don't have that kind of time I'm going to simplify things for you. People, especially travelers like to talk in bars, so all you have to do is go to the corner table in the back of the bar, sit there, listen, and watch. There are 3 bars total in this town, so we'll each take 1. We'll meet back at the Dark-Angel in 6 hours.

**Nick tips his hat in understanding and is about to go when Cagalli suddenly blurts out.**

Cagalli: Alone!

**Cagalli definitely appears nervous and uneasy. Raheem looks at her curious.**

Raheem: Yes

**Cagalli recomposing herself says quickly.**

Cagalli: Well I was just thinking that wouldn't it make more sense if we stay together since me and Nick don't really know what we're doing we could just observe you?

**Raheem shakes his head.**

Raheem: If we travel in a group of 3 inside a bar then people will definitely notice us but if you're uncomfortable being alone then Nick can escort you.

**Cagalli becoming angry snaps**

Cagalli: I don't need Nick to escort me! I was just suggesting that it would be smarter if we stayed together, geez what's with everyone assuming that whenever I make a suggestion about working as a Team I'm just too afraid to do something on my own!

**Cagalli begins to storm off in the direction of the bar while the men just look at her. Raheem calls out to her**

Raheem: If you do get into any trouble just contact someone using your Neon Gauntlet.

**Cagalli without turning around waves her hand showing she heard him. Raheem and Nick turn to face each other with one eyebrow up in silent communication. The camera cuts back to inside the Dark-Angel's hallways, Kenny and Kabira are walking down the hallways in the middle of a discussion.**

Kabira: So Shadow and Cagalli still aren't talking to each other?

**Kenny nods his head.**

Kenny: Yup, unfortunately stubbornness is a trait that they both share.

**Kenny notices that this seems to upset Kabira and quickly says**

Kenny: But don't worry, Jack and Roxas are working on Shadow.

**Kenny suddenly frowns not liking the way he says this.**

Kenny: Augh I need to watch how I say things.

**Kabira looks at him innocently having no idea what he means.**

Kabira: I don't get it?

**Kenny waves her off.**

Kenny: If you don't get it then don't worry about it.

**Kenny tries to run away to avoid any more question but Kabira really curious chases after him.**

Kabira: Wait tell me!

**The camera cuts to the Gundam Bay of the Dark-Angel just as Shadow gets whack by a wrench.**

Shadow: Owwwwww

**Shadow begins to rub his head as Jack glares at him.**

Jack: Apologize to Cagalli!

**We can see a bunch of the Dark-Angel crew working on varies projects in teams. Roxas and Shadow are using a metal ladder to stretch. Shadow is still working on trying to do a split, one leg on the ground while the other one is completely vertical in the air however Shadow seems to be only able to get his leg up to his chin level. **

**Roxas on the other hand looks boneless as she snakes around the ladder stretching at weird angles. Jack is behind Shadow with wrench in hand.**

Shadow: NO GOD DAMN IT! I spoke my mind and didn't say any lies so I'm not apologizing! If anything Cagalli should apologizes to me for slapping me so hard, she freaking cut my lip.

**Roxas now doing pull-ups using only her toes says**

Roxas: You kind of deserve it; you basically called her a coward in front of everyone. Now if you had been called a coward in front of everyone like that would you have just stood there and do nothing?

**Shadow looks down and is beginning to wane.**

Shadow: I didn't mean to call her out in front of everyone like that.

**Jack still glaring at Shadow ready to hit him again with her wrench the moment he gives her cause.**

Jack: Or call her a coward.

**Shadow suddenly angry snaps**

Shadow: I didn't call her a coward!

**Roxas and Jack blink a little taken back by Shadow's strong opinion. Shadow says a little softer**

Shadow: I am sorry if it sounded like that. But Cagalli is no coward! She's just got so little confidence in herself that she can't even bring herself to try any more. And this brother of hers Kira

**Jack interjects.**

Jack: I didn't know Cagalli had any siblings, how did you know?

**Shadow brushes her off**

Shadow: Because I asked, anyway as I was saying this Kira guy isn't doing her any favors always coming in and doing stuff which is tough for her to do. Especially Gundam Fights, the moment Cagalli starts looking like she's getting backed into a corner he just comes out of nowhere and takes over the fight.

**Jack is now the one starting to wane.**

Jack: Yea, I can see how that can rob her of valuable experience not to mention being a big blow to her confidence as she's force to watch as her brother comes in and easily defeats an opponent in which she was about to lose too. But still your idea of solving this problem was to yell at her?

**Shadow corrects her.**

Shadow: Motivate her.

**Shadow switches legs on the ladder, while Roxas strikes and even more weird position. Jack whacks Shadow on the back of the head with the wrench.**

Shadow: OW what was that for!

**Jack answers in a matter of fact voice**

Jack: For being a dumbass.

**Roxas takes over while Shadow is glaring at Jack.**

Roxas: Look Shadow we all get why you did it but the fact is you still have to apologize.

**Shadow now turns to Roxas and says stubbornly**

Shadow: What! Why do I have to, and she doesn't it!

**Roxas answers smugly**

Roxas: Because you're the guy and in this situation the guy is the one that has to apologize.

**Shadow is looking at Roxas irritated.**

Shadow: Wait so the only reason why I have to apologize is because I'm a guy?

**Jack nods her head.**

Jack: Yup, the guy is always in the wrong in an argument with the girl.

**Shadow is upset with this.**

Shadow: That's sexist!

**Roxas shakes her head faking pity.**

Roxas: That is the way the world works my friend and until you say you're sorry I'm not giving you any tips on how to pick up woman.

**Jack adds**

Jack: And I'll hit you with my wrench 5 times a day.

**Shadow can't help himself when he says**

Shadow: Just 5 times?

**Jack shrugs**

Jack: Kenny did the math but apparently hitting you any more than 5 times a day with a wrench will cause some brain damage.

**Roxas also can't help herself when she says**

Roxas: Wouldn't Shadow first have to get a brain before he can get brain damage?

**Shadow turns to glare at Roxas as Jack laughing high-fives her. Shadow gives his sarcastic laugh.**

Shadow: Ha, Ha, Ha very funny, but I got news for you guys. I'd sooner get my head lop off before apologizing to Cagalli, so do your worst.

**Shadow attempts to storm off but it seems he overstretch while talking to the girls and his legs buckle underneath him as he falls to the ground unable to get up.**

Shadow: Owwww I can't feel my legs.

**Roxas eyeing him mildly curious says**

Roxas: Looks like you overstretch your legs Shadow.

**Jack just grins and says**

Jack: Think of this as the universe siding with me Shadow, Now apologize to Cagalli!

**Shadow however could win an award for his stubbornness and the scene ends with him saying defiantly.**

Shadow: NEVER, as soon as I can feel my legs again I'm storming out of here in anger.

**The next scene opens up showing Cagalli in a bar, like most bars the place is dimly it's also pack and loud. We can hear several conversations going at the same time plus there are several very drunk people either singing out loud or just being plain loud. Cagalli is sitting in the back corner booth trying to be invisible while at the same time listening in on other people's conversation.**

Cagalli (Ughhh this is so stupid, I've been here an hour already and haven't learned anything except that drinking doesn't help ones singing ability.)

**Cagalli is glaring at one of the drunk singers which is understandable considering his voice sounds like nails on chalkboard.**

Cagalli (Also the service here stinks, I've been waiting for an hour for my glass of water I order! If Raheem hadn't told me to keep a low profile I would have)

**Cagalli's train of thought is interrupted as a very obvious drunk person spots her. The drunk man makes a comment to his friends in which they laugh in response. He then proceeds to stager over to Cagalli's booth. **

**Good news Cagalli is in the back of booth so the only way for the drunk man to get any closer to her would be to slid into the booth next to her, which requires more coordination then he's currently capable of so instead he leans inappropriately forward on the table sliding toward Cagalli.**

Drunk man: Hey you're beautiful.

**The man's speech is slightly slurred but he's doing a pretty good job of controlling that. Cagalli like any normal woman in this situation would is looking at the man with annoyance**

Cagalli: Thank you for the compliment but you're drunk and I'm not interested.

**Cagalli gets out of the booth attempting to walk away somewhere else but the Drunk man isn't quitting. He puts his hand around Cagalli's shoulder and says**

Drunk man: Oh c'mon baby don't be 'ike that, let's you and me *hiccup* have some fun.

**Cagalli roughly pulls his arm off her and says louder than intended.**

Cagalli: I said NO so get off me!

**The Drunk man stumbles as Cagalli pushes him but he manages to stay on his feet, some people begin to take notice of this scene. Cagalli silently curses in her mind as she realizes people are taking notice of her.**

Cagalli (Damn it Raheem told me not to make a scene, if people start to realize there's a stranger here they might hush up and stop talking. Not that they were saying anything important but still; Ok it's fine not that many people are looking. I'll just disappear in the bathroom for a bit then come back and fine a different place to sit.)

**While Cagalli is thinking this one of the drunk man's soberer friends calls to him**

Sober man: You better just let that one go man.

**Drunk man after some struggle on his feet to regain his balance turns to reply to his friend. Cagalli reassured in her new plan turns and walks away but stops after hearing the Drunk man's response.**

Drunk man: Awww who needs that bitch anyway, after I kick some weak loser Haben soldier asses and become a war hero then all the chicks will be rushing towards me!

**The Drunk man is shouting all this and thusly getting everyone's attention, in fact only 2 people are not looking at him. The first one is Cagalli, she's struggling hard to bit her tongue and contain her growing anger.**

**The second person appears to be a woman around Cagalli's age. She's sitting up at the counter drinking a beer. We can't see her face yet but we can see that she's wearing black sneakers, tight brown pants, a dark red jacket with a white T-shirt underneath. Her hair is black but appears to be about the same length as Cagalli's only unspiked. Her hand is still on her glass; the drunk guy continues on with his rant.**

Drunk man: So here's three cheers to getting this war started already!

**The drunk man picks up a random glass and lifts it up, everyone except Cagalli and the girl follow suit.**

Drunk man: Hip Hip

Crowd: Hurray!

Drunk man: Hip Hip

Crowd: Hurray!

Drunk man: Hip Hip

**Cagalli can't take it anymore and shouts**

Cagalli: YOU GOD DAMN FREAKING MORONS!

**Everyone stops talking as all eyes fall on Cagalli. Cagalli is definitely pissed off.**

Cagalli: How could you people, no, how could anyone possibly even think of the idea to cheer on war! Do you have any idea how many lives will be lost if there is war, how many people will lose their homes, how many sons will never return to their mothers, how many fathers will never see their daughter's smile again, do you people have any idea how many people war will cause suffering too! And you have the freaking nerve to cheer it on! You people are sick, no sick is far too nice a term to label what you disgusting

**Cagalli is cut off. Some people have their head lower in shame at Cagalli's words but most are glaring at her not liking their good time ruin and one of those people is the Drunk man.**

Drunk man: Ohhhhhh would you quit your bitching.

**Cagalli shocked turns to him, these are the type of people that go to war zones looking for easy fame and fortune so they're not necessarily the people with the biggest hearts.**

Drunk man: What do I care if some Habenins get themselves killed, it's not like they're my people it's not like this is my country; I didn't start this war but it's going to happen so why shouldn't I profit from it?

**Cagalli is even angrier by this comment and her anger is blinding her about the danger she's getting in.**

Cagalli: So what you're not even going to try to help, how can you even look yourself in the mirror at night knowing there're people working, constantly struggling to prevent this war and yet the only thing you care about is your own fame and fortune!

**Cagalli is really starting to piss the majority of the people in the bar off including the Drunk man.**

Drunk man: I'll look at the mirror and smile at handsome devil looking back at me. But what about you bitch, you sure talk a big game woman but what have you done to help stop this war!

**Cagalli hesitates now, her more rational mind is finally getting through but the drunk man takes her hesitation as a sign of weakness.**

Drunk man: Exactly you haven't done nothing! Oh I know, since we obviously won't agree on this matter how about we settle this with a one on one fight!

**The drunk man seems to be a lot more sober now than before, it's possible he could have just been acting (I'm still just going to call him drunk man).**

Drunk man: You see I'm the leader of this entire Gundam gang the Riptides, if you beat me then I give you my word that we'll withdraw from this area and go someplace else. I don't like beating up on women but for you I'll make an exception, in fact since you are a woman I'll let you use any weapon you like as long as it's not a gun and I'll fight with just my fist so what do you say!

**The drunk man shouts challenging Cagalli, Cagalli definitely appears nervous now. Her confidence fueled by anger is gone, understandable considering the drunk man is a lot taller than Cagalli, almost 3 heads, and his bulging muscles look like they have bulging muscles. Even an all-star football player would think twice about challenging him to a fight. Cagalli sub-consciously glances over her shoulder.**

Cagalli (If I call for Nick on my Neon gauntlet he should be able to get here in less than 5 minutes.)

**The drunk man however smells weakness.**

Drunk man: Come on what are you waiting for! This is your moment to do something to help prevent this war!

**The sober man from earlier calls out to his friend**

Sober man: Come on man leave the girl alone, you think those rebel leaders are going to like the fact that you were picking on a little girl?

**Cagalli's pride looks like it just got slap again. The drunk man listens to his friend.**

Drunk man: Yea your right, and besides this chicks all talk; all she can do is say pretty idealistic words but when the time comes for her to make those words a reality she can't do anything herself and needs men like us to come and do all the work!

**Sober man replies making a joke**

Sober man: Ain't all women like that though?

**Drunk man laughs**

Drunk man: HAHAHAHHA true, true HAHHAHHAHAHhA.

**Everyone in the bar except that other woman begin to laugh at Cagalli and the joke, and make no mistake this is the cruel looking down upon laughter. Cagalli has her eyes staring down at the floor and her fist clench tightly in deep frustration.**

Cagalli (Damn it what do I do? This guy looks way too strong for me, but if I call Nick for help then that'll only prove them no everyone right about me! Stop laughing at me!)

**Cagalli is beginning to break into cold sweats. The laughter is definitely psyching her out, suddenly a shot glass comes flying over and hits the drunk man square in the face. The glass shatters and drunk man howls in pain.**

Drunk man: OWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW who threw that!

**The drunk man has murder in his eyes as he begins scanning the people in the bar looking for the thrower. All eyes turn to the girl sitting at the counter, she's turned around now and facing the drunk man not even bothering to hid the defiance in her eyes. **

**Now that we got a good look at her face we can see that she has brown collected and logical eyes, she also has dark skin (she's black ok, there's been some miscommunication when I describe someone as dark skin but just know she's black and dark black too).**

Girl: I did.

**She says challenging the drunk man, he's surprise by her lack of fear.**

Drunk man: You?

**The girl gets up from her stool and walks over to him.**

Girl: That's right, I accept the challenge you threw at blondie over there, I'll fight you one on one.

**The girl now standing up in front of the drunk man appears to be taller than Cagalli but the drunk man is still 2 heads taller than her. The drunk man rolls his eyes and replies**

Drunk man: Geez what's with all the woman today, a man can't even enjoy a drink without a woman getting her panties in a bunch.

**The girl eyes the drunk man coldly.**

Girl: Maybe it's because your foul smelling breath is disturbing me, how very man like of you not to brush your teeth.

**This pisses the drunk man off.**

Drunk man: That's it bitch I'm kicking your ass.

**The girl is unmoved and unafraid**

Girl: Bring it.

**Everything seems to happen in an instant, the drunk man and the girl step outside as the people in bar begin shouting "fight, fight, fight"; Cagalli in a daze follows them. The girl and the drunk man are a fair distance away from each other staring at each other both looking unimpressed. The people from the bar including Cagalli have surrounded them forming a ring. The drunk man after a moment's more glaring at the girl calls out to her**

Drunk man: Hey crazy chick, the same rules I said to that other chick still imply, you can use any weapon as long as it's not a gun while I'll just stick with my fist.

**This seems to piss the girl off.**

Girl: I'm no bird, nor am I a girl; I AM A WOMAN and you are nothing more than a pig that I'm about to slaughter. As for weapons I have all that I need to beat men like you, in fact one punch is all this is going to take.

**This sends the Drunk man over the edge,**

Drunk man: Bitch!

**The drunk man charges the girl, it's hard to say what he intends to do but he's got his hands out in what appears to be a grabbing motion so it's probably a safe bet that he's going to rely on his muscles and brute force to just throw her.**

**The girl on the other hand takes a single step back with her right leg, she turns her body so that her left side is facing the drunk man. She clenches both her hands into fist, her left hand is held slightly up in the air ready for the block while her right hand is pulled back ready for the punch.**

**The look in her eyes is definitely focus but at the same time she appears bored, there's not a single doubt in her mind that she's about to win this fight in one blow.**

**The guy comes in close to the girl, he goes to grab her but as quick as lightening the girl shoots her right hand forward and delivers the most powerful punch we have ever seen in this entire series so far. The force of impact literary sends ripples across the drunk man's chest. The drunk man's eyes are popping out of their sockets, his breath is sent flying out of him like a rocket hit with a flamethrower, and although his feet don't come completely off the ground his heel do and his toes slide backwards on the sand.**

**A moment passes as the girl doesn't pull back her fist. The drunk man is frozen unable to move, then his eyes roll backwards and he falls to the ground unconscious. The crowd is stun into silence not believing what just happen. The girl turns to face them and shouts**

Girl: I have defeated the team leader of the Gundam team Riptides, as your team leader promise I expect the Riptides to withdraw their forces from Haben and if I find out this promise isn't kept then I'll return…...with my Gundam.

**The girl makes a deliberate gesture with her left hand which causes the sleeve to fall down a little revealing her Neon gauntlet. Her Neon gauntlet is dark magenta (a shade of purple) and it is slightly glowing; one of on lookers finally recognizes her.**

Person A: That's Sesen Omolara team leader of the Valkyries!

**This gets the crowd talking. Sesen takes one more look at the drunk man lying on the ground making a face of disgust then turns and walks away with her calm composer on.**

Person B: The Valkyries, aren't they that new up and coming Gundam Team?

Person C: They jumped from E-rank to D-rank in a month, fastest time in over a decade.

Person D: I heard they're a bunch of fem-Nazis, they go on and on about how women are the superior gender and that all men are just a bunch of filthy scum only good for reproduction.

**Everyone is talking at once as a dozen different side conversations break out. A couple of people go to help their fallen boss but most of the crowd is beginning to break up and disburse. **

**Sesen ignoring all the talk about herself happens to walk by Cagalli. Cagalli is still stun having witness the overwhelming power Sesen displayed however as Sesen walks by she does manage to mumble out.**

Cagalli: Thanks for the help.

**Sesen glances at Cagalli with a look of equal disgust she gave to the drunk man.**

Sesen: I didn't fight that disgusting man for you; I did it so as to save face from the embarrassment you caused the female race.

**Sesen continues walking away but the motors in Cagalli's mind start to spin in overdrive as she realizes that she's just been insulted, furious she turns around and shouts at Sesen still walking away**

Cagalli: What was that!

**Sesen just ignores Cagalli which only causes her to become even more infuriated.**

Cagalli: HEY DON'T JUST IGNORE ME I'M TALKING TO YOU, NOW WHAT THE HELL DID YOU JUST SAY!

**Sesen finally stops and turns to face Cagalli. Sesen has a look of pure disgusted directed at Cagalli.**

Sesen: Did I stutter, I said that I didn't fight that waste of space because of your sorry loser ass I fought him because at the rate you were going all the woman in the world would have to bow their head in shame.

**Cagalli clenches her fist trying to bottle her anger up but it's not working.**

Cagalli: What the hell is your problem!

**Sesen is also looking at Cagalli with anger.**

Sesen: My problem is that stupid people like you who think that the era of sex discrimination is over are out their constantly undermining the work we progressers are actually doing!

**Cagalli is looking at Sesen like she's crazy.**

Cagalli: Are you out of your mind, there hasn't been a case report of sex discrimination in over 100 years.

**Sesen cuts her off shouting not believing her ignorance.**

Sesen: That's what the males want you to think! They want you to think they've accepted us but in truth they're constantly holding us back because they know we're better than them. We women are the superior gender, we woman should be in charge of government, we women should make up the majority of armies, we women are stronger, smarter, and wiser than men. Whenever men are put in charge of anything they only cause pain and suffering. Who leads illegal prisoner torture facilities men, who runs huge cooperation's that drive small business into bankruptcy and force their employees to work 6 nights a week for low pay and no overtime MEN, and take this civil war for example, who is the king of Haben and who is the rebel president **MEN**!

**Cagalli is looking at Sesen the way you look at any other crazy person.**

Cagalli: You really are insane! Calling you paranoid would be a compliment.

**Sesen ironically is looking at Cagalli like she's crazy.**

Sesen: And that brings me back to the original reason why I don't like you. You act all big and tough when you're mad but the moment it comes time to put up or shut up you always shut up and that's the attitude that gives men the impression that we women can't do anything without them! You are the reason why men think they always need to play the knight in shining armor and that women can't possibly fight equally with another male without some kind of handicap! But worst of all, you glance over your shoulder practically screaming the stereotype damsel in distress; YOU ARE A DISGRACE TO ALL OF WOMEN KIND!

**That's Cagalli's final straw, she begins screaming at the top of her lungs**

Cagalli: I DON'T GLANCE OVER MY SHOULDER!

**Sesen suddenly regains her composer and says**

Sesen: We could spend all day arguing but it would be pointless, normally I would settle this with a fight but considering what kind of woman, no wait calling you a woman would bring shame down upon the entire female race, considering what kind of girl you are you'd probably just call some man to fight the battle for you and I have no interest in fighting your handler.

**It's a safe bet to say that Cagalli has never been angrier or felt more insulted in her whole life. Sesen turns around and once again begins to walk away, suddenly an overwhelming urge comes over Cagalli, an urge that she can't ever remember feeling before.**

Cagalli: I'm a Gundam Fighter too!

**Sesen stops and slowly turns around to face Cagalli eyeing her up to see if she's serious.**

Sesen: For what team?

**Sesen snaps. Cagalli answers just as fast**

Cagalli: The Shadow Knights.

**Cagalli remembering what Sesen did lifts up her own right arm and pulls down the sleeve to reveal her own Neon gauntlet. Sesen narrows her eyes looking very intensely at the Neon gauntlet, then she laughs**

Sesen: HAHAHAHHAHA you had me going there for a second.

**Cagalli is shocked not expecting Sesen to disbelieve her.**

Cagalli: Wh-what?

**Sesen smirks**

Sesen: You're not a real Gundam Fighter.

**Cagalli once again feels insulted**

Cagalli: What do you mean I'm not a real Gundam Fighter, I've filled out all the paperwork and I have this Neon gauntlet!

**Sesen is once again looking down at Cagalli.**

Sesen: Wrong you see the only thing a Neon gauntlet proves is that you own a Gundam, and sure you might have filled out the proper paperwork but it's one thing to be something on paper and another to be something with passion.

**Cagalli grits her teeth in order to stop herself from shouting**

Cagalli: What the hell does that mean?

**Sesen's grin becomes even wider**

Sesen: You don't take the Gundam Fights seriously, it's just a silly little game to you and you probably don't even care if you win or lose. We get your types every now and then joining up and becoming a Gundam Fighter, doing your training half-ass and putting little or no effort in any of your fights.

**Cagalli snaps**

Cagalli: Screw you! You don't know me, you're just spitting out crap from the top of your head!

**Sesen snaps back**

Sesen: Wrong again! I can tell all that just by looking at your Neon Gauntlet, in fact that proves the difference between me and you!

**Sesen lifts up her own Neon gauntlet. Cagalli lifting up her Neon gauntlet takes a quick look at it then at Sesen's and just shakes her head not getting it.**

Cagalli: The only difference I see between are 2 Neon gauntlets is that you got yours in purple and mind wasn't painted.

**Sesen just laughs at Cagalli**

Sesen: HAHAHHAHAH dumbass first off my Neon gauntlet is magenta and second all Neon gauntlets come without color, mine turned magenta!

**Cagalli still doesn't get it.**

Cagalli: Huh?

**Sesen smiling shakes her head.**

Sesen: You really don't know do you, well I'll tell you. As you might have notice these Neon gauntlet can do a great many things, they read heart rate, blood circulation, and perform a chemical breakdown of your body fluids; helpful in case you've been poisoned or are taking illegal performance enhancing drugs.

**Cagalli is controlling herself because she wants to hear what Sesen has to say but her patience is growing thin.**

Cagalli: I know this already.

**Sesen replies**

Sesen: What you don't know though is that the Neon gauntlets are also capable of reading chemical makeup in our brains as well as brain waves. Now when the right amount of chemicals fire up in our brain and line up with the right brain waves our Neon gauntlets glow and change color. This occurrence is dub fighting spirit, during a fight when our fighting spirit intensifies our Neon gauntlet glow in response the more intense our fighting spirit the brighter our Neon gauntlets glow.

**Cagalli doesn't believe Sesen.**

Cagalli: How do I know this isn't a bunch of crap made-up by some nut job!

**Sesen glares at Cagalli fully aware of the sly insult.**

Sesen: Are you saying that you never notice after a Gundam Fight one of your team mates Neon gauntlet changed color?

**Cagalli is about to respond but stops to think about this for a moment.**

Cagalli (Well actually now that she mentions it Shadow's Neon gauntlet changed color after his first fight against the Warden and Nick and Roxas's Neon gauntlets change colors after our first match; even Zuke's Neon gauntlet now that I think about it is silver. Mine's the only one that still is the same dull metal color.)

**Cagalli looks down now again at her own dull Neon gauntlet and for the first time traces of doubt cross her face. Sesen upon seeing this satisfied turns away.**

Sesen: There now you see. Fighting you who has no fighting spirit would be pointless for me, there is no chance you could even touch me one who has a fighting spirit so why don't you just go play Gundam Pilot somewhere else little girl and leave the real stuff to those who aren't fakes.

**Sesen once again turns to leave. Cagalli is still staring at her own Neon gauntlet deep in thought, once again that urge or maybe it's a feeling or instinct returns stronger now feeding off her shame and anger and insecurities. She starts clenching her fist even tighter than before, her hand is shaking. Suddenly she shouts**

Cagalli: I CHALLENDGE YOU TO A GUNDAM FIGHT!

**Sesen stops once again and turns to face Cagalli with one eyebrow raise.**

Sesen: You can't be serious?

**Cagalli acting a whole lot braver then she really feels says**

Cagalli: Scared?

**Sesen narrows her eyes and says coldly.**

Sesen: Then let's go, follow me.

**Sesen turns and begins walking away. Cagalli looks at her confused.**

Cagalli: Wait what are you

**Sesen bored interrupts Cagalli**

Sesen: We can't have a Gundam Fight in the middle of a town or do you enjoy killing innocent bystanders.

**Cagalli grits her teeth but reluctantly follows Sesen. The camera cuts forward in time; Cagalli and Sesen are a safe distance away from the town standing in the middle of the desert. Sesen and Cagalli are facing each other; Cagalli appears to be a little nervous having never really face anyone like this before. She calls out**

Cagalli: So what, we go now and get our Gundams and meet back here at sun down or some crap like that?

**Sesen laughs at this.**

Sesen: HAHAHAHAH not quite rookie.

**Sesen in a dramatic motion reveals her Neon gauntlet then shouts as she presses a button on it.**

Sesen: May your arrows shoot down the men who oppress us, come forth my Gundam Artemis!

A** few moments pass as Cagalli just stares at Sesen like she's crazy then Cagalli laughs at her.**

Cagalli: HAHAHA what was that HAha

**Cagalli gets cut off suddenly when a Gundam comes crashing down behind Sesen. It's engines are roaring deafening for the first few moments, the wind it kicks up is like a small sandstorm. **

**Cagalli takes a step back, she raises her hands guarding her face from the intense wind and sand. Her eyes though are wide open with fear.**

**The camera moves behind Cagalli to show that from a normal persons view a Gundam truly looks giant and terrifying. Sesen is standing in front of the Gundam (Artemis) grinning enjoying Cagalli frighten.**

Sesen: Sorry about that Artemis happen to be a good distance away that's why she took so long getting here.

**Artemis is truly a completely different model Gundam; it appears strong fast agile and judging from the look on Cagalli's face she can almost sense the power emitting from it. She's too stun to move**

Sesen: This is how true Gundam Fighters fight, we don't go get our Gundams we call our Gundams to us!

**Cagalli is looking at Sesen still stun but she's beginning to process what happen.**

Cagalli (That must be the summing feature Kenny told me about, all I have to do is press this button then call La Rouge and then the Auto-pilot will bring La Rouge straight to me. But I've never used it before, I'm not even sure if it works.)

**While Cagalli is thinking this she is looking down at her Neon gauntlet. Cagalli is still hesitating not sure what to do. Sesen calls again**

Sesen: What are you waiting for call your Gundam and let's get started or are you afraid?

**Cagalli's anger sparks her into motion; she presses the button then says softly and hesitantly**

Cagalli: La-La Rouge.

**We hear the classic error beep.**

Neon gauntlet: Error audio recognition unable to operate, volume too low.

**Cagalli looks up at Sesen and her Gundam Artemis, and using her anger to give herself courage Cagalli shouts**

Cagalli: La Rouge!

**The camera cuts to inside the Dark-Angel's Gundam bay to show La Rouge's eyes flash. La Rouge begins to move startling some of the D-crew, luckily no one was working on it at the time.**

D-crew A: Whoa what the hell!

D-crew B: Who's piloting that thing!

**La Rouge begins to move toward the Gundam catapult. The camera looks down at Shadow, Jack and Roxas; they're rushing over to Kenny who's already got his computer hooked up to Dark-Angel.**

Shadow: Kenny what's going on?

Roxas: La Rouge just started moving on its own!

**La Rouge has step onto the catapult at this point, the catapult is warming up getting ready to fire.**

Kenny: It's the auto-pilot program, Cagalli must have activated the summon feature on her Neon gauntlet.

**Jack looks a little nervous.**

Jack: Is she ok, can we call her?

**Shadow thinking shakes his head**

Shadow: Yea calling someone in the middle of the Gundam Fight or practice isn't a good idea.

**Shadow is glaring at Kenny as he says this. Kenny rolls his eyes and exclaims**

Kenny: I did that one time when you were sparring with Nick in the Gundams, I said I was sorry a 100 times!

**The catapult launches La Rouge interrupting them. This helps bring Shadow down to focus**

Shadow: Anyway Jack get Nightwing ready for launch, Kenny use the GPS in Cagalli's Neon gauntlet to find out where she is, I'm heading out to see what's up.

**Roxas jumps in**

Roxas: I want to go too!

**Kenny immediately replies**

Kenny: No way, we need at least one Gundam Fighter here to help guard the Dark-Angel.

**Shadow pats Roxas on the back**

Shadow: Too slow their kitty.

**Roxas looks at him crossly; everyone turns around and scatters. The camera cuts back to the desert where Cagalli and Sesen are fighting, La Rouge armed with its shield, beam rifle and beam Guan Dao runs over and stops behind Cagalli. Cagalli jumps a little startled by La Rouge's almost sudden appearance. Sesen ironically looks unimpressed.**

Sesen: It figures that lame Gundam would be yours.

**Cagalli turns away from La Rouge and grits her teeth with anger at her Gundam being insulted.**

Cagalli: Will see if you can say that again when I win!

**The camera does a split screen to show both girls glare at each other, still on split screen the camera looks up at the Gundams, somehow it appears that the Gundams are also glaring at each other. The screen returns to normal as both Gundams take a knee and put their palm out making a little step so that their respective Gundam Pilots can reach their cockpits.**

**Both girls turn around and race into their respective Gundam's cockpits at the same time. The camera follows Cagalli as she enters her Gundam's cockpit, Cagalli coming down from her anger high begins looking around confused.**

Cagalli (Ok now what? I need a Gundam Pilot suit in order to use the NS system.)

**Cagalli looks trouble by this for a moment then she remembers**

Cagalli (Oh yea, Jack told me something about installing a locker in the cockpit.)

**Cagalli as she remembers this walks over to a spot in the wall. She hits a few buttons on the wall. The door clicks unlock and opens revealing a Gundam suit. Cagalli smiles**

Cagalli: Well what do you know this thing actually has a purpose.

**The camera cuts outside to show Artemis's eyes flash then it slowly stands up. Artemis begins to flex and rotate its joints making sure everything is working correctly. The camera cuts inside Artemis's cockpit to show Sesen dress in her Gundam pilot suit and ready to go.**

Sesen: You ready yet little girl?

**The camera quickly cuts to inside La Rouge's cockpit to show Cagalli also wearing her Gundam suit.**

La Rouge: NS system activating.

**The camera begins to rotate as we see the nanites flow from the ground looking like mist and head straight towards Cagalli's feet, as the mist hits her feet red lines begin to spread out and upwards across Cagalli's body covering everything including her head, Cagalli grits her teeth in slight pain but once the red lines reach her head they disappear.**

La Rouge: Zero gravity bubble activating.

**The Zero gravity bubble enwraps Cagalli and lifts her slightly into the air.**

La Rouge: All systems check, all systems green.

**The camera cuts outside to show La Rouge's eyes flash as it too stands up. The camera cuts back inside La Rouge's cockpit to show Sesen appear on Cagalli's helmet screen.**

Cagalli: I'm ready whenever you are.

**The camera switches to inside Artemis's cockpit to show Cagalli appear on Sesen's helmet.**

Sesen: I hope you are little girl, because you're about to get the biggest ass-whooping you've ever had.

**Sesen is cool calm and completely confident, in fact she so confident that she even looks a little bored as if the fight already happen and she's won. Cagalli sees all of this and it pisses her off to no end.**

Cagalli: We'll see about that.

**The episode ends with the camera cutting outside to show a face-off between La Rouge and Artemis, the wind is blowing as if showing the major fight this is going to be.**


	48. Episode 47  Meaningful lost

Episode 47 - Meaningful lost

**The episode opens up showing La Rouge and Artemis facing off. We begin to hear a monolog by Drake.**

Drake: Change happens slowly, we human beings are resistant to change. It goes against our very nature to divert from our habits even if it is a bad habit. This is why the world changes at the speed of melting ice, this is why we human beings as individuals change very little over time.

**The camera cuts into La Rouge's cockpit to show Cagalli look annoyed.**

Cagalli: So where's your shield and beam rifle it would be un-sportsman like to fight you while I have mine when you don't have yours?

**The camera cuts to inside Artemis's cockpit to show Sesen also looking annoyed.**

Sesen: I don't need the power of a beam rifle to fight you and shields are only for weak little girls and cowardly men afraid of getting hurt!

**Sesen shouts this than charges forward. The camera cuts outside as she does so to show Artemis charge forward as well. La Rouge moves its shield over its head and does the classic gun shield shooting technique. The camera does a quick split screen over La Rouge to show Cagalli grit her teeth as she narrows her eyes to aim. The screen returns to normal as La Rouge opens fire on Artemis.**

**Sesen however is just as fast as or faster than Salim, Artemis weaves in and out dodging the bullets with ease, in moments Artemis is directly in front of La Rouge. The camera cuts inside La Rouge's cockpit to show Cagalli very startled by Sesen sudden appearance.**

Cagalli: Crap!

**The camera cuts back outside as La Rouge stumbles backwards and fires but Artemis twirls around to La Rouge's left side, and in a flash Artemis delivers a very powerful right-hook at La Rouge's unprotected side to La Rouge's head. The camera cuts inside La Rouge's cockpit to show stars dance across Cagalli's eyes**

Cagalli (What the hell was that, her fist feels like a boulder.)

**The camera cuts outside as La Rouge stumbles backwards. La Rouge begins to swing its arms to try and regain its balance. Artemis grabs La Rouge's shoulders and pulling La Rouge forward knee kicking it in the chest.**

**La Rouge begins to fall to the ground but Artemis grabs La Rouge's right hand that's currently holding its beam rifle and once again pulling La Rouge forward punches it 3 times in the face.**

**With each punch we hear metal denting, screws popping and see sparks begin to fly from cut wires. Artemis finishes La Rouge off with a forward kick to La Rouge's chest. La Rouge falls hard to the ground.**

**The camera cuts inside La Rouge's cockpit to show that thanks to the NS system Cagalli has felt all the damage La Rouge took. Cagalli struggles to just roll over onto her hands and knees.**

Cagalli (Arggg she's not just strong, she's fast too. She only hit me 4 times but I feel like I got hit by a truck. There's no way I can beat someone this strong I have to get out of here.)

**Suddenly Cagalli's thoughts are interrupted by Sesen's laughter.**

Sesen: HAHAHAHHAHAHA and you thought you could beat me with this little toy.

**The camera cuts outside to show that while Artemis had gripped La Rouge's arm it had token La Rouge's beam rifle. Artemis now spins the beam rifle around. The camera cuts back to inside La Rouge's cockpit to show Cagalli grit her teeth as she holds her ribs.**

Cagalli: Damn my beam rifle.

**We can see Sesen's smug face on Cagalli's helmet screen.**

Sesen: This toy might help a weak woman like you fool yourself into thinking men accept you as an equal but against a real opponent like me this thing is useless.

**The camera cuts outside to show Artemis throw the beam rifle in the air then punch it with all its strength. The beam rifle shatters into a million pieces, the camera cuts inside Artemis's cockpit to show Sesen glare at the image of Cagalli displayed on her helmet screen.**

Sesen: Look at you groveling on the ground, you're pathetic and it's because of that patheticness that men still look down upon women!

**The camera cuts outside to show Artemis go to kick La Rouge. The screen does a momentary split screen over La Rouge to show Cagalli look panic. The screen returns to normal to show at the last second La Rouge bring up its shield to block the kick. It's a miracle that La Rouge/Cagalli was able to hold onto it.**

**La Rouge manages to block the kick with its shield but the force of impact sends La Rouge rolling. In order to stop its rolling La Rouge puts its knees and hands on the ground but somehow this goes wrong and La Rouge ends up on its feet sliding backwards.**

**La Rouge stops sliding backwards and ends up standing on its feet with its shield raised over its body. The camera cuts inside La Rouge's cockpit to show Cagalli breathing really hard, sweat is pouring down her face.**

**The camera switches to inside Artemis's cockpit to show Sesen's anger build.**

Sesen: Look at you clinging desperately to that shield; YOU'RE SO WEAK IT PISSES ME OFF!

**The camera cuts outside as Artemis charges La Rouge. The camera turns around then cuts into inside La Rouge's cockpit to show a startle Cagalli panic slightly. The camera cuts back outside to show La Rouge grip its shield with both hands as it braces for impact.**

**This time Artemis doesn't even bother going around La Rouge but instead punches La Rouge's shield head on. We hear a loud boom and see La Rouge's shield bend inward. The camera cuts inside La Rouge's cockpit to show a shocked Cagalli.**

Cagalli (A single punch, she dented my shield with a single punch.)

**The camera cuts to inside Artemis's cockpit to show Sesen even angrier.**

Sesen: Cowering behind that shield like a frighten girl well it won't save you!

**The camera cuts outside as Artemis unleashes a fury of punches, although the punches themselves aren't that fast each punch is very power, each punch dents La Rouge's shield more and more.**

**Artemis's punches are also causing La Rouge to slide backwards on the sand. In a matter of moments La Rouge's shield is crumbling in on itself and is hardly recognizable. Artemis pulls its right fist back and gathering all its power delivers an extremely powerful punch.**

**La Rouge's shield has reach its limit and can no longer take any more damage. Artemis's punch rips right through the shield coming within inches of La Rouge's face. The camera cuts inside La Rouge's cockpit to show Cagalli suffering from full blown panic.**

Cagalli: AHHHHH

**Cagalli letting go of her shield jumps back, as the camera cuts outside Artemis grips La Rouge's shield from the hole it just made with both hands. The camera does a momentary split screen over Artemis to show Sesen roar as she rips La Rouge's shield in half with her bare hands.**

**As the 2 half's of La Rouge's shield fall to the ground the camera looks up at a frozen La Rouge. The camera cuts inside La Rouge's cockpit to show Cagalli horrified, she's never fought an opponent on Sesen's level before (not counting Shinn since Kira came and stop that). The word "strong" keeps echoing in her head.**

Cagalli (Strong-strong-strong-strong so strong, can't win, can't win, there's no way I can beat her, I need help!)

**Cagalli is borderline hysterical and physiologically broken (for those of you saying "Why is Cagalli freaking out so much, she fought strong people before like Shinn and that the Destroy?" I would like to tell you that it's not just Sesen's skills that are effecting Cagalli it's also what are martial arts fans would call Ki.**

**Sora Gundams unlike Earth Gundams/mobile suits have the NS system which causes more intimate style fighting which is why Cagalli can feel Ki, note you shouldn't think Earth mobile suit Pilots aren't capable of producing Ki it's just that their mobile suits don't allow for their Ki to be express.**

**Also the reason I didn't mention this before is simply because the amount of Ki Sesen is emitting is very low, it's barely above that of a normal person, in fact the only reason Cagalli is being affected by it is because she's such a pacifist.**

**She avoids fighting at all cost which in normal circumstance would be good but just like avoiding working out causes ones muscles to weaken avoiding combat and battle causes ones tolerance to Ki to become weaken so that even a little presence of Ki will cause a serve reaction, and now back to your regular schedule program )**

**At her lowest moment Cagalli glances over her shoulder and thinks**

Cagalli (Kira!)

**The camera cuts to inside Artemis's cockpit to show that the movement hasn't slip by Sesen; in fact it only enrages her further.**

Sesen: There you did it again! If there is one thing I can't stand in this world it's the woman playing the dismal in distress!

**The camera cuts to inside La Rouge's cockpit to show a startle Cagalli snap back to focus. She looks confuse.**

Cagalli: What are you

**Sesen however interrupts her, she's trembling in rage.**

Sesen: Just now, YOU LOOKED OVER YOUR SHOULDER IN DESPERATION! The most classic dismal in distress look, I HATE PEOPLE THAT HAVE THAT LOOK!

**Cagalli blinks now confronted with proof considering it happen 30 seconds ago and even her memory isn't that bad.**

Cagalli (Did I really glance over my shoulder *flashback to 30 seconds ago when Cagalli shouted "Kira" in her mind* I did, I even thought about Kira when I did it.)

**Suddenly Cagalli remembers all the comments everyone made about it.**

Cagalli (Drake: as long as she's always glancing over her shoulder she'll never take her training seriously nor improve as a Gundam Fighter.

Shadow: I'VE SEEN YOU LOOK OVER YOUR SHOULDER WHEN THERE'S NO ONE THERE!)

**Cagalli begins to remember all the exact moments when she looked over her shoulder, although brief each movement represents undeniable proof. Cagalli grips her fist so tightly that it shakes.**

Cagalli (Damn, was I always this pathetic! Have I always been looking over my shoulder expecting Kira or Athrun to come and rescue me, was their ever a time I could fight on my own!)

**Cagalli's confidence has suffered a great blow. She has her eyes close as if trying to block out the thoughts but that isn't working. The camera cuts to inside Artemis's cockpit to show Sesen's anger reach it's boiling point.**

Sesen: That's it I'm tired of looking at your face, I'M ENDING YOU NOW!

**Sesen once again charges forward as she does so the camera cuts outside to show Artemis coming straight at La Rouge. The camera cuts back inside La Rouge's cockpit to show Cagalli unmoving, she's drowning in despair.**

Cagalli (What's the point of fighting anymore, Sesen was right about how pathetic I am, and Kira and Athrun aren't here to save me. I might as well just surrender.)

**A voice shouts out, it pierces the darkness of doubts and sends an electric current right to Cagalli restarting her into action.**

Shadow: What the hell are you doing Cagalli you're not this pathetic so fight god damn it FIGHT!

**Cagalli's eyes snap open and almost instinctively she begins to move. The camera cuts outside to show La Rouge turn sideways with its left side facing Artemis. La Rouge grabs its beam Guan Dao and activates it.**

**With the beam blade pointing down La Rouge hits the side of Artemis's arm with the pole deflecting Artemis's punch, time slows down for a moment as the camera does a split screen over Artemis to show a surprise Sesen.**

Sesen (She deflected my punch!)

**The camera cuts outside to show that Sesen isn't given much time to pounder this as in the next heartbeat La Rouge brings up its blade in an upward vertical slash. Artemis jumps back just barely avoiding the attack. The camera cuts inside Artemis's cockpit to show Sesen gritting her teeth.**

Sesen (Arrr something was different with that counterattack just now, was it some kind of special training? No, it felt more like an instinctual response, is it possible this little girl has warrior instincts like me?)

**The camera cuts outside for a moment to show that La Rouge has gripped its beam Guan Dao with both hands and has it pointed at Artemis. The camera cuts inside La Rouge's cockpit to show a resolve look enter Cagalli's eyes.**

Cagalli: I don't know why, but even though you're right about how pathetic I am and how I should just surrender I can't!

**Cagalli charges forward. The camera cuts outside to show La Rouge begin its assault, right horizontal slash, downward vertical slash, 3 diagonal slashes from different directions. Artemis dodges all these attacks with ease simply by leaning or taking one step back with one foot. The camera cuts inside Artemis's cockpit to show Sesen grit her teeth in annoyance**

Sesen (No it was just a fluke, but still it looks like she's regain some of her fighting resolve.)

**The camera cuts outside to show La Rouge perform a stab attack aim for Artemis's head, but with lightning fast reflexes Artemis grabs La Rouge's beam Guan Dao stopping the attack and Cagalli's momentum. The camera cuts inside La Rouge's cockpit to show Cagalli once again shocked.**

Cagalli (Damn!)

**Cagalli grits her teeth as tries to force her attack through. The camera cuts outside to show La Rouge pushing with all its might but Artemis is easily holding La Rouge's beam Guan Dao back with one hand.**

**The camera cuts into Artemis's cockpit to show Sesen looking calm cool and collected, although the best way to describe her would be a storm within a bottle. The camera looks down to show her Neon gauntlet glowing slightly**

Sesen: So you seem to have found some inner resolve to fight. What do you think this is some corny anime!

**As Sesen shouts this the camera cuts outside to show Artemis with just one hand push La Rouge's own beam Guan Dao into La Rouge's chest. The camera does a momentary split over La Rouge to show Cagalli get the breath knocked out of her.**

**Artemis using La Rouge's own beam Guan Dao against itself unleashes a series of stab attacks, luckily for La Rouge Artemis hasn't bother to flip the Guan Dao around so the blade is still pointed away from La Rouge.**

**Only the pole side is hitting La Rouge but still the speed of Artemis's pole attacks is far greater than that of La Rouge's, at times it appears that there is more than one pole hitting La Rouge at the same time. As this is going on the camera does a split screen over Artemis to show Sesen shouting**

Sesen: You're like a student that decides on exam day that she doesn't want to fail the class; but it's too late then! Just like it's too late during the middle of a fight to decide you want to win!

**As Sesen shouts this Artemis rips La Rouge's beam Guan Dao out of La Rouge's hands and wakes La Rouge across the face with the pole side. La Rouge falls to the ground as Artemis stands over it.**

Sesen: You may have found the desire to win but this isn't an anime when the heroine is able to turn the tides simply because you found a desire to win. This is the real world and in the real world when you only take your training half seriously you can't possible expect to win against an opponent whole spends days at a time training nonstop, I push myself to the edge of my physical limit every time I train. I constantly put myself in life and death situations; I LIVE FOR THESE GUNDAM FIGHTS!

**As Sesen shouts this we see that her Neon gauntlet glow just a tad bit brighter. The camera cuts outside to show Artemis takes La Rouge's beam Guan Dao and slams it down on its knee snapping the beam Guan Dao in 2. The beam blade goes out and Artemis discards the pieces. La Rouge is on its hands and knees but Artemis just goes and picks La Rouge up and begins to beat the crap out of La Rouge with its bare hands.**

Sesen: You may have a desire to win now but your poorly trained body lacks the means and your slacker soul lacks the refinedness to endure true battle wariness!

**The screen returns to normal for a moment as Artemis continues to pound into La Rouge. It's just brutal, La Rouge can't block any of Artemis's punches. La Rouge is becoming obviously very dented up, sparks are beginning to fly from all over its body as more wires and circuits are damage.**

**One of La Rouge's eyes is crack, each time it looks like La Rouge is going to fall to the ground Artemis catches La Rouge and pulls it back on its feet forcing La Rouge to continue the fight. As this goes on the camera cuts inside La Rouge's cockpit to show Cagalli getting the crap beat out of her. Cagalli's head whips left then right as Sesen's invisible hands punch her.**

**Cagalli's body is barely processing the pain anymore, in fact her mind is barely operating anymore and quite frankly it's a miracle that she's still conscious or maybe a curse however through all the pain and brief flashes of coherent thought one sentence keeps repeating itself in her mind.**

Cagalli (Shadow: I'm worried for you Cagalli because as you are now you're heading for a real ass-kicking.)

**Cagalli grits her teeth**

Cagalli (Shadow: but Cagalli you're nowhere near ready, if you go into a one on one battle as you are now the only thing you'll be heading for is a thorough beat down and guess what, you'll be on the receiving end.)

**Cagalli's fist clench in overwhelming frustration.**

Cagalli (I don't know what I hate more, the fact I'm getting my ass kick so badly or the fact that he was right.)

**Cagalli's thoughts sound far away. She's close to blacking out. The camera cuts outside as Artemis delivers an extremely powerful uppercut. This time Artemis doesn't grab La Rouge and stop it from falling.**

**La Rouge hits the ground like a bag of rocks. The camera looks over La Rouge and we can see that it's dented everywhere. La Rouge's armor is useless now and in some parts the wires and circuits are openly visible; La Rouge's finger is twitching involuntary.**

**The camera cuts inside La Rouge's cockpit to show red warning lights going off everywhere.**

La Rouge: Warning damage level critical.

**The only signs that Cagalli is alive is the slow rise and fall of her chest as she breaths, one thing is absolutely clear neither La Rouge nor Cagalli are able to fight anymore. The camera cuts outside to show Artemis stand over La Rouge.**

**The camera cuts inside Artemis's cockpit to show Sesen breathing hard; however she's still glaring at Cagalli with intense hatred.**

Sesen: You're so weak, and you're naive too! I can't accept that you're part of my gender; you being a woman brings disgrace upon all of women kind! SO I'll end you right here and now!

**The camera cuts outside to show Artemis go to punch La Rouge who is still lying unmoving on the ground. It's clear that Artemis isn't holding back, suddenly out of nowhere Nightwing comes and grabs Artemis's punching arm stopping the attack. The camera cuts to inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow looking very pissed off.**

Shadow: Stop it that's enough!

**The camera switches to inside La Rouge, Cagalli is still unable to get up but she is at least partially aware of surroundings.**

Cagalli (Shadow?)

**The camera cuts back outside to show both Artemis and Nightwing's hand tremble, although the trembling is slight it's all the proof we need to know that Shadow and Sesen are having their first battle of strength. The camera cuts inside Artemis's cockpit to show Sesen grit her teeth surprise at Shadow's strength.**

Sesen: So the man finally decided to come out, if you think you were being clever hiding while that little girl wore me out then I'll tell you straight up that failed on all parts. First I spotted you within 3 minutes of our fight beginning and second that little girl wasn't even strong enough to make me break a sweat!

**Sesen rage is once again growing. The camera cuts outside to show Artemis with Sesen's added rage strength rip its arm away from Nightwing's grip and jump back. The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow looking offended.**

Shadow: I wasn't hiding, even from a distance this was obviously a personal battle and I didn't want to get involve but this battle is over Cagalli can't fight anymore and I won't just stand by and let you beat up on my friend who can't even fight back!

**The camera cuts outside to show La Rouge strain its head as it lifts it up so it can get a better view of what's going on. The camera cuts inside La Rouge's cockpit.**

Cagalli (Shadow has been watching my fight since the beginning?)

**The camera cuts inside Artemis's cockpit to show Sesen look annoyed. **

Sesen: So you came to play the shinning knight, that's cute; unfortunately for you I LOATH MEN WHO PLAY THE KNIGHT!

**Sesen's rage explodes and the camera cuts outside as Artemis charges Nightwing. The camera cuts to inside La Rouge's cockpit to show Cagalli recognize the attack.**

Cagalli (Oh no I have to warn Shadow about that punch!)

**But before she can say anything the camera cuts outside. Artemis intends to do a right hook but to the surprise of everyone Nightwing titling its head back dodges the blow. The camera cuts back to inside La Rouge's cockpit to show Cagalli eyes open wide in surprise.**

Cagalli (He dodged it.)

**Cagalli can barely believe it. The camera cuts outside and does a quick split screen over Artemis to show Sesen grit her teeth evidently also surprise by Shadow being able to dodge her punch but like any season professional Sesen doesn't let that hinder her.**

**The screen returns to normal as Artemis performs a left hook with its left hand not even 2 seconds after the first punch but Nightwing reacts just as fast and jumps back. Artemis quickly pursues Nightwing unleashing its blizzard of punches again.**

**Right hook, left hand uppercut, right hook, left hook, right jab, left jab. Nightwing is walking backwards dodging all of these punches sometimes within inches of getting clock in the face. Nightwing doges the punches either by moving left right or leaning backwards.**

**As Nightwing leads Artemis away from La Rouge we see a jeep pull up beside the fallen Gundam. Jack and surprisingly Zuke hop out of it and head for La Rouge. Jack jumps on top of La Rouge and runs quickly to the cockpit door and immediately begins to fiddle with some wires and circuitry. Zuke in contrast walks leisurely behind her.**

**Zuke seems to be bored and is just casually looking around but his eyes seem to stay on Nightwing and Artemis's battle just a little too long to be random. Jack gets the cockpit door open and jumps down and rushes to Cagalli.**

Jack: Cagalli, Cagalli, Cagalli, speak to me! Are you hurt anywhere are you bleeding!

**Jack crouches next to Cagalli and gently picks her head up and puts it in her lap. Jack is obviously very worried about Cagalli. Jack with trembling fingers removes Cagalli's helmet, and Cagalli is looking up at Jack touch by her concern.**

Cagalli: I'm alright Jack, I only have a couple of bruises at most it's just this stupid NS system makes it feel like it's a thousand times worse then what it is.

**Jack poorly tries to hide the huge sigh of relief that burst forth from her mouth.**

Jack: Of course, you'll feel better once the neurons in your brain reconnect with your body; it will only take a minute or 2.

**Jack helps Cagalli sit up. The camera cuts forwards a little ahead in time to show Jack help Cagalli out of La Rouge. Zuke standing just in front of them is no longer even bothering to hide the fact he's interested in Shadow's fight.**

**Cagalli still wobbly on her feet sits down to catch her breath. Cagalli while resting happens to glance over in the direction of Nightwing and Artemis's battle which brings back her memory of what Sesen said.**

Cagalli: Wait you guys have been watching the battle from the beginning!

**Cagalli is getting angry. Jack awkwardly rubs the back of her head.**

Jack: Um well yea, after you summon your Gundam Shadow headed out in Nightwing and me and Zuke in the jeep.

**Confirmation only makes Cagalli angrier.**

Cagalli: Why the hell didn't you guys back me up the moment you came here!

**Cagalli demands an answer. Jack struggles to think of something to say but Zuke is the one to answer.**

Zuke: The stupid natural told us to hold off into he was absolutely certain you were finish.

**Cagalli is momentary surprise that Zuke even bother to answer but that surprise turns back to anger.**

Cagalli: So that jackass waited until I got my ass kicked then he stepped in!

**Jack wants to say something but Zuke slightly annoyed replies first**

Zuke: Oh would you quit your complaining you spoiled little girl. Despite his tiny little brain that stupid natural is still in fact your superior, and you were fighting in a one on one battle. You claim to be a Gundam Fighter for this team but what good are you if you can't even handle a single fighter without someone either holding your hand throughout the fight or completely taking over the fight?

**Cagalli is stun. Jack rises to her defense.**

Jack: You've gone too far Zuke! Cagalli is a major part of this team, and she's defeated other Gundam Pilots before.

**Zuke finally turns around to face them, he rolls his eyes.**

Zuke: Oh come on your not that stupid, I read your profile

**Jack interrupts excited**

Jack: I have a profile?

**Zuke just disregards her and goes on.**

Zuke: So I know that you worked in Junk City as a mechanic which is why I know you're not stupid enough to consider some thugs and soldiers who haven't even been trained properly to fire a gun as real Gundam Fighters; you've seen real Gundam Fighters and then you saw people who just owned Gundams.

**Cagalli looks to Jack and is surprise to find Jack gritting her teeth knowing that Zuke is right. Jack tries a different approach.**

Jack: Just because the people Cagalli fought were weak doesn't mean Cagalli's weak, Kenny ran a check on that Gundam through GFC database and found out that it's custom Gundam belonging to a D rank Gundam Fighter so isn't it also possible that instead of Cagalli being weak her opponent was very strong?

**Zuke once again rolls his eyes**

Zuke: In theory it's possible but then by that same logic that stupid natural is very strong.

**Both Cagalli and Jack blink in surprise not sure of what Zuke is getting at. Zuke seeing their confusion once again rolls his eyes then nods towards the direction of the fight, taking the hint they both look towards Nightwing.**

**Nightwing is still evading Artemis's punches. The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow getting agitated.**

Shadow: Normally I don't like stealing other people's opponents but you're really starting to piss me off so if you want a fight then you've got one!

**The camera cuts outside as the secret compartment in Nightwing's leg opens and ejects Nightwing's beam saber. Nightwing catches and activates the beam saber in one swift motion. Nightwing performs an upward vertical beam saber slash at the charging Artemis.**

**Artemis however with surprising reflects stops its momentum forward and jumps back dodging the attack. The camera cuts into Artemis's cockpit for a moment to show Sesen look annoyed**

Sesen: How arrogant of a man to think his sword is going to be enough to save him!

**The camera cuts back outside as Artemis charges forward. Artemis is fast and is in front of Nightwing in no time but just like with La Rouge Artemis moves around to Nightwing's left side and pulls back its fist preparing to punch. As Artemis pulls back its fist time slows down.**

**The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow analyzing.**

Shadow (She's fast, faster than even Salim but her punches are slow as crap.)

**The camera cuts back outside as time returns to normal to show Artemis punch but Nightwing still with only its left side facing Artemis leans backwards dodging the blow. Nightwing pivots on its right foot coming up behind Artemis.**

**Nightwing performs a downward vertical beam slash. The camera cuts inside Artemis's cockpit to show Sesen narrow her eyes and grit her teeth.**

Sesen (Behind!)

**The camera cuts outside to show Artemis dive forward dodging the strike. Artemis rolls forward then quickly does a 360. We can see that Artemis didn't completely evade Nightwing's attack, it's left shoulder has been grazed. Artemis quickly jumps towards Nightwing performing a straight punch.**

**This time Nightwing doesn't have time to react so instead of dodging Nightwing let's go of its beam saber with one hand and palm blocks it, without even letting a second go by Nightwing quickly regrips Artemis's hand and using Artemis's own momentum against it Nightwing sidesteps right and pulls Artemis forward.**

**Artemis stumbles for just a second before it regains its footing and turns around to face Nightwing but instead of charging forward this time Artemis jumps back getting some distance between itself and Nightwing.**

**The camera cuts inside Artemis's cockpit to show Sesen sweating slightly from the heat. She grits her teeth in self-annoyance and glances at her left shoulder.**

Sesen (He grazed my shoulder.)

**The camera cuts outside and spins towards Nightwing. Nightwing stands still a moment more than holding its left hand, the one that caught Artemis's punch, begins jumping up and down in pain. The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow with the matching facial expression.**

Shadow: OW, OW, OW, OW, OW god freaking damn it!

**Sesen pops up on Shadow's helmet screen.**

Sesen: You know that's pathetic even for a man.

**Shadow stops hollering and jumping up and down and glares at Sesen offended.**

Shadow: Shut up your fist feels like a stupid steel bat!

**Sesen looks at Shadow bored.**

Sesen: How just like a man to whine.

**Shadow is looking at Sesen annoyed.**

Shadow: Somehow that doesn't sound so insulting considering I just nicked you.

**Sesen now looks pissed at Shadow.**

Sesen: Fitly pig arrogant male that was just luck and it won't happen again.

**Shadow gives Sesen one of his excited/crazy smiles.**

Shadow: Well I hate to disagree but not only will it happen again if you keep holding back but I'll definitely win this battle in under 10 minutes.

**Sesen raises an eyebrow with slight surprise.**

Sesen: Holding back, what makes you think I'm holding back?

**Shadow grins hoping she would ask that. He puts on a detective face.**

Shadow: It was elementary my dear Watson, you see even though you portray exceptional speeds strangely your punch speed is drastically lower, if we add the fact that they're also more powerful than normal one would think that you're a boxer loading your boxing gloves with some kind of heavy metal but your punching style is too untrained for that, so the only logical conclusion is that you're hiding your true weapon in your Gundam's fist!

**Shadow looks quite proud of his whole detective show. Sesen eyes him for a moment annoyed then says**

Sesen: You read my GFC profile didn't you?

**Sesen is not buying Shadow's BS. Shadow stomps his foot.**

Shadow: Aww man.

**Kenny pops up on Shadow's helmet screen looking at Shadow trying to suppress laughter.**

Kenny: Hehehe told you it won't work.

**Shadow snaps**

Shadow: Shut up Kenny!

**Sesen is looking at Shadow with growing anger.**

Sesen: So you think I'm stupid because I'm a woman! Fine since you want me to get serious I'll get serious!

**The camera cuts outside to show Artemis flexes its hands. 2 solid metal poles come out of each its hands; Artemis flips the poles into air then catches them and slams them together forming one long pole. The pole standing straight up is taller than Artemis, the camera cuts inside Artemis's cockpit to show Sesen looking deadly serious.**

Sesen: You wanted to see my true strength well here it is, this pole is made of solid Rgukur one of the strongest metals in the world and weighs roughly 250 tons; now that I brought this out you pathetic male would be finish in less than 5 minutes!

**(Note Rgukur is a type of metal found on Sora) The camera cuts outside to show Nightwing grabbing its beam saber with both hands point it towards Artemis in its classic stance. The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow licks his lips excited.**

Shadow: Now things are getting good.

**The camera cuts outside and spins around to show Cagalli, Zuke, and Jack watching the fight while sitting in the jeep, although they may be watching the battle live they are listening to Shadow and Sesen's banter through the jeeps computer. Jack is cheering on Shadow.**

Jack: Go Shadow kick that crazy lunatic's ass for what she did to my La Rouge, and if you get my Nightwing damage I'll kick your ass!

**Cagalli on the other hand is just standing looking angry at Artemis; she seems to have fully recovered from the NS mental beat up.**

Cagalli: She was cheating, I knew there was no way those punches were normal.

**Zuke looks at Cagalli skeptical.**

Zuke: Cheating, what a pathetic excuse to cover up your own incompetence natural.

**Cagalli turns to Zuke angry and tries to defend herself.**

Cagalli: It's not an excuse she was cheating; she said she didn't have any weapons when in fact they were hidden in her Gundam's fist!

**Zuke still looking down upon Cagalli replies**

Zuke: You naive stupid natural first off she never said she didn't have any weapons she said she didn't have a beam rifle or shield, and second this is the Gundam Fights, of course people are going to try and hide their weapons and other items, no one is going to turn around and tell you what their weapon can do, surprise can make or break a battle!

**Cagalli still in protest says.**

Cagalli: But if I had known

**Zuke cuts her off**

Zuke: You would have what! Face it knowing would have made no difference to you, her hiding her weapons in her Gundam's hand was more of a handicap then advantage and she beat your ass with that handicap.

**Cagalli grits her teeth but can't say anything in response. Zuke goes on**

Zuke: Besides the stupid natural was able to get her to reveal her true strength.

**(Just want to make a note here, every time Zuke is saying "stupid natural" he's being extremely genist, a modern day example of that would be a racist constantly calling a particular race stupid). Cagalli dismisses this**

Cagalli: That's only because Shadow pissed her off, it's not like she did it because she felt threaten.

**Zuke raises an eyebrow but says nothing. The camera looks up to show Nightwing charge Artemis. We cut inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow hollering.**

Shadow: HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

**The camera cuts outside to show Artemis take only a single step back. Artemis changes its grip on its metal staff so that it resembles how one would hold a pool stick. The camera cuts inside Artemis's cockpit to show Sesen with cold calculating eyes say**

Sesen: I'll end this with one blow.

**The camera cuts outside to show Nightwing jump intending to do a jump attack. Artemis strikes while Nightwing is in the air. Artemis unleashes a storm of stab attacks, as it does so the camera cuts inside Artemis's cockpit to show Sesen's Neon gauntlet once again glowing. She shouts**

Sesen: Break shot!

**The camera cuts back outside, if you thought Artemis's punches were fast its pole strikes are 3 times that speed. Artemis's staff seems to hit every square inch of the front side of Nightwing's body and it appears to do so at the exact same time.**

**After a moment Artemis stops its assault just long enough so that it can change its grip, Artemis is now holding its metal staff like a bat and as Nightwing slowly begins to fall to the ground the camera cuts inside Artemis's cockpit as Sesen says with cold calm**

Sesen: Game finisher.

**The camera cuts outside as Artemis whacks Nightwing in the chest before Nightwing ever touches the ground. Nightwing is sent flying like a rock and lands on the sand like a cannon ball. Some of the sand is kick up by Nightwing's fall creating a little sand cloud. The camera spins over to Cagalli, Jack and Zuke. Jack with some concern shouts**

Jack: Come Shadow get up, you're alright now come on Shadow you can do this!

**Zuke on the other hand tis**

Zuke: Tis figures the stupid natural's low intelligence would be his undoing, only an idiot charges head first at an opponent that just revealed their true weapon.

**Cagalli looks at the fallen Nightwing and sighs not worried knowing that the safety device protected Shadow.**

Cagalli: There's no way Shadow can go on after taking that hit, he's probably out cold.

**Cagalli now turns to glare at Artemis, her eyes burning with hatred. The camera moves over to look at Artemis, Artemis begins to walk away. Artemis is carrying its metal staff resting on its shoulder. The camera cuts inside Artemis's cockpit to show Sesen looking completely calm and collected.**

Sesen: Like I said we women are the superior gender, as if a man like you could last a mere minute with me.

**Suddenly a voice like a bolt of lightning that burst through and shocks Sesen's pride and confidence shouts.**

Shadow: HEY I'm not done yet!

**Sesen looks exactly like she just got hit by lightning. Her eyes have pop open and her hair is standing slightly on end. The camera cuts outside and is facing Artemis, we can see over Artemis's shoulder that Nightwing is rising to at least its knees.**

**Nightwing is holding its beam saber which is still active in its right hand. The camera does a 4 way split screen to show Sesen, Jack, Zuke and Cagalli shocked. The screen returns to normal as the camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow still grinning his excited/crazy smile. He wipes his cheek.**

Shadow: Heh that attack was freaking awesome but don't think that that's enough to beat me!

**The camera looks down as he says this to show Shadow's Neon gauntlet begin to glow. The camera cuts outside to show Nightwing charge Artemis again. Artemis is so shocked that it doesn't react in time till Nightwing is almost on top of it.**

**Nightwing performs a downward vertical beam slash. Artemis flips its metal staff around so that it's sideways and raises it above its head blocking the attack. The camera cuts inside Artemis's cockpit to show Sesen grit her teeth.**

Sesen: So you got back up huh well in a couple minutes you're going to wish you didn't!

**The camera cuts outside to show both Gundams jumped back. We have a split screen to show both Gundam Pilots faces full of unwavering determination. We can see both of their Neon gauntlets, although their Neon gauntlets are only slightly glowing they are glowing steadily.**

**The screen returns to normal as Nightwing is the first to charge again. Artemis takes a single step back and lifts up its metal staff shoulder high holding it horizontally. Nightwing goes to perform a left downward diagonal beam slash.**

**Artemis not only parry Nightwing's beam saber but also somehow snakes its metal staff around Nightwing's arm, the camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow's arm held and twist at a weird angle.**

Shadow: What the hell!

**The camera switches to inside Artemis's cockpit to show Sesen shout**

Sesen: Got you now!

**The camera cuts outside to show Artemis perform a series of pole thrust attacks aim at Nightwing's chest. Nightwing's arm that's holding the beam saber is entangle in Artemis's metal staff making it impossible for Nightwing to counter-attack or even block.**

**After about 30 jabs Artemis easily pulls out its metal staff from Nightwing arm. Nightwing slightly stun doesn't have time to react when Artemis spins once around while squatting and sweeps out Nightwing's legs from underneath it.**

**While Nightwing floats for a second in mid-air Artemis jumps up and performs a downward vertical bash attack nailing Nightwing right in the chest. Nightwing slams into the desert sand. Artemis turning its metal staff vertical raises it high in the air preparing to bash Nightwing's head.**

**But the moment Artemis begins to bring the metal staff down Nightwing rolls out of the way evading the attack. Nightwing quickly jumps to its feet and once again charge Artemis beam saber in hand.**

**While the fight continues the camera turns around and zooms back in on Jack, Cagalli and Zuke. Jack is hopping up and down still cheering Shadow on while Zuke watches the battle silently. Cagalli on the other hand is still completely and absolutely shock, that shock though turns to frustration and then finally anger.**

Cagalli: How! Damn it how is Shadow able to fight on level with Sesen where I couldn't even scratch her!

**Cagalli is gritting her teeth and clenching her fist extremely tightly. Zuke notices this and hears Cagalli then laughs at her.**

Zuke: HAHAHAHHAAH is it not obvious you foolish natural, if you are truly so naive that you can't see the picture right in front of you then I'll inform you. It is the training that makes the stupid natural capable of such feats.

**Zuke is actually grinning. Cagalli is looking at him shock with the answer being so obvious that it can slap her in the face.**

Zuke: The reason he was able dodge all of those punches early was because compare to Roxas's claw strikes they were moving in slow motion, the reason he was able to catch one of those punches early without breaking his hand was because of all the weights he lifted helping the mechanics fix your Gundams, the reason he's able to parry a solid metal pole that weights that much is because of the constantly increasing number of push-ups and sit-ups he does every morning after he wakes up and every night before he goes to bed, the reason he's able to keep his opponent in sight and not get lost by her speed is because of all the laps and laps he does around the Dark-Angel every single day, and the reason he is able to keep getting up after each thrashing he gets is because that stupid natural is always getting beat up in his sparring matches his body is becoming like solid rock for each blow he gets hardens his skin and destroys the fat leaving only burning muscle!

**While Zuke has been ranting the camera has turn around to watch both Cagalli's reaction and the progress of Nightwing and Artemis's fight. True to what Zuke said Nightwing is on the receiving end to most of the attacks and is constantly getting thrown down but Nightwing always hops right back up and charges.**

**Nightwing isn't just a Gundam punching bag, every now and then Nightwing is able to get either a kick or one of its beam saber attacks through, a scratch here a nick their Artemis is slowly but surely taking damage. Nightwing however is also not immortal as we can see its body being cover in dents as some sparks begin to fly. Zuke finish his rant with**

Zuke: The training which you looked down upon, consider beneath you, which you called worthless and meaningless is now what gives the stupid natural the ability to do what you could not and fight close to par with an opponent of greater skill!

**Cagalli absorbs this all and realizes she can't say anything at all back because Zuke is 100 percent right (other than his genist comments). Zuke looks back at the battle and another smile creeps onto his face. This one though is different, it looks cold and scary.**

Zuke (However you can train all you want to natural to compensate for your lack of genic abilities but against a coordinator design for the sole purpose of battle like me it won't make a difference. I will always be a better Gundam Fighter then you.)

**The camera turns to look back at the battle, Artemis swings its metal staff like a bat again and hits Nightwing straight in the chest. Nightwing is sent rolling backwards but Nightwing stops itself and slowly begins to climb back up on its legs. The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow sweating and breathing heavily but his eyes spark with determination.**

Shadow: Not yet, I'm not finish yet!

**Shadow's Neon gauntlet is still steadily glowing. The camera cuts to inside Artemis's cockpit to show Sesen beginning to breathe heavily.**

Sesen: Damn why don't you just stay down already!

**The camera cuts outside to show that this time Artemis charges Nightwing. Nightwing struggles to get up on its feet in time to block but fails as Artemis begins to wail on it with its metal staff, as Artemis beats the crap out of Nightwing the camera cuts inside its cockpit to show Sesen.**

Sesen (I won't lose; I won't lose to a man!)

**We enter into a series of flashbacks; we see Sesen standing over a defeated man. The man begins to struggle to get back up.**

Man A: Damn it I can't lose, I can't lose to a woman!

**We switch to a different point in time, it's the same thing only a different man.**

Man B: My pride as a man won't except being beaten by a woman!

**We switch again, this time the man is down on his hands and knees crying.**

Man C: God how could I lose, how could I lose to a woman!

**We switch again, this time Sesen is walking down a hallway. She stops as she overhears a conversation between 2 men.**

Man D: Come on admit it you were holding back against Sesen because she's a girl and that's why you lost.

**The other man scratches the back of his head embarrass.**

Man E: Was it that obvious?

**Man D laughs a little**

Man D: HAAHA yea like a woman could ever beat a guy in a Gundam Fight.

**As the men laugh Sesen clenches her fist in pure rage, we come back to the present.**

Sesen (That's how I know men still look down upon woman! A true fighter admits defeat when beaten but whenever I fought a man they always refuse to admit that I defeated them. They claim I cheated somehow, they said they were feeling under the weather, they claim they were holding back, but in truth they simply couldn't accept the fact that I beat them! They would not believe that a woman could be stronger than them and so they convince themselves of their self-told lies. That's why I won't ever lose to a man, I'll become stronger and stronger until all the men in the world are force to accept the cold hearted truth that I am stronger than them!)

**While Sesen thinks this we see her rage growing. The camera cuts outside to show Artemis perform a stab attack straight into Nightwing's gut. The force of the blow sends Nightwing flying hard into the ground a couple of feet away.**

**Nightwing however once again begins to rise to its feet. The camera cuts into inside Nightwing's cockpit to show a stubbornly determine Shadow.**

Shadow: I won't lose, I'm going to win!

**Shadow's statement brings Sesen's rage to its absolute exploding point, she shouts in pure rage**

Sesen: WHY, WHY CAN'T YOU LOSE TO ME, BECAUSE I'M A WOMAN, BECAUSE YOU CAN'T STAND THE THOUGHT OF A WOMAN BEATING YOU!

**Shadow looks genuinely surprise by Sesen's outburst.**

Shadow: Huh? No, what do I care if you're a woman or not, what does gender have anything to do with a Gundam fight?

**Now Sesen is the one who looks surprise. Shadow smiles and says**

Shadow: The reason I don't want to lose to you is because you're strong and if I beat you then that makes me strong.

**Sesen blinks in the ultimate form of shocked/surprise.**

Sesen (He called me strong, no he did more than that he admitted that I was stronger than him.)

**Sesen suddenly feels the full irony of the situation and can't help but laugh.**

Sesen: HAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHA you're weird you know that.

**Shadow smiles and takes that as a compliment.**

Shadow: Thank you, being normal is boring.

**The camera does a split screen to show Sesen and Shadow smile at each other, a warrior's excited grin.**

Sesen: I'm Sesen Omolara team leader of the Valkyries and you?

**Shadow smile widens as he shouts**

Shadow: I am the great, the mighty the dashingly handsome Shadow Zoomarey team leader of the Shadow Knights!

**Both Gundam Fighters seem to come to an understanding as they smile at each other than the screen returns to normal as the camera cuts outside to show Nightwing and Artemis charge each other. Nightwing once again makes the first move.**

**Nightwing performs a left downward diagonal strike, Artemis quickly turns its metal staff horizontal. In the next blink of the eye Artemis thrust forward, Nightwing is force to pull back or else lose its balance.**

**Artemis regrips its metal staff and squatting down swings it intending to sweep Nightwing's legs out. Nightwing predicts this and jumps back evading the strike. The moment Nightwing's feet touch the ground Nightwing jumps forward performing a stab attack aimed at Artemis's chest.**

**Artemis turning its metal staff vertical parry's the attack, we see the sparks fly as beam hits metal (note in case you haven't realize it yet Artemis's metal staff is coated in anti-beam coating), both weapons tremble slightly as both Gundam Pilots pour all their strength into trying to push the other back.**

**Artemis while still holding off Nightwing's beam saber brings its metal staff horizontal and thrust forward trying to jab Nightwing right in the face. Nightwing titles its head to the right, although Artemis's metal staff misses Nightwing's head it does manage to graze Nightwing's shoulder.**

**Nightwing slides its beam saber off of Artemis's metal staff and manages to clip Artemis's shoulder. Artemis ducks down to get away from Nightwing's beam saber, both Gundams jump back away from the other then charge forward again.**

**While the Gundams continue to fight the camera cuts inside Artemis's cockpit to show Sesen, a huge excited grin spread across her face.**

Sesen (This fight's incredible, this is the first time I've ever enjoyed fighting against a man, Shadow Zoomarey you are truly something else, you're fighting style is impulsive crazy even but it sends shocks throughout my entire body, I find myself waiting every second for what you'll do next. You may be weak now but I can't wait to fight you when you're stronger.)

**The camera switches to inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow with much the same expression on his face.**

Shadow (This is great, awesome, amazing other adjectives that described joy! Sesen Omolara you're, not counting Drake, the strongest person I have ever fought, you're even stronger than Salim! The way you handle your weapon, it becomes a bat, a sword, a snake, or even a bullet; I've never seen anyone ever handle their weapon like that before. I want to see more, I'll want to become one with my beam saber like you become with you staff.)

**The camera switches to inside of Artemis's cockpit to show Sesen with an extreme focus look.**

Sesen (This type of fight)

**The camera switches back to Shadow.**

Shadow (This type of fight)

**We do a split screen now showing both fighters.**

Shadow and Sesen (IS WHAT I LIVE FOR!)

**The camera looks down to show both Neon gauntlet start to glow just a little bit brighter. The screen returns to normal as the camera cuts outside to show both Gundam's eyes flash with a burst of power, both Gundam charge each other again and attack but their attacks cancel each other out and they end up on opposite sides of each other.**

**Artemis taking one step forward braces itself preparing for another attack when suddenly we hear huge muffled explosion. The ground underneath Artemis shakes then collapses as a whirlpool in the sand erupts with Artemis smack dab in the center.**

**The camera cuts inside Artemis's cockpit to show Sesen look surprise.**

Sesen: What!

**The camera cuts outside to show that Artemis's feet have already sunken into the sand. Artemis struggles for just a moment to pull its feet free but it's obvious that's impossible.**

**Artemis than begins to stab the sand around its legs trying to break its legs free but that also doesn't seem to be working, all the while Artemis continues to sink down deeper into the sand.**

**The camera turns around to face Nightwing, judging by Nightwing's body language Nightwing doesn't know what the hell is going on. The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow still surprise and confused.**

Shadow: Kenny!

**Kenny pops up on Shadow's helmet screen, judging from the way he's leaning forward and moving his hands, we can see that he's typing on his computer.**

Kenny: I'm already on it Shadow, I did a search and scanned the area and from what I found I think it's a safe bet to say that this is a Haben military desert mine. HG6-763 or as it's more commonly refer to as the desert whirlpool, it's as the name says, the mine is buried underneath tons of sand and set off by pressure from above. Once set off the mine creates an explosion that creates a sinkhole which sucks in the enemy. It's nearly impossible to get out of without high level thrusters.

**Shadow appears to be highly irritated.**

Shadow: That tells me what it is but not what it's doing there!

**Kenny just shrugs his shoulders.**

Kenny: It could have been left there from a previous battle by the Haben military who knows.

**We switch to Shadow's perspective to see that Artemis has already sunken chest high. We momentary return to looking directly at Shadow to see him clench his fist in frustration. We return back to his perspective.**

**You're eyes are drawn to something off about the sand, while everything else maybe flowing there's a part of the sand that seems to be holding still, as Shadow's notices this solid mass that holds together his helmet camera zooms in on it.**

Shadow: Hey Kenny what's that?

**Still from Shadow's perspective we see Kenny on monitor.**

Kenny: It must be boulder or something, but Hey Shadow wait!

**Kenny's eyes open up in shock as we see Shadow move towards the boulder. The camera cuts outside as Nightwing jumps onto the boulder and begins to ride it towards Artemis. Artemis is still sinking fast into the sand. The camera cuts inside Artemis's cockpit to show slight panic slowly creep into Sesen's normal calm manner.**

Sesen: Not good, Artemis doesn't have enough thrust to break free.

**Suddenly we hear a loud bang and lifting noise. Sesen looks surprise, the camera cuts outside to show that Nightwing ridding on the boulder has reached Artemis and is in the process of pulling it out.**

**The camera cuts into Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow grunting with effort as he struggles to pull Artemis out. Sesen pops up on Shadow's helmet screen and begins to shout at him**

Sesen: Let go damn you! What the hell do you think you're doing playing the stupid god damn knight in shining armor, my pride as a woman won't accept me as the damsel in distress in this situation, I rather die!

**Shadow having enough cuts her off.**

Shadow: SCREW YOU!

**Sesen blinks in surprise not expecting this angry attitude.**

Shadow: I refuse to win this battle like this, if I did then when people look back on this battle they'll only say I got luckily, that if this hadn't happen I would have lost. So I'm going to save you whether you want me to or not and then I'm going to beat you with skill alone!

**Sesen looks surprise by this for a moment then smiles.**

Sesen: Heh fine I can accept that reason for your help.

**The camera cuts outside to show that Artemis instead of fighting Nightwing starts to help, there's a moment where Artemis stops sinking but the boulder Nightwing is on top of begins to, then Artemis with a little bit of a pop is free.**

**Artemis is pulled onto the boulder by Nightwing and then together both Gundams jump off the sinking boulder and away from the desert whirlpool. The Gundams land on the out skirts of the whirlpool and roll over onto their backs. The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow breathing heavily**

Shadow: *pant, pant* truce *pant, pant*

**The camera cuts into Artemis's cockpit to show Sesen also breathing heavily.**

Sesen: *pant, pant* fine, I suppose *pant, pant* I can give you a break.

**We cut forward in time, both Gundams are now in resting position, one knee down with hand flat out half way between the cockpit door and ground. Shadow is on the ground talking with Jack, Cagalli and Zuke who pulled up.**

**Shadow has removed his helmet and Jack and Cagalli are yelling at him for doing something dangerous and reckless again. Sesen comes out of her Gundam and begins walking towards Shadow.**

Sesen: So you're Shadow Zoomarey.

**Sesen is sizing him up. Shadow turns to face Sesen. Jack and Cagalli take one step back looking back and forth between Shadow and Sesen.**

Shadow: And you must be Sesen Omolara.

**They continue to have this staring contest for a moment more than Sesen breaks the ice.**

Sesen: I thought you'd be taller.

**This pisses Shadow off to the extreme.**

Shadow: I AM AVARGE HIGHT! Everyone else is just freakishly tall.

**Sesen is surprise for a moment by this remark then grins and walking up to him and holds out her hand.**

Sesen: Shadow Zoomarey you maybe the weirdest person I know but you're not bad a Gundam Fighter for a man.

**Shadow looks at the open hand for a moment surprise then grins and shakes it.**

Shadow: Thanks you were great out there too.

**As they shake hands their Neon gauntlets begin to slightly glow. Cagalli is the only one to notice this.**

Cagalli (Their Neon gauntlets are glowing, so that means Sesen wasn't lying.)

**Cagalli begins to look at her own Neon gauntlet self-conscious about its dull metal color. Shadow looking excited says**

Shadow: I'm all rested now care for round 2?

**Sesen letting go of Shadow's hand smiles at him sadly**

Sesen: I'm afraid I can't, I've already over extended my time here; I have my own team to be getting back to after all. I look forward though to next time we're able to finish our battle.

**Shadow looks disappointed for a moment then smiles and replies**

Shadow: I look forward to it too, see yea Sesen.

**Sesen smile broadens as she says**

Sesen: Shadow Zoomarey I will definitely remember you.

**Shadow smiling back replies**

Shadow: As will I Sesen Omolara.

**They smile at each other for a moment more than Sesen turns around and begins to walk back to her Gundam however before she does she glances at Cagalli. Cagalli and Sesen lock eyes for just a second. Sesen breaks contact by lifting her head up as in saying, I'm too good to exist on the same planet as you. Cagalli is shocked by the obvious insult.**

Cagalli (She ignored me, I was the reason she started fighting in the first place yet she just ignored me as if I was some speck of dust on her shoe, damn it, DAMN IT!)

**While Cagalli thinks this Sesen walks back to her Gundam as she does so Shadow looks at her already thinking about their next show down and Cagalli glares at her with hatred.**

**The camera once again moves forward in time. This time we open up in Cagalli's room on a brand new morning, the alarm begins to go off. Cagalli reaching out from under the covers hits it off. Cagalli sitting up yawns and stretches as she wakes up.**

**Cagalli is about to get up when she stops appearing to remember something, as she does so Drake does another monolog.**

Drake: Change happens slowly, we human beings are resistant to change. It goes against our very nature to divert from our habit even if it is a bad habit. This is why the world changes at the speed of melting ice, this is why we human beings as individuals change very little over time. However just because it is hard to change does not mean we are unable to. The first step to change is finding a reason to change, to find a reason strive for something, to be something or someone different.

**Cagalli suddenly drops onto the ground and begins doing push-ups; her eyes are burning with fierce determination.**

Drake: For only once we have reason can we find the strength to motivate ourselves to change our habits, to change our way of thinking; once we have reason to change we begin to change. We may not notice it at first but in time we become someone different, someone better than the last.

**The episode ends with Cagalli's burning thoughts driving her to do more push-ups.**

Cagalli (I will make my Neon gauntlet glow, I won't lose again, I won't lose to you again Sesen Omolara!)


	49. Episode 48

Episode 48

**The episode opens up inside the Dark-Angel; Cagalli still in her night clothes has her bathroom supplies in hand and is waiting to use the bathroom. Kenny walks out of the bathroom, his hair is wet but he's drying it off with a tower. He too is carrying his bathroom supplies. Cagalli greets him**

Cagalli: Good morning Kenny.

**Kenny surprise stops and turns to stare at Cagalli, he blinks a couple of times then fumbles for a minute to pull out his glasses and wipe the moisture off them.**

Kenny: Cagalli?

**Cagalli looks at him a little confused**

Cagalli: Yea, what is it?

**Kenny realizes he's being rude and quickly goes to apologize.**

Kenny: Oh sorry it's just that I never beat you to the bathroom, normally you're up at the crack of dawn.

**Kenny now notices that Cagalli has the workout look, slightly sweaty and muscles are tensing, Kenny even more surprise exclaims**

Kenny: You've been working out!

**Cagalli tries to pass it off as no big deal.**

Cagalli: Well I figured I take Shadow's advice and do Drake's push-up count when I first woke up, but I was only able to do half of them before my arms went dead.

**Cagalli flinches a little as she rubs her sore arms.**

Kenny: You did Drake's push-up count!

**Cagalli is beginning to get annoyed.**

Cagalli: It is not that surprising that I do some of the workouts Drake listed.

**Kenny wisely chooses to remain silent on this issue as the annoyed Cagalli walks into the bathroom. Kenny begins to walk away as we hear the shower going. As Kenny walks away we see a half asleep Shadow walk past him heading towards the bathroom. Shadow grumbles**

Shadow: Hi Kenny.

**Kenny replies cheerfully**

Kenny: Hi Shadow.

**Kenny takes 2 more steps before he fully process the situation and the danger Shadow is in. He turns around to warn Shadow but it's too late. Shadow half asleep opens the door to the bathroom.**

**Shadow stops as his mind finally begins to process something different from his regular routine. Cagalli naked and surprise turns to look at the person who came in (note I don't think I need to say this but just to make sure we do not see Cagalli naked, the camera does the whole only showing head thing).**

**Shadow eyes were half closed when he walked in but now as he slowly realizes what he's seeing his eyes open wider and wider. There's a moment of total and absolute silence then**

Cagalli: Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek GET THE HELL OUT!

**Cagalli screams at the top of her lungs as she also quickly goes to cover up her body. Shadow eyes now fully open is petrified. Cagalli grabs the first thing she sees, a bar of soap and throws it with all her might at Shadow.**

**Shadow unblinking gets nail right in the face. The camera cuts forward in time, Shadow is sitting in the conference room with a very obvious bruise on his face. Roxas is sitting across from him staring at him hard. She ask**

Roxas: Tell me Shadow, is Cagalli as well define as her figure suggest?

**Roxas makes a vaguer gesture with her hands. Shadow smug leans back and says**

Shadow: Sorry Roxas but that information cannot be given it can only be earned.

**Kenny also sitting down in a chair laughs his ass off at this**

Kenny: HAHAAHAAHHAHHAHAHAHHAHHA, yea after a thorough ass beating, man I thought that Cagalli was going to kill you for a second.

**Shadow turns to glare at Kenny**

Shadow: The pain I suffer was well worth the reward.

**Roxas puts on her charming smile and says**

Roxas: Right and shouldn't a reward be shared among friends?

**Shadow however isn't going for it.**

Shadow: Not a chance.

**Roxas tries a different approach.**

Roxas: I'll sleep with you if you tell me.

**Shadow doesn't hesitate for a second.**

Shadow: Deal!

**Shadow looks around for a moment but upon seeing only Kenny in the room looking disapprovingly relaxes and leans forward. Roxas also leans forward excited.**

Shadow: Ok where do I start, Cagalli's skin is

**Shadow doesn't get another word out as Cagalli seemingly to come out of nowhere grabs Shadow's head and slams it down on the table.**

Shadow: OWWWW

**Shadow moans as Cagalli now coming down from her anger high looks at Shadow annoyed then takes a seat. Nick, Jack, Zuke and Kabira also walk in and take a seat as well. Roxas looks disappointed at Cagalli.**

Roxas: It's not fair Cagalli that Shadow gets to see you totally naked, I've only gotten as far as your bra and panties!

**Cagalli turning red glares at Roxas.**

Cagalli: Shadow's lucky I don't rip his eyes out for that!

**Kenny can't help but laugh a little, again.**

Kenny: HAHAHAHAHA, oh calm down Cagalli it's not like Shadow did that on purpose, he's normally the last one in the shower; he's even thrown me out of the shower a couple of times plus you have to admit it is unusual for you to be so late in taking your shower.

**Cagalli still looks unhappy but leans back as the meeting starts. Nick takes the lead.**

Nick: How are the Gundams looking mate?

**Jack sighs**

Jack: Nightwing's not too bad, its armor has midlevel denting but I can fix it by nightfall; La Rouge however is a completely different monster. All of its weapons have been completely destroyed, I might be able to hem together the beam Guan Dao but even that's a stretch and you can forget about the beam rifle and shield, they're both trashed beyond repair. The best I can do is scraped them for parts and then build new ones from scratch, but La Rouge's armor is what worries me the most. Calling it trashed would be generous; it's just useless right now. It's going to take me at least a week to repair that.

**While Jack's talking the camera cuts into the Gundam bay to show La Rouge once again high lightening the damage it took in the last battle. The camera cuts back to the meeting, Cagalli looks down to the floor feeling like crap.**

Cagalli: I'm sorry Jack.

**Jack looks at Cagalli for a moment feeling sorry for her but then decides better and throws her wrench at Cagalli.**

Cagalli: OWWWWW

**Cagalli begins to rub her head as Jack stubbornly folds her arms and proclaims**

Jack: I don't want your apology I want you to be a better Gundam Fighter.

**Although it appears Jack is angry with Cagalli one can notice her anger is obviously curbed, no it's more like Jack is scolding Cagalli the way a parent scolds a child which is weird considering Jack is younger than Cagalli, however almost everyone misinterprets Jack. Nick, Kenny and Kabira are about to say something but Shadow cuts them all off.**

Shadow: Cut Cagalli some slack, every professional Gundam Fighter knows that you're Gundam is going to get trashed every now and then, that's why every real Gundam Team has a mechanic and it is why I chose to get the best mechanic. Jack I know you were just worried about Cagalli but you can't go flying off the handle every time one of us gets beat up.

**Jack turns red and still folding her arms turns away from Shadow. Cagalli surprise turns to stare at Jack.**

Cagalli (Jack was worried about me.)

**Shadow already over it moves on.**

Shadow: Anyway what are we doing now?

**No one has a clear answer to this question.**

Nick: Well I want to say we should move on mates but we haven't been able to find any information on where the rebels are meeting.

**Kabira thinking says hesitantly**

Kabira: We can try moving on to a different small town and see if we can't find any more information on the rebels there.

**Before anyone can say anything a new voice comes in.**

Raheem: That won't be necessary.

**All eyes turn to the door to show Raheem walk in, behind him is a Haben woman appearing to be of the same age as Raheem. Kabira exclaims**

Kabira: Raheem, where were you? I was worried.

**Raheem bows.**

Raheem: I apologize Ms. Kabira, I decided to go one last time to the bar to see if I couldn't find any information on the rebels and as fate would have it I ran into an old friend.

**The woman steps forward.**

Raheem: Ms. Kabira this is Ailill and Ailill this is Ms. Kabira.

**Ailill is the same height as Raheem; her skin is tough from spending years in the hot desert sand. Her eyes are that of an old warrior's like Raheem. Ailill respectfully nods towards Kabira.**

Ailill: Princess.

**Kabira frowns at the word but respectfully holds out her hand.**

Kabira: Please call me Kabira; it's always nice to meet a friend of Raheem's.

**Ailill smiles at Kabira's warm greeting.**

Ailill: And it is nice to finally meet you Kabira, Raheem speaks very highly of you.

**Kabira blinks deeply surprise and touch while Raheem blushes and shouts out**

Kabira: He does?

Raheem: AILILL!

**Ailill laughs as Raheem begins to turn deep red despite his tan.**

Ailill: HAHAHHAHAHA you haven't changed at all Raheem, you're still as shy as ever.

Shadow: *loud fake cough*

**Ailill and Raheem look to the annoyed Shadow Knights, clearly everyone doesn't like being ignored. Of course Raheem could care less about them.**

Raheem: Oh and these are the Shadow Knights the Gundam Team we hired for protection.

**Shadow and the others are a little outrage by this.**

Shadow: Oh that's all we are!

Kenny: We go an extra mile above the call of the job and this is how we're thanked.

Cagalli: So that's how it is.

Jack: Jackass.

Nick: Thanks a lot mate.

**Kabira quickly apologizes**

Kabira: We're so sorry, we didn't mean it that way. RAHEEM!

**Kabira scolds Raheem. Raheem used to military lifestyle and ranking didn't realize he made that big of a deal.**

Raheem: Um sorry.

**Everyone is glaring at Raheem. Zuke growing annoyed from this type of conversation buts in.**

Zuke: Can we move on to the point of this already or are we going to continue with this useless trivia conversation all day?

**Nick turns his glare at Zuke**

Nick: Don't be rude mate!

**Zuke doesn't bother responding, Ailill however does get down to business.**

Ailill: No it's alright, I have the information you're looking for.

**Kabira excited asks**

Kabira: You know where the rebels are?

**Ailill hesitates now.**

Ailill: Yes and no.

**Jack suspecting the worst asks**

Jack: And that means?

**Ailill not taking any offense to Jack's attitude replies**

Ailill: The rebels don't have a command base per say, after all right now they're just a lose group of armed protesters, so depending on which leader you are looking for they have multiply command bases.

**Nick thinking ahead asks**

Nick: So they don't have a single united leader mate?

**Ailill turning to look at Nick now answers**

Ailill: They do now, the rebels decided they needed to be more organized so they voted an elected a single leader however he travels from base to base in order to coordinate the rebels efforts.

**Kabira looks a little crestfallen.**

Kabira: So the rumors about the rebels gathering are false.

**Ailill quickly corrects Kabira.**

Ailill: Oh no that's definitely true, but it simply hasn't happen yet. The rebels are planning to gather all at once 2 weeks from now.

**Zuke nods his head approvingly**

Zuke: Smart, if they spread out their gathering they'll be a big slow and easy target.

**Ailill nods her head in agreement.**

Ailill: True and I know where they're going to meet.

**Zuke eyeing Ailill bored with slight suspicion asks**

Zuke: And how do you know all this?

**Ailill smiles and replies calmly**

Ailill: Well you see I'm one of the leaders of a nomad group called khiêu vũ and the rebels came to us and invited us to join their ranks.

**There's a very tense moment after Ailill says this. Cagalli asks hesitantly**

Cagalli: And what was your reply?

**Ailill smiles again enjoying their nervousness.**

Ailill: I told them that we of Khiêu vũ don't involve ourselves within the government of Haben.

**A huge sigh goes through everyone except Raheem who already knew this. Ailill satisfied turns to Raheem.**

Ailill: Alright Raheem I've kept up my end of the deal now it's your turn.

**All eyes turn to the Raheem.**

Raheem: Oh right.

**The camera cuts forward in time to after the meeting.**

Cagalli: Unbelievable!

**Cagalli, Shadow and Kenny are walking down the hallway; Cagalli appears mad. Shadow shrugs.**

Shadow: I don't see what you're making such a big deal for Cagalli, all Raheem agreed to was that we help Ailill deliver water to her tribe?

**Kenny adds**

Kenny: Plus she even said we can stay with them while we wait 2 weeks for the rebel meeting.

**Cagalli looks at them annoyed**

Cagalli: I'm not mad about helping Ailill deliver water to her people, I'd do that anyway, I'm mad that Raheem turned around and agreed us into this without even talking to us about it. I mean I know he hired us but still we aren't his subordinates, he can't go around giving us assignments without first consulting us.

**Shadow shrugs his shoulders.**

Shadow: If it was something I had a problem with I would have said something but it wasn't so I didn't.

**Cagalli looks at Shadow's simple minded nature annoyed.**

Cagalli: The situation itself doesn't matter, it's the way he handle it that matters, he didn't show us or you the respect we deserve, we're of equal rank as him not below.

**Kenny suddenly laughs**

Kenny: HAHAHHAHAHAHAH you do realize this isn't a co-op military effort Cagalli, according to official GFC rules the Team leader is the only person with any given power on the team, the power to fire people, set wages and other stuff; and it is his choice to decide how his team is set up. Shadow is team leader so it's his decision whether to go around and give people ranks and other military stuff and let's face it Shadow doesn't run his team like that.

**Shadow is slightly annoyed.**

Shadow: I'm right here you know.

**Cagalli ignoring Shadow rolls her eyes and says**

Cagalli: Shadow is too stupid to run his team as efficiently as that.

**Although Cagalli sounds annoyed her anger has cooled. Shadow however is a different matter.**

Shadow: I'm right here!

**Kenny however laughs and says**

Kenny: HAHHAHAH since when has Shadow ever been smart enough to do anything the efficient way?

**Cagalli smiling joins in on the laughter.**

Cagalli: HAHAHAHHAHHAHA yes that's true.

**Shadow glares at them both.**

Shadow: If you guys keep treating me like I'm invisible I'm going to kick both your asses.

**Kenny calming down says**

Kenny: If you're going to cry about it Shadow then we'll stop.

**Cagalli trying to suppress laugher ends up giggling while watching Shadow and Kenny's interaction, suddenly though she remembers something and looks down at her Neon gauntlet for the clock feature. **

Cagalli: Well I'll see you guys later.

**Cagalli is about to turn around and walk away when Shadow surprise asks**

Shadow: What's up Cagalli you got some big hot date?

**Cagalli makes a face then says**

Cagalli: No, but I do have plans so see you later.

**Cagalli turns and walks away. Kenny and Shadow watch as she goes down the hallway then shrug and begin to walk away.**

Shadow: So do you want to watch some TV?

**Kenny nods his head**

Kenny: Sure but I have to finish up a new program I've been working on for the Dark-Angel's mainframe.

**Shadow shrugs uncaring**

Shadow: I got to do Drake's daily push-up count anyway; we can do both while watching TV.

**Shadow suggest. Kenny nods his head liking the idea.**

Kenny: Cool.

**The camera cuts into the Gundam bay, we can see the mechanics going to work on both Nightwing and La Rouge. Sparks are flying as blow touches are active and the constant sound of hammer hitting metal can be heard.**

**The camera zooms in and focuses on Cagalli; Cagalli is taking laps around the Gundam bay. She stops out of breath and sweating heavily. She has her hands on her knees and she taking in large gulps of air.**

Cagalli (Damn that was only 3 laps, Drake is out of his mind saying we have to do 20 laps around the Gundam bay.)

**Cagalli takes a few more gulps of air.**

Cagalli (Then again he did say we don't have to do them all at once; after I rested I can come back and finish the remaining 17 laps.)

**Cagalli satisfied is about to walk away when we hear a different kind of bang, not metal on metal but metal on skin, followed by swearing.**

Jack: Leo you son of bitch how many times did I tell you to watch where the hell you're going!

**All the mechanics have stop what they were doing and are looking at Jack who's on top of La Rouge. Jack is holding her arm that has the glove on it, she's been hurt. There's a piece of broken metal lying next to her and a guy standing in front of her looking worried and guilty.**

Leo: Oh my god I'm so sorry Jack, I was trying to get this broken piece of metal off of La Rouge and I must of stumbled on some lose wires and

**Leo is talking really fast and is obviously very nervous. Jack over her anger turns around and shouts out to another mechanic.**

Jack: Pass me the med gel.

**Another mechanic tosses up a bottle of gel which Jack catches with her unhurt arm. She begins rubbing the gel on her cut.**

Jack: Oh shut up already Leo I'm fine now get back to work.

**Leo is shocked for a moment then stutters out.**

Leo: No you should go see the doctor.

**Jack has finish applying the gel and after a moment checking out her handy work starts to go back to work.**

Jack: The doctor would just do the same thing I just did.

**An older mechanic smiling adds**

Older mechanic: And he would tell you to rest that arm for the remainder of the day.

**Jack snaps back**

Jack: I can't rest now, I still have to finish savaging La Rouge's armor, and besides I couldn't stop now even if I wanted too. With La Rouge's armor in this state it's now the perfect time to try out some new armor welding techniques, plus there's a new armor design I want to test out.

**Jack has pull out a hammer and blowtorch and begins working on La Rouge's armor. The most important feature though is her eyes there's an intensity in her blazing red eyes.**

**Shadow has and excited electric intense look, Sesen has a cold calculating intense look but Jack's intense look is different from them both. Her eyes look like her mind's far away but at the same time she appears to be having a thousand different thoughts going through her head.**

**But she's also incredibly focus on her work. The same way Shadow and Sesen get focused when they fight. The camera turns to look at Cagalli to show that she recognize that look.**

Cagalli (Th-that's the same look Shadow and Sesen had when they fought each other!)

**Cagalli clenches her fist in frustration and grits her teeth.**

Cagalli (What is it, what is it that they have that I don't! What lets them surpass the pain and keep on working, what do they have that gives them the strength to keep on improving?)

**A fierce desire pops up in Cagalli's eyes, the same way when you mix together 2 chemicals together you get a puff of flames.**

Cagalli (I want that, whatever it is that they have I want it!)

**Cagalli after staring at Jack a moment more takes off with renewed vigor to do more laps, the scene ends. The next scene opens up showing the Dark-Angel pull up and park next to a traveling camp. There's a bunch of large tents pitch up as well as some small buildings with wheels on them.**

**Overall this place looks like a futuristic version of a gypsy camp. The camera focuses back on the Dark-Angel, the Gundam bay doors have open and a ramp has extended down. Trucks are pulling tanks of water out of the Dark-Angel.**

**We can see Ailill standing at the entrance directing traffic, judging by the clothes the people in the trucks are wearing they're her people. Shadow, Kenny, Nick, Roxas, Cagalli, Kabira and Raheem walk up to her. Ailill upon seeing them nods and says politely but warmly.**

Ailill: Raheem, Kabira and their friends let me welcome you to the tribe of khiêu vũ.

**Shadow a little annoyed mumbles.**

Shadow: Well at least we moved up to the friend status, maybe later we could move up to the actual name status.

**Kenny elbows Shadow in the chest to stop him from being rude. Ailill spreads her arms out as if showing off the camp. Ailill goes on**

Ailill: Thank you for helping me bring this water to my people.

**Cagalli steps forward before Raheem can and takes the lead.**

Cagalli: There's no need to thank us it was the least we can do considering the help you've given us.

**Ailill raises one eyebrow indicating her surprise at Cagalli's diplomatic natural, an aura she admits, the same kind of aura that diplomat would admit, but other than her eyebrow Ailill doesn't let on her surprise.**

Ailill: That was nothing; in fact I owed Raheem a favor anyway from the old days.

**Ailill gives Raheem a knowing smile, suddenly Shadow buts in.**

Shadow: Are those buildings on wheels!

**Shadow and Kabira are staring at the buildings with wheels excited. Kenny goes into his information mode.**

Kenny: Those are E247 building rovers; they were design for high natural disaster rate areas. That way if a tsunami or tornado is reported people don't have to leave anything behind they can just drive away in their houses.

**Kabira replies**

Kabira: That's so cool!

**Shadow nods his head in agreement.**

Shadow: Awesome!

**Ailill smiles at Shadow and Kabira's energetic personality.**

Ailill: You're friend is correct, of course they're also good for people like me who like to travel around a lot. Unfortunately they can't help in every natural disaster situation, in fact just last week we ran straight into a sandstorm. That's the reason I had to go out to get some water, normally we get our water from natural reserves but our water trucks were tip over in the sandstorm and the closest reserve is well over a couple of days journey away.

**Cagalli curious asks**

Cagalli: But why did you go yourself? You're obviously one of the leaders of this place and have people that work under you so why didn't you get one of them to do it?

**Ailill turning to face her replies**

Ailill: Well it is true that I'm one of the leaders of this tribe but this was an important mission and besides I was originally a field agent anyway so the chance to stretch my legs was welcome.

**Ailill notices that Shadow and Kabira are still staring at the town.**

Ailill: Would you like me to give you a tour?

**Shadow and Kabira turn to Ailill excited.**

Shadow: Yes!

Kabira: Really!

**Cagalli annoyed with Shadow says loudly**

Cagalli: Shadow!

**Shadow turns to Cagalli not getting her problem.**

Shadow: What?

**Cagalli glares at Shadow for a moment then turns back to Ailill and says politely**

Cagalli: Thank you for the offer Ms. Ailill but there's no need for you to go out of your way, we know that you must be busy running your tribe

**Kabira looks to Cagalli and realizes that Cagalli is acting like a professional diplomat. Kabira looks at Cagalli with renewed respect. Ailill cuts Cagalli off.**

Ailill: Nonsense my tribe is not so weak that it would fall apart without me and besides this is the least I can do for all the help you guys have given me and my tribe. So please follow me.

**Cagalli is about to say something else but Shadow steps in and pulls Cagalli back.**

Shadow: Great since no one has a problem let's go.

**Shadow and Cagalli trade a glare off. Ailill begins to walk to town and Shadow follows, after a moment a reluctant and annoyed Cagalli follows. We fast forward a little in time.**

**Ailill is in the lead giving Shadow and the others a tour, although the streets (areas between the tents and buildings with wheels) are full of people they are making and obvious path around the group, some stare with distaste. Ailill ignores these looks and points to an area of tents.**

Ailill: Those tents over there are our family housing tents, and over there is our livestock, we breed mostly canlois but occasionally we get pigs.

**Kabira looks nervous as the stares and obvious avoidance continues. She inches in close to Raheem. Shadow also notices the stares and asks**

Shadow: Why is everyone looking at us like we're some kind of trash monster?

**Cagalli elbows Shadow in the ribs.**

Cagalli: Shadow you're being rude!

**Ailill though laughs**

Ailill: Hahaha, no, no it's alright you see although my people are kind at heart we are weary of outsiders. We have had too many bad experiences with them, but rest assured after a couple of days of spending time with you they will come to accept you as friends.

**Kenny adds**

Kenny: Statistics show that traveling communities like this are 30 times less likely to trust an outsider or a person not from their community then people from the city.

**Roxas walking on all fours yawns and replies**

Roxas: You can say that again.

**Kenny having fun now adds**

Kenny: But those same statistics show that they're 40 times more likely to help someone in trouble regardless of who they are then someone from the city.

**Several people who are walking around the group nod their head approvingly when they hear Kenny. They seem to like the compliment.**

**As the group walks they come to an open area, there's a group of kids around Shadow and Cagalli's age assemble in it. Even someone whose only experience fighting is watching movies would be able to tell this is some kind of martial arts class. The kids are evenly spread out in rows and columns with an instructor at the head of the class. The students are performing some kind of drill.**

**A left hand straight punch with power generated from the shoulder. The right shoulder drops back and the right leg collapses a little, a quarter turn pivot on the left leg but it's follow by a 270 turn pivot on the right leg, putting both arms in the air and leaning straight back touching the ground with the finger tips the right leg goes straight up into the air. A quick roll over so that the back is straight again the left leg shots out and performs a full 360 foot swipe bringing the person back to starting position. The person quickly stands up straight and repeats from the beginning.**

**The entire drill is done in one fluid motion with no rest in-between moves, most of the students seem to look almost robotic in the way they perform the drill but the head instructor and some other students make it seem more like a weird old fashion (like caveman old) type of dance.**

**There are instructors walking in-between the rows occasionally stopping to point out a fault in a student's technique. Ailill smiles with pride seeing the impressed look in everyone's eyes.**

Ailill: And this is the intermediate khiêu vũ class.

**Cagalli confused turns to Ailill and asks**

Cagalli: I thought khiêu vũ was the name of your tribe?

**Raheem now steps in and explains**

Raheem: It's also the name for the martial arts they practice, khiêu vũ is a secret martial arts only passed down and taught within the khiêu vũ tribe.

**Ailill nods her head confirming Raheem's information and elaborates.**

Ailill: Our tribe's founder Gino invented the khiêu vũ style of fighting therefore it's traditional in our tribe to teach it to our younglings.

**Cagalli doesn't like this.**

Cagalli: You teach your children how to fight?

**Ailill turns to eye Cagalli annoyed.**

Ailill: We teach them self-defense, khiêu vũ is more than just fighting it's an exercise that helps keep the body in shape well after one's prime. We in the khiêu vũ tribe live by the principle that one must train their mind as well as their body if they are to live long and be happy. The khiêu vũ style helps us train are bodies and yes it does come in handy in times when we are a need of power but khiêu vũ is primarily a defensive type of martial arts and only a fool lives their days in this age thinking they don't need to learn any self-defense.

**Ailill is strong, she is 100 percent positive of her beliefs but at the same time she's not pushing her beliefs onto anyone however her stare makes it clear no one could change her mind. Cagalli lowers her head and backs down while Shadow excited shhh them.**

Shadow: Shhhhh they're learning something new.

**Everyone turns to look as the head instructor begins to demonstrate a new move.**

Head instructor: Ok everyone today we're going to learn a counter move. Now Dame can you come up here please.

**A student joins the instructor up front**

Head instructor: Now what you learned from your previous lessons is how to channel and control your energy, Dame would you please try to punch me now with all you're might.

**Dame looks a tab bit uncertain but goes ahead and tries to punch the head instructor; an expert can tell you his punch is good. He generates force with his whole body while channeling all the energy into his fist.**

**The head instructor smiles confident, the head instructor does a turning sidestep dodging the punch. He does a 180 degree turn so that his back is facing Dame. He slides his right foot back in-between Dame's legs while at the same time placing his right hand gently on top of Dame's arm.**

**The head instructor sweeps out Dame's legs and begins to lightly twist his right hand. Dame's body begins to fly upward as if he just jumped from a diving board, and with the focal point where the two arms meet Dame does a full flip in the air and comes crashing down on his back in front of the head instructor.**

Head instructor: Now this move requires you to channel and control your opponent's energy. It is a high level move that is extremely difficult to master; it is called Terebra Null or no punch. It gets its name from the fact that it blocks and counterattacks almost any punch, if done correctly the harder your opponent tries to punch you the more damage he'll do to himself. Of course I don't expect any of you to be able to do this right off the bat so let's start with the first part, the 180 degree sidestep, everyone par off. Now remember you'll know that you've done it correctly when you can feel the back of your shoulder perfectly line up with your partners mirror shoulder, while trying to dodge you're partners punch try to get a sense of their energy, where it's coming from, where's it's traveling in the body, where it's gathering. It shouldn't be that hard since you're all using the same style of fighting but against someone with a different style you've never seen before you'll have to pick it up quick.

**The instructor helps Dame off the floor and continues going on with the lesson. Ailill sees that some of the students have begun to notice the group.**

Ailill: I hope everyone like what they saw but I'm afraid we'll have to leave now; our presence is beginning to distract the students.

**Raheem nods his head.**

Raheem: Of course Ailill.

**They walk away continuing on with the tour, the tour comes to an end at a huge tent.**

Ailill: And last but not least this is the tribal head house.

**Nick whistles and tips his hat when he sees the great tent.**

Nick: This is your house mate?

**Nick asks looking impressed. Ailill laughs when she realizes the misunderstanding.**

Ailill: Hahahah oh no I'm sorry, house is just part of its name. No, no one lives here this tent is used for meetings with the tribal consul.

**A personal comes out of the tent and runs over to Ailill. Ailill is looking at him curious as he glances at Shadow and the others uneasy, he then leans forward and whispers in her ear. Ailill's eyes open wide.**

Ailill: What!

**Ailill rolls her eyes and let's out and annoyed groan. She straightens up and turns to face Shadow and the others.**

Ailill: I'm sorry but it seems there are some urgent matters that need my attention right away.

**Kabira a little concern asks**

Kabira: Is everything alright Ailill?

**Ailill sighs annoyed**

Ailill: Yes everything's fine it's just my paperwork has gotten back up since I've been away, and some of the other consul members are making a big stink about it and won't let my assistant just fill it out for me.

**Raheem laughs at this**

Raheem: HAHAHA you never did like filling out paperwork Ailill.

**Ailill looks at him annoyed**

Ailill: True enough but you were always overprotective when it came to any bodyguard assignment involving children.

**Raheem blushes a little at this teasing. Kabira curious now asks**

Kabira: Really?

**Ailill smiling turns to Kabira.**

Ailill: Oh yes in fact there was this one time when we were assign to protect a Haben consul member's child

**Raheem quickly hurries to cut her off.**

Raheem: Ailill!

**Ailill giggles a little at Raheem's obvious embarrassment but changes back the subject.**

Ailill: Anyway the point I was trying to make was that I would stake my life that none of my people are assassins or spies, and of course if an outside were to come I would know about it immediately so while she's staying here you don't have to watch her every step.

**Kabira looks please by this news while Raheem looks annoyed. Ailill turns to the others.**

Ailill: Feel free to move around here in ease, I've already talk with the consul and the people so everyone knows that you're friends; hopefully I'll be able to finish up my paperwork in time to join you for dinner.

**Ailill turns around and walks away. Shadow stretches and yawns then turns around to face the others.**

Shadow: I don't know about you guys but it's been a while since I got laid so I'm going to hit the tavern to pick up chicks, who wants to come with me?

**Both Raheem and Cagalli explode at Shadow.**

Cagalli: Shadow you moron Kabira's right here!

Raheem: Ms. Kabira cover your ears from this filth!

**Raheem doesn't bother waiting for an answer as he covers Kabira's ears. Kenny and Nick also start yelling at Shadow.**

Kenny: Geez Shadow don't you have any censors!

Nick: You have to watch your company mate.

**Shadow doesn't seem to get what he did wrong.**

Shadow: What I do?

**Kabira on the other hand is beginning to look annoyed.**

Kabira: You're overreacting people, I'm not a child I know about sex.

**This information seems to shock Cagalli and Raheem. Raheem pulls his hands away from Kabira's ears and begins to ask in rapid succession.**

Raheem: What! When! Who told you!

**On the "Who told you" question Raheem has murder in his eyes which scares Kabira.**

Kabira: Raheem!

**Raheem quickly focuses back on Kabira.**

Raheem: Oh right sorry Ms. Kabira.

**Raheem takes a knee so that he's eye level with Kabira. Kabira is looking at him not sure where this is going. Raheem begins awkwardly**

Raheem: Ms. Kabira when a man and a woman love each other they chose to express that love in an um ritual.

**Kabira realizing what this is all about turns deep red and shouts offended**

Kabira: I've already had the "talk"! I'm 16 Raheem, I'm not a freaking child anymore so quit treating me like one!

**Kabira in a very childlike fashion storms off. Raheem apologetic tries to go after her.**

Raheem: Ms. Kabira wait I'm

**Kabira not wanting to hear it cuts him off.**

Kabira: Don't follow me Raheem!

**Raheem feeling helpless stops**

Shadow: Don't worry Raheem Kabira just needs a minute to vent she'll be fine later.

**Kabira is already gone from sight. Raheem is watching the direction she took off in with obvious worry. Cagalli glares at Shadow and does a head slap.**

Shadow: OW

Cagalli: This is all your fault!

**Cagalli doesn't bother waiting for Shadow to respond as she walks up to Raheem and says**

Cagalli: Don't worry Raheem, I'll go talk to her.

**Cagalli goes after Kabira. Shadow after a moment of rubbing the back of his head turns around and says with excitement.**

Shadow: So let's hit the tavern, even if you don't want to pick up chicks we can all use some drinks.

**Raheem depressed says absent mindedly.**

Raheem: Aren't you guys underage?

**Shadow suddenly remembers**

Shadow: Oh that's right, Kenny.

**Kenny pulls out 2 fake IDs**

Kenny: Here you guys go a Haben fake ID, I finish them earlier today.

**Shadow and Roxas take one.**

Shadow: You're the greatest Kenny.

Roxas: Thank you.

**Raheem although disapproving is not surprise, he turns to Nick and asks**

Raheem: Aren't you getting one?

**Nick says proudly**

Nick: I'm 23 mate.

**Note, both on Sora and Earth the universal drinking age is 23. Shadow notices that Kenny doesn't have one.**

Shadow: Hey Kenny aren't you coming with us?

**Kenny shakes his head.**

Kenny: Nah I promise Jack I'd upgrade the programing on the Gundams today.

**Shadow looks disappointed.**

Roxas: Why don't you blow her off?

**Kenny raises one eyebrow and asks**

Kenny: Would you blow Jack off?

**Both Roxas and Shadow go a little pale as they imagine what would happen to them if they blew Jack off.**

Shadow: Well you better get going Kenny.

Roxas: Yup tell Jack thanks for staying and working on the Gundams.

**The scene ends with Nick saying**

Nick: And tell the mate we'll bring back some real food from town for dinner.

**The next scene opens up showing Cagalli walking the streets looking for Kabira.**

Cagalli (Damn where did she go, she couldn't have gotten far. She seemed really upset not that I blamed her, I remember the time when Ledonir beat up 2 Orb soldiers who told a dirty joke right in front of me, then he tried to come up with some kind of corny excuse for what that joke meant. I was so embarrassed and humiliated to tell him that I already had the "talk" with dad some time ago.)

**Cagalli without knowing it has begun to walk down a deserted street, suddenly she spots Kabira surround by a group of kids maybe 15 years old. Kabira is on the ground as the kids kick her.**

Kid A: Get out you outsider!

Kid B: Yea we don't want your kind here!

Kid C: Get lost!

**There're 5 kids surround Kabira and kicking her, Kabira has got her hands covering her face and is trying to become as small as possible. Cagalli takes one second to process everything then charges them.**

Cagalli: What the hell do you think you're doing!

**The first kid doesn't even have time to react as Cagalli closes the distance between her and them in a second. Cagalli grabs the kid's shoulder and throws him into the air.**

**The kid is sent flying then crashes to the ground. The others jump back as Cagalli takes up a protective stance in front of Kabira. From the way the others jump back we can tell they're all trained. Cagalli quickly turns around and helps Kabira up.**

Cagalli: Kabira are you ok?

**Cagalli says with obvious worry. Kabira nods her head as she sits up.**

Kabira: Yes I'm alright; they came out of nowhere and started hitting me.

**Cagalli turns to glare at the kids but it's obvious she's not taking them seriously, in her defense though they're all about half her size.**

Cagalli: Why were you attacking Kabira and where are your parents?

**Cagalli demands, the kids appear uncertain for a moment; not expecting an adult to come and step in; but the leader steps forward and reinforces their resolve.**

Leader kid: Shut up outsider! We don't have to tell you anything, the reason why we were beating her up is because she's an outsider.

**Cagalli is looking at them shocked.**

Cagalli: So the only reason you were beating up Kabira is because she wasn't from your tribe?

**The leader kid nods his head.**

Leader kid: That's right, outsiders bring war, disease, corruption and greed to everything they touch so we want you to leave.

**The other kids start joining in**

Kids: Yea, leave already go.

**Kabira looks scared and moves closer to Cagalli but Cagalli just shakes her head and sighs annoyed**

Cagalli: Come on Kabira we're leaving and you guys can be sure I'll tell your parents about this.

**Now the kids are definitely sweating, it seems apparent that they didn't want their parents to know about this but once again the leader steps in to challenge Cagalli.**

Leader kid: Who said we're just going to let you leave unscratched, we're going to make sure you never think about coming back.

**The leader kid takes up an obvious fighting stance. Cagalli quickly realizes what they're up to.**

Cagalli: I'm not going to fight you kids; you're like 12 and half my size.

**The leader kid is offended.**

Leader kid: Fine then just stand there and let me beat you up!

**The Leader kid charges Cagalli, although he's nowhere near as fast as Salim or Sesen he's still faster than one would expect for someone of his age. Cagalli had her guard down so she doesn't have time to process the attack.**

**However Cagalli's instincts seem to kick in as she pushes Kabira out of the way. The leader kid jumps up and punches Cagalli in the face. Cagalli's head flicks to the right with the punch but her body doesn't move. The kid lands right down in front of Cagalli and begins to do a rapid series of punches.**

**The punches aren't fast but they do seem to be aim with purpose. Cagalli being an inexperience fighter of course has no idea how to fight against a shorter enemy. She's slow to bring up her guard and it's obviously a bad defense. Cagalli coughs out blood then grits her teeth.**

Cagalli (This kid is aiming for my arties and organs.)

**Cagalli not drawing her weapons throws a wild punch, but her punch lacks any skill or training. The leader kid reads it and does a spinning dodge, he does 3 full spins and ends up right behind Cagalli and begins to punch at her back.**

**Cagalli tries to move so that the leader kid is in front of her so that she can punch him but the leader kid is fast and is always moving so that he can hit her blind spots. He laughs as he kicks Cagalli in the chest. Cagalli stumbles a little as she tries to get some distance from him.**

Leader Kid: Hahaha this outsider is so weak I can beat her on my own, just make sure the other one doesn't escape.

**The remaining 3 bullies move to surround Kabira. Kabira scared shouts out**

Kabira: Cagalli!

**Cagalli looks up and sees what's going on.**

Cagalli: Kabira!

**Cagalli turns to glare at the leader kid. The camera moves a little bit back down the empty street to show Ailill walking down it causally.**

Ailill (Honestly no one could expect me to do all that paperwork right now; I mean really there must have been 3 whole stacks. No one can blame me for taking a short break.)

**Ailill begins to hear the noise from the fight, she stops looks around and narrows her eyes. The camera switches to her POV for a moment, the camera zooms in to show Cagalli fighting the leader kid. The screen returns to normal as Ailill appears to disappear as she charges towards the fight. Ailill is fast, faster than both Sesen and Salim.**

Ailill (That's Wren what's he doing ganging up on Ms. Kabira and her friend. Oh no I have to stop this fight, even though Wren is a child he's been trained in khiêu vũ's aim punches, his punches are deadly accurate and if he generates enough force and hits the right spot he can kill someone.)

**The camera looks back over to show Wren preparing to charge Cagalli again.**

Wren (It's slight, but this outsider moves just as my punch is about to hit avoiding direct damage, how annoying. Stupid outsider trying to look down on me and look cool, I'll finish her off in one blow.)

**Wren chances stances, he begins to wave his arms up and down generating motion. Cagalli holding her arms up in a defensive stance over her chest is looking at Wren confused.**

Wren (What's that kid doing?)

**The camera turns around to show Ailill recognizes that stance.**

Ailill (Oh no that fool! If he throws that punch and it hits an artery or major organ it will cause series or life-threatening injury.)

**Ailill begins to move even faster but Wren is already charging Cagalli, she won't make it in time; at that exact moment though Kabira lets out another scream**

Kabira: AHHHHHH!

**Cagalli's eyes look over Wren to see that the 3 kids have decided to throw sand at Kabira.**

Cagalli (Kabira!)

**Cagalli's instincts seem to take over (no before you ask it's not Seed factor), she moves forward straight towards Wren. Wren begins to throw his punch when Cagalli finally notices him. We have a brief flashback to when the head instructor demonstrated the new move to the students.**

**Without hesitation Cagalli does a rotating sidestep, she turns 180 degrees so that her left shoulder is perfectly lined up almost touching Wren's right shoulder. She places her left hand lightly on top of his punching arm.**

**Without putting any pressure on his arm Cagalli begins to slightly twist her arm as she slides her left foot back and sweeps out Wren's legs. Wren is sent flying into the air, with the focal point where the 2 arms meet Wren flips in the air.**

**For a moment his body seems to hang in the air as he looks up at the sky then he comes crashing down into the sand. He comes down hard on the ground and if there wasn't sand there he would have definitely suffer major damage.**

**Wren is stun an unable to move. The others kids are shocked that Cagalli was able to defeat Wren and with their leader gone and Cagalli charging towards them they turn tail and run. Ailill who was just about to enter the clearing stops now in shocked, no one has noticed her yet**

**Cagalli rushes to Kabira's side. Kabira is looking at Cagalli with admiration. Cagalli seeing that Kabira is alright says**

Cagalli: Come on Kabira let's get out of here and go back to the Dark-Angel.

**Kabira simply nods her head and together they begin to walk away. Ailill still in shock watches them go.**

Ailill (T-that's impossible. That was Terebra Null she just performed, no it was more than that. She perform an advance version of Terebra Null, she charged forward to create momentum and then transform the energy onto Wren, so not only did Wren receive damage equal to the power of his own punch but he received even more damage from Kabira's friend's added momentum. If Wren was fighting on solid ground and not sand he would have broken a couple of ribs but where did she learn that?)

**A theory begins to creep into Ailill's mind, but it's so outrageous Ailill is having a hard time accepting it.**

Ailill (C-could it be, could it be that she learn it today when the head instructor demonstrated it in front of the students, but that's impossible that was less than 5 hours ago. For a person to understand a move of that level and then improved upon it just by seeing it one time; such a person could only be a prodigy.)

**The episode ends with Ailill coming to this shocking realization as she continues to watch Cagalli and Kabira walk away.**

_**Author's note: The names Ailill, Wren, Gino, and Dame were provided by ilianna620, and darkrusnik05.**_


	50. Episode 49

Episode 49

**The episode opens up right where the last one left off, we're in the tavern Shadow, Nick, Roxas and Raheem went to Shadow and Roxas are trying to pick up woman and in Roxas's case men too. The camera turns around to show Raheem sulking at the bar, he sighs as Nick walks up to him.**

Nick: Here mate.

**Raheem turns around to see Nick holding out a beer for him. Raheem smiles a little as he accepts the beer.**

Raheem: Thanks.

**Nick takes a seat next to Raheem as Raheem drinks the beer. Nick pulls his hat down as he begins to speak.**

Nick: You know mate this reminds of the time when my ma walk in on me when I was, um well let's just say with a female friend.

**Raheem gives a short laugh.**

Raheem: Heh that must have been an interesting conversation.

**Nick laughs**

Nick: HAHAHAH you have no idea mate, you see I'm the youngest mate in my family and up until that point she had always assumed I was um pure. So it came as quite a shock to her to see me like that, and then came the really awkward conversation about how long I was active and if I was being safe.

**Nick takes a sip of his beer then goes on.**

Nick: She cried that night.

**Raheem looks to Nick surprise.**

Raheem: What?

**Nick smiles understanding Raheem's surprise.**

Nick: I know, I didn't get it at first either mate, like I already told you I was the youngest mate in my family so when my ma found me like that she knew that the last of her children well weren't children anymore. That fact made her cry because a part of her life was over, she knew she was never going to have children again, and the time of her raising children was coming to an end, such a feeling is depressing mate.

**Raheem takes a sip of his beer and asks annoyed.**

Raheem: Is there a point to this?

**Nick not taking any offense replies**

Nick: Yes, my point is mate that time moves in only one direction, people change, adults get older, children grow up and even though we all know this at times it just hits us all at once.

**Raheem and Nick take a minute to drink in silence then Raheem begins to speak slowly**

Raheem: You know I was there when Ms. Kabira's mother first met Shadi.

**Nick is slightly surprise.**

Nick: You knew Kabira's mother?

**Raheem smiles fondly at the memories.**

Raheem: Yes, there were 4 of us back then, me, Kabira's mother, Ailill and Hirsi. We had gone to the academy together at the same time then we all got assign to the same unit. We ended up working together for 7 years. We went through all sorts of stuff together and eventually we were assigned to a bodyguard mission for the ruler Shadi, of course Shadi was just the prince back then, and his father was the ruler of Haben. It was thanks to her that I got to know Shadi so well and we became good friends. I was there at their wedding, I was there when Shadi was given the title of official ruler of Haben, I was there when Ms. Kabira was born.

**Up into this point Raheem had been smiling remembering all the good times, but now his smile leaves his face.**

Raheem: I was there when Ms. Kabira's mother died.

**There's a sullen moment as Nick takes this in, then Raheem goes on.**

Raheem: I made a vow that day that I would always protect Ms. Kabira in her honor.

**Nick tips his hat as he takes another sip of his beer.**

Nick: So that's why you watch her so closely.

**Raheem nods his head.**

Raheem: Yes, luckily Ruler Shadi was kind and understood me so he made arrangements for me to be Ms. Kabira's personal body guard as well as Captain of the royal guard.

**Raheem smiles again as he remembers more of the good times.**

Raheem: I was there when Ms. Kabira took her first steps, said her first words, and learned to read. It's unbelievable how fast she's grown or maybe it's unbelievable how fast time has slipped by. 16 years just seem to go by like the blink of an eye; soon Ms. Kabira will no longer need me to be her bodyguard. It's understandable, she's going to want to start dating, to have a relationship with a man and of course she'll never develop any kind of relationship with me watching her every move.

**Raheem takes another sip of his drink then says**

Raheem: No I'm not worried about Ms. Kabira, she's a strong smart woman and I'm sure she'll become a great ruler of Haben, heh she reminds me so much of her mother. The true person I'm afraid for is myself, my own doubts my own insecurities; I've built so much of my life around Ms. Kabira I have no idea what I'm going to do when she no longer needs me. She's moving forward, getting smarter, getting stronger, it's only a matter of time before she meets someone and gets married, have children, then become the ruler of Haben.

**Nick listens to all this in silence.**

Raheem: Don't get me wrong, when this happens I'll be overjoyed and proud of Ms. Kabira but still I can't help but wonder what's going to become of my life, I have no wife, no children and I've climb as high as I can in the military. Other than being Ms. Kabira's bodyguard I have nothing so what do I do when Ms. Kabira no longer needs me, do I just grow old and die exactly like I am now?

**Raheem has nothing left to say. He finishes off another bottle of beer while Nick thinks for a good whole minute.**

Nick: I'm just a simple mate mate, this kind of deep brainy thing is just way over my head.

**Raheem smiles, it's one of those knowing sad smiles.**

Raheem: Yes I know, I'm sorry for rambling on.

**Raheem takes another sip of his beer and is about to move to get up when Nick stops him.**

Nick: Now hold on mate, I do have a couple of things to say on the matter. First I can tell you that even though I'm 23 I still call my ma once a week so rest assured that it will be a long time still before Kabira no longer needs you, you've got many more experiences with her left. Second if you're looking for a woman mate then maybe you should ask that Ailill mate out, she seemed into you and you seemed into her.

**Raheem blushes deep red and stutters. **

Raheem: Th-that's none of your business!

**Nick just laughs**

Nick: Then let's just drink to the future.

**Nick lifts up his glass, Raheem smiles and knocks his own glass into Nick's and the scene ends with him saying.**

Raheem: To the future.

**The next scene opens up a little later in the evening; we're outside right next to the Dark-Angel. There's a group of the Dark-Angel crew members surrounding Shadow, Roxas and Nick as they begin to do their daily sparing match; we hear shouts and cheers as the crew urges on their respective bets.**

**Shadow and Roxas are in the middle of their fight as the camera turns and focuses on Raheem. Raheem is drinking coffee in classic trying to get sober way. Raheem looks sad and slightly buzzed when Kabira walks up behind him.**

Kabira: Um Raheem.

**Kabira begins awkwardly, Raheem surprise turns around and looks at her.**

Raheem: Ms. Kabira you're hurt!

**Raheem notices the little cuts Kabira got from those bullies. He moves towards her but Kabira blurts out.**

Kabira: I'm sorry!

**Raheem surprise stops right in his tracts as Kabira bows to him.**

Kabira: I was being stupid and childish and I'm sorry for yelling at you.

**Raheem is shocked for a feel heartbeats then he lets lose a true smile.**

Raheem: No, I'm the one who's sorry.

**Kabira now looks up surprise, and then she slowly smiles as they both hug. The camera turns around to show the fight with Shadow and Roxas come to an end. Shadow crashes outside the ring. Roxas breathing heavily comes towards him on all fours.**

Roxas: You *pant, pant, pant* lose again *pant, pant, pant* Shadow.

**Shadow stomps the ground as we see money begin to exchange hands amongst the D-crew.**

Shadow: Damn it, I almost had you that time, I was so close so close!

**Roxas smugly says**

Roxas: Close but no cigar.

**Both Shadow and Roxas walk over to where Nick is and begin to drink some water from their water bottles.**

Nick: Alright mates it's me and Shadow's turn now.

**Shadow seeming to recover in an instant looks excited for this match.**

Shadow: Sweet alright let's

**Shadow gets cut off by an unexpected voice.**

Cagalli: Hey aren't you guys skipping my turn?

**A dead silence rings out as the crowd shocked parts to show Cagalli walking towards Shadow, Nick and Roxas. Cagalli can feel everyone else's stares on her but tries to ignore it.**

Cagalli: Sorry I'm late; I had to deal with something that came up at the last minute.

**Cagalli waits for a response but only Nick stun manages to get something out.**

Nick: You're here mate.

**Cagalli annoyed folds her hands and says**

Cagalli: Ok you guys are all overreacting I don't miss that many sparing matches.

**Shadow gets over his shock first then grinning says**

Shadow: Name 5 that I didn't drag you too.

**Cagalli now highly annoyed at Shadow opens her mouth about to say something when she realizes she can't think of anytime she did voluntarily come to sparing practice so she shuts up. Shadow catches all of this.**

Shadow: HA!

**Shadow isn't the only one winning the long shot today, one of the D-crew members over his shock shouts out.**

D-crew A: HA Cagalli showed up, you owe me 500 credits Lulo!

**A girl (Lulo) curses. The camera swings back around to show an angry Cagalli snap**

Cagalli: Are we going to fight or not!

**Shadow eager for a fight is about to step up when Roxas cuts him off.**

Roxas: I call first fight!

**Shadow annoyed spins around to face Roxas and snaps**

Shadow: What! Why do you get to fight with her first?

**Roxas smiles with overwhelming confidence.**

Roxas: 2 reasons, 1 the only person I've sparred with in the last couple of weeks is you while you have both me and Nick, 2 I'm the winner so tough.

**Shadow is definitely pissed about this but he can't say crap. Cagalli not really caring at this point who she fights says**

Cagalli: Alright I guess I'll fight Roxas.

**Cagalli and Roxas walk onto the ring. D-crew members are quickly placing bets and it doesn't look like many are favoring Cagalli. Cagalli and Roxas are facing each other. Roxas is in her classic tiger pouncing pose, while Cagalli is holding her Guan Dao diagonally with the blade pointing down.**

**Roxas charges Cagalli. On all fours Roxas is very fast and one can't help but notice she looks just like a tiger. Cagalli is surprise by how fast Roxas is and is a little slow to react. When Roxas is right in front of her Cagalli begins to perform a series of stab attacks.**

**Roxas easily dodges them all and moves in close to Cagalli. Cagalli startled tries to move backwards but is too slow. Roxas jumps up and just as it looks like she is about to strike but instead Roxas gropes Cagalli's breast.**

**There's a moment of stun silence by the crowd. Cagalli breaks that silence by shouting with rage**

Cagalli: Roxas you pervert!

**Cagalli does a left horizontal slash. Roxas jumps back dodging the strike; Roxas has a huge grin on her face.**

Roxas: Since we're both girls the breast are inbounds for the fight!

**Roxas proclaims in a loud voice. A huge cheer goes up by the male D-crew members the loudest being Shadow.**

Shadow: GO ROXAS!

**Cagalli is trembling with rage**

Cagalli: Roxas after I kick your ass, I'm kicking Shadow's next!

**Cagalli regrips her Guan Dao so that the blade is lined up with her shoulders and charges Roxas. The camera looks up at the setting sun and then does the whole time fast forward thing. We see the sun set and the moon rise; bright stars come out across the sky.**

**The camera looks down to show Nick, Roxas, Shadow and Cagalli walking slowly back to the Dark-Angel. They all appear tired from the sparing matches, Raheem and Kabira walk over to them.**

Raheem: That was an excellent sparing match today.

**Kabira nods her head and says excitedly**

Kabira: Yes especially Shadow and Cagalli's match, Shadow was like HAAA and Cagalli was like agrrr, you were both neck and neck it was no wonder it came out to draw.

**Kabira is jumping up and down trying to mimic the fight. Shadow and Cagalli both look proud by this complement when a new voice joins the mix.**

Ailill: You've been holding out on me Raheem.

**Everyone now turns around to see Ailill walk towards them. Ailill continues**

Ailill: You only told me that these Gundam fighters were rookies with a decent building block of skill, you failed to mention their potential.

**Ailill is looking straight at Cagalli when she says this. Nick, Roxas, Shadow and Cagalli are surprise by this compliment. Raheem not sure what Ailill is getting at says calmly**

Raheem: I didn't think it was worth mentioning, their potential is only slightly better than that of an average Gundam Fighter.

**The Gundam Fighters look at Raheem annoyed.**

Ailill: Well anyway I didn't come here for that; I came here to give Ms. Kabira and her friend my deepest apologies for the incident that happen earlier today.

**Everyone except Cagalli and Kabira are confused.**

Ailill: Children will be stupid, but still that's no excuse for how they treated you both. Rest assured I have informed their parents and have addition punishment place on them, I will make it clear that type of behavior is unacceptable in khiêu vũ.

**Kabira steps forward and says politely**

Kabira: It's alright Ailill you're apology is accepted, please join us for dinner.

Ailill: I would be delighted.

**Everyone turns around now and begins to head back to the ship. Ailill however holds back for a moment then taps Cagalli on the shoulder.**

Ailill: Excuse me do you mind if I speak with you for a moment in private.

**Nick, Shadow, and Roxas stop to see what's up.**

Cagalli: Um sure.

**Cagalli nods towards them so they know to continue. Nick, Roxas and Shadow look at each then shrug and walk away. Cagalli turns back to face Ailill.**

Cagalli: So what is it you need Ms. Ailill.

**Ailill waves he hand.**

Ailill: Oh please just call me Ailill there's no need to be so formal, um this is a little embarrassing but I can't seem to remember your name.

**Cagalli is slightly surprise by this, but she doesn't take offense.**

Cagalli: Oh pardon me I've never introduce myself, I'm Cagalli Yula Athha.

**Cagalli holds out her hand. Ailill smiles and shakes it.**

Ailill: It's nice to meet you Cagalli. You know I saw you fight against Wren.

**Cagalli blinks confused.**

Cagalli: Wren?

**Ailill explains**

Ailill: The kid that was picking on Ms. Kabira. I'm impressed by the way you handled yourself.

**Cagalli blushes at the compliment.**

Cagalli: I wasn't that good; I mean he was only a kid.

**Ailill smiles again at Cagalli's humbleness.**

Ailill: Don't cut yourself short, Wren may just be a child but he was well train and skill is skill regardless of age. May I ask you about the finishing move you used on him?

**Cagalli once again looks confused.**

Cagalli: Finishing move?

**Ailill is slightly surprise by Cagalli's lack of fighting Voc.**

Ailill: The last attack you used on him.

**Cagalli gets it now.**

Cagalli: Oh that.

**Cagalli tries to remember.**

Cagalli: I don't really remember it well, it all happen so fast. I know he came at me but I charged him too because I saw his friends throwing sand at Kabira and I wanted to get over there to protect her, I didn't even realize he was going to punch me until the last second then I just kind of try to spin around him. I must have collided with him and since I'm bigger he got knock down.

**Ailill is surprise.**

Ailill (She doesn't know she performed Terebra Null, her body must have reacted on its own purely by instinct but during her sparring matches I didn't see any of those instincts, she looked just like any other regular rookie fighter. It's possible that her fighting instincts have been suppressed by her previous lifestyle and that they now lay dormant, however it seems like they can still be awaken.)

**Ailill begins to speak slowly; she's trying to find the right words to get her point across.**

Ailill: Tell me Cagalli what do hope to achieve through the Gundam Fights?

**Cagalli looks at Ailill surprise by the question. She then thinks for a moment, a picture of Kira, Athrun, and Lacus enters her mind.**

Cagalli: I-I want to get home.

**Ailill looks at Cagalli for a moment. The darkness combined with the moonlight shield her face so it's impossible to read her emotions.**

Ailill: I see, but to do that you're going to need to improve as a Gundam Fighter.

**This time Cagalli gets a flashback of Sesen, she clenches her fist and her eyes seem to glow slightly in the dark.**

Cagalli: I know.

Cagalli (Sesen is just a D-rank Gundam Fighter and if Drake is telling the truth then I'll have to at least become a C-rank Gundam Fighter before anyone bothers to listen to me, I have to get better, I have to start taking the Gundam Fights and my training more seriously if I'm ever going to get home.)

**Ailill can see Cagalli's expression and knows now is her chance.**

Ailill: I can help you with that.

**Cagalli turns to Ailill surprise.**

Ailill: I will admit it is a little unorthodox for an outsider to be invited to study khiêu vũ with us but then again it's unorthodox for me to be so impressed.

**Cagalli is hesitant.**

Cagalli: You want to teach me khiêu vũ?

**Ailill nods her head.**

Ailill: Yes, now since you're only staying 2 weeks with us you can't possibly master the art but I should be able to drill the basics into you. From the basics you will be able to develop the khiêu vũ style into a form that suits you best, and even with only the basics khiêu vũ should be able to increase your fighting ability significantly.

**Cagalli still hesitates, suddenly a picture of Sesen ignoring her enters Cagalli's mind, and it's follow by another picture of Athrun, Kira and Lacus. Cagalli clenches her fist.**

Cagalli (So I can see them again, so I can go home, so I can beat her!)

**New resolve enters Cagalli's eyes as she replies**

Cagalli: Thank you Ailill I accept.

**Ailill smiles quite pleased.**

Ailill: Excellent, you'll need to be at the training barracks at 5am sharp don't be late.

**Ailill begins to walk away. The scene ends with a shock Cagalli turning around and asking**

Cagalli: Wait 5am!

**The next scene opens up with Shadow pacing the Dark-Angel bridge. Alan is at the helm leaning back and listening to music, Kenny is on his computer.**

Shadow: This is unbelievable Kenny, unbelievable!

**Shadow appears agitated. Kenny not really caring nods his head.**

Kenny: Um-huh.

**Shadow not noticing Kenny's uninterest goes on.**

Shadow: How could Ailill invite Cagalli to study khiêu vũ and not me!

Kenny: Because she's smarter than you.

Shadow: I mean really, I'm a much better Gundam fighter then Cagalli.

Kenny: Not really.

Shadow: What does Cagalli have that I don't!

Kenny: Brains, talent, good looks.

**Shadow annoyed looks over to Kenny as he realizes Kenny isn't on his side.**

Shadow: I'm starting to get the feeling that you're not on my side Kenny.

**Kenny finally looks up from his computer.**

Kenny: Oh come on Shadow you know that I'm just messing with you, who knows what Ailill saw in Cagalli that made her ask Cagalli to learn khiêu vũ and besides I thought you wanted to learn sword fighting skills from Raheem.

**Shadow eyes suddenly pop open with a new idea.**

Shadow: Raheem! That's it! Thank you Kenny you're genius!

**Shadow turns around to run off. Kenny suddenly fearful shouts out at him.**

Kenny: Hold on Shadow you're not about to do something stupid and crazy are you!

**Shadow turns around and gives Kenny one of his crazy and excited smiles**

Shadow: Of course!

**Shadow runs off. Alan pulls off his ear plugs and turns to Kenny to ask**

Alan: Where's Shadow off to in such a hurry?

**Kenny shaking his head replies**

Kenny: I don't want to know.

**The camera cuts to another part of Dark-Angel, Raheem and Kabira are walking through another hallway full of D-crew members slacking off. There's a card game going on as well as a couple of dice games when Shadow appears from around the corner.**

Shadow: Raheem!

**Raheem and Kabira turn around as Shadow with sword in hand charges. Shadow runs up straight to Raheem and begins to perform a downward vertical slash. Raheem unflinching catches Shadow's sword with one hand.**

Raheem: A training sword?

**Raheem can feel the dull edge of Shadow's sword then on reflex he delivers a powerful kick to Shadow's chest. Raheem lets go of Shadow's sword so Shadow manages to hold onto it while he goes flying into a wall.**

Kabira: Shadow what the hell are you doing!

**Kabira demands to know, both Raheem and Kabira aren't so much angry as they are surprise. Shadow still with his crazy grin on his face rises to his feet.**

Shadow: I've always been more of a do it yourself type of learner and since Raheem refuses to teach me I'm going to do this.

**Shadow on his feet now charges Raheem again. Raheem with the flick of his wrist draws and activates his own Haben style sword (remember it's a rectangle), and with ease Raheem parry's Shadow's attack. Shadow's momentum turn against him causes Shadow to stumble into a group of D-crew members.**

**D-crews look up to see what's going on than they go back to what they were doing. The one's Shadow bump into push him off and tell him to watch where he's going. Raheem connects the dots.**

Raheem: So your plan is to train yourself by collecting battle experience by constantly charging me?

**Shadow regaining his footing nods his head.**

Shadow: Yup

**Shadow seems proud at his idea; Kabira shakes her head as Raheem makes both their thoughts known.**

Raheem: That's the stupidest idea I have ever heard.

**Several of the D-crew who overhear this giggle a little. An annoyed Shadow shouts**

Shadow: Oh yea well we'll see who's laughing at the end!

**The scene ends with Shadow once again charging Raheem. The next scene opens up to show Ailill waiting outside one of the buildings, judging by the fact it's still dark outside we can assume it's very early. We see Cagalli come out of the darkness and head towards Ailill. Ailill upon seeing Cagalli says**

Ailill: Cagalli good you're on time. Well let's get started.

**Ailill leads Cagalli inside. We enter a huge lunchroom where a large group of kids are eating.**

Ailill: This is the lunchroom every morning you'll come here to join your fellow students for the beginning of class.

**Most of the kids are finishing up their meal. They look up at Cagalli with distaste, clearly they don't like the new comer.**

Ailill: We do body conditioning in the morning and technique training in the evening, you'll be joining group A-13.

**Cagalli curious asks**

Cagalli: Are the groups dived by skill?

Ailill: Yes and no, like a normal school are children begin their training at a set age, so the groups are all around the same skill level and age. I put you in a group close to your age; unfortunately they're very well skilled so you'll have a lot of ground to cover in order to catch up to them.

**Ailill stops in front of a group of kids about to head out.**

Ailill: The body conditioning doesn't take much brain power to figure out so you should be fine working with them but I'll come back in the evening in order to give you instructions about the actual technique training.

**Ailill walks away leaving Cagalli with the group of kids. One of the instructors walks on**

Instructor: Alright everyone let's get started with the 10 mile run.

**The instructor turns around and takes off. The kids follow and Cagalli shock mumbles**

Cagalli: 10 miles!

**One of the kids turns around and glaring at Cagalli says**

Kid: If you can't keep up outsider you should just go home.

**Cagalli annoyed grits her teeth and begins to run. The camera cuts to the Dark-Angel as Nick walking through the hallways sees Kabira sitting down.**

Nick: What's up mate?

**Kabira looks up to Nick.**

Kabira: Oh hi Nick, I'm not doing anything I'm just watching Shadow train.

**Kabira nods forward. Nick looks up and spots Shadow and Raheem fighting, although both of them have their swords out Raheem is obviously the better sword fighter. Shadow continues to rush in recklessly while Raheem blocks or parry's Shadow's attacks sending him tumbling backwards.**

**Each time however Shadow gets back up and charges again. Nick whistles**

Nick: The mate sure is training hard.

**Kabira nods her head.**

Kabira: Yup and Cagalli is off training just as hard.

**Kabira seems bored but Nick on the other hand seems to be in deep thought.**

Nick: I have to go mate, see you later.

**Nick turns around and takes off. The camera cuts to the Gundam bay of the Dark-Angel, Jack is busy working on La Rouge. She's got a blow torch in hand and is using it to weld together pieces of steel. Nick walks up to her.**

Nick: Hey mate do you have a moment?

**Jack annoyed replies**

Jack: No.

**Nick goes on anyway.**

Nick: I was wondering mate do you think you can make some kind of shooting thing so I can train.

**Jack rolling her eyes sighs**

Jack: Not you too.

**Nick is confused.**

Nick: Me too what?

**Jack explains**

Jack: Roxas was here earlier asking for help with her training, I told her to go get Kenny, I mean seriously people Gundams don't fix themselves.

**Nick is embarrass.**

Nick: Oh sorry mate.

**Nick turns around and begins to walk away. Jack sighs then putting down the blowtorch gets up.**

Jack: Hold on a minute.

**Nick stops and turns to look at Jack but Jack is already on the move in a very busy like manner.**

Jack: Luckily for you I have something already rig together that will go perfectly for your type of training.

**Nick is surprise but nevertheless follows. The camera cuts to the Dark-Angel's gym as Jack enters with Nick right behind.**

Nick: What are we doing in the gym mate?

**Jack walks over to a certain spot in the gym bends down and opens a small hatch in the ground and hits a button. 4 glass walls rise from the ground; some kind of control panel also rises from the ground. The 4 glass walls come together to form a glass box with Jack at its center. Nick tips his hat back.**

Nick: What is this mate?

**Jack stands up and rubs her hands satisfied. She's quite proud of her work. She walks out of the glass box through a door that blends perfectly in the glass box. Jack walks over to the control panel and after hitting a few buttons she takes out a gun from a hostler and hands it to Nick.**

Jack: This is the same weight and balance as your gun; please step inside the glass box.

**Nick takes the gun and after feeling its weight turns to Jack and says**

Nick: You still haven't told me what that thing is mate.

**Jack smiles.**

Jack: Have a little faith.

**Nick shrugs then walks into the glass box. Jack walks back over to the control box.**

Jack: Ok this works with the same concept as laser tag, just shoot the bad guy with the laser tag gun I gave you.

**A very realistic "bad" guy appears on the glass in front of Nic. , Nick getting the idea shrugs and with a quick draw shoots the image with the gun Jack gave him. The gun fires a laser (laser tag laser not deadly laser) and hits the guy right in the chest. Another realistic image of the guy being hit by a bullet plays before the image disappears**

Nick: This is pretty neat mate, when did you build it?

**Jack full of pride says**

Jack: Oh I did it last week when I had a mental block on my Gundam designs, but I wouldn't drop your guard.

**Nick realizes too late that there is something behind him. He whips around trying to get a shot off but we hear a gun shot before he completes his turn. A computer record voice of Jack plays.**

Computer Jack: You're dead loser.

**Nick blinks surprise, he's staring at the image of the gunman that shot him down. Jack is even prouder of her machine.**

Jack: Yea my machine shoots back, there's an inferred camera on top of the box that detects if a beam has been disrupted by your body.

**Nick is still surprise.**

Nick: I lost.

**Jack doesn't notice Nick's behavior.**

Jack: Yup this is the perfect training device for the desert, no cover to duck behind; you have to dodge using little movements. The hard levels have enemies on all four sides firing at you all at once.

**Nick is still just staring at the gunman who took him down, suddenly he smiles.**

Nick: Thank you Jack this is perfect.

**Jack is surprise for a moment then shrugs and begins to walk away.**

Jack: The controls are simple enough to understand, make sure you put the gun back when you're done.

**The camera cuts outside, it's now getting close to mid-day. We can see Roxas running outside, she's running on all fours and appears to be mimicking a cheetah. Kenny is sitting down close by reading from his laptop aloud.**

Kenny: The Haben desert cheetahs are known for their incredibly fast lightening blitz attack on Klugz, the cheetah will run behind the Klugz for a short time matching it's pace making the Klugz feel as if this is as fast as the cheetah can go but this is just a lure. The cheetah will suddenly add a burst of speed which will, Roxas why are you having me read you information about Haben's animals?

**Kenny asks. Roxas runs in close to Kenny and replies**

Roxas: This is how I train.

**Roxas then proceeds to run off again in a circle around Kenny. Kenny annoyed shouts out**

Kenny: That's not a real answer!

**The camera cuts to a different part of the camp, we can see Cagalli's group returning from their body conditioning. Cagalli although tired and sore appears to have held her own however we can sense that the other students are still giving her the cold shoulder. The instructor stops and turns to face the class.**

Instructor: That was a good workout now take an hour lunch break and then we move on to technique training.

**The children break up into groups, people begin to eat together. The only one who isn't sitting down in a group eating is Cagalli. Cagalli looks around but it's obvious that no one wants her to join their group. For a moment an overwhelming crushing loneliness lands on Cagalli.**

**A look of struggle comes over Cagalli's face as if she's trying to hold up 5 grand pianos at the same time, but a voice pierces the darkness.**

Shadow: Well it's about god damn time princess.

**Cagalli turns in the direction of the sound. Shadow, Nick, Roxas, Jack and Kenny are sitting down waiting for Cagalli, and Cagalli upon seeing them stands there stun.**

Shadow: Kenny made us wait before eating dinner until you showed up.

**Kenny passes the buck.**

Kenny: Jack was the one who insisted that we all eat together.

**Jack points her butter knife at Kenny.**

Jack: Hey we are a team, with everyone training and working all the time we need to do something together.

**Shadow still looks unhappy. A golden smile breaks free of Cagalli's face, a true smile.**

Cagalli: You guys didn't have to wait for me, heh we all know that when Shadow doesn't eat he starts going nuts.

**Cagalli goes to sit down with them as everyone laughs at her joke. Nick hands her a plate of food.**

Nick: So how was your training?

**Everyone begins to chow down on their food. Shadow and Roxas are attacking their food like half starve dogs. Cagalli rolls her eyes and says**

Cagalli: Painful it was almost as bad as Drake's training.

**Jack raises an eyebrow.**

Jack: Really?

**Cagalli nods her head.**

Cagalli: Oh yes, first we had to run 10 miles

**Nick rolls his eyes.**

Nick: That's nothing mate compared to the amount of running Drake made us do.

**Cagalli makes a gesture with her fork which still has some food on it.**

Cagalli: True but at the time it sounded like a lot and besides it's not like Drake ever told us how many miles we were running, anyway so after that we had to stretch but no it's not like the normal kind of stretching we were stretching parts of our body that I didn't even know could bend that way. And for the rest of the day we had to deliver these huge heavily creates of supplies all over camp and those damn things must have weighed a ton plus we had to deliver them in a certain amount of time.

**Cagalli stops to take a sip of her drink, she finally notices the bruises all over Shadow's face.**

Cagalli: How did you get beat up?

**She asks Shadow more curious then concern. Shadow offended snaps**

Shadow: I did not get beat up!

**Kenny answers the question.**

Kenny: Raheem kicked his ass, all day long.

**Cagalli nods her head making the connection.**

Cagalli: Oh right the stupid force training thing.

**Shadow really offended now snaps back even louder**

Shadow: It's not stupid just watch and see, I bet my training works better than yours.

**Cagalli definitely does believe this.**

Cagalli: Yea right!

Roxas: ENOUGH!

**Everyone stops talking and looks to Roxas who seems angry for some reason.**

Jack: Ummm what's up Roxas?

**Roxas turns her angry stare on Cagalli.**

Roxas: I'll tell you what's up Kira!

**Cagalli blinks surprise**

Cagalli: Kira? As in my brother Kira?

**Roxas jumps up and gets in Cagalli's personal space.**

Roxas: Exactly! It's not fair that you only told Shadow about him, I want to know everything about your brother, how tall he is, what color his eyes are, what color hair he has, how big his manhood is, how shinny his teeth are

**Nick interrupts.**

Nick: Wait what did you just say mate?

Roxas: How shinny his teeth are.

**Jack loses her temper and hits Roxas with her wretch.**

Jack: Down girl down!

**Jack turns to face Cagalli as Roxas rubs her head.**

Jack: In all seriousness Cagalli why didn't you tell us you had a brother?

**Cagalli just shrugs.**

Cagalli: I mean it's not like I was hiding it, it just never came up.

**Kenny finishing his food says**

Kenny: Well it's come up now.

**Cagalli rolls her eyes.**

Cagalli: Fine if you guys really want to know

**The camera looks up to the sun as Cagalli begins to tell the others about Kira. We fast forward in time to the end of the lunch break. The instructor stands up and shouts**

Instructor: Alright lunch break is over, everyone get ready for afternoon training.

**Shadow and the others sit up and get ready to go.**

Kenny: So we're all going to meet again for dinner?

**Shadow making a joke exclaims**

Shadow: Well I guess I can meet with you guys again even though the food tastes like crap.

**Cagalli with a smile counters as she brushes off her pants.**

Cagalli: I wonder whose fault that is?

**Shadow makes a quick exit.**

Shadow: Well got to go Raheem isn't going to kick his own ass.

**The rest of the group heads to the Dark-Angel after him. The camera fast forwards in time again to show Cagalli's group enter into a training clearing, everyone begins to spread out into rows and columns except Cagalli who's not sure what is going on. Ailill comes just in time.**

Ailill: Ah Cagalli you don't have to worry you won't be joining in the class exercise today. I'll be teaching you the basics today, maybe next week you'll be ready to join the others.

**Cagalli walks over to Ailill.**

Cagalli: Oh ok.

**Cagalli and Ailill begin to walk away when a male student breaks formation and goes to confront them.**

Male student: Ailill why are you even bothering trying to teach this outsider khiêu vũ?

**The male student stands in direct opposition of Ailill. There's an air of confidence about him an arrogant confidence. The instructor begins to shout at the male student.**

Instructor: Villetta what the hell do you think you're doing how dare you speak to a member of the tribal council in such a manner

**Ailill raises a hand stopping the instructor; she doesn't appear surprise by the confrontation.**

Ailill: Please elaborate Villetta.

**Villetta arrogance overflows from his body; he's one of those smart students who thinks that he's smarter than everyone in the school other than the principle.**

Villetta: khiêu vũ is a noble style based on the rhythm of pure innocence and the light of day, all outsiders stink of corruption and the darkness of cowards

**Cagalli is offended**

Cagalli: Hey!

**Villetta goes on.**

Villetta: So it is impossible for them to learn the art which is khiêu vũ.

**Ailill sighs and shakes her head then looks at Villetta with pity.**

Ailill: Is that what you truly believe Villetta?

**Villetta doesn't like the look Ailill is giving him. The look that she knows something he does not and it angers him.**

Villetta: Yes

Ailill: Well I believe you are wrong, I believe anyone with openness can learn khiêu vũ so please excuse us.

**Ailill with Cagalli right behind her walks past Villetta. Villetta without turning around calls out to them.**

Villetta: Well the elders agree with me.

**Ailill stops now.**

Villetta: I heard how much of a hard time they're giving you with letting an outsider learn khiêu vũ in fact I heard that it is only your pure stubborn will that is keeping them at bay but you might still lose your position on the council.

**The instructor can no longer bear Villetta's disrespectful comments.**

Instructor: Villetta!

**But Ailill once again silences him.**

Ailill: No it's alright.

**Ailill turns to face Villetta, her eyes now are burning with an intensity unmatch by any we have seen. This is the difference between a master and a rookie, it hurts to look at her for long. Villetta is force to back down under her eyes.**

Ailill: Some things are worth more than a title.

**And with that Ailill turns around and walks away with a startled Cagalli. Ailill and Cagalli walk alone in silence for a while until Cagalli breaks the ice.**

Cagalli: I apologize.

**Ailill blinks surprise.**

Ailill: For what?

**Cagalli with some hesitation.**

Cagalli: I didn't realize how much pressure your fellow khiêu vũ must be putting on you about training me, the khiêu vũ fighting style is a secret scared tradition to your clan and for an outsider like me to just come and

**Ailill cuts Cagalli off.**

Ailill: You have nothing to apologize for I was the one who invited you to learn. You see Cagalli I am a teacher of the young before anything else, when I see a student with potential it goes against all my instincts to simply allow that student to remain unguided by form or style, which is why I am teaching you khiêu vũ.

**Cagalli still isn't convince.**

Cagalli: But that other student

**Ailill laughs.**

Ailill: Who Villetta hahaha you don't have to worry he was angrier at you then me.

**Cagalli blinks now surprise.**

Cagalli: Why is he angry at me, I didn't do anything to him?

Ailill: His younger brother Wren was the kid you beat up the other day.

Cagalli: Oh

**Ailill comes to a stop a nice distance away from the others while still maintaining enough space to work in.**

Ailill: But enough of that talk let's focus back on the training.

**Cagalli refocusing moves to face Ailill.**

Ailill: khiêu vũ is all about rhythm, synchronizing your attacks and defense into steady pattern or beat while at the same time trying to understand the rhythm your opponent uses. Once you know your opponents rhythm you'll be able to counter and read his moves.

**Cagalli thinking about what Ailill says has a question.**

Cagalli: If I organize my attacks into a pattern won't it be easier for my opponent to read?

**Ailill nods her head approvingly at the question.**

Ailill: Excellent question, pattern is how we start out with beginners as time goes by and your skill increases you'll learn how to increase your tempo slow down your flow or mix match the patterns to create new ones. It's all about coordination, coordinating your attacks for a specific objective or end game. Do you understand?

**Cagalli nods her head.**

Cagalli: Yes.

**Ailill claps.**

Ailill: Alright then let's start with something simple.

**Ailill takes one step forward and begins a slow punch.**

Ailill: While facing me take one step back with your right leg and twisting only your upper body lean towards the left.

**Cagalli does just that dodging the slow punch.**

Ailill: Good.

**Ailill takes another step forward and begins another slow punch.**

Ailill: Now move the left leg back and twisting only your upper body lean towards the right.

**Cagalli does just that.**

Ailill: Good. Now the right foot back and twist again. Good, now the left back but this time when you twist also pivot on your right foot a full 360 degrees and hold up your right arm, release the twist in your upper body and whack the back of my neck open palm.

**Cagalli still acting in slow motion does just that. Ailill stops what she's doing and corrects Cagalli's arm.**

Ailill: Remember to put a bend in your arm like a rope, a tree branch although straight will break if you whack it against something strong and sturdy but a rope will not.

**Ailill satisfied that Cagalli gets it goes back to her slow attacks.**

Ailill: Good now again, right leg back and twist, left leg back and twist, right leg back and twist, left leg back and twist and twirl and whack, right leg back and twist, left leg back and twist, right leg back and twist, left leg back and twist and twirl and whack.

**Ailill has Cagalli repeat this several times while still narrating it aloud. She puts an obvious beat to her words so that Cagalli can more easily remember them. Cagalli after some slight corrections picks it up on the third repeat. Ailill is slightly impressed.**

Ailill: You're doing well, let's pick up the pace then we'll move on to another exercise.

**Ailill begins to attack faster, although her attacks are still just simple right and left hand punches she's increasing her speed. Ailill is trying to test Cagalli to see how good she really is.**

**Ailill is going pretty fast now and Cagalli is obviously struggling to keep up. Ailill performs a right punch much faster than the others. Cagalli steps back with her left leg but this time Cagalli twists her lower body and then squats down and sticks out her leg as she spins around and untwists her body adding on even more power.**

**Ailill with reflexes sharpen through years of combat jumps back dodging the strike with ease however her eyes are open with surprise. Cagalli also blinks surprise**

Cagalli: Oh my god I'm so sorry Ailill I zone out and must have stumble, you're not hurt are you?

**Cagalli is sincere as she rushes over to where Ailill is. Ailill begins to rapidly think.**

Ailill (She doesn't realize what she just did, the foot sweep is the next pattern beginners learn, attack the head for distraction attack the legs for balance. She was able to process and master the first pattern up to average fighting level speed plus she figure out the next pattern all by herself in less than 10 minutes.)

**Ailill suddenly grins the fox smile**

Ailill: Don't worry about it; let's continue on with the rest of the training.

**Cagalli nods her head happy that Ailill isn't mad or hurt so she gets ready for the next training session. The episode ends with Ailill thinking.**

Ailill (At the rate she's going Cagalli will be able to do class exercises by tomorrow much faster than I expected. I don't know what idiots Cagalli has been hanging out with that didn't realize it but this girl was born to fight; their lost though is my gain.)

_Author's note: Hello guys, a couple of things I want to say, first off the name Villetta was provided by ilianna620. Second as some of you may have notice I have finally come to a decision about the money on Sora, ok let's face it I'm not that creative so I have decided to just cop out and go with the whole starwars credits thing, it's simple and easily to understand and in my defense I'm not the only one who rips that off. That's all for now see you guys later_


	51. Episode 50

Episode 50

**The episode opens up with a montage. We start off showing Shadow and Raheem fighting, they're in the hallway and Shadow no surprise is the one taking a beating. Shadow is sent flying into a wall but he quickly hops back up and charges Raheem again.**

**One can't help but notice that Raheem is trying just a little bit harder to keep Shadow at bay and that their brief sword encounters, although still ending with Shadow being sent flying, are getting longer. The camera cuts to show Cagalli running with her group for the 10 miles.**

**The camera cuts again to Nick in the glass box, he's trying to fire while dodging gun fire (note laser tag fire), and he's able to hit a lot before he himself is shot. Nick curses and shouts "again", Nick continues practicing. The camera cuts to the Gundam bay to show Jack working on La Rouge with absolute focus.**

**Jack without looking up throws a wrench at a D-crew mechanic not working. She begins yelling at him to get back to work (Jack scary when yelling), and the camera cuts to outside the Dark-Angel to show Roxas running around Kenny.**

**Kenny was smart enough to bring a chair and umbrella for shade; he's still calling out information to Roxas. The camera cuts back to Cagalli to show the instructor and 2 students helping Cagalli stretch her arms and legs in very awkward position. Cagalli appears to be in pain.**

**The camera cuts back to Shadow and Raheem, Shadow charges Raheem and performs a right downward diagonal slash Raheem performs a left downward diagonal slash, their blades meet and for second they hold still as they lock in a struggler for dominance but the moment passes and Raheem's blade being more powerful, since Raheem is stronger than Shadow, pushes Shadow's back.**

**Pushing is a nice way of saying it. A more realistic metaphor would be Raheem hit Shadow like a cannon. Shadow is sent flying right into a wall but with the stubbornness only he has he jumps back up and charges again. The camera cuts back outside to show Cagalli carrying a box more than half her size, she's obviously struggling but whether it's from the weight or because the box is awkward it's impossible to tell.**

**Other students are running back and forth passing Cagalli easily carrying their boxes; unlike Cagalli they simply carry the boxes on their back. The camera cuts forward in time to show Cagalli practicing with the class. The camera begins to flip between the current time and future time when Cagalli is receiving private lessons from Ailill.**

**The images start coming faster as we cut forward in time, we see Nick being able to take on more and more enemies until it looks like he's surround. Roxas gets faster and faster. La Rouge looks more and more finish/repaired. Shadow is lasting longer and longer against Raheem. Cagalli is carrying heavier and bigger boxes, she also seems to be learning more complex and stronger techniques.**

**The images slow down for a moment on Shadow and Raheem, this isn't like their previous fights though, for starters it's lasting a lot longer than any other fight we've seen between Shadow and Raheem. Raheem is still the dominate fighter but a bead of sweat is running down his face.**

**Raheem has to keep full concentration on Shadow, a moment's slip up and Raheem will lose to Shadow, both Shadow and Raheem are grunting with effort as they continue to clash.**

Raheem (To think that Shadow would be able to progress this far in a week and a half is unbelievable, he's corrected more than half of his foot work mistakes plus his sword swings have evolved and improved tremendously.)

**The camera cuts outside to show Cagalli doing group exercises with her group while some students stumble slightly or move obviously below combat speeds Cagalli's form and technique are perfect. Also another thing to note is that their seems to be an air of respect for her coming from the other students their cold shoulders seem to have warmed up. Ailill is watching from the sidelines.**

Ailill (Cagalli's improvement over the last week and a half is astounding it's even more then I hope for, she's already reached the skill level for her age group.)

**The class finishes their lesson, and the instructor begins to single out people for advance class.**

Instructor: Alright everyone that's enough for now, Pico, Zero, Villetta, Rebecca, Kess and Cagalli stay after for advance training.

**Cagalli is surprise by this but in a good sort of pride kind of way while Villetta on the other hand is outrage.**

Villetta: What! You want the outsider to join the advance training group today!

**Instructor rolls his eyes not surprise by this outburst.**

Instructor: Yes Villetta, and before you go on another rant about the honor of khiêu vũ and how outsiders are morally corrupted and so on the requirements to participate in the advance lessons are and have always been completing the daily group exercises without a single mistake for 3 days in a row. Cagalli has met these requirements therefore she is allowed to participate in the advance training if you have a problem with that Villetta you don't have to go to the lesson after all the advance training isn't required.

**Villetta is the only one who has a problem with Cagalli, no one else seems to care. Villetta puffs unhappy but he's not going to miss the lesson. The rest of the students have left already and Ailill steps forward.**

Ailill: Ok everyone gather up it's time for the advance lesson.

**The camera cuts forward in time, the sun is beginning to set and the last traces of light disappear as the moon rises. The camera looks down and focuses on Raheem, Raheem is jumping from one hiding spot to another looking around each time obviously trying to avoid something. Nick carrying some supplies spots him.**

Nick: HAhAHHAHAH, Shadow tiring you out that much mate?

**Raheem upon seeing Nick glares at him.**

Raheem: Look I'm not a 19 year old kid with no life ok, I get tired, I can't spend every waking moment fighting. What are you doing in town anyway I thought you'd be training too?

**Nick holds up his crate of supplies to show Raheem.**

Nick: Jack asked me to get some supplies for the making of La Rouge's weapons.

**Raheem nods his head.**

Raheem: It's impressive that she was able to finish repairing La Rouge's armor in only a week.

**Nick is about to say something when he spots Ailill walking by herself, smiling he waves her over.**

Nick: Ailill over here mate.

**Ailill stops and looks over to where Nick and Raheem are. She raises one eyebrow upon seeing Raheem crouching down and hiding behind a crate.**

Ailill: Nick, and Raheem?

**She throws a questioning look at Raheem. Raheem suddenly self-conscious about the way he looks hiding behind the crate jumps up.**

Raheem: Um hello Ailill.

**Nick pulls his hat down over his eyes and shakes his head. Ailill stares at them for a moment then starts to walk away.**

Nick: The mate here wants to ask you out for a drink!

**Nick blurts out as he points to Raheem, both Ailill and Raheem are surprise by this but Raheem's surprise quickly turns to embarrassment as he turns bright red.**

Raheem: Nick what are you

**Nick stomps on Raheem's foot to stop him from talking. Raheem bites his tongue to stop himself from shouting out loud. Nick smiling whispers**

Nick: You'll thank me for this later mate.

**Ailill getting over her surprise says slowly.**

Ailill: Well I suppose a drink at this hour would be nice.

**Raheem is stun but luckily Nick knows how to be cool.**

Nick: Great, well I'll see you mates later then.

**Nick almost throws Raheem at Ailill. Raheem stumbles for a minute then turns around to glare at Nick but Nick is already gone. Raheem extremely nervous says the first thing that comes to mind.**

Raheem: Um well let's head to the tavern then shall we.

**Ailill amused has to use an enormous amount of will power to stop herself from laughing.**

Ailill: Lead the way.

**Ailill allows Raheem to take the lead. The camera cuts forward in time again, Raheem and Ailill are sitting down in the tavern having dinner and drinking. They seem to be having a good time.**

Ailill: Still out of all the Gundam Teams you could have come across you hit the jackpot, a Gundam Team loaded with this many talented individuals and they're still E rank.

**Raheem takes a sip of his drink then says**

Raheem: The most talented among though would be Cagalli and Shadow.

**Ailill eats a little more of her food, after she finishes chewing she says**

Ailill: Cagalli is extremely talented; her information processing ability is the highest I have ever seen. She picks up techniques and patterns so fast; she literarily only needs to see the move once then just from memory she can pick it up within the hour a day at most. You'll have to forgive me Raheem I don't see how Shadow can match that kind of skill.

**Raheem is slightly amused.**

Raheem: Of course you don't it's easy to spot Cagalli's talent when she chooses to put effort into her training and fighting ability after all it sticks out like a black bear in snow. Shadow's talent on the other hand is more subtle I'll admit I didn't see it at first either, only through watching Shadow's Gundam Fights and training methods did it finally begin to show itself. Shadow's gift is his endurance.

**Ailill blinks confused.**

Ailill: His endurance, I know stamina is an important factor in a fight but it hardly qualifies as an exceptional skill.

**Ailill is a little disappointed in Raheem's anticlimactic answer. Raheem smiles enjoying their conversation.**

Raheem: You're mistaken Ailill I said endurance not stamina, Shadow's greatest ability is his endurance to taking a beating.

**Ailill raises an eyebrow unconvinced.**

Ailill: And that is a very useful skill.

**She says with a little sarcasm.**

Raheem: You're still not seeing it Ailill, try looking at it like this after a sparring match when one person gets beat up they need to take an hour break to rest but Shadow doesn't need that rest he keeps going even after taking a beating. In one day he's able to do as much training as an average fighter does in a week because he doesn't take breaks. When fighting a stronger opponent Shadow can get up 2 to 3 times after getting his ass kick to continue fighting; that's equivalent to fighting an opponent 3 times in a row and you have to admit Ailill if you fight an enemy 3 times in a row you're going to get better at fighting him.

**Ailill is in deep pause as she thinks this over. Raheem continues onward**

Raheem: Why even when fighting with me his endurance is something to behold, from early in the morning to late at night he continues to come at me only taking a break for food, sleep and the restroom, I found myself struggling to keep up with him.

**Ailill smiles at this and makes a joke.**

Ailill: Getting old Raheem.

**Raheem fake laughs back.**

Raheem: Hahaha I can assure you that on any given day I can still beat Shadow in a fight, it's just that day in and day out he's coming at me and I don't have his endurance. I know this may sound corny but as the day drags on I grow weaker while Shadow grows stronger, its reach the point that by the end of day it's taking a serious effort on my part to keep Shadow at bay. In this week and a half he's seem to absorb months of swordsmanship training.

**Ailill after another moment of silence says**

Ailill: I think I understand what you mean, I agree with the notion that Shadow's talent is more subtle it's definitely something that could only be notice through careful observation. Still the fact that this Gundam Team has 2 prodigies with polar-opposite talents, it's just remarkable.

**Raheem finishing his drink replies**

Raheem: Well you know what they say about randomness, some people hit the jackpot.

**Ailill gives a short laugh.**

Ailill: HAHAHAH true enough anyway let's talk about something else other than work.

**Raheem smiles as they continue on with their evening meal (date). The camera zooms out a little and turns around to reveal Nick, Kabira, and Roxas hiding behind crates spying on the couple. Roxas excited asks**

Roxas: Oh this is so nerve racking, I can't wait until they kiss.

**Kabira also excited says**

Kabira: Raheem wouldn't kiss a girl on the first date.

**Nick reciting from his own codes**

Nick: A gentleman does not kiss a girl on the first date.

**Roxas rolls her eyes unimpressed.**

Roxas: The only reason that stupid educate rule exist is because most people don't like kissing some stranger, and according to the latest magazines poles it takes at least 3 dates to know somebody.

**Kabira confused turns to Roxas and asks**

Kabira: But you kiss strangers all the time?

**Roxas smiles proudly**

Roxas: That's because I'm unique, anyway Raheem and Ailill have known each other for god knows how many years so they don't have to follow that stupid rule.

**Nick curious turns around to look at Roxas.**

Nick: You're taking this awfully well mate; I thought you wanted to sleep with Raheem?

**Roxas smiles slyly**

Roxas: Oh I still intend to sleep with Raheem, this is all part of my seduction plan. If Ailill rejects Raheem, Raheem will be vulnerable and easy to seduce and if Ailill accepts Raheem then all I need to do is seduce Ailill after all everyone knows that the woman control the relationship and Ailill is nowhere near as shy as Raheem which is why she'll be easier to seduce.

**Nick gives Roxas a look.**

Nick: You know mate you're a little bit evil.

**Roxas just shrugs her shoulders.**

Roxas: If you're ever going to get ahead in this world you've got to be just a little bit evil.

**Kabira is getting annoyed.**

Kabira: Shhhhh I can't hear them.

**The spies go back to watching Raheem and Ailill. The camera cuts to someplace different, we're still in the desert and can see the lights from khiêu vũ; we're near a rock formation like Stonehenge only the rocks look more natural, most likely a form of erosion.**

**The moon is directly dead center in the sky, it's very late and the desert is perfectly quiet no wind no sound and very little light. The camera focuses on Shadow; Shadow is swinging his blade once again fighting his imaginary foes. His sword gleams in the moon light looking more like a lightsaber then an actual metal object.**

**Shadow has his goofy grin on clearly having the time of his life but there's also a seriousness in his eyes, he's taking his imaginary fight seriously. One can't help notice that Shadow's, at least compare to when he first started, swordsmanship has improved. A sword master can at least look at Shadow now without feeling the need to turn their head and cry in shame. A voice slightly annoyed and amused interrupts him.**

Cagalli: You know you're exceedingly annoying to find Shadow.

**Shadow in mid sword strike stops abruptly, he turns around and spots Cagalli.**

Shadow: Cagalli what are you doing here?

**Cagalli's annoyance wins over her amusement.**

Cagalli: What am I doing here, I'll tell you what I'm doing here, a certain nice hard working mechanic became worried sick when a certain boneheaded Gundam Fighting loving stupid nut job hadn't come back yet even though it was midnight and asked me to look for him.

**Shadow isn't that stupid and makes the connection, putting his sword back in his sheath and begins to rub the back of his head embarrass.**

Shadow: Oh sorry I wasn't even thinking about that.

**Shadow sits down while rubbing his head feeling like crap, morally not physically. Cagalli still mad at him sits down next to Shadow.**

Cagalli: You should be sorry, I was lucky to find you a khiêu vũ saw you run off in this direction. What were you thinking?

**Shadow leaning back on the sand shrugs.**

Shadow: I wasn't, Raheem was busy on his date and I didn't want to bother him but I suddenly felt like running so I ran.

**Cagalli getting over her anger looks at Shadow curious.**

Cagalli: Running?

**Shadow rolls his eyes not liking the way Cagalli makes that sound.**

Shadow: Moving, running makes me sound like some scared little kid.

**Cagalli didn't mean it like that and rolls her eyes in annoyance as she begins to stretch out on the sand. Shadow now lying down on the sand has his hands behind his head and is staring at the stars.**

Shadow: I can't wait till our next Gundam Fight; I want to see just how much my training has paid off.

**Cagalli also begins looking at the stars.**

Cagalli: Why do you like fighting so much? Most people want to live nice and peaceful lives and only fight when they have a reason but what's your reason why do you want to fight so much?

**This is obviously an important question for Cagalli, she's looking for something from Shadow some kind of answer to another question locked deep in the far edge of her mind. Shadow takes a moment to think about it then says slowly**

Shadow: I don't know. The reason I want to fight is because it's my dream to become the greatest Gundam Fighter ever, but I have no idea why it's my dream it just is. It's almost like some kind of instinct tells me to fight, ever since I was a little kid every night when I go to bed I dream of Gundams, Gundams fighting each other using super awesome moves, I can't remember the last time I had a dream where there was another person in their besides me.

**Cagalli listens to this all in silence, whether this answer satisfies her or not is hard to say.**

Cagalli: So what did they call you when you were a kid?

**Cagalli is trying to appear uncaring Shadow however sees right through (She's still trying to find out Shadow's real name.)**

Shadow: Nice try.

**Cagalli appears annoyed at her plan failing but doesn't push it.**

Cagalli: Still it's ironic that out of all the places you could have chosen to run to you ran to here.

**Shadow confused begins looking around.**

Shadow: Huh why what's so special about this place?

**Cagalli grins.**

Cagalli: This is the place where Gino discovered khiêu vũ style of fighting, I learned about it from the instructor.

**Shadow sensing a story behind this asks excitedly**

Shadow: Tell me about it.

**Cagalli smiling goes on.**

Cagalli: Well the story goes that Gino was a member of the military, this happen back during the Great War when Haben was still a young nation. An enemy had entered Haben's boarders and Gino's unit was sent to fight against them. Gino ended up getting shot down; his unit had to abandon him in order to purse the enemy. So there Gino was stuck in the middle of the desert with no food or water and his Gundam useless, with no other choice Gino begins to walk in the direction where he thinks the closest town is.

**Shadow is listening to the story with great anticipation.**

Cagalli: So for 3 days and nights he walks in the desert until finally he collapses exhausted and dehydrated, so there he is lying on the ground unable to move and knowing his end is near when suddenly he begins to hear this melody. The melody is a song he's never heard before, a type of music he's never heard before, suddenly he finds the strength to get up and he finds himself inspired by the music. He begins to punch the air moving his body like never before in patterns matching the music, and from those patterns and moves khiêu vũ is born. He later goes on to find a watering hole as well as a village where he starts the khiêu vũ tribe and for the rest of his life the music he heard plays in his mind.

**Shadow makes the connection.**

Shadow: So these rocks are the reason behind the music?

**Cagalli nods her head.**

Cagalli: Yup, Ailill told me that experts believe that a river used to run through Haben a long time ago and this is all that's left of it, apparently when a strong wind blows against the rocks a song can be heard.

**Shadow and Cagalli both turn to look at the rocks.**

Shadow: I want to hear it once.

Cagalli: Me too.

**The scene ends with the camera slowly zooming out and going dark while both Cagalli and Shadow watch the stars and the rock formation.**

**The next scene opens up in the morning, Cagalli is lightly jogging to the lunch room to meet her group. She's in the space between the Dark-Angel and the camp (in the desert), however Villetta coming out of the morning darkness steps right in her path, judging from his stance this isn't accidental. He's blocking her path on purpose. Cagalli stops annoyed.**

Cagalli: Good morning Villetta.

**Villetta with a look of distaste on his face cuts right to the chase.**

Villetta: You're not welcome at practice today outsider.

**Cagalli's annoyance is growing.**

Cagalli: Oh really, by who?

**Villetta eyes narrow.**

Villetta: By me.

**Cagalli resists her anger and takes the high road.**

Cagalli: Look Villetta I apologize for hurting your little brother but I had no choice he was attacking a good friend of mine so please can't we just move on?

**Villetta still looks angry and disgusted.**

Villetta: You think I'm upset about you beating that little runt, the only anger I feel from that is the disgrace that failure brought upon my family by losing to you.

**The force of shock is so great that Cagalli blinks and takes a step back. Villetta continues on**

Villetta: No I'm angry because an outsider like you has the nerve to think she can just walk on in here and learn khiêu vũ. Everyone may be impressed that you pick up a few tricks from khiêu vũ so quickly but I know that you'll never be able to master khiêu vũ any more than a blacksmith can paint artwork. Ailill made a mistake by inviting you to learn khiêu vũ.

**Cagalli gets over her shock, her guilt and pity are gone leaving only her anger.**

Cagalli: Move Villetta I'm tired of hearing you rant.

**Villetta's eyes almost pop out of their sockets at the way Cagalli just dismisses him.**

Villetta: How dare you outsider speak to me like that! I can't stand you any more I challenge you to a duel!

**Villetta shouts pointing at Cagalli. Cagalli didn't expect this.**

Cagalli: A duel?

**Villetta's smile is brimming with his confidence/arrogance.**

Villetta: Yes a duel and to show you how incompetent you truly are I'll even fight you on your own playing field, in a Gundam Fight.

**Villetta raises his left hand to reveal a Neon gauntlet that he didn't have one before. His Neon gauntlet is the same dull metal color Cagalli's is.**

Cagalli: A Neon gauntlet!

**Villetta smiles enjoying Cagalli's shock.**

Villetta: Yes although our tribe is small and peaceful we are fully prepare to defend ourselves if the need arises even in a Gundam Fight. I've taken the liberty of barrowing one of the Gundams; now behold one of my tribe's pride Audrina!

**Villetta hits a few buttons on his Neon Gauntlet. Cagalli realizing what's about to happen jumps back and takes up a defensive stance. A moment later Villetta's Gundam Audrina appears behind him. Audrina doesn't appear to be anything special just a standard military Gundam. Cagalli grits her teeth rapidly thinking.**

Cagalli (Damn he summoned his Gundam looks like I'm not avoiding a fight.)

**Cagalli raises her own Neon Gauntlet and hits a few keys as she shouts**

Cagalli: La Rouge!

**The camera cuts to inside the Dark-Angel, La Rouge's eyes flash and then it begins to stand up. No one luckily was on La Rouge working on it, but that doesn't stop everyone from jumping back and shouting in surprise. La Rouge gets up and heads towards the catapult, as La Rouge launches the camera turns down to look at an extremely agitated Jack.**

Jack: Damn it Cagalli I just fix La Rouge!

**The camera cuts back to Cagalli and Villetta. Villetta grinning with confidence has his hands folded waiting for Cagalli's Gundam. Cagalli on the other hand looks uneasy and nervous. A moment later La Rouge appears behind Cagalli.**

Villetta: Well it's about time, let's get this Gundam Fight started!

**Villetta turns around and heads towards his Gundam Audrina. Cagalli tries to stop him.**

Cagalli: Villetta wait, arrrrrg damn!

**Cagalli grits her teeth finally giving up on trying to stop the fight, turns and heads towards her own Gundam La Rouge. We'll skip the whole Gundam Pilot activation thing but just know that it happens. The camera cuts outside to show La Rouge and Audrina facing off. The camera cuts inside La Rouge's cockpit to show Cagalli definitely feeling the distance between La Rouge and the camp.**

Cagalli: Villetta we're too close to the camp, if we're going to fight then let's move more into the desert so that no innocent person gets hurt.

**We can see Villetta appear on Cagalli's helmet screen, although Villetta is an arrogant brat he's no monster.**

Villetta: That's fine, lead the way but I can tell you that no matter what battle ground you choose you're still going to lose.

**The camera cuts outside to show La Rouge and Audrina move away from the camp going deeper into the desert, after they get a far distance away from the camp they stop and face each other again. The camera cuts inside Audrina's cockpit and it doesn't take a people person to recognize Villetta is inching for a fight.**

Villetta: This is far enough, now LET'S GO!

**The camera cuts outside as Audrina charges La Rouge. The camera does a quick split screen to show Cagalli startle by the sudden attack. Audrina performs a strong forward right hand punch aimed at La Rouge's face. La Rouge ducks down dodging the attack but Audrina within the same heart beat squats down and twirls while sticking one leg out intending to foot sweep La Rouge's legs.**

**La Rouge jumps back just barely dodging the attack. The camera cuts inside La Rouge's cockpit to show Cagalli rapidly thinking.**

Cagalli (I'll take Villetta out from a distance using my beam rifle.)

**The camera cuts outside to show La Rouge reach towards its side while Audrina charges again. La Rouge however only grabs air. The camera cuts inside La Rouge's cockpit to show a shock Cagalli.**

Cagalli (Where's my beam rifle!)

**Cagalli is so shock she makes the classic mistake of taking her eyes off her attacker and looks to where her beam rifle should be. The camera cuts outside to show La Rouge look away as Audrina comes to a stop right in front of it and begins to perform a right roundhouse kick. The camera does a quick split screen to show Cagalli look back to Audrina just in time.**

Cagalli (Oh crapppppp!)

**The screen returns to normal as La Rouge raises its left arm to block and that's when Cagalli notices that her beam rifle isn't the only item missing. Audrina's leg hits La Rouge's left arm full force, time slows for a moment as we see the force of the attack just ripple through La Rouge's arm. The camera does another split screen over La Rouge to show Cagalli make her second shocking realization as pain spreads across her body like cracks on glass.**

Cagalli (I'm missing my shield too!)

**The screen returns to normal as the force of Audrina's kick sends La Rouge to the ground. The camera cuts into Audrina's cockpit to show Villetta grinning.**

Villetta: HA looking away in a fight, I know you're a rookie Gundam Fighter but still any idiot knows not to look away from an opponent attacking. Geez I was even more right about you then even I realize.

**The camera cuts outside to show La Rouge struggle up onto its feet after crashing into the sand. The camera cuts inside La Rouge's cockpit to show Cagalli grit her teeth in pain from the damage her left arm took.**

Cagalli (What's going on? Where's my shield and beam rifle?)

**A new frightening thought enters Cagalli's brain.**

Cagalli (Wait don't tell me)

**Cagalli once again tries to look over her shoulder as the camera cuts outside to show La Rouge begin to reach behind its back looking for its beam Guan Dao, but just as Cagalli feared her beam Guan Dao is missing too. The camera cuts inside La Rouge's cockpit as panic begins to grip Cagalli.**

Cagalli (Even my beam Guan Dao!)

Cagalli: Where's all my equipment!

**A window pops up on her helmet screen as Kenny appears to answer her question.**

Kenny: Still being repaired.

**Cagalli blinks surprise and moves back.**

Cagalli: Kenny?

**Kenny smiles**

Kenny: The one and onughj

**Kenny is interrupted by Jack roughly pushing him out of window's view.**

Jack: Cagalli you son of bitch I just finish fixing La Rouge's armor don't you dare get a single scratch on her!

**As Jack talks the camera switches viewpoints to inside the Dark-Angel's bridge, everyone is there, Shadow, Kenny, Jack, Roxas, Nick and even Zuke. We can see Cagalli on Kenny's computer monitor and on the main monitor we can see the Gundams. Cagalli is surprise**

Cagalli: Jack what are you

**Cagalli is interrupted when Shadow pushes Jack out of the way.**

Shadow: Duh when you called La Rouge didn't you think we're going to notice.

**Kenny fighting Shadow for the chair explains**

Kenny: We didn't call you last time because we didn't know what the situation was but we can see you now.

**Shadow struggling against Kenny for control of the chair adds.**

Shadow: Yea and it's not fair that you keep getting challenge to Gundam Fights and I don't, I'm the freaking team leader!

**Nick shouts.**

Nick: Mate watch out!

**The camera switches back to inside La Rouge's cockpit to show Cagalli switch her focus back to Villetta just as Audrina punches La Rouge right in the face. The camera cuts outside to show the punch La Rouge dazed stumbles backwards. Audrina without hesitation twirls around once then performs a vertical kick.**

**La Rouge however recovers quickly from the fast attack and blocks the second. La Rouge blocks the attack by putting both palms out and moving them up and down in small but fast motion. Audrina's leg seems to curve off La Rouge's palms away from La Rouge's body. The camera cuts inside Audrina's cockpit to show a mild look of annoyance cross Villetta's face.**

Villetta (Hmm a khiêu vũ power attack block.)

**The camera cuts outside to show Audrina still with one leg in the air bring its second leg in the air and spinning its whole body perform a left horizontal kick aimed at La Rouge's head. La Rouge ducks down barely dodging the blow by an inch and then jumps back as Audrina lands lightly on its feet.**

**The camera cuts into La Rouge's cockpit to show Cagalli scrambling to put her thoughts together, unfortunately Shadow and the others comments aren't helping.**

Zuke: Tis even for a natural it's pathetic that you didn't realize your Gundam didn't have any of its equipment the moment you saw it.

Shadow: What are you doing Cagalli go on the offensive, even if you don't have any weapons you can still give him or her the good old righty lefty attack!

**Shadow holds up his right and left fist. Cagalli becoming extremely annoyed snaps**

Cagalli: Will you all shut up I'm trying to ahgkjak

**The camera cuts outside for a moment to show La Rouge get punch in the face again. The camera returns to inside La Rouge's cockpit just as Shadow says**

Shadow: Geez Cagalli you should pay more attention to your battles.

**Shadow gives Cagalli one of his knowing smiles. Cagalli glares at him which of course results in her getting nailed in the face again. Cagalli blinks through her watering eyes and pain to focus on Villetta's incoming fist. Cagalli is successfully dodging the attacks. The camera cuts outside as Cagalli goes on the offensive. Audrina does another forward punch.**

**La Rouge takes a step back then twists its upper chest, as Audrina's punch misses La Rouge, La Rouge pivots on its left foot and holding out its arm La Rouge untwist its body intending to whack Audrina on the back of the neck but Audrina reads this like a book, and drops down into push-up position dodging the attack.**

**The camera does a momentary split screen to show Cagalli surprise her attack didn't hit. The screen returns to normal as Audrina does a hand stand. Audrina's back is facing Cagalli and it is upside down completely vertical. Audrina brings down its legs slamming it into La Rouge's head/shoulders.**

**La Rouge gets slammed face first into the ground. Audrina jumps up and back in the air using just its hands, does a flip in the air then lands on one leg and sticks the second out as it begins to spin heading straight towards La Rouge. La Rouge struggles to its hands and knees but that's as far as it gets before Audrina's spinning top attack connects.**

**La Rouge is sent rolling for a good couple of feet before stopping. The camera cuts inside La Rouge's cockpit to show Cagalli climb back on her knees her training plus battle experience seem to be making her more pain tolerate. Valletta pops up on her helmet screen.**

Villetta: HAHAHA you thought you could use khiêu vũ against me, I've been studying and practicing khiêu vũ for years so don't think for one second that that level of skill will work against me.

**Cagalli grits her teeth in annoyance.**

Cagalli (Jerk, but he's right. Villetta does know khiêu vũ better than me but khiêu vũ is the only fighting style I even remotely know, anything else I try would just be random punching and kicking.)

**Cagalli looks very frustrated not knowing what to do.**

Shadow: Cagalli you're not actually listening to that stuck up brat are you?

**Shadow burst into Cagalli's thoughts in his classic loud way. Shadow goes on**

Shadow: You've been working yourself to the bone learning khiêu vũ so don't let this guy psych you out into not using it.

**Cagalli is still hesitant.**

Cagalli: But

**Everyone else though joins Shadow's side.**

Nick: The mate's right Cagalli don't back down.

Jack: Yea Cagalli kick that little punk's ass using his own fighting style!

Roxas: You're 10 times hotter using khiêu vũ then he is Cagalli!

Kenny: It's a proven statistic fact that fighters who go up against someone better train in their own fighting style are 63 percent more likely to walk away having learned more than 3 weeks training under a sensei regardless of winning or losing.

Zuke: Your opponent is a natural too so you have a slight chance of overcoming the difference in battle strength.

**Cagalli is feeding off the words of encouragement from her friends. The camera cuts to inside Audrina's cockpit to show Villetta grow tired of his gloating.**

Villetta: Come on for an outsider who has disgraced my family's honor is that all you've got!

**The camera cuts outside as Audrina charges La Rouge. The camera cuts inside La Rouge's cockpit to show Cagalli still unmoving, she seems to need some kind of spark to get the flames going, and that spark comes in the form of Shadow.**

Shadow: Hurry up and win already Cagalli!

**Shadow's spark ignites the flames in Cagalli; Cagalli eyes refocus with renewed determination. The camera cuts outside to show Audrina perform another straight punch aimed at Cagalli's head then cuts back inside as Cagalli shouts**

Cagalli: Right!

**Cagalli surges forward as she does so the camera cuts outside to show La Rouge slide left while at the same time catch Audrina's punching arm. La Rouge pulls Audrina's punching arm forward slamming Audrina into the ground. La Rouge uses this opportunely to hop up onto its legs.**

**Audrina also quick to recover moves to get up too but La Rouge performs a vertical kick in order to stop this. Audrina sees the kick coming and quickly leans back dodging it by a hair, without waiting a heartbeat Audrina puts all its bodyweight onto its hands and after bringing both its knees to its chest shots its legs out nailing La Rouge right in the chest.**

**La Rouge slides on the sand from the force of the kick but this time stays on its feet. Audrina jumps straight up onto its legs and charges La Rouge again but this time La Rouge charges too, both Gundams meet in the middle and begin unleashing a series of punches and kicks on the other while trying to block at the same time. Their defense and attacks are very similar since they're using the same fighting style.**

**The Gundams defend with a combination of bending their bodies and using the palms of their hands to manipulate the attacks away from their own bodies. They attack using coinciding punches, kicks and different foot sweep techniques, however it quickly becomes obviously that La Rouge is at a disadvantage.**

**Audrina's attack patterns are more complex and also have more variety of punching, kicking and foot sweeping techniques. La Rouge on the other hand only knows a couple of punching and foot sweeping techniques, and there's even worse news for La Rouge, all the techniques La Rouge does know it appears Audrina knows too.**

**Audrina is able to react faster to La Rouge's attack because it recognizes it, therefore Audrina is dodging most of La Rouge's attack while La Rouge on the other hand is taking a fair amount of hits from Audrina. The camera cuts to inside Audrina's cockpit to show Villetta grin as he realizes Cagalli hasn't learned any kicking attacks yet.**

Villetta: What's the matter outsider why aren't you using kicking attacks?

**The camera cuts outside as Audrina shows off its own kick attack. La Rouge blocks it but Audrina continues using kicking attacks. The camera returns to inside Audrina's cockpit as Villetta smiling wickedly continues his baiting.**

Villetta: Did Ailill forget to teach you some; understandable since we didn't start learning kicking techniques until about 3 years ago, I guess that sucks for you!

**The camera cuts outside to show La Rouge still struggling to block all of Audrina's kick attacks. The camera cuts inside La Rouge's cockpit to show Cagalli gritting her teeth in frustration as sweat pours down her face. We can still see Kenny on her helmet screen.**

Kenny: Don't listen to him Cagalli he's just trying to bait you.

**Shadow pushes Kenny out of the way**

Shadow: Cagalli don't just stay silent and take that, turn around and insult him!

**Kenny now really pissed turns around and pushes Shadow back.**

Kenny: Damn it Shadow how many times do I have to yell at you for pushing me out of my seat, I don't go and push you out of Nightwing's cockpit!

**Shadow annoyed snaps back**

Shadow: Well sorry if you hog the monitor.

Kenny: I'm supposed too I'm the programmer!

**Cagalli becoming extremely irritated snaps**

Cagalli: Will you both shut up and stop backseat Gundam Piloting!

**Cagalli's breath gets knocked out of her as she takes a hit to the chest from her lack of concentration. The camera cuts to inside the Dark-Angel's bridge to show everyone watching the main monitor intensely except for Zuke who is leaning against the wall with his eyes close. Nick is tapping his gun holster not liking the way this fight is going.**

Nick: This skiff isn't going Cagalli's way mate.

**Jack replies fiercely**

Jack: Cagalli isn't going to lose, just watch she's going to make a comeback!

**The others aren't convince.**

Shadow: How are La Rouge's power levels holding up?

**Shadow asks Kenny**

Kenny: Fine, it's not like La Rouge is using any kind of beam weaponry and La Rouge's armor really isn't taking all that much damage from this Audrina Gundam's attacks.

**Jack full of pride says**

Jack: Of course not, I used a brand new metal welding technique I came up with on La Rouge's armor; it's not going to break under those weak attacks.

**Kenny typing at his computer nods his head.**

Kenny: Jack's right, La Rouge can keep this up all day *pause* it's Cagalli I'm worried about.

**Shadow looks at Kenny confused not understanding but Zuke comes in and explains**

Zuke: It's one thing to have a good Gundam it's another to be able to pilot it. The blonde natural girl doesn't have the strength or skill to operate a third rate Gundam like this to its full operating ability.

**Jack and Nick are offended by this.**

Jack: Whose Gundam are you calling third rate!

Nick: Who are you calling weak mate!

**Zuke is uncaring under the glares of Jack and Nick. Kenny though reluctantly nods his head in agreement.**

Kenny: Zuke's right guys, Cagalli doesn't have the stamina to fight in a long drawn out battle like this especially against a stronger opponent.

**Roxas carefully observing the fight notices that La Rouge isn't attacking anymore and that it's reacting slower.**

Roxas: Cagalli's reached her limit, should we go out and help her Shadow?

**All eyes now turn to Shadow for a decision; Shadow bites his lip as he thinks this over.**

Shadow: Cagalli can win this I know she can, she's just got to know she can too.

**Shadow struggles for a good minute trying to decide what to do when suddenly his eyes open wide as he sees something on the main monitor. It's impossible to tell what he saw and even if we did know it would be impossible to tell how it matter, but Shadow has his crazy excited grin on. He's come up with something.**

Shadow: Kenny prepare to fire the positron cannon.

**Kenny looks at Shadow surprise.**

Kenny: Um Shadow I want to help Cagalli too but don't you think using the positron cannon is a little bit of an overkill?

**Jack adds**

Jack: Plus the Gundams are too close together, the positron blast is more than likely to hit Cagalli too.

**Shadow smiles, he's got something up his sleeve.**

Shadow: We're not aiming it at Villetta.

**Everyone is surprise by this even Zuke.**

Zuke: Then what are you planning on doing with it?

**Shadow ignores Zuke and asks Kenny**

Shadow: Hey Kenny can you move the monitor camera to the right.

**Kenny still doesn't get what's going on but decides to just go with it.**

Kenny: Um sure, tell me when to stop.

**We watch as the image on the main monitor moves and looks away from the battle into seemingly endless desert. Zuke watches Shadow trying to understand what he's up too.**

Zuke (What's that natural planning, the positron cannon is the most powerful weapon on board this ship capable of taking out several square blocks so why is he aiming it at nothing?)

Shadow: Stop right their Kenny.

**Kenny stops the image from moving, as far as we can tell it's just plain desert but to Shadow it's good.**

Shadow: Ok Kenny when I tell you to, fire the positron cannon at that exact spot.

**Roxas grows impatient.**

Roxas: What are you up to Shadow?

Nick: Yea mate tell us?

**Shadow just smiles.**

Shadow: Just watch and see.

**We cut back outside to the battle, La Rouge tries to punch Audrina but it's in vain. Audrina easily counters the attack with a jump kick that sends La Rouge crashing into the ground. La Rouge lying face down on the ground doesn't get up this time. The camera cuts inside La Rouge's cockpit to show an exhausted Cagalli.**

**Cagalli is on the ground breathing extremely heavily desperately trying to recover her breath, sweat is pouring down her face almost drowning her. Her eyes appear to be a little out of focus**

Cagalli (Damn it, I lose again.)

**The camera cuts outside to show Audrina standing triumphantly in front of La Rouge. We cut inside Audrina's cockpit to show Villetta looking down at Cagalli expecting this outcome.**

Villetta: Just as I thought this is all you outsiders are capable of heh all that's left is to finish you off.

**The camera cuts outside to show Audrina prepare to do the final move. The camera quickly switches back to the Dark-Angel as Shadow shouts**

Shadow: Fire!

**The camera cuts outside to show the positron cannon fire and hit absolutely nothing. It does however create a good size gust of wind, but the wind dies down long before it hits Audrina or La Rouge. The camera cuts inside La Rouge's cockpit to show Cagalli's POV, the screen gets darker as Cagalli is slowly passing out.**

Cagalli (This…..is…it.)

**The screen goes completely black and for a moment we see and hear nothing then.**

Cagalli (What's that noise.)

**It's soft, at first it's almost impossible to detect but it's enough to give Cagalli's mind something to focus on, to gather her spreading thoughts. The sound seems to grow and as it grows we can tell it's some kind of flute.**

Cagalli (A flute? Where?)

**We hear a flashback (note not see).**

Ailill: Gino laid there his life fading when he heard a sound, a sound that inspired in him a new rhythm a new reason to stand.

**The sound continues to grow stronger as we begin to hear other wind instruments. The melody is catchy, not slow or sad like most wind songs but steady and heart pumping, a beat design to get the heart rate up. We switch back to regular POV to see Cagalli still lying down but her fingers twitch and begin to tap with the beat.**

Cagalli (This sound, it's kind of catchy.)

**The tempo of the sound increases as it does so we can see Cagalli's fingers move to match its pace but it's not just Cagalli's fingers now. Cagalli's feet are tapping and Cagalli's head is nodding to the beat. We begin to see color come back to Cagalli's skin as her mind gets lost in the song.**

**The camera cuts outside as Audrina raises its foot over La Rouge's head preparing to stomp down. Audrina begins to bring its foot down, the beat suddenly changes and as it does the camera cuts inside La Rouge's cockpit to show Cagalli's eyes pop open with renewed energy.**

**Cagalli begins to move and as she does so the camera cuts outside. La Rouge placing its palms on the ground does a quick vertical hand stand with its feet sticking straight up dodging Audrina's attack. The camera does a momentary split screen over Audrina to show a surprise Villetta but returns to normal as the beat changes again.**

**This time we hear 2 distinct notes, and upon each note La Rouge strikes out with its legs, kicking Audrina twice in the face. Audrina is sent back, La Rouge rolls to get itself right side up but we can still hear the music. The camera cuts inside La Rouge's cockpit.**

**Something seems to be happening inside Cagalli, doors are opening, pathways are connecting, knowledge is intertwining, a new rhythm is emerging and all the while the music keeps on playing. The camera cuts to inside Audrina's cockpit to show an angry Villetta.**

Villetta: Playing dead, a cowardly move I should have expected from an outsider but that only works once!

**The camera cuts outside as Audrina charges La Rouge. Audrina begins to launch a series of attacks but something is different with La Rouge. Audrina tries a straight punch with the right arm but La Rouge spins once to the left dodging it. Audrina tries another straight punch with the left hand but La Rouge does another twirl dodge.**

**Audrina switches to kicks, Audrina does 3 rapid kicks aimed at La Rouge's chest but La Rouge bending and twisting its chest dodges them all. Audrina finally finishes off with a right leg foot sweep but La Rouge jumps lightly in the air easily avoiding it, while still in the air La Rouges performs a powerful right roundhouse kick hitting Audrina's face.**

**Audrina is sent flying. The camera cuts inside La Rouge's cockpit to show Cagalli's mind going double time.**

Cagalli (I get it, I get it now, each movement corresponds to a note, khiêu vũ is all about rhythm but you need a beat or song to align your rhythm up perfectly. With the right melody khiêu vũ can become an unstoppable fighting style.)

**The camera cuts outside to show La Rouge going on the offensive charge Audrina. La Rouge's attacks are different now, she's including a lot more styles of punching appearing to just go with the flow, she's also using kick attacks as well, but the most important difference is in her movements.**

**La Rouge is moving in a much more balletic manner then before, in fact one could mistake it for dancing if Audrina wasn't trying to punch La Rouge. The camera cuts back to the Dark-Angel to show that in all the excited of La Rouge's comeback the positron blast has been all but forget, except of course by Zuke.**

Zuke (I see khiêu vũ is an art based on music and I had heard that the founder had heard a melody come from the wind passing through a rock formation. By firing the positron blast you created a gust of wind to pass through the rocks allowing the female blond natural to hear the melody but it's more than that. By hearing that melody she's heard the melody for which khiêu vũ was originally built upon giving her an edge on her opponent. Heh not bad for a stupid weak natural.)

**The camera cuts back outside to show that as more and more of La Rouge's attacks hit Audrina. Audrina's defense is begins to crumble leaving even more openings. The camera cuts inside Audrina's cockpit to show panic begin to creep into Villetta.**

Villetta (What the hell is going on, her movements her rhythm it's completely change. It's become almost exactly like the one Ailill and the other masters' khiêu vũ users' use.)

**Villetta makes this realization in shock. The camera cuts outside as La Rouge performs a straight punch aimed at Audrina's face. Audrina goes to block it but La Rouge stops its punch, we do a momentary split screen.**

Villetta: A fake!

**Villetta realizes this too late as La Rouge already shoots out its leg sweeping Audrina's legs out from under it, in the next heartbeat La Rouge jumps onto its hands and performs a duel kick nailing Audrina in the chest. This time Audrina is sent a good distance away.**

**Both Gundams climb to their feet as they stare off at one another. The camera cuts inside Audrina's cockpit.**

Villetta (Tis I don't know where she came up with this new rhythm but it doesn't matter, I've been learning khiêu vũ much longer then she has and have accumulated a number of special techniques, I'll crush her using them.)

**The camera cuts to inside La Rouge's cockpit.**

Cagalli (Villetta can't hear the rhythm; he's too caught up in his own confidence to listen to the music. The beat tells me everything from when to dodge how to dodge and how to attack and as long as I hear it I can win.)

**Both Pilots are obviously exhausted. They're both breathing heavily and sweating buckets but they're oblivious to this. They're completely focused on their goals right in front of them. The camera cuts outside as both Gundams begin to move charging one another, each has a fist raised for a punch. The camera does a split screen.**

**Right side shows Cagalli and left shows Villetta, they both scream at the same time.**

Cagalli and Villetta: I'm going to win!

**The screen returns to normal and the episode ends with a new third Gundam coming out of nowhere stepping in the middle of the 2 charging machines and stopping both punches with one hand each with plenty of muscle left to spare.**

Ailill: This fight is over.

_**Author's note: *party noise* episode 50 is finally out! A milestone for any anime writer or (fanfiction writer) and I have so much to say. Ok for starters I like to thank Lynxx96 for the name Audrina and I like to apologize for my poor grammar. Although I'm pretty sure I already said this but my grammar sucks, if this were to ever become a real anime/manga then the first thing I'd do is hire a editor but as of now you guys will have to settle for me proof reading it twice (unless one of you wants to do it for free) however if I ever do make any spelling mistakes just point it out to me and I will correct it.**_

_**It's been a little over a year since I started writing this and in that time I've written 50 episodes, the story sure has come a long way hasn't it *moment reflection* in fact if this was a normal Gundam series it'd be over by now, hahaahahahhahah but rest assured this is still what I consider the beginning arc, there's a long way to go before the curtain closes on Gundam Seed Shadow. I like to turn around and give thanks now to a couple of people who I feel I owe a debt to with this story, my real life friend Kenny who I'm always sharing Gundam ideas with. To my Grandparents who always support me and to my old man who always annoys me, and to my sister who always loves me.**_

_**To my first (well I'm not really sure first but definitely oldest) reviewer Byron Lancaster, he or she (I'm pretty sure we went over this already but I forgot) was their at the very beginning and has review every episode I have ever written. Now I know I don't turn already and make that much of a deal about reviewing like some other fanfic writers do it's still nice to know that someone out there is reading this, enjoying this and I will admit during dry spells when I'm having a crappy day and I turn around and think to myself "why do I even bother" I can always count on Byron to review my story and brighten my day if only just a little. I hope my writing skills have improve since you first started reading my story. ANYWAY take a bow and have your moment.**_

_**And finally the last person I want to thank is you the readers. You guys are the heart and soul of any anime or manga group, you have all the power you are in charge and it is because you are reading my story that it exists! If this ever does become a real anime of manga then it will be because YOU shouted out to the producers "we aren't ready for this to end, we want this story to shine". So I'd like to thank my past readers, those who have read my story in the past, they were there at the beginning, when I was a rookie (still am) they guided me down the right path and although they may no longer read my story they are the roots that hold it in place.**_

_**I'd like to thank my present readers, those who will read this within the week, you the supports that give me strength encouraged me to write more and to try my best to excel my limit, to not take the shortcuts and to be strong when the world is bleak, you are the trunk that is unbending and unmoving. I'd like to thank my future readers, those who will read this episode 6 months from now or longer, you may be new but you are already a vital part of this fanbase, you are my hopes and dreams, I'm hoping that someday my story will have hundreds of readers all dying for the next episode, I'm dreaming that someday kids will chat online about Gundam Seed Shadow and argue that it's the best Gundam series ever with the Universal Century fans because it has been achowledge as an official Gundam series. You are reasons why I started posting my story on this site in the first place, you are always pushing me forward towards tomorrow, you are the tree branches that are reaching towards the sky, towards the future.**_

_**So too all fans past, present and future I order you to get up right now and take a bow and proclaim yourselves the most important part to this story writing process bow and know that I value each and every one of you. I will end this interruption of Gundam Seed Shadow with these final words.**_

_**Happy mother's day!**_


	52. Episode 51

Episode 51

**The episode opens up with Shadow, Roxas, Jack, Nick and Zuke waiting outside one of khiêu vũ important houses, everyone with the exception of Zuke appears nervous.**

Jack: I wonder what's going to happen to Cagalli; Ailill looked pissed when she dragged Cagalli and that other guy Villetta out of their Gundams?

**Zuke uncaring yawns as he says in his arrogant way**

Zuke: She's most likely going to be kicked out of khiêu vũ.

**Kenny looks at Zuke horrified.**

Kenny: No way, they can't do that.

**Shadow on the other hand is angry.**

Shadow: Yea that fight was obviously Villetta's fought he was the one who started it.

**Roxas is also angry**

Roxas: Cagalli shouldn't be punished for defending herself.

**Zuke rolls his eyes at the others stupidly.**

Zuke: Don't be so naïve, the blond natural is an outsider and the khiêu vũ have a rule forbidding unauthorized fighting between students which the blond natural broke to the extreme when engaging in a Gundam Fight, the blond natural is screwed.

**Kenny can't argue with Zuke's logic but his moral instincts tell him he's right.**

Kenny: But still

**Nick pulling his hat down low stops them.**

Nick: That's enough mates.

**All eyes turn to Nick in surprise, even Zuke opens one eye (OMG Zuke can open his eyes). Nick with great disgust says**

Nick: Zuke is right mates, Ailill maybe a fair person and Cagalli may not have started the fight but the khiêu vũ are tightly knitted mates, and they're not going to take kindly to Cagalli bringing out her Gundam and Fighting one of their own.

**Jack cries in protest**

Jack: But Villetta practically force Cagalli into the fight, if Cagalli gets kicked out so should he.

**Nick sadly shakes his head.**

Nick: You don't get it mate, Villetta is family true he's the black sheep of the family but he's family. Sure the mate will be punish but unless he really screws up like I'm talking treason they're never going to kick him out it'd be like disowning your own brother you just can't do it unless he does something truly and unforgivingly terrible.

**Zuke huffs, and smirks.**

Zuke: So your tiny little natural brain can understand a situation as complex as this cowboy.

**Nick glares at Zuke and taps his gun hostler.**

Nick: I can also understand how to put a bullet in your shoulder blade mate.

**Zuke is unthreatened by Nick's threat and just ignores him which only pisses Nick off even more. Nick goes for an attack but Roxas, Jack, and Kenny quickly grab him to hold him back. Zuke appears to be still uncaring throughout this but if a careful observer were to watch they would notice that Zuke's fingers twitch. Shadow however notices this movement and quickly steps in-between Nick and Zuke. He reaches for his sword but doesn't take it out of its scabbard.**

Shadow: That's enough! Look we can spend all day trying to figure out what's going to happen to Cagalli or we could actually wait for Cagalli herself to come out and tell us what happen.

**Zuke doesn't move, but everyone else relaxes in silent agreement and mumbles ok. The camera cuts inside the building, Cagalli is waiting at a bench which is located right next to a door. Cagalli looks like a student waiting to go to the principal's office. Ailill's assistant coming out to tell Cagalli to go in only encourages this idea.**

Ailill's assistant: Ailill is ready to see you now Cagalli.

**Cagalli has her neutral diplomatic face on.**

Cagalli: Thank you.

**Cagalli gets up and enters Ailill's office. Ailill's office looks like a principal's office, a desk, a small couch, a book case, and 2 chairs in front of the desk. Ailill's assistant politely leaves the room as Cagalli enters. Ailill is sitting behind the desk. Cagalli looks surprise that it's just Ailill in the room.**

Cagalli: Where's Villetta?

**Ailill makes a gesture with her hand then says smoothly**

Ailill: I had him leave through the backdoor; I thought it better to limit the contact you two have with each other.

**Cagalli taking a seat remains neutral to the comment.**

Cagalli: I see.

**Ailill stares at Cagalli for a moment trying to estimate something, and then she begins slowly**

Ailill: Let's cut straight to the point, I brought you here because A. you engaged in a non-sparing fight with a fellow student and B. you did it with Gundams.

**Ailill pauses waiting for Cagalli to say anything but Cagalli chooses to say nothing. Ailill looks down at a file appearing to read it.**

Ailill: From the evidence and Villetta's own confession it is confirmed that he was the one that initiated the fight. He summoned his Gundam first and you summoned yours in response. It's also been brought to my attention that you were the one who said that the Gundams were too close to the camp for the fight and insisted that you both move further away from the camp.

**Once again Ailill pauses allowing Cagalli to have a chance to make her own comments but Cagalli continues to sit there with her neutral expression. Ailill narrows her eyes slightly, not in anger but in deep thought, and continues.**

Ailill: With the evidence provided to me as well as Villetta's past record it is a safe assumption that you were thrust into a bad situation and tried to lower its danger level as much as possible. However you are not the victim of bad luck, there were many other ways you could have dealt with Villetta when he approach you for a fight other than engage him.

**Ailill begins listing examples off her hand.**

Ailill: For starters you could have simply ignored him and tried to pass, if that failed you could have simply humored him and go back to your ship and called me to deal with him or if you didn't want to look weak in front of him you could have called me through your Neon Gauntlet. Instead though you choose to follow his lead by summing your own Gundam, and despite all the caution you took the fact remains that you summoned a military grade weapon with one of the highest damage radius and levels. If there had been any random traveler or morning jogger or even a desert car passing by your Gundam's Fight zone they most certainly would have met an unfortunate fate it is only luck that no one did pass.

**Ailill for the third time pauses waiting for Cagalli to give some kind of response but when Cagalli does not Ailill decides it's time to ask her a direct question.**

Ailill: It's obvious that this behavior deserves some sort of punishment; tell me Cagalli your highly intelligent so what sort of punishment would be fitting for you.

**Cagalli finally speaks; she speaks in a very even tone of voice.**

Cagalli: The removal of my permission to learn khiêu vũ.

**Ailill blinks in surprise.**

Ailill: You wish to be kick out of khiêu vũ?

**Cagalli gives Ailill a smile but it's a dry humorless smile.**

Cagalli: Let's not play games here Ailill, I am fully aware of the rules and regulations of khiêu vũ and I know full well that fighting a fellow student in a non-sparing match is grounds for dismissal. The fact that I engaged in the fight with a Gundam gives me zero leeway for a lesser sentence so let's just get this over with.

**Ailill looks at Cagalli shocked for a moment then laughs in relief.**

Ailill: HAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAH so that's why you've been acting so weird!

**For the first time since the conversation began Cagalli is showing emotion on her face, surprise.**

Cagalli: Huh?

**Ailill calms down enough to talk to Cagalli.**

Ailill: You had me worried there for a minute that you didn't care about the rules or damages your fight might have caused.

**Ailill suddenly gets serious**

Ailill: But let me give you some words of advice Cagalli, you should never go into a meeting thinking you're going to lose.

**Cagalli is now even more surprise.**

Cagalli: So wait I'm not going to be kicked out of khiêu vũ?

**Ailill gets an awkward look on her face.**

Ailill: Um well actually yes you are.

**Cagalli no surprise has the annoyed "then what was this whole conversation for" look on her face. Ailill sees this look and sighs**

Ailill: Look officially I disapprove greatly of the way you handle the situation and as punishment I'm kicking you out of khiêu vũ training.

**Cagalli having grown up around political talk understandings where this is going.**

Cagalli: But unofficially?

**Ailill smiles liking how fast Cagalli caught on.**

Ailill: Unofficially I think you handle the situation perfectly in fact I probably would have done the exact same thing.

**Cagalli blinks in pleasant surprise.**

Cagalli: You would?

**Ailill leaning back in her chair nods her head.**

Ailill: Definitely, being as old as I am and with all of my life experience I have come to one conclusion. There are 2 types of people in the world, those that you can talk and reason with and those you have to beat reason into. It pains me to say that Villetta has always had a problem with his ego, always thinking he was better than everyone else and in all honesty he does have the most talent out of his group. Talent in khiêu vũ though does not make him better than everyone else, for there is always going to be someone more talented then you.

**Ailill begins to tap her fingers on the table.**

Ailill: That's why we need hard work and determination unfortunately Villetta could never grasp the concept that someone was more talented than him. Sure the other instructors and myself were better than him at khiêu vũ but he simply reason that this was because of experience and that eventually he would surpass us all. But you rocked his world, you scared the face which is his god, you crushed his ego back down to size. Thanks to you he's going to put more effort into his training than I've seen from him in a long time.

**Cagalli just looks confused.**

Cagalli: But you're still going to kick me out of khiêu vũ?

**Ailill doesn't look to sorry about that.**

Ailill: Oh well yea, the old geezers in the khiêu vũ council didn't like you learning khiêu vũ in the first place and it took all of my charm and jackassness to convince them otherwise but after this incident there's no way in hell they'd roll over again.

**Cagalli looks down at the floor sad.**

Cagalli: I see.

**Ailill looks at Cagalli for a moment then smiles.**

Ailill: But I'm not kicking you out because those old geezers told me too. I won't deny that it isn't a factor but in truth the real reason I'm kicking you out is because we've already accomplished what we set out to do.

**Cagalli looks up once again surprise. Ailill explains**

Ailill: I agreed to teach you the basics of khiêu vũ and from what I saw from your fight with Villetta you've already mastered the basics. If you were a normal student the next step would be special moves training but even I don't feel comfortable teaching that to someone not from our tribe. Plus you only have 2 more days here before the big rebel meeting so I decided that it would be in everyone's best interest if I just let you go. You can continue on with your training with your team mates.

**Ailill signals the end of the conversation when she turns her head to look back down at her paperwork. Cagalli a little stun gets up after a moment and begins to walk away but Ailill looks up and stops her.**

Ailill: Oh Cagalli one more thing.

**Cagalli stops to look at Ailill.**

Ailill: The basics are just that basic, enough to get you going but nowhere near the power you need to get you to where you're going. If you're going to survive Cagalli you're going to have to get stronger but the sky is wide, the universe is great and the stars are far. Which road you take, how you choose to evolve to grow is still up to you. If you train hard, evolve your determination into an unstoppable infernal, and travel down the road that most suits you then you can reach the top.

**Cagalli takes this all in then smiles. The scene ends with her saying**

Cagalli: Thank you Sensei.

**The next scene opens up with an eagle's eye view of Azize. The main item that sticks out is the Sanctus turris, it is by far the tallest tower in the city; the base is similar to the Eiffel tower in the way it has 4 pillars holding the tower up however the pillars are design so they look like statues of people.**

**At the top there's a spiral staircase that abruptly stops as if someone had chop off the path leading up. The camera passes over Sanctus turris and stops at the royal palace, the camera then zooms in and enters a small but obviously important conference room.**

**There seems to be only about 12 people in the room and judging by the serious atmosphere something is going down. Shadi, Hirsi and Fachtna are among the 12 sitting in the room. Shadi is at the head of the table, from the way his hands are position we can tell he's in deep thought.**

**One of the other people are talking.**

Person A: Your majesty you can't expect us to sit here doing nothing.

Person B: We have confirmed the information from our intelligence agency that the rebels are in fact meeting in the desert. Now while they're all together is the perfect time to wipe them out.

**Hirsi nods his head in agreement.**

Hirsi: If we let this opportunely slip by we may never get another chance to end this in one battle; we'll be stuck fighting the rebels in small guerilla fights lasting over years.

**Fachtna up into now remains silent but keeps up the perfect persona of a concern citizen.**

Fachtna: Gentlemen I think you're all overlooking a certain fact; we're all under the pretense that we can win against the rebels in a battle.

**Hirsi takes offense to this.**

Hirsi: Fachtna are you saying that we would lose against the rebels!

**Hirsi has stood up in a threatening pose against Fachtna. Fachtna backs off acting scared.**

Fachtna: No, no that's not what I'm saying at all captain of the royal attack, I'm sure that if we came down upon them with the full force of the Haben military then we would definitely win.

**Hirsi glares at Fachtna.**

Hirsi: Then what are you saying Fachtna?

**This is the moment Fachtna has been waiting for, a perfect combination of plans activating and gathering on one spot, despite his best efforts his sly evil smile faintly breaks free from his perfect character but it's only for a moment.**

Fachtna: It's just that we can't use Haben's full military force; it's against Haben law to use more than 10 percent of Haben's military power against a terrorist organization. A fair law needed to ensure that an evil dictator never abuses his power and uses terrorist as an excuse to invade other lands but in this case it's holding us back.

**Hirsi is getting extremely annoyed now.**

Hirsi: Enough of the poetic speeches Fachtna just spit out what you want to say!

**Fachtna is also growing annoyed now.**

Fachtna: Fine, this terrorist organization is a lot bigger than any we have ever faced, certainly we could crushed them with our full military might but do you honestly believe that with a mere 10 percent we could win because I certainly don't!

**Hirsi grits his teeth, he obviously has a lot of pride in the Haben military but he's a soldier with a lot of experience as well and can do the math just like Fachtna.**

Fachtna: We have to be smart here, our next move is going to be crucial, if we launch an assault on the rebels and lose that will scream weakness, our enemies will flock to the rebels like animals to a piece of meat and in the end we would have just made our situation even worse.

**The other people in the room have been swaying back and forth between Hirsi and Fachtna views like people on a seesaw, currently they're siding with Fachtna. Hirsi angry swings his arm out to the side.**

Hirsi: So we should do nothing and just let this battle drag out years and generations.

**The crowd sides with Hirsi now. Fachtna shakes his head.**

Fachtna: No of course not but if only we could find a way to justified using our full

**Fachtna stops in mock revelation.**

Fachtna: Wait maybe we can. The rebels have elected a single unified leader which we can argue is a separate government so we can classify them not as a rebel terrorist organization but as an unidentified invading nation.

**Hirsi rubbing his cheek warms up to this idea.**

Hirsi: If we can convince the rest of council to approve of this action.

**Hirsi trails off thinking; the whole room seems to be in agreement of this plan. The whole room that is except the one person who matters.**

Shadi: No.

**Everyone is surprise by this, all eyes turn to face Shadi.**

Hirsi: But your majesty

**Shadi interrupts him.**

Shadi: You all seem to be forgetting one very important fact, these are Haben citizens not some foreigners. To turn around and classify them as foreigners, it's as if we're saying to the people either you agree with our views or you're not a citizen of Haben. The Haben law that prevents us from using more than 10 percent of our military force on terrorist is not just there to stop a corrupt king from invading another county but also to stop him from oppressing his subjects. If the rebels have grown so big that we need more than 10 percent of our power to deal with them there is obviously something very wrong with my rule. We will once again try to pursue them through negations.

**A rumble of protest starts to break out but Shadi silences it with his eyes.**

Shadi: Enough! That is my decision, we will have another meeting tomorrow but until then that will be all!

**Shadi's tone of voice makes it clear he will not be argued with. All of the politicians begin to clear out of the room. The camera begins to follow an unhappy Fachtna. Fachtna turns a corner to find Byron standing there leaning against the wall with his hands folded.**

Byron: The meeting didn't go as you planned Fachtna?

**Fachtna glances at Byron but doesn't show a hint of surprise. He keeps walking.**

Fachtna: Byron, I would ask how you knew about the meeting but word would travel fast about the king meeting with his top 12 advisers so such a question is pointless.

**Byron matches pace with Fachtna, he has on a mad hatter smile.**

Byron: So is the king going to launch an assault against the rebels meeting?

**Fachtna eyes Byron annoyed with his personality.**

Fachtna: No, even if the king had the power of an assured victory he would not attack the rebels, not even if the rebels attack first; he truly is a stubborn king.

**Byron's smile somehow grows.**

Byron: Stubborn or devoted?

**Fachtna glances at Byron annoyed again.**

Fachtna: There the same, anyway Byron to what reason have you sought me out and note my patience is tired out for the evening.

**Byron isn't worry he has something good.**

Byron: Oh I'm sorry I thought you wanted these S-class files right away.

**Fachtna stops in his tracts. He turns slowly around to face Byron, as the moonlight lights up his face we can see Fachtna's eyes open wide in genuine surprise and something else is twinkling in them, desire.**

Fachtna: Y-you have the files?

**Byron still smiling holds out the files for Fachtna to grab.**

Byron: Even though these files are all over 50 years old they were a pain in the ass to get ahold of, you have no idea how much money I lost on bribes and what I had to steal and how many hours I had to cram over documents to find this.

**Fachtna is staring at files hardly breathing; it's as if he's living a dream. He reaches out hesitantly scared this might be an illusion, but once he gets a grip on the papers he laughs.**

Fachtna: HAHAHHHAHHAHAHHAHHA this is wonderful thank you Byron you have just made my day, no my year.

**Byron doesn't quite know what's going on.**

Byron (I don't get it, I'm missing something here, those papers are obviously important to Fachtna but what could they mean. I looked over them and saw absolutely nothing important they're completely worthless. What does Fachtna know that I don't?)

**Byron shrugs.**

Byron: Well I'm glad to have may your day anyway see you later.

**Byron goes to walk away but Fachtna stops him.**

Fachtna: Wait Byron.

**Byron stops and turns to look at a grinning Fachtna.**

Fachtna: I'm not going to waste time mixing words, I need a man that can get results and you fit that bill so how would you like to join my inner circle?

**Byron stands there for a moment surprise then smiles a wolf like smile.**

Byron: I would be honored.

**The camera cuts a little bit forward in time. We watch as Fachtna enters his office, he rushes over to his desk to get started looking over his files. Byron also walks in, the door swings shut automatically. The room darkens as all the windows and the door lock in place, a hologram of Zagat appears from the floor.**

Zagat: Master.

**Zagat is on one knee and looks up to spot Byron.**

Zagat: Byron!

**Zagat is dumbfounded something which Byron enjoys thoroughly.**

Byron: Why hello there Zagat it's nice to see you too though you don't have to bow and call me master.

**Byron doesn't bother hiding his amusement. Zagat glares at Byron with intense hate and is about to say something else when Fachtna cuts in.**

Fachtna: Relax Zagat; Byron has become part of our inner circle.

**Fachtna doesn't even bother to look up from the files, and he says this rather absent mindedly. Zagat is so outrage he can't even contained it.**

Zagat: This is ridicules how could you allow that smug son of a bitch into our inner circle!

**Fachtna now looks up, his eyes are like swords that slice right through Zagat's disobedience.**

Fachtna: Why, Why did I allow Byron into my inner circle? It's because I'm surrounded by incompetent buffoons and when I happen to stumble upon someone who actually accomplishes the task I assign to them I am definitely not going to let him slip through my fingers!

**Zagat realizes he's angered Fachtna and bites his tongue. Fachtna snaps**

Fachtna: If the next words out of your mouth aren't I have destroyed the princess's escort ship I will be even angrier then now.

**Zagat hesitates which causes Byron to snicker. Zagat glares at Byron but goes on.**

Zagat: I was contacting you to inform you that the second part of my plan to take out the princess's escort ship will soon commence.

**Fachtna is uncaring.**

Fachtna: Good, Zagat prepare your stuff and contact Alex and Zain, I want all of our top guns on one ship.

**Zagat looks surprise by this but obediently replies**

Zagat: Yes Sir.

**The hologram fades, as the lights come back on Fachtna goes back to looking over his files. Byron eyes him for a moment then asks the question that's on everyone's mind.**

Byron: Going somewhere Fachtna?

**Fachtna looks up at Byron and gives him his evil smile.**

Fachtna: Oh yes we are, so pact your bags Byron and be ready to go when I command.

**The scene ends with Byron bowing.**

Byron: As you command sir.

**The next scene opens up on a brand new sunny day, overlooking khiêu vũ. The camera zooms in to show Shadow, Roxas, Nick, Cagalli, Kenny, Jack, Kabira and Raheem; saying goodbye to Ailill and other khiêu vũ friends.**

Kenny, Roxas, Jack, and Nick: Bye!

Shadow: See you later!

**The khiêu vũ respond with.**

khiêu vũ: Yea don't be strangers. Stop bye again sometime. Bye!

**Kabira, Raheem, and Cagalli step forward to say a private goodbye to Ailill. Kabira is first, they shake hands and Kabira bows.**

Kabira: It was a great honor to meet you Ms. Ailill you taught me a lot, I hope we meet again someday.

**Ailill is surprise but then smiles.**

Ailill: Please just call me Ailill and it was a pleasure meeting you as well Kabira, oh and know that the day you become the ruler of Haben you shall have the full support of the khiêu vũ behind you.

**Kabira is touched.**

Kabira: Thank you…..Ailill.

**Cagalli is next.**

Cagalli: I'm sorry things ended the way they did but thank you for teaching me the basics of khiêu vũ.

**Ailill shrugs.**

Ailill: I'm not sorry with how things ended. Cagalli don't slack off on your training now, training is the food which feeds victory, also no more putting half-ass effort into your Gundam Fights. When you use khiêu vũ style of fighting you represent the khiêu vũ so don't make us look bad.

**Cagalli smiles at the joke.**

Cagalli: I won't.

**Cagalli turns to go but Ailill adds one last comment.**

Ailill: And make sure you come back; I want to see how your khiêu vũ style evolved.

**Cagalli smiling waves**

Cagalli: I will Sensei.

**The last one is Raheem, Raheem and Ailill just stare at each other for a moment. Raheem coughs awkwardly.**

Raheem: Well it was nice seeing you again Ailill.

**Ailill is also feeling awkward.**

Ailill: Yea you too Raheem.

**Raheem not knowing what else to do holds his hand out for Ailill to shake. Ailill looks at the hand disappointed but she shakes it nonetheless.**

Raheem: Well goodbye Ailill.

Ailill: See you later Raheem.

**Raheem turns around and begins to walk away. Ailill looks down at the ground, suddenly the wind picks up and the sand blows against the back of Ailill's neck. The wind and the sand make an uncanny noise almost like a whisper. Ailill looks up when she hears this and then smiles.**

Ailill (Heh you sure are nosy ancestors, but thank you.)

**Ailill calls out with new found confidence.**

Ailill: Hey Raheem!

**Raheem turns around as Ailill smiling holds up 3 fingers.**

Ailill: 3 days.

**Raheem blinks not getting it.**

Raheem: Huh?

**Ailill explains**

Ailill: I'll give you 3 days to call me, and if I don't hear from you in 3 days I'm going to find you and kick your ass.

**It takes a full minute for Raheem to fully understand the meaning of Ailill's words, and then the sun shines brightly as he calls out.**

Raheem: Ailill I will swear 2 things to you on my honor as Captain of the Haben royal guard, the first is that I will definitely call you within 3 days and the second is that on our second date I will bring you flowers!

**Raheem turns red as he says this. Ailill also turns red then she smiles.**

Ailill: I'll hold you to that.

**A guest of wind blows by the 2 as their radiating smiles light up the world. The camera cuts forward in time, we're on board the Dark-Angel. The bridge crew are in their places; Shadow, Kabira, Raheem, Nick, Roxas, Cagalli, Zuke and Jack (note Kenny is part of the bridge crew) are also on board. Shadow has his wild excited grin on as he shouts**

Shadow: Alright Alan take us to the rebel meeting point, full speed!

**Alan eyes shin as he grips the wheel. He has his evil smile on.**

Alan: Hold on then because I feel the need the need for speed!

**Alan after hitting a couple of buttons slams the wheel forward. The camera cuts outside to show the Dark-Angel's engines roar to life and then go from 0 to 360 in a heartbeat. The camera cuts to different parts of the ship to show cards, dice, board games, and people get sent flying from the force, the camera then cuts to the Dark-Angel's bridge.**

**Everyone has to brace themselves from the force, Rini, Thomas, Ciro and Kenny have to grip their chairs to stop themselves from getting slam against a wall, however Shadow, Nick, Cagalli and Roxas don't have to grip anything, in fact only a slight shift in foot work and they're able to hold their positions.**

**Raheem is also able to hold his position with only a shift in footing, plus he catches Kabira and stops her from slamming straight into the wall. Nick catches Jack.**

Kabira: AHHHHHHHHHH

**Jack looking up at Nick.**

Jack: Thanks Nick.

**Nick with his other hand holding his hat on his head smiles down.**

Nick: No problem mate.

**Raheem is eyeing Nick and Roxas.**

Raheem (It's no surprise that Shadow and Cagalli are able to keep their footing from this burst of speed but for Nick and Roxas to be able to hold their ground as well.)

**Zuke who's leaning against the wall looking untroubled by the speed burst recognizes the same thing Raheem does.**

Zuke (All four of them have improve greatly.)

**Shadow is having the time of his life.**

Shadow: This is freaking awesome!

**Roxas has her tongue sticking out like a dog in a car.**

Roxas: Hell yea.

**Cagalli groans**

Cagalli: Why couldn't I end up on a normal ship, one that isn't constantly moving at super high speeds for no reason!

**Everyone just ignores her. Alan excited calls out to Shadow.**

Alan: Hey Shadow, Jack tweak the engines a little so do you mind if a do a couple of stunts to get used to her again.

**Alan is referring to the Dark-Angel when he says "her". Shadow looks like he just won the lottery.**

Shadow: How do I put this, Roxas care to help me out.

**Roxas knowing where Shadow is going with this nods her head.**

Roxas: Sure no problem.

**They take a breath then say at the exact same time.**

Roxas and Shadow: FASTER!

**Everyone looks at the 2 like their crazy of course Alan also grins like a loon.**

Alan: I'll take that as a yes, here we go!

**The camera cuts outside to show the Dark-Angel take off again, doing high speed turns, jumping in the air, 360s and other stunt driving kind of stuff. The camera once again cuts forward in time; it's night now and the Dark-Angel is moving much more slowly, almost creeping into the lion's den. The camera cuts into the Dark-Angel's bridge.**

**Everyone seems to be focus and on high alert except for Shadow, Roxas, Zuke, and Nick. Shadow and Roxas are on the ground appearing to be sleeping. Roxas is curled up in a ball looking like a cat while Shadow is spread out. Zuke and Nick are leaning against the wall with their eyes closed. Nick has his hat pulled down over his eyes. Raheem watches them with a little envy.**

Raheem (It must be nice to be young and ignorant of danger.)

**Kabira and Cagalli are obviously nervous and a little bit twitchy. Cagalli is also looking at Shadow and Roxas annoyed.**

Cagalli: Geez talk about not having a care in the world.

**Alan on edge asks**

Alan: So um how will we know when we get to the rebels meeting point?

**Ciro replies flatly**

Ciro: When they start shooting at us.

**Cagalli snaps**

Cagalli: Ciro!

**Ciro just ignores her. Alan gulps**

Alan: He's joking right?

**Warning lights start going off. Kenny begins to rapidly type on his computer.**

Kenny: We've got Gundams coming on us fast.

**Nick wakes up in an instant but Shadow and Roxas sleep right on through the noise. Cagalli fixes this quickly.**

Cagalli: Wake up you moron!

**Cagalli kicks both Shadow and Roxas awake.**

Shadow and Roxas: OW, OW, OW!

**Raheem ignoring the scene asks Kenny**

Raheem: How many are there?

**Kenny types something then says**

Kenny: 65 Gundams; they seem to be the Rotle Class Gundam.

**Shadow awake now asks**

Shadow: And that means.

**Raheem explains**

Raheem: The Rotle class Gundam is just a standard mass produce model Gundam; it's only specialty is that it was design to fight in the desert.

**Shadow nods his head already planning his strategy.**

Shadow: Ok I see.

**He isn't the only one planning. Cagalli asks**

Cagalli: Are there any incoming ships?

**Kenny shakes his head.**

Kenny: Nothing my scanners are picking up.

**Alan pulls back on the wheel.**

Alan: I'm stopping to wait to see how things play out.

**Thomas sings**

Thomas: LA, LA, DOE, RA I'm activating the energy shield and the beam CIWs MEEEEE.

**Rini and Ciro also begin to focus on their monitors.**

Ciro: I'm activating the Linear Cannon.

Rini: I'm powering up the high energy beam cannons.

**The camera cuts outside to show the Dark-Angel stop as all its weapons and defenses activate. We can also see the rebel Gundams begin to fan out to surround the Dark-Angel; the camera cuts back into the bridge.**

Nick: Should we launch in our Gundams mate?

**Roxas stretches.**

Roxas: Sweet I'm always up for a Gundam Fight.

**Before Shadow can comment though a communications link opens up on the main monitor.**

Rebel A: Halt, you're entering a restricted area lower your weapons and state your business.

**Everyone just stares up at the monitor a second forgetting that Gundams can automatically open up a communication link with anything. Cagalli however is quick to respond.**

Cagalli: Restricted! Who the heck are you demanding us to lower our weapons and tell you anything!

**Rebel A grits his teeth in annoyance.**

Rebel A: We are the liberators of Haben and we're currently occupying this area now lower your weapons and state your business or we will open fire.

**Roxas whispers to Shadow.**

Roxas: We don't have to take this crap Shadow; we can go out there and kick their ass.

**Rini nods her head in agreement.**

Rini: It would be an easy battle since they don't even have a ship.

**Jack also adds.**

Jack: Plus my Gundams are definitely superior to theirs.

**Shadow has his battle grin on but before he can act Kabira steps forward.**

Kabira: Shadow please wait; we didn't come here to fight, we came here for peace.

**Kabira address Rebel A.**

Kabira: We will lower our weapons but we will keep our energy shield up.

**Rebel A talks to someone off camera then nods his head.**

Rebel A: That's acceptable.

**Rini, Kenny and Ciro turn to Shadow first before doing anything. Shadow looks annoyed but takes a big breath and calms himself, then nods his head. Rini, Kenny and Ciro turn around and begin typing on their monitors. The camera cuts outside to show the Dark-Angel's weapons deactivate but it's energy shield still remains on. We then cut back to inside the bridge.**

Rebel A: Now state your business for being in the area.

**Kabira looks to Raheem, Shadow and Cagalli for courage then takes a breath and says**

Kabira: I am Kabira Tahsin daughter of Shadi Tahsin and on behalf of my father I have come here to talk with the leader of the rebels.

**Saying Rebel A is shock is the biggest understatement of the year. It takes him a full minute to fully comprehend the situation he's in. He stutters out.**

Rebel A: I-I have to call my superiors.

**The communications link goes dead for a minute. Nick whistles**

Nick: Well this certainly is interesting mate, wonder what they'll do?

**Zuke says flatly**

Zuke: They'll probably open fire on us.

**Alan looks at Zuke with confidence.**

Alan: That'd just be suicide for them, we've got the Dark-Angel and all the Gundams on board, and we obviously have more power than they do.

**Rini leans back and places her hands behind her head.**

Rini: You're forgetting that they have their entire army within minutes from us, despite it being just a small rebel army I doubt we can take them all.

**Alan hadn't thought of that and now looks nervous.**

Shadow: You guys are being so negative try looking on the bright side.

**Ciro looks at Shadow annoyed.**

Ciro: Which is?

**Shadow smiling says**

Shadow: If they do try to kill us at least we get an awesome Gundam Fight.

**Everyone groans when they hear this. The communication link reopens.**

Rebel A: The president will meet you in person to confirm your identity; your escort ship will wait here in the meantime.

**Before Kabira can comment Raheem steps forward. He's got a very protective and fierce look in his eye.**

Raheem: Unacceptable I will not allow Ms. Kabira to go anywhere without a guard.

**They seem to have anticipated this for Rebel A immediately responds**

Rebel A: That's fine, but you may only be accompanied by 3 body guards. A transport ship is on the way to pick you up.

**Rebel A once again cuts the communication link. Kabira breathes a sigh of relief, this is going much better then she thought, and Nick puts her thoughts into words.**

Nick: Well this is off to a good start mate so who do you want as your bodyguards?

**Kabira looks up then around having never thought about this before.**

Kabira: Um well, I never really gave much; I mean I trust your guy's judgment.

**Raheem says gently but firmly**

Raheem: No Kabira this is your decision. When you become the ruler you will have to pick advisers to accompany you when you have negotiations.

**Shadow leaning back and looking like he doesn't have a care in the world says**

Shadow: Raheem's right Kabira, this is your meeting, you have to decide who you want watching your back.

**Kabira bites her lip and rubs her chin as she thinks about this, then says slowly**

Kabira: Of course I want Raheem as 1, which just leaves 2 more. It'd probably be best to choose from the Gundam Fighters, um Cagalli and Shadow.

**Cagalli is surprise while Shadow is excited.**

Shadow: YESSSS!

**He begins punching the air. Roxas is a little bummed out.**

Roxas: Not fair, you get to have all the fun Shadow.

**Cagalli looks a little worried.**

Cagalli: Are you sure Kabira?

**Kabira with growing certainly says**

Kabira: Yes, I want you to come with me Cagalli because you remind me of some of the Haben politicians so I know you'll be able to help me with the negotiations and I want Shadow to come because well he's Shadow.

**Cagalli already slipping back into her Chief Representative Mode feels better about being invited but looks at Shadow annoyed.**

Cagalli: I'm not sure Shadow being Shadow is such a good idea for this type of situation.

**Shadow now looks annoyed.**

Shadow: Hey just what are you trying to say?

**Nick laughing slaps Shadow's back.**

Nick: HAHAHAA just try not to have us leaving this place at gun point mate.

**Everyone except Shadow laughs at this. Raheem smiling steps forward and says**

Raheem: Alright that's enough, everyone prepare yourselves we are about to meet the president of the rebel forces, next to Fachtna he is the most threatening force to the King and the Haben government.

**We have a close up of Cagalli, Shadow, and Kabira. we can see their eyes harden and brighten as they become completely focus on the task at hand. The episode ends with the camera zooming out with the shadow of the rebel President towering over the Dark-Angel.**


	53. Episode 52

Episode 52

**The episode opens up showing the inside of a small transport craft, it's not the fanciest craft (ok it's a piece of crap that somehow defies the laws of nature by flying) but you have to admit for a rebel ship it isn't bad. Shadow, Cagalli, Kabira and Raheem are sitting on one side, on the opposite side there are a dozen or so rebel guards all packing some serious fire power.**

**Needless to say the atmosphere is tense. The rebel guards are glaring at Kabira and the others with intense hatred. Raheem is returning the look while Kabira is trying very hard not to fidget from nervousness. Cagalli on the other hand is watching everything with a keen eye.**

Cagalli (The tension in here is enough to kill a horse. No surprise, the rebels hate Kabira's father they blame him for all of the misfortune that's befallen Haben, and Raheem is extremely loyal to Kabira's father so he's returning their hostile glares with an equal hostile glare.)

**Kabira nervously taps her foot, which causes one of the rebel guards to finch for his weapon, which almost causes a chain reaction but luckily Kabira freezes and Raheem remains unmoving. The guards slightly relax, although Raheem doesn't move Cagalli can sense him tense. She breathes a sigh of relief when she sees the guards relax.**

Cagalli (That was a close one; but damn with all this tension in such a confined space if someone jumps the gun we could all be shot. I just hope we can make it to the rebel base without getting killed.)

**Suddenly we hear snoring, Cagalli with a great look of annoyance and disbelief looks over at a sound asleep Shadow.**

Cagalli (How can that moron sleep so peacefully, doesn't he realize that the fate of an entire nation rests on this one meeting not to mention that sitting across from us are rebel soldiers just inching for an excuse to kill us. No this is probably Shadow's defense mechanism, he's so nervous about the up and coming meeting that he forced himself asleep that's got to be it, I mean not even Shadow is so stupid that he can just let everything go and sleep like a log.)

**Shadow starts mumbling in his sleep.**

Shadow: Go Nightwing super awesome punch of dread.

**Shadow has a huge grin on his face and looks nice and cozy. Cagalli's teeth grit in frustration.**

Cagalli (Then again this is a whole new level of stupidly we're talking about.)

**Cagalli sighs**

Cagalli (God what I would give to have someone smart and level headed like Kira to be with me now or someone cool who never loses control of their emotions like Athrun or maybe someone kind but strong and determine like Lacus but no I'm stuck with this out of control moron.)

**Cagalli stops for a moment and gets a faraway look in her eyes.**

Cagalli (Athrun, Kira, Lacus I wonder what you're doing right now, I wonder how Orb's doing. It's been 2 months since I've come to Sora; I've been so busy lately with helping Kabira save her country and friends that I haven't had much time to think of my own. Before I was abducted Kira had join the ZAFT military and Lacus was invited to be a member of the supreme council, Athrun was sent to help put the final touches on the peace treaty between ZAFT and Orb.)

Cagalli (By now they must know I've disappear, they're probably worried sick and tracking down every possible lead they can find. I hope Kira and Athrun aren't pushing themselves too hard again, after all they've done they deserve a break and I hope Orb is doing alright. Orb was still in the early stages of rebuilding, I hope the surviving members of the government were able to keep everything in order.)

**One of the rebel guards interrupts Cagalli's thoughts.**

Rebel Guard: We're entering our base camp now, we'll be at the president's tent shortly and I hope for your sake you're who you say you are.

**The guard directs his glare at Kabira as he says this. Kabira gulps and a bead of sweat starts to form on her brow. Cagalli refocuses.**

Cagalli (No there's no time to be worrying about that now, I'll take this one step at a time and the first step is to save Haben.)

**Shadow still asleep mumbles again.**

Shadow: Since you liked it so much the first time here it is again Nightwing super awesome punch of dread.

**If it wasn't for the threat of sudden movements being met by bullets Cagalli would have jumped up and slap Shadow awake.**

Cagalli (That's double stupid, outside of anime no one names their attacks and if people did that'd be such a STUPID NAME FOR AN ATTACK!)

**The camera cuts outside to show what one would expect from an army base, tents line up the ground like flakes of snow on the first snowfall of the season. We can also see huge tents that are housing war ships although we can't see the ships themselves; we see Gundams all over the place being outfitted with all different types of weapons.**

**Some of these types of weapons don't even look like weapons. The transport ship flies all over this but it's obvious that the place the transport ship is heading to is the large ship in the middle. It appears to be slightly bigger than the Dark-Angel. The camera follows the transport ship as it docks, no surprise there are a lot guards waiting for them when they get there.**

**The camera cuts inside the transport ship to show the rebel guards get up.**

Rebel guard A: We're here.

**Everyone begins to get up. Raheem grits his teeth.**

Raheem (The rebel forces have assembled a good size militia, nothing that a nation's army couldn't take care of but definitely too strong for just 10 percent of our military to take care of, what is the king going to do?)

**While Raheem thinks this over Cagalli is finally able to get a chance to take out her anger.**

Cagalli: Wake up you stupid moron!

**Cagalli kicks Shadow off the seat. Shadow slowly gets up as he rubs his head.**

Shadow: Owww why'd you go and do that Cagalli, I was having a really awesome Gundam Fight in my dream and I was just about to win.

**Shadow complains. Cagalli is finding herself acting more and more uncharacteristic (note Cagalli's not acting totally out of character I'm just choosing to portray a different side of her that we don't see often), clenching her hands with extreme irritation Cagalli suddenly lashes out and grabs the collar of Shadow's shirt and begins to drag him away.**

Cagalli: God you are so stupid would you please come out of LaLa land and try to focus on this meeting. Now when the meeting starts no sleeping, fidgeting, eating, scratching, in fact no movements whatsoever, just sit in your chair and don't move.

**The guards are leading Kabira to the rebel president. Raheem is right behind her and Cagalli and Shadow are bringing up the rear. Cagalli is making sure to whisper to Shadow so the others don't hear.**

Cagalli: Oh and another thing, under no circumstances are you to speak at all.

**Shadow was unhappy when Cagalli was dragging him and he's not getting any happier with her rules.**

Shadow: Why do I have to do what you say?

**Shadow gets pulled eye level with Cagalli. Cagalli glares very intensely at Shadow.**

Cagalli: Let me put it to you like this Shadow, you should listen to me because one I've got years upon years of political training on you and two me running a country trumps you running a Gundam team.

**There's a sarcastic ring in Cagalli's voice when she says "you running a Gundam team".**

Cagalli: So you're going to listen to me Shadow or I won't do the budget paperwork you should be doing anymore.

**Shadow is shocked, then grits his teeth in annoyance.**

Shadow: Fine princess.

**Shadow adds the "princess" mark for his last act of defiance. Cagalli rolls her eyes in annoyance but just lets it go. The rebel guards stop and fan out as they come to a large door, one guard knocks on the door.**

President: Come in.

**The doors open and everyone walks in, Raheem, Kabira and Cagalli stop shocked, at the head of a meeting table is a kid probably around the same age as Kabira.**

President: I'm Serafina Milena president of the Haben liberation army.

**Serafina is obvious from Haben; although he speaks to everyone he is staring at Kabira with an intense look of hatred. Kabira surprise at first gulps intimidated by the hate directed at her, however she's brought out of her petrification when Shadow puts his elbow on her shoulder.**

**Shadow alone is unmoved by Serafina's appearance, in fact he looks bored. Shadow starts leaning on Kabira. Kabira surprise looks up at Shadow. Shadow notices Kabira's stare and smiles down at her, a smile radiating confidence. Kabira takes strength from this smile and after a moment turns around to face Serafina.**

**Serafina is so focus on Kabira that he misses the moment with Shadow. Kabira clears her throat then begins.**

Kabira: I'm

**Serafina rudely cuts her off.**

Serafina: I know who you are Kabira Tahsin daughter of Shadi Tahsin.

**Kabira takes quick stock of the situation, she locks eyes with Serafina. The camera focuses on her eyes first.**

Kabira: So you believe me.

**The camera spins around and focuses on Serafina's eyes.**

Serafina: Yes, I've seen you when you've made one of your public appearances, that and I recognizes the Captain of the royal guard from the TV by your side.

**Both eyes are burning with determination; they came to this meeting with an exact purpose and are going to achieve their goals no matter what. The rebel guards take positions around the room while Raheem finally gets over his shock and exclaims**

Raheem: You're the leader of the rebels!

**Serafina takes his eyes off of Kabira and glares at Raheem obvious offended. He snaps**

Serafina: President! And we are the liberators of Haben!

**Raheem's shock turns to anger. He turns to face one of the rebel guards.**

Raheem: If this is a joke I'm not laughing! Ms. Kabira came here to talk of peace with the rebels and you treat us like fools!

**Kabira not taking her eyes off of Serafina says**

Kabira: Raheem that's enough!

**There's something different with Kabira's voice, no her whole pose, she's focus, focus the likes of which we've never seen. Although Kabira lacks the knowledge and the self-confidence of a season politician she certainly possesses the attention to detail and focus of one. It's now clear that Kabira has the talent to be a very good diplomat.**

Kabira: Mr. Milena is the president of the liberators of Haben.

**Kabira takes a seat. Shadow still bored also takes a seat. Raheem is looking back and forth between Kabira and Serafina still in disbelief.**

Cagalli: I'm sorry for our rude behavior but if you don't mind telling us how you became the president it will no doubt put our minds at ease.

**Cagalli also takes a seat. Serafina annoyed decides it's best if he answers the question.**

Serafina: The liberators of Haben started out as many different factions; it was my idea to combine everyone into one large army and after a long journey in which I talked to and convinced each of the separate leaders to join into one they decided to elect me as the first president.

**Raheem having finally sat down looks at Serafina in shock.**

Raheem (Impossible, for this child to have gone around and convince multiply rebel factions to come together and join under one flag, its ridicules.)

**Still Raheem can't help but notice the seriousness in Serafina's eyes.**

Raheem (Still he believes it.)

**Serafina snaps**

Serafina: But I didn't come here to give you a history lesson! Here are our demands, we want the immediate resignation of the King follow by the resignation of all of the council members and appointment of new ones, we also want 1.2 billion credits as compensation for all those who have suffered under his unjust rule!

**Kabira is shocked. Raheem jumps up appalled.**

Raheem: That's absurd! Haben doesn't even have 1 billion credits to give not to mention that many resignations at once would cause chaos!

**Serafina still angry snaps again**

Serafina: That's not my problem, the King should have thought about that before he wrecked the economy and cost so many their jobs and inflected pain and suffering on his people.

**Kabira quickly replies**

Kabira: But that's not my Father's fault you see

**But before Kabira can explain Serafina in rage cuts her off**

Serafina: Not his fault! How can you say that! There are literary thousands of people outside, most forced to live in tents because they can't pay the payments on their house! Fathers forced to watch as their sons slowly die of starvation because they have no money to pay for food, mothers forced to sell themselves to pay for food for their daughters praying for a better life for them and the rest have to become criminals to survive; stealing killing mugging doing whatever it takes to put food on the table for their families many are still just children AND YOU HAVE THE NERVE TO SAY THAT IT'S NOT HIS FAULT!

**Raheem and Cagalli are once again shocked into silence but Kabira is determined. The truth gives her strength. She begins to plead**

Kabira: Please just listen Fachtna has

**But Serafina is too far lost in his rage; he once again cuts Kabira off.**

Serafina: I won't listen to anymore of the King's excuses; you tell him that he either accepts our demands or its war!

**Serafina receives a roar of cheers from the rebel guards. Cagalli grits her teeth.**

Cagalli (This isn't good, the situation is deteriorating fast.)

**Kabira also sees this and desperately tries to think of something.**

Kabira (I have to do something; I have to tell them the truth now before it's too late!)

**Kabira pleads again trying to be heard over the roar of cheers from the guards.**

Kabira: I understand that

**But Serafina focuses all of his rage on Kabira.**

Serafina: UNDERSTAND! How could you possibly understand you spoiled little brat, don't think we don't know what the King is up to sending his daughter here to pretend he takes us seriously but we're not fooled! You who's well feed, well clothed, you who's never had to worry about where the next meal is coming from or if it's coming at all, who gets anything she wants, who couldn't care less about other people; daddy's perfect little girl Kabira! You don't know the first thing about suffering!

**At the beginning of Serafina's rant the camera focuses on Kabira, as she looks more and more shock then towards the end of the conversation the camera moves to look at Shadow. Shadow is keeping his head down so we can't see his face but we can see his hand on the table, it's his neon gauntlet hand.**

**As the rant goes on Shadow's hand clenches tighter and tighter and his Neon gauntlet glows brighter and brighter until the last sentence. At the last sentence we have a flashback to Haben Harbor when Kabira cried her heart out at the death of her friend, Shadow snaps.**

**Shadow lifts his head up his eyes glowing with their electric intensity. He stands up, lifts up his fist and punches the table creating a big noise. All eyes shift their attention to him, Cagalli panics when she sees him.**

Cagalli (Oh no the situation is already about to explode I can't let Shadow make it any worse.)

**Serafina annoyed asks**

Serafina: Who the hell are you?

**Cagalli tries to say something to stop Shadow but Shadow can't be stop now.**

Shadow: I'm Shadow Zoomarey team leader of the Shadow Knights!

**The usual joy Shadow has when he introduces himself is gone, that just shows how angry he really is. Serafina looks back at Kabira.**

Serafina: A Gundam Team huh, so the government doesn't have the money to help the people but it has money to hire mercenaries.

**Shadow in the blink of an eye goes over to where Serafina is and grabs him by his shirt and lifts him up.**

Shadow: You just insulted my friend; I don't need money to kick your ass.

**In the next heartbeat all of the rebel guards lift up their guns and point it at Shadow and the others. Raheem and Cagalli quickly take up defensive positions around Kabira. The camera begins to circle around Shadow and Serafina as everyone begins to talk at once.**

Rebel guards: Put the president down and put your hands up!

Cagalli: Shadow put the president down.

Raheem: Put him down Shadow.

Kabira: Shadow its ok you don't have to

**It's no use though, Shadow is in his own world and can't hear anything. Serafina grits his teeth and grabs Shadow's hand with his own. Shadow immediately notices the Neon gauntlet on Serafina's hand, Serafina's own Neon gauntlet is glowing yellowish tan.**

Serafina: I'd suggest you let me go now before you find yourself full of bullets.

**Shadow has other things on his mind though.**

Shadow: You're a Gundam Pilot?

**Serafina boastful exclaims**

Serafina: That's right, not only am I the president of the liberators of Haben I'm also our best Gundam Pilot.

**Shadow's eyes narrow. Shadow then pushes Serafina away. Serafina stumbles but quickly regains his footing as he glares at Shadow. All of the guns lock on Shadow just waiting for the kill order but Shadow could care less about them. He points at Serafina and proclaims**

Shadow: I challenge you to a Gundam Fight!

**Serafina blinks just a tab bit thrown off by this. He isn't the only one, the rebel guards, Cagalli, Raheem and Kabira are all surprise to hear this. Serafina recovers first**

Serafina: I wield my Gundam in the name of a liberated Haben what makes you think I'd waste its power on a gun for hire?

**Serafina is looking down on Shadow which pisses him off further.**

Shadow: If you're too scared to fight me then just say it but don't try to act all noble and better than me.

**Serafina glares at Shadow not liking his direct challenge. The rebel guards glance uneasily at each other not knowing what to do. Serafina is angry and does not want to look weak in-front of his troops.**

Serafina: Fine I suppose a warm-up match against you would do me some good. Return them to their ship; I'll meet you with my Gundam in 10 minutes. We'll do battle in the area in front of your ship.

**With that Serafina turns around and begins to walk away. The rebel guards begin to herd Shadow, Cagalli, Raheem and Kabira back to the transport shuttle but the camera follows Serafina as he walks away. One of his rebel guards follows him. The rebel guard is still on edge.**

Rebel guard A: Are you sure this is a good idea Sir?

**Serafina nods his head and smiles a vicious vulture smile. The scene ends with his confident explanation.**

Serafina: Gundam Fights are an excellent source of entertainment and the men could definitely use the break. Plus once I crushed the hired gun sent by the King our army's morale will go up.

**The next scene opens up on the Dark-Angel's bridge, the bridge crew, Cagalli, Nick, Roxas, Zuke, Raheem and Kabira are all siting there thinking. Rini rubs her temples as Alan exclaims**

Alan: So let me get this straight you went to the rebel president for talks of peace but came out with a Gundam Fight, I'm no politician but I'm pretty sure you went backwards somewhere.

**Ciro puts his hands behind his head as he leans back.**

Ciro: I think that idiot finally did something right, if someone disagrees with your view you kill them and put someone in charge that does.

**Kenny looks at Ciro a little intimated.**

Kenny: You know Ciro you have a very violent personality.

**Ciro doesn't bother replying. Nick has his hands folded and nods his head slowly**

Nick: I agree with Ciro mates although not for the same reasons. That jerk insulted Kabira and it's against my code to let someone insult my mate and get away with it so if Shadow hadn't challenged that guy I would have.

**Roxas jumps up in fierce agreement.**

Roxas: That's right!

**Kabira is touched by everyone's friendship. Thomas sings**

Thomas: ME, ME, DOE oh great friendship to fight for the honor of friends RAAAAAAAA.

**Rini notices that Cagalli isn't saying much.**

Rini: I'm surprise Cagalli that you haven't said anything like how irresponsible or childish Shadow's being?

**All eyes turn to Cagalli now, Cagalli shrugs.**

Cagalli: It was obvious from the moment we got there that the rebel president hated Kabira's guts and wasn't going to listen so it's not like Shadow could make it any worse.

**Roxas sensing more asks.**

Roxas: And?

**Cagalli looks at Roxas annoyed.**

Cagalli: And it's not like Shadow is going to kill the rebel president or vice versa so it's no different than playing baseball or chess.

**Roxas still sensing more.**

Roxas: And?

**Cagalli rolls her eyes again and reluctantly says**

Cagalli: And he did insult Kabira so a little ass whopping is justified.

**Cagalli receives a roar of applause from Roxas, Nick, Kenny and Thomas. The camera cuts to the Gundam bay, we see Shadow in full pilot uniform walking over to Nightwing. Jack is walking with him giving him a full rundown of Nightwing's new upgrades.**

Jack: I've gotten all of the sand out of Nightwing's joints plus I've used the special sand stopper gel.

**Shadow is unimpressed.**

Shadow: Special sand stopper gel, I feel safe already.

**Shadow says sarcastically. Jack is annoyed.**

Jack: It has a real name but it's a pain in the ass to pronounce and anyway that's not the point just know you should be able to rotate the joins more easily, also I replace Nightwing's old thruster engine's specs with my own modified version. It should allow you more maneuverability, oh and I switch out the e3-cord power charge with an f7 hummer which should make Nightwing's beam saber more powerful.

**Shadow's notices something about Jack's speech.**

Shadow: You know I'd feel more reassured if you wouldn't use "should" in every other sentence.

**Jack shrugs uncaring.**

Jack: What do you expect half the stuff I did to Nightwing is all paperwork theory and has never actually been tested out.

**Shadow is overjoyed to hear this (sarcastic).**

Shadow: Oh joy I always wanted to be a test dummy.

**Shadow and Jack stop right under Nightwing. Jack slaps Shadow on the back.**

Jack: Good news for me is that when something breaks I know what to work on.

**Jack notices Shadow just staring up at Nightwing.**

Jack: What's up?

**Shadow reaches towards Nightwing with his Neon gauntlet hand, his Neon gauntlet is glowing very lightly but steady.**

Shadow: I can feel it, today's a good day; I'm not going to lose today.

**Jack looks back and forth between Shadow and Nightwing not getting it.**

Jack: Well just know that if you damage my Gundam I'll kick your ass.

**Jack smiles at Shadow as she says this, and Shadow returns her smile. Jack walks away as Shadow climbs up onto the lift. The camera cuts forward in time as Nightwing launches from the Dark-Angel, Nightwing soars in the sky and then falls flat on its ass. The camera cuts inside the Dark-Angel's bridge to show everyone "ohhhh" at Shadow's landing.**

**The camera cuts outside to show Nightwing get to its feet while rubbing it's behind. The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show a self-annoyed Shadow. Kenny pops up on Shadow's helmet screen, he can't resist gloating.**

Kenny: Off to a great start Shadow?

**Shadow annoyed replies**

Shadow: Shut up Kenny.

**Kenny can't help to tease Shadow some more.**

Kenny: You think after 50 some odd times you'd finally get the hang of landing.

**Shadow snaps**

Shadow: Shut up Kenny.

**Before they can continue this conversation more we hear a loud engine noise. The camera cuts outside to show a rather large battleship appear. The battleship stops and we watch as its Gundam catapult extends outward; a lone Gundam is launch and lands right in front of Nightwing. It appears to be a slightly modified Rotle model holding a shield. **

**The camera cuts back inside Nightwing's cockpit as Serafina pops up on Shadow's helmet screen. Serafina is frowning and just looks annoyed with the world.**

Serafina: Here is how this is going to work, it's a one on one Gundam Fight with official GFC rules any questions?

**Shadow actually has a question.**

Shadow: Yea what's up with your ship pointing its guns at my ship?

**Serafina glares at Shadow.**

Serafina: Because I don't trust you, as far as I'm concern you're either stupid or this is an assassination attempt.

**Shadow looks at Serafina like he's stupid.**

Shadow: OOOk well the Dark-Angel won't fire unless it's been fired upon first.

**Serafina obviously doesn't believe him.**

Serafina: Either way it won't matter; for me and my Gundam Delena will destroy you in an instant.

**The camera cuts outside to show Serafina's Gundam "Delena" lift up its right hand pulling out what appears to be a metal ball on a stick. The ball detaches itself from the stick only being connected by a beam rope, like a ball and chain weapon. In a very dramatic movement Delena begins to spin the ball in circular motions over its head.**

**The camera cuts back to the Dark-Angel to show a surprise Cagalli.**

Cagalli: A ball and chain?

**Raheem is also surprise.**

Raheem: That's the Haben royal attack's weapon!

**Jack having come up from the Gundam bay addresses Cagalli's statement.**

Jack: Technically it's called a ball and beam, unlike a ball and chain it can extend and retract on the user's command.

**Cagalli doesn't look comforted by this information. Kabira with concern asks Raheem**

Kabira: What's Serafina doing with a Haben royal attack weapon?

**Raheem is clearly agitated with this revelation.**

Raheem: He must have stolen it.

**The camera cuts back to inside Nightwing's cockpit to show an excited Shadow.**

Shadow: SWEET! A ball and beam this is going to be awesome!

**Kenny on Shadow's helmet screen doesn't look so certain.**

Kenny: Be careful Shadow, something's not right with that weapon; I'm getting some weird readings from the scanners.

**Shadow was never one to be careful.**

Shadow: Well you know what they say about traps, it's always best to spring them!

**The camera cuts outside as Shadow says this. Nightwing's beam saber ejects from its hidden compartment and Nightwing catches and activates it in one motion. Nightwing takes up its classic 2 handed stance while Delena continues to swing its ball lazily in the air. We cut back to inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow address Serafina.**

Shadow: You ready.

**Serafina still glaring at Shadow replies**

Serafina: Whenever you are.

**Shadow grins liking that answer.**

Shadow: Then let's go!

**As Shadow shouts this the camera cuts outside to show Nightwing charge. Delena remains unmoving and continues to swing its ball around in a lazy arch above its head. The camera cuts into Delena's cockpit to show Serafina estimating, he has the same look an archer would give to a moving target.**

Serafina (I'll finish this in one blow, disheartening the enemy in a crushing defeat while encouraging my own troops.)

**The camera cuts back to the Dark-Angel only this time it focuses solely on Kenny; it's apparent that something is bothering him as he rapidly types on his computer.**

Kenny (Something's not right, that's clearly a 42W Haben ball and beam but the size is off. The ball is 3 percent larger then it's supposed to be. Manufacturing error? No, it's not just the size the scanners are picking up trace amounts of magnesium. This weapon had been modified but for what purpose.)

**The camera cuts outside to show Delena lock on target and finally send the metal ball flying towards Nightwing. The camera cuts into Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow make a quick calculation.**

Shadow (If I deflect the ball I can go in for the kill before he has time to take another shot.)

**The camera cuts outside as Nightwing still running brings up its beam saber preparing to deflect the ball; we do a quick split screen over Delena to show a confident Serafina.**

Serafina (Got him.)

**Suddenly Kenny shouts**

Kenny: Shadow DODGE!

**This isn't Kenny's normal worried voice, there's real fear in his voice. The camera does a momentary split screen over Nightwing showing a confused Shadow but without hesitation Shadow dives to the right. The screen returns to normal to show Nightwing dive to the right at the last second before contact with the metal ball, dodging it.**

**Nightwing is still in the air when we see a shimmer as the metal ball begins to glow then *BANG* there's an explosion. The explosion itself isn't very big for Gundam standards but big enough that if Nightwing hadn't dodge and instead made contact with its beam saber it would have taken off Nightwing's hands if nothing else.**

**The screen splits into multiply parts as we see everyone look shock.**

Cagalli: It exploded!

Nick: What the hell!

Roxas: Holly shit!

**The camera cuts to inside Delena's cockpit to show Serafina look annoyed.**

Serafina: Tis

Serafina (I could have sworn he was going to block or tried to deflect the ball; but he dodge at the last second.)

**The camera cuts to inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow wide eyed.**

Shadow: Kenny what the hell was that!

Kenny: To sum it up the ball can explode on demand; the radius of the blast isn't that big though so as long as you stay 5 hectometers from it at all time you should be alright.

**Shadow doesn't have time to think about this as the camera cuts outside to show Delena swing its ball towards Nightwing. Nightwing jumps backwards dodging the second explosion by a hair. Delena is controlling the ball with the simple twist and flick of its wrist, the ball swings back around but this time comes down from above.**

**Shadow jumps right, then left, explosion, back, left, right, right, back, explosion. Delena isn't exploding its ball every time it comes close to Nightwing, but rather at random odd intervals. The camera cuts inside the Dark-Angel's bridge to show Jack biting her lip. Rini curious asks**

Rini: Hey Jack can Nightwing's armor withstand that explosion?

**Jack thinks for a moment.**

Jack: Maybe, I've never tested it against explosives before.

**Kabira leans in close to Raheem and asks**

Kabira: Why isn't Serafina exploding his ball every time?

**Raheem focus on the match answers**

Raheem: 2 reasons, the first is because it will throw off Shadow's sense of surrounding. The high sound and bright flash will mess with his judgment of depth perception, if he were to constantly do it Shadow would get used to it. The second is because of power.

**Kabira blinks confused.**

Kabira: But S-generators have unlimited power.

**Raheem nods his head**

Raheem: True, but if Serafina constantly used the explosion he would spend the S-generator energy faster than it can rejuvenate, S-generator energy works like if there's 1 left then that would double to 2 then 4, 8, 16 and so on but if all the energy is spent and there's nothing left in the core then it can't recharge itself and the Gundam shuts down as a result.

**Kabira nods her head in somewhat understanding.**

Kabira: Ok, I think I get it.

**The camera cuts back outside to show Nightwing still dodging the whip like ball and beam. Nightwing is jumping, and running all over the place trying to keep the ball as far away from itself as possible. The camera cuts back inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow.**

Shadow: You know for all your talk about justice and crap don't you think it's ironic that you have a secret exploding ball and beam?

**The camera cuts outside, Delena pulls the ball back then sends it rocketing forward. The ball instead of coming at Nightwing like a whip comes at Nightwing like a bullet only not as fast. Nightwing continues to dodge but now Nightwing is jumping more backwards. The camera cuts inside Delena's cockpit to show Serafina look annoyed.**

Serafina: Shut up you lap dog for the king, like you know anything about justice!

**The camera cuts back outside to show Delena pull its ball back then chest throws it at Nightwing's head. This time Nightwing's timing is off, although Nightwing is able to avoid a direct hit the explosion scratches the left side of Nightwing's face luckily there's no damage to the eyes. Nightwing doesn't have time to lick its wounds as the ball swings around once again aiming for the head.**

**The camera cuts inside the Dark-Angel's bridge to show Roxas look a little troubled.**

Roxas: Something's wrong, Shadow can move faster than this.

**Cagalli rolls her eyes.**

Cagalli: Right because Shadow can out run a Gundam.

**Roxas flirts a little.**

Roxas: You're so adorable Cagalli when you think you're right but I was talking about if we scaled Shadow and Nightwing's height the same.

**Kenny notices it too.**

Kenny: Roxas is right, after Raheem's training Shadow is much faster than this but I can't figure out what's wrong. I've ran checks but everything seems to be in working order.

**Kenny and the others pounder this question as the camera looks over their heads at Zuke.**

Zuke (Low level intelligence naturals, even when a pilot is 100 percent synchronized with their Gundam there exist a barrier between the knowledge and skills the Pilot learns in human form and then translating it into their Gundam alter ego. Gundams and humans are not the same therefore any fighting skills learned in human form will have to be modified in order for it to be used with a Gundam. Breaking the knowledge barrier is one of the most important differences between an amateur Gundam fighter and a professional Gundam fighter.)

**The camera cuts back outside to show Nightwing continuing to dodge the ball. The camera then cuts into Nightwing's cockpit. **

Shadow (This sucks, of course I'd get stuck with the long distance fighter.)

**Kenny only hearing silence offers some advice.**

Kenny: Shadow see if you can't get in closer, Serafina won't use the explosion if he's in its radius.

**Shadow grits his teeth.**

Shadow: Easier said than done.

**The camera cuts back outside to show Delena send the ball straight at Nightwing's head. Nightwing sidesteps the attack but Nightwing doesn't move far enough away. The ball explodes just over Nightwing's left shoulder. Nightwing once again taking only minimal damage falls chest first to the ground.**

**In the blink of the eye Nightwing rolls right dodging the ball which comes flying out of the smoke created by its last explosion and slams right into the ground exploding again. The camera does a split screen over Nightwing to show Shadow spot an opening.**

Shadow (The smoke from the explosion is blocking his line of sight!)

**The screen returns to normal to show Nightwing not waste this opportunity. Nightwing rushes into the smokescreen and taking its beam saber whacks the ball as hard as it can. The ball goes flying high right, the camera swings around and does a split over Delena to show an annoyed Serafina grit his teeth.**

Serafina (Damn it, I didn't see him in time to set off the explosion!)

**The screen returns to normal to show Delena actually pulls its whole arm back to regain control over its ball. Nightwing charges forward while Delena's weapon is still far out of reach. The camera momentary flashes to the Dark-Angel's bridge as Nick asks**

Nick: Why didn't the mate's beam saber cut the ball in half instead of acting like a bat?

**Jack focus on the battle answers quickly**

Jack: Because the ball is cover in anti-beam coating and Nightwing's beam saber isn't powerful to cut it.

**The camera cuts back outside to show Nightwing make it inside Delena's personal space before Delena can retract its ball. The camera cuts back inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow shout in triumph.**

Shadow: HA try using that exploding ball now you jackass!

**The camera cuts back outside as Nightwing performs a downward left diagonal beam slash. Delena quickly raises its shield to block and counterattacks with a roundhouse kick with its right foot aimed at Nightwing's chest. Delena's ball finally fully retracts back onto the stick making it more like a police baton. **

**Nightwing brings up its own leg blocking the kick. Nightwing counterattacks with a right horizontal beam slash and a left horizontal beam slash. Delena blocks the first attack with its shield then ducks down dodging the second. Delena flips its baton around and swings it upward, Nightwing pivots on its right leg dodging the blow.**

**Delena just as quickly flips the baton around again and swings it horizontally at Nightwing's head. Nightwing leans back and for a moment it looks like the baton is going to miss but then the ball once again detaches from the stick and extends on its beam rope. The extra length results in Nightwing getting nailed in the face. Nightwing stumbles backwards momentary dazed.**

**The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow rub his cheek/helmet.**

Shadow: Dirty freaking bastard extending the rope like that.

**Kenny on Shadow's helmet screen once again offers words of comfort.**

Kenny: SHADOW WATCH OUT!

**Shadow blinks. The camera cuts outside for a moment to show while Shadow had been distracted Delena had move back out of the explosion radius. The ball comes flying at Nightwing and we can already see it begin to glow preparing to explode. The camera does a split screen over Nightwing to show a startled Shadow.**

Shadow: Shit!

**The screen returns to normal as Nightwing begins to move back while performing a cross arm guard. The ball comes close to hitting Nightwing then explodes. Nightwing is engulf in the smokescreen. Nightwing jumps out of the smoke screen a moment later but it's clear that Nightwing took a fair amount of damage.**

**The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow breathing hard, that was a close call. Serafina appears on Shadow's helmet screen grinning.**

Serafina: Oh did I forget to mention that I've been trained in Haben police hand to hand combat?

**Shadow glares at Serafina.**

Shadow: Grin while you can because I'm going to wipe that smirk off your face.

**Serafina is unimpressed.**

Serafina: Please stop acting tough, how do you think I got my position as the liberators of Haben's president? It's not just because I united all the opposing factions against the king, it's because I beat all of the other leaders in a Gundam Fight! I faced unimaginable hardships on my journey; I fought against the Haben military, desert storms, and even other rebel factions. There were times when I came close to death, but thanks to all of that fighting I have emerged stronger with an army to challenge the King!

**The camera cuts outside for a moment to show Delena wave in the direction of the rebel camp then cuts back to inside Delena's cockpit.**

Serafina: So tell me against my suffering strengthened power do you think the little spoiled princess's bodyguard can beat me!

**The camera cuts inside the Dark-Angel's bridge, everyone is quiet after hearing this speech. Kabira almost whispers.**

Kabira: He's gone through a lot.

**She truly feels his pain. Raheem nods his head.**

Raheem: But he doesn't let that hold him down instead he wears it proudly on his shoulder making him stronger.

**The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow with his head bowed, his face is hidden. We can see Serafina on Shadow's helmet screen looking satisfied thinking Shadow has got it. Shadow's Neon gauntlet starts to glow, brighter, and brighter, and brighter.**

Shadow: Are you done with that self-gratifying speech?

**Serafina is highly insulted and angry at this but stops from saying anything when Shadow raises his face. We can see the electrifying intensity flashing in Shadow's eyes. Shadow is angry.**

Shadow: You made 2 huge errors in that speech of yours; first you made me sound like some fat overpaid bodyguard which I'm not. I'm a seriously ticked off Gundam Fighter.

**The camera cuts outside momentary to show Nightwing left foot inch up a little, the ground is literally beginning to shake under it.**

Shadow: And the second was you called Kabira spoiled! You don't know Kabira at all; Kabira always helps those in pain and always cries for her country. She may be young, she may be inexperience, hell she may even be a brat sometimes but the one thing she isn't is spoiled or uncaring! So prepare yourself because if you're going to sit on your high horse judging Kabira then I'm going to slam you the hell down!

**As Shadow shouts this the camera cuts outside to show Nightwing's eyes flash as it charges. The camera swings around as it cuts inside Delena's cockpit to show an angry Serafina reply**

Serafina: Just what one would expect from a dog, ignoring reality and making its master a hero in its own mind! Well guess what it takes more than imagination to win a Gundam Fight!

**The camera cuts back outside as Delena swings its ball around its head before releasing it toward Nightwing, Nightwing ducks dodging the ball. Nightwing begins to circle Delena while Delena continues to throw its ball at Nightwing. Nightwing ducks down, sidesteps left, rolls, jumps up, sidesteps right.**

**The ball seems to have become an evil spirit chasing Nightwing and exploding every now and then but Nightwing just keeps circling Delena dodging the ball as much as possible never stopping, something seems to be happening, something is changing about Nightwing.**

**It's hard to see at first, like noticing if someone's hair has grown. The camera cuts to inside the Dark-Angel's bridge, Cagalli's eyes slowly open wide as she realizes what's different about Nightwing/Shadow.**

Cagalli: Shadow's getting faster!

**Everyone's eyes open wide as they realize this. Nightwing isn't moving at blurring speeds but Nightwing is moving faster compared to when the match first started, and the camera once again looks over at Zuke who has his full attention on Nightwing.**

Zuke (Has he already broken the translating barrier?)

**The camera cuts to inside Nightwing's cockpit to show an incredibly focus Shadow.**

Shadow (I think I'm starting to get this, in the beginning when I first started piloting Nightwing I just used his legs to move but that was slow and awkward. Although Gundams are design to look and have the range of motion like humans they're much heavier than a human would be if he were this size. That's why thrusters are needed, but thrusters are limited by their type and model, and they aren't a Gundam's final speed form.)

**Shadow is figuring all of this out in a moment, all of his collective knowledge is gathering and generating new answers.**

Shadow (By running with my legs and corresponding thrusters I'm able to increase my speed dramatically. But it's so precise, everything matters, I can't just step then turn on the thrusters to max, too much thruster power and not enough power put into my step will cause me to trip but too little power and nothing will happen. Also how I step and which thrusters I use effect my foot work, everything has to be so god damn accurate or else a I lose my balance and fall flat on my ass.)

**The camera cuts outside and focuses on Nightwing's feet for a second to show how Nightwing steps then some of thrusters activate and Nightwing is sent flying forward. Nightwing is sliding a little here and there while dodging the ball and working out the timing of the thrusters as well as which thrusters to activate on which step, but there is no denying that Nightwing's speed just keeps increasing and increasing.**

**Nightwing is now flying around Delena (metaphorically), at first Delena was only slightly twisting its body to keep Nightwing in its line of sight but now it's slowly having to constantly turn to or else Nightwing will be behind it. The camera cuts inside Delena's cockpit to show Serafina slowly but surely begin to lose his cool.**

Serafina: Hey are you sure this guy is using a yelo 22?

**Yelo 22 is a type of engine, not a fast one by the way. Serafina is talking to his tech support guy.**

TSG: My scanners are picking up some other weird readings so it's probably a modified version of it but yea in essence it should still be a yelo 22 engine. Don't worry he shouldn't be able to go much faster.

**Serafina's tech support guy is wrong, although the change is small it's constant. Nightwing is sliding less and less as its footwork becomes more natural and as Shadow begins to work out the timing for the thrusters. Delena has to spin faster and faster to keep Nightwing in its sight. The camera cuts back in Delena's cockpit to show Serafina beginning to look less and less in control.**

Serafina: Are you sure this is yelo 22 engine!

**TCG snaps**

TCG: Yes I'm sure, how many times do I have to tell you, don't worry he'll reach his max speed soon enough!

**Panic is beginning to creep into Serafina's voice.**

Serafina: You said that 5 minutes ago but he's still getting faster, how much faster can he get!

**The camera cuts outside to show that with Serafina's growing panic the ball is beginning to explode more and more, but Nightwing has reach the point that when Delena throws or whips the ball at it Nightwing's long gone. Time freezes for a moment as Nightwing finally circles around to Delena's back before Delena can turn. The camera cuts into Nightwing's cockpit to show a focus Shadow.**

Shadow (I'm in his blind spot!)

**The camera switches to inside Delena's cockpit to show Serafina shout in panic**

Serafina: SHIT where is he!

**Time unfreezes as the camera cuts back outside to show Nightwing stop on a dime, change directions and charge Delena. Delena turns around to spot the charging Nightwing and is just able to raise its shield in defense as Nightwing jumps up and performs a jump attack. **

**Nightwing's beam saber hits Delena's shield hard making a loud bang. Delena begins to walk backwards as it retracts its ball while still keeping its shield high in defense.**

**Nightwing charges Delena and rains hell upon the shield, downward vertical slash, upward vertical slash, right downward diagonal slash, left horizontal slash, left diagonal slash. Nightwing leaves Delena no chance for a counterattack. The camera cuts inside Delena's cockpit to show Serafina feeling himself being pushed into a corner.**

Serafina (Damn it, what's up with his attacks! They're so much stronger than before!)

**Serafina gritting his teeth shouts with fury.**

Serafina: I won't! I won't lose to this servant who helps keep that tyrant in power! The King who's responsible for all the pain and suffering in Haben, the King who causes nothing but

**Shadow cuts him off**

Shadow: Oh will you just CUT THE CRAP!

**The camera cuts outside to show Nightwing perform a powerful right horizontal slash that makes Delena slide on the sand. The camera cuts back inside Nightwing's cockpit.**

Shadow: You can play that whole noble "Oh we're the good guys trying to win against an oppressive ruler" bullshit card all day but it won't work on me!

**We cut outside for a moment again to show Nightwing perform a downward vertical slash.**

Shadow: Because I know that you don't really believe the King is responsible for all of this, how could you you don't have a shred of evidence nor have ever seen any real evidence. You're just so angry at everything that's going wrong in Haben, everything that's falling apart that you just want to hit somebody and King is just the biggest and easiest target!

**The camera cuts outside to show Delena finally retaliate, as it takes its baton and swings it at Nightwing.**

Serafina: SHUT UP, YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING!

**The camera cuts outside to show Nightwing parry the move then cuts into Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow's Neon gauntlet glowing strongly.**

Shadow: You're not interested in fixing Haben's problems you just want to feel better but guess what

**The camera cuts outside as Delena struggles to get some distance from Nightwing, it swings the ball at Nightwing trying to finally deliver a direct hit to Nightwing with an explosion the camera cuts into Delena's cockpit as warning lights start going off.**

Delena: Warning power levels reaching low, only 3 more explosions possible until recharge cycle.

**Serafina curses.**

Serafina (Damn I must have overused the explosion.)

**The camera cuts outside to show Nightwing instead of dodging or retreating presses forward. We can see the ball glow as it charges for an explosion but at the last second Nightwing swings around like a top and once again it uses its beam saber as a bat to whack the ball back to the pitcher. The camera cuts into Delena's cockpit as Serafina shouts**

Serafina: CRAPPPPPPPPP!

**We cut back outside, the ball's too close and Delena can't change its direction in time, Delena raises its shield to block. The ball hits the shield dead on and explodes destroying the shield and Delena's left arm. Delena stumbles out of the smokescreen dazed and confused. Delena looks up but it's too late. Nightwing swings its beam saber in a downward vertical path cutting Delena in half.**

Shadow: You're never going to relieve yourself of that anger if you don't fight its true cause instead of just lashing out in pure rage. Defeating the King won't stop your anger it will just give you a hollow sense of victory.

**The camera cuts into Delena's cockpit to show time slow down as Serafina gets this final message before the safely device activates and covers Serafina in a protective metal box. The episode ends with the camera cutting outside to show Delena split into 2 pieces as it falls to the ground with a thud; Nightwing is standing rather dashingly over it in victory.**

_**Author's note: The names Serafina, Delena, and Milena were provided by ilianna 620.**_


	54. Episode 53

Episode 53

**The episode opens up as Serafina slowly wakes up; he's in a room full of light, definitely a recovery room. Serafina has bandages covering his head. He groans as he begins to try to move.**

Shadow: So you're not dead yet?

**Serafina looks over to his left to find Shadow sitting beside his bed reading a Garfield comic book (Yes Garfield survived through the millennium and is still being written with a new comic strip coming out once a week, he's currently 104 in human years (no idea what that translates into cat years) and still looking good). Serafina glares at Shadow.**

Serafina: You! Where am I, what happened! Am I your prisoner now you lap dog for the King!

**Shadow rolls his eyes in annoyance.**

Shadow: You know you're very paranoia, why don't you look around, it's sad when a man can't even recognized his own medical bay.

**Serafina's eyes open wide as he looks around again to confirm Shadow's right. He turns back to Shadow and asks still rudely**

Serafina: What happened, the last thing I remember is fighting you in a Gundam Fight?

**Shadow's grin widens.**

Shadow: You mean losing to me in a Gundam Fight.

**Serafina angrily snaps**

Serafina: That was just luck, I underestimated how fast your Gundam could move and wasn't able to adapt in time.

**Shadow doesn't care.**

Shadow: Yea, yea, yea whatever you sore loser, anyway after you lost the safety pod ejected right into a shield shard. The pod got a huge dent and you got a banged up head.

**Serafina feels the bandages on his head. He finally begins to make the connection.**

Serafina: Let me guess you were the first responder and helped me.

**Shadow shrugs.**

Shadow: That's right you ungrateful bastard.

**Serafina is annoyed at these turn of events and after a moment of silence reluctantly says**

Serafina: Then I guess a thank you would be in order.

**Shadow shakes his head.**

Shadow: Don't thank me thank Kabira; she was the first person to notice that your safety pod had hit something.

**Serafina is shocked to hear this, flashback activate. We go back in time to the moment Nightwing cut Delena in half vertically. Time slows down as Delena falls backwards, we can see the safety pod get ejected from Delena's well um side/armpit.**

**The pod is shot up right into a falling shield fragment (remember when Nightwing knocked Delena's exploding ball into Delena's shield). The 2 objects knock each other away as they make a big metal clang sound, time returns to normal. Nightwing stands still for a moment then begins to jump up and down in victory. The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow "gracefully" accept victory.**

Shadow: HELL YEA I WON, WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! BOYEA!

**The camera cuts to inside the Dark-Angel's bridge to show Nick, Roxas, Kenny, Jack, and Thomas pretty much showing the same "graceful" attitude about winning as Shadow.**

Nick: Way to go mate!

Roxas: HELL YEA way to show that ass whose top dog Shadow!

Kenny: That was freaking awesome!

Jack: You made it without blowing up my Gundam!

Thomas: RAAAAAAAAA Sweet, sweet victory!

**They're jumping up and down and high-fiving each other and basically going wild. Alan, Rini, Ciro, Cagalli and Raheem on the other hand are actually being graceful (not sarcastic) although we can see smug satisfied smiles on all of their faces. Zuke has put on his mask of boredom again. Kabira alone is looking concern, almost invisible she moves up to Kenny's terminal and seems to squint at something.**

**She taps the celebrating Kenny's shoulder. Kenny turns around still on his victory high but the moment he sees Kabira's face he calms down and asks**

Kenny: Hey Kabira, is something the matter?

**Kabira doesn't want to tell Kenny anything without proof.**

Kabira: Um I'm not sure, could you zoom in on this point right here?

**Kabira points to a spot on Kenny's computer screen, while the others still go on celebrating Kenny nods his head and sits back down at his terminal. He begins typing on his computer, everyone else finally notices something's up and walks over to see what's going on.**

**The camera looks over Kenny's shoulder to show the Dark-Angel's camera zoom in on Serafina's safety pod. The safety pod is on the ground a little ways away from the wreckage which once was Delena and has a very obvious and large dent in it. The color drains from Kenny's face as he reads his scans.**

Kenny: That's Serafina's safety pod.

**Kabira with genuine concern asks**

Kabira: It looks damage.

Jack: What the hell happen?

**Ciro thinking quickly says**

Ciro: It must have been hit from debris from the explosion with the shield.

**Nick also looks worried.**

Nick: That damage looks serious mates, is he going to be alright?

**Shadow and Kabira begin talking at once.**

Shadow: Alan bring the Dark-Angel in as close as possible and tell the medical doctors to stand by!

Kabira: Kenny contact the liberators of Haben's ship and tell them an accident has happen with Serafina's safety pod and he needs emergency attention now!

**Kenny begins to rapidly type on his computer as Alan moves the ship closer to the safety pod. We can see Nightwing on the main monitor begin to move towards it but suddenly a new window opens up.**

Rebel Captain: Stop right there you royalist scum or we'll open fire!

**All eyes look up in surprise at the Rebel Captain. The camera cuts outside to show the rebel ship powering up its very big guns at the Dark-Angel then cuts back inside.**

Rebel Captain: You are not to touch the President's pod, we're sending our own medical recovery team over as we speak.

**Kabira looks relieved at this and asks**

Kabira: When will the team arrive?

**However the Rebel Captain's answer is disappointing at the least.**

Rebel Captain: 20 minutes.

**Cagalli is outraged.**

Cagalli: 20 minutes are you out of your mind! If he's hit his head he might have been seriously wounded he needs medical treatment now!

**The Rebel Captain looks hesitant but remains firm.**

Rebel Captain: We can't trust you, for all we know this could be part of your assassination plan to kill the President and make it look like it was an accident.

**The outrage begins to spread across the ship.**

Jack: You got to be kidding me, you saw the fight yourself how could you possibly think that this was plan out from the beginning!

**Even the rebel Captain isn't buying his own BS but he remains stubbornly in place.**

Rebel Captain: You are the enemy you can't expect me to believe that you would just help the President out of the kindness of your own heart.

**Kabira for the first time snaps angrily**

Kabira: Of course we would!

**The Rebel Captain feeling the pressure and uncertainty snaps back**

Rebel Captain: Yea then why!

**Kabira replies without hesitation**

Kabira: Because Serafina is a Haben citizen before anything else, and I am a citizen to Haben before anything else and it is a Haben duty to help his or her fellow countryman, Haben to Haben regardless of allegiances or criminal stats; or are you saying that issues like politics take priority over saving lives! How would are ancestors look at us from above to see how far we as a nation have fallen!

**Kabira's resolved speech echoes through the ship and leaves the rebel Captain stun and Raheem very proud. Nightwing turns around and picks up the pod. The Rebel Captain weakly says in protest.**

Rebel Captain: W-wait you can't

**Shadow also replies without hesitation.**

Shadow: Then shoot me, but know you'll be shooting at your President too. Your medical team has permission to dock on my ship but until they get here we'll begin immediate treatment.

**The flashback ends. Serafina sits in his bed listening to this in silence. Shadow finishes the story.**

Shadow: Like I said, you're lucky that we began treatment on you so fast. We found you lying in the pod bleeding to death from a head wound, if we had waited for your medical team to arrive you would have been dead. In the end though we were able to patch you up by the time your medical team arrived and brought you back to your own medical base.

**Serafina absent mindedly rubs his bandages then realizes there's something missing from Shadow's story.**

Serafina: Then why are you here?

**Shadow puffs and leans back in his chair annoyed.**

Shadow: Because Kabira asked me too. After we saved your life the military board decided we were trustworthy enough to be allowed into the common areas of your camp including your hospital. Of course we're still being watch.

**Shadow nods towards cameras pointed at him.**

Shadow: Anyway Kabira has been in here herself most of the time watching you recover, but whenever she's busy she asks me to do it.

**Serafina raises an eyebrow.**

Serafina: Busy? Doing what?

**Shadow gives Serafina a crazy smile.**

Shadow: How about I show you?

**The camera cuts forward in time and outside, Serafina obviously not supposed to be out of his bed so soon with Shadow right behind him. Serafina is grunting with effort from moving his sore body.**

Shadow: Would you like some help?

**Serafina glares at Shadow.**

Serafina: Screw you.

**Shadow and Serafina walk over to a large crowd of rebel people, at the center of the crowd on a box is Kabira in the middle of a speech.**

Kabira: We are all Habens, royal, rich, poor these are all concepts we came up with when our economy crashed. I don't know the hardships you've been through, I don't know what you have had to endure but I do know pain. I know what it's like to lose a friend, I know what it's like to have watched injustice and not have the power to stop it, and I know what it's like to have people who you've never met before hate you.

**The crowd is watching Kabira intensely never taking their eyes off her.**

Kabira: And as a person who knows pain I can tell you that this is wrong, we shouldn't be divided like this, fighting each other trying to kill our brothers or sisters. When our ancestors first came to Haben no one believed they could ever possibly settled this desert, they gave this land away claiming it a fool's graveyard but our ancestors proved them wrong, through hard work, determination, and a spirit that would not yield to the harshest desert storms the most blazing sun and the hottest heat! They took this dust bowl and made it into a country!

**The words Kabira says comes from the heart and the audience can sense this.**

Kabira: And when the doubters came back in shock then anger tried to take back this country which our ancestors put their blood and sweat into, our ancestors united as one with not just each but with the very sand they had fought against and pushed the villains back! It was then they made a pact with this country, when a Haben dies their spirit will climb the stairs to the great world above while their body will become the very sand that we stand on today so that they always have a way to protect their home.

**The crowd is very slowly warming up to Kabira.**

Kabira: How are we supposed to honor this commitment our ancestors put everything of themselves in to if we dare to shed even a single drop of our fellow Haben's blood? I'm not saying that we should do nothing, but the situation we are in right now is not solely my father's fault. It's mine as well, it's yours as well, and it's every true Habens fault. We have, we are, and we will always be one people! If Haben thrives then it is because we the people have struggled and bled blood and sweat to make it possible and if our country is in trouble then it is our fault for not working harder for not trying harder to find a solution! So don't think for one second that this is my father's country because it's not, it's our country. THIS IS HABEN!

**Kabira finishes her speech and receives a roar of applause from the crowd. She steps down off her box and immediately gets surrounded by spectators that want to talk with her, people are shaking her hand and giving her encouraging compliments on the speech. Raheem of course is close by, within striking distance, and is carefully watching Kabira.**

**The rest of the crowd that doesn't head towards Kabira begin to talk amongst themselves, most of the crowd seems to agree with Kabira's speech, and they all seem to think that Kabira understands the people and has a good heart. Serafina and Shadow are still towards the back of the crowd. Serafina is once again in deep thought having heard the speech.**

Shadow: Kabira has been coming out here every day giving these speeches, sometimes 3 times a day. Each speech is completely different from the last; she makes them up on the spot. The first day was murder, the only thing the people wanted to do is throw stuff at her, no one gave her a chance to talk but she kept coming out here and eventually she won the crowd.

**Serafina nods his head slowly.**

Serafina: This is how politics was originally, no TV, no underhanded tricks to looks good and make the opponent look bad, and no prewritten speeches looked over and modified a 100 times to fit everyone's agenda. Just one person coming outside to talk to the people, connect with them, show them they understand their pain or hardship and let them know that they're fighting for them. To win a single person over, face to face that is the true essences of what it is to be a politician.

**Shadow after a moment rubs the back of his head.**

Shadow: Well this kind of deep thinking crap is over my head; let's get back to talking about Gundams. Where did you get that exploding ball and beam, I have to have one?

**Shadow's got that little kid gleam in his eyes, but before Serafina can answer Kabira spots them.**

Kabira: Shadow, Serafina!

**Kabira rushes towards them with Raheem close behind. Kabira goes over to Serafina first, her face full of concern.**

Kabira: Oh my god Serafina; are you all right? When did you wake up? Are you even supposed to be out of bed?

**Serafina feels awkward, after all to him Kabira is an enemy and he's made that very clear to her yet here she is all concern about his welfare, naturally he's very confused.**

Serafina: Um I'm alright.

**Kabira angrily turns to Shadow and snaps**

Kabira: SHADOW! How could you let Serafina walk around so soon after waking up, he almost died!

**Shadow raises his hands in defense.**

Shadow: He said he was fine, and he um I'm not going to win no matter what I say am I?

**Kabira nods her head and Shadow for once chooses to shut up. Kabira turns to face Serafina.**

Kabira: Serafina when you're feeling better I like to continue discussing peace-talks and I have information that will definitely help change your mind about my father.

**Serafina stiffens; old feelings are hard to die.**

Serafina: I suppose you have already told the advising assembly this information in which case there's no need for you to come and personally tell me

**Serafina is once again talking in his rude annoyed voice but Kabira cuts him off this time.**

Kabira: That's not true!

**Serafina stops and blinks surprised.**

Kabira: Other than asking permission to stay in order to make sure you recover so we can continue are talks I haven't discussed anything with them.

**Serafina is shocked to hear this, and then suddenly he becomes angry**

Serafina: Why, are you stupid or something! I don't like you, I hate you and your father what have I done to not make that clear to you! Any real politician would have already decided that talking to me any further would be pointless and have tried to go around me by going to the advising assembly and what better time than when I was unconscious! What are you trying to prove, what's your objective!

**Serafina shouts gathering the attention of everyone in the area. Raheem is glaring at Serafina while Shadow seems to have lost interest. Kabira with eyes of honesty stares at Serafina directly in the eyes and says**

Kabira: I'm not trying to prove anything and I don't have any objective. The reason I didn't go to the advisor assembly is because they aren't the leaders of the liberators of Haben. Although they are in charge of certain aspects of the liberators of Haben you are the leader, this is your army your people and you care about them and want to protect them and to go around you well that would just be really disrespectful won't it.

**Anger is like fire, it burns hotly and collapses our sense of calm and composer but eventually when all the fuel is burned and there's nothing else left to scream at anger/fire burns out. Serafina anger is gone, he has nothing left against Kabira, he let it all out and she's still standing.**

**Serafina's logic, judgment, and heart is returning. He breathes in then out finally fully feeling the ass that he's been, after a moment he bows to a surprise Kabira.**

Serafina: I'm sorry, I misjudged you. Kabira you have a good heart and came here with nothing but honest intentions and deserve better than the way I have been treating you. Please forgive my behavior.

**The crowd begins to mumble to themselves surprised to hear their commander and chief apologize to their supposed enemy, even Raheem is shock. Kabira is taken back and appears the most embarrass, the scene ends with her saying.**

Kabira: No, no, no, you weren't that bad; I've been treated worse; please you don't have to bow.

**The next scene opens up showing Nick, Kenny and Roxas walking amongst the rebel tents.**

Nick: Are you mates sure you want to eat the rebel's food, you mates do know its rations right?

**Kenny groans**

Kenny: Anything has got to be better than that garbage the cook on board the Dark-Angel is serving.

**Roxas moans**

Roxas: I need real food, even if I have to hunt it myself.

**Nick, Kenny and Roxas get on a food line, while they wait to receive their food they can hear some of the conversations going on between the rebel troops.**

Rebel troop A: I heard Kabira's speech today, it was really quite moving.

Rebel troop B: Yea, I'm surprised I always thought Kabira would be some kind of spoiled kid living the good life but she really isn't; she's just like us.

Rebel troop C: She's really nice too, she's always bringing water to us mechanics and making sure we're not hurt, heh I cut myself on a lose screw and she demanded I stop working until I got it checked out.

Rebel troop D: I had a nice conversation with her earlier. It was really weird she just came up out of nowhere and started talking to me; she wanted to know why I was fighting so I told her about how my husband who's staying in Haben Harbor has been out of work for nearly 6 months and can't find a job, she looked really sorry and even give me a couple tips about job openings she had heard about in the area. I'm going to call him later tonight and tell him about them.

**Nick, Kenny and Roxas have gotten their food and upon seeing no seats sit on the floor and begin eating.**

Kenny: It looks like Kabira is winning the hearts of the rebels.

**Nick eating something looks unsurprised.**

Nick: Of course mate, she's a good honest gal and any mate with a brain can see it.

**Roxas choosing to eat a chicken leg the way a tiger would (biting and clawing) says**

Roxas: It's one thing to convince people of your own good intentions but it's another to convince them of someone else's.

**Nick and Kenny sip their drink thinking.**

Kenny: Well that's true, Kabira is having her meeting today with Serafina, she's finally going to tell him that Fachtna is the one responsible for all of this.

**Kenny seems hopeful while Nick seems more realistic.**

Nick: It's going to be a tough sell for the mate to pull off; for someone with that level of hatred; changing his mind won't be easy even with physical proof.

**Roxas done with her food begins to check out some of the rebel guys and girls still eating.**

Roxas: I guess this will be a real test of Kabira's political skills.

**The camera cuts to the Dark-Angel's Gundam bay, it's quiet, all repairs seem to be finish with the Gundams. The mechanics are working on the ship now but it's very lay back. Jack is sitting down facing Nightwing, she has a rather large Ipad thing in her lap. Jack is writing in it while constantly looking back up at Nightwing.**

Jack (If I move this here, and convert the diagnostic power down wire 323 and reconnect it with the vertebral pillar.)

**Jack smiles in victory.**

Jack: There that should increase Nightwing's physical power by 5 percent.

**Jack saves her work then takes the ipad off her lap and puts it to the side as she leans back.**

Jack: I can't wait until we get back to Arianna or any city where I can get my hand on some decent parts, heh I'm even running low on regular solid metal so I can't even make the parts myself.

**Jack isn't speaking to anyone, she's just talking. Jack lays there slowly staring at each Gundam on the rack admiring her work, Nightwing, Cowboy, La Rouge, Quanlier and finally her eyes come to rest on the last fifth Gundam on the rack; Zuke's Gundam. Zuke's Gundam is silver like his Neon gauntlet and clearly a different class Gundam from all the others.**

Jack (Yea and then there's Zuke's Gundam. Zuke told everyone that he would be doing his own maintenance for his Gundam and that anyone caught touching his Gundam would find their hand broken in several places. Freaking stuck-up bastard doesn't think I'm competent enough to handle Gundam repairs.)

**Jack definitely looks offended but then she goes back staring at the unknown Gundam.**

Jack (I haven't seen Zuke touch his Gundam once, but it's always clean, not a single layer of dust on it. I wonder if it has a nanite clean base system, either that or Zuke is a freaking ninja that can wipe down his entire Gundam without anyone seeing him. I don't see any weapons or shields on this Gundam either.

**Jack sits back up having fun guessing about Zuke's Gundam.**

Jack (I know some fighters like Shadow prefer to go out without a shield so it's possible it's not equip with one and its weapons could simply be hidden away in a secret hatch somewhere on the Gundam's body. As for the model well if I had to guess I would say a customized elf class Gundam.)

**Jack suddenly frowns and gets angry with herself.**

Jack: What the hell am I doing, I don't know anything about this Gundam! Hell I don't even know its name, that stupid Zuke how could he not even tell me his stupid Gundam's name! I'm the Shadow Knights chief mechanics and I don't even know the name of a Gundam on my team, I'm going to be the laughing stock at GFC. You know what I'm going to find that Zuke and beat him till he tells me at least his Gundam's name, I'll show him who's competent!

**Jack with anger fueled determination gets up and marches off. The camera cuts to the meeting room where we first met Serafina, everyone has a serious look on their face except for Shadow who looks like he's sleeping even the guards are troubled. Kabira and Cagalli are leaning slightly forward waiting for a response from Serafina about a question they must have asked.**

Serafina: So you're saying that the council member Fachtna has been manipulating events and sabotaging the King?

**Kabira and Cagalli nod their heads.**

Kabira: Yes.

**Serafina with his new found respect for Kabira doesn't want to come right out and say he doesn't believe her but well if he didn't have his new found respect for Kabira he would have already cursed her out and accused her of lying.**

Serafina: But there's no proof?

**Kabira can see the doubt in his face and it annoys her.**

Kabira: There's proof, I saw it but it was destroyed by Fachtna.

**Even Kabira realizes how stupid that sounds, and no surprise Serafina is skeptical to say the least but instead of throwing Kabira out and labeling her as some kind of conspiracy theory nut job he tries to reason with her.**

Serafina: Ok let's say for the moment that you did have proof of Fachtna's treachery, what possible motive other than being pure evil and the biggest ass in the world could Fachtna have for wrecking Haben's economy and framing the king for it?

**Kabira bites her lip not having an answer. Serafina sees this and decides to play towards that logic.**

Serafina: Wrecking the economy doesn't get him any more money; in fact he's hurting like everyone else. I read in a news article about smart things to do with your money and found out that the only reason Fachtna is still rich is because he invested everything overseas. As for framing the king, well last I checked in the popularity polls he's nowhere close to being the next choice elected by the people when the king is overthrown which isn't surprising since I've heard his political views and speeches. Don't get me wrong it's not like I dislike his politics or anything it's just I wouldn't vote for him to be king.

**The camera cuts back to the Dark-Angel, this time we're outside the Dark-Angel on top of the hull of the bridge. Zuke is just standing their unblinking and unmoving looking very much like a statue, he's staring off in the distance. Jack pops out from a hatch and she still looks angry**

Jack: Alright Zuke look here, it's disgraceful for a head mechanic to have on board a Gundam that she doesn't even know its name so I demand that you tell me your Gundam's name!

**Zuke doesn't move, in fact judging by his posture we wouldn't be able to tell that Jack is there. Of course this pisses off Jack even further.**

Jack: HEY don't just ignore me you freaking asshole, answer me!

**Zuke finally replies in his "I'm better then you voice"**

Zuke: Go away; my time is far too valuable to play with little children.

**This sends Jack over the edge of the raging abyss.**

Jack: Why you, BASTARD!

**Jack quickly pulls out her wrench and hurls it at Zuke with all her might. The wrench spins flying towards Zuke but without even turning around Zuke with almost inhuman reflexes catches it.**

Zuke: Tis

**Jack grits her teeth in surprise annoyance as Zuke spins the wrench around his fingers for a moment then still without turning around throws it at Jack. Zuke didn't hold back, the wrench is flying towards Jack like a speeding train easily 3 times faster and more powerful than when Jack threw it, however Jack stubbornly doesn't back down.**

**She tracks the wrench with her eyes and with her glove hand (note in case you forgot Jack wears a black glove on her left hand) catches it. We hear a loud bang sound as Jack catches the wrench. Zuke finally turns around and looks at Jack for the first time ever surprise.**

Zuke: You caught it.

**Jack is happy she finally got the upper hand against Zuke.**

Jack: That's right someday I'm going to be the greatest mechanic in the world and it would be a disgrace if I can't even catch my own wrench.

**Zuke and Jack stare off at each other than Zuke turns back towards the horizon.**

Zuke: It's impossible for you to achieve your dream.

**Jack just glares at Zuke.**

Jack: We'll just see.

**Annoyed at being ignored again Jack snaps**

Jack: And what the hell are you doing just staring off at the distance!

**Zuke answers in a matter of fact voice**

Zuke: I'm waiting for the enemy.

**Jack even more annoyed folds her arms and asks**

Jack: Wha-

**Before she can finish a missile speeds into view, time slows down as we can see the very large missile literary just miss Zuke by a hair. Zuke still has his arrogant look on his face and remains unflinching as the missile speeds by. The missile misses Jack by quite a bit more but it's definitely closer than someone would want a missile to be to them.**

**Jack watches the missile fly over the top of the bridge and reflexively analyzes it.**

Jack (A 332 blue jay long distance missile, explosion radius 3 kilometers.)

**Time resumes back to normal as the missile zips by and hits the ground right next to the Dark-Angel. There's a moment's pause as Jack stands their stun to which Zuke gloats.**

Zuke: That enemy.

**The camera cuts to inside the Dark-Angel's bridge as a whole bunch of warning lights goes off. Rini, Thomas, Alan and Ciro are the only ones on the bridge.**

Thomas: LA, RA, DOE, ME missile explosion detected right side of the ship.

**Everyone is typing fast at their terminals. Alan snaps**

Alan: That's impossible there's no one on the radars!

**Ciro annoyed snaps back**

Ciro: Well I think the missile explosion on the right side of the ship disagrees with you!

**Rini makes a quick guess at the culprit.**

Rini: Those must be long distance missiles, if are radars aren't picking the shooter up we must be at the optimum distance; if we move back we should fall out of range.

**We start hearing more explosions around the ship. Thomas sings out**

Thomas: LA-DE-DA activating shields and CIWs!

**Jack and Zuke walk onto the bridge.**

Jack: We got long distance missiles lock onto us and other then Mr. I'm too good to fight we don't have any Gundam Pilots on board!

**Ciro rolls his eyes.**

Ciro: Well this crappy ass day just keeps on getting better.

**Rini shortens and restates her opinion.**

Rini: We must be in the optimum zone, I suggest we move back.

**Jack nods her head.**

Jack: I agree, Alan get us the hell out of here!

**Alan doesn't need to be told twice, he yanks on the wheel and begins to turn it. The camera cuts outside as the Dark-Angel turns around and begins to retreat from the missiles coming straight at it. The camera cuts back inside as Thomas sings**

Thomas: DOE, RA, ME 2 rebel patrol ships heading in the direction the missiles are coming from.

**Ciro is glad about this.**

Ciro: Good, they'll distract whosever firing the missiles while we get away.

**Jack shouts out**

Jack: Contact, Nick, Roxas, Kenny, Cagalli, and Shadow and tell them to get their asses back here on the double!

**The camera cuts back to the meeting room, to show Serafina trying to be nice.**

Serafina: Look I'm sure you want this not to be your father's fault, like there's some higher person or evil at work and that desire can sometimes play tricks on the mind but

**Serafina gets cut off as a messenger comes bargaining in.**

Messenger: Reports of attacks by long range missiles from west side! 2 patrol ships are already engaging the enemy.

**Serafina is shocked then snaps**

Serafina: What, who's attacking!

**The messenger hesitantly says**

Messenger: From the reports it looks like 2 royal soldiers.

**Raheem is shock.**

Raheem: What!

**Serafina eyes open wide for a moment then he turns slowly back towards Kabira. We can tell he's struggling to decide something, Shadow however butts in.**

Shadow: Yea, we totally saved your life just so we could kill you in a surprise attack with royal whatever's.

**Shadow says with obvious sarcasm however Serafina isn't laughing.**

Serafina: The thought did cross my mind.

**Raheem, Cagalli and Kabira are outrage.**

Kabira: Come one!

Cagalli: Really!

Raheem: This is ridicules!

**They all speak at once; Shadow on the other hand just gets up and stretches.**

Shadow: Fine, I'll go out their kick those royal Gundam's asses and then we can move on.

**Shadow starts to walk away when an annoyed Raheem realizes something.**

Raheem: You just want to fight the royal soldier's Gundam.

**Shadow stops for a moment then looks back almost pleading with Serafina..**

Shadow: Oh come on you got to let me fight them, I mean they have royal in their name they must be awesome, please, please, pretty please, please!

**Serafina not used to Shadow's crazy behavior is unsure of what to do.**

Serafina: Ummmm sure I guess.

Serafina (Who the hell begs to go into battle against an unknown enemy with unknown number of units and abilities?)

**Shadow happy begins punching the air.**

Shadow: Yes, Yes, Yes!

**Cagalli on the other hand has had enough and head slaps him.**

Cagalli: God Shadow you stupid moron, there's more going on than your stupid Gundam Fights.

**Shadow rubbing the back of his head is annoyed.**

Shadow: Well sorry princess.

**Cagalli angrily snaps**

Cagalli: Don't call me princess!

**While they continue to argue Serafina just watches with a look of bewilderment.**

Serafina: He really doesn't have anything on his mind but Gundams.

**Serafina is referring to Shadow. Raheem nods his head and sighs**

Raheem: Unfortunately, it really is a shame he would have made a fine soldier if he wasn't so simple minded.

**Suddenly Cagalli and Shadow's Neon gauntlets ring like cellphones interrupting their argument. They both bring up their Neon gauntlet then hit a button. Jack appears on the small screen.**

Shadow: Oh hey Jack what's up?

**Jack rolls her eyes.**

Jack: Oh the sky, some clouds and a partial chance OF FREAKING MISSSILES! Some nut job with a long distance missile launcher appeared and is freaking shooting at us!

**Serafina now becomes interested as Cagalli asks with concern.**

Cagalli: Are you alright Jack?

Jack: We manage to get out of range without taking any hits but whatever they got its mobile and heading straight towards the rebel I mean the liberators of Haben's base.

**Serafina definitely starts asking questions about this.**

Serafina: Did you see who was attacking, do you know the enemy's fighting capability!

**Jack shakes her head.**

Jack: We didn't see anything other than your 2 patrol ships get their asses handed to them.

**Serafina is horrified.**

Serafina: What!

**Jack nods her head.**

Jack: Yea there's nothing on the radars so the only way they can tract the enemy is by following the flight path of the missiles but their just 2 big easy targets, they were under heavy fire when we got out of there.

**Serafina grits his teeth.**

Serafina: Damn it!

**Raheem looks outside; we can see a lot of the young recruits just chilling out and listening to music.**

Raheem (If those missiles come into range of this base it's going to cause a lot of damage, a lot of kids are going to die.)

**Raheem suddenly gets a resolve look in his face.**

Raheem: If battleships are too big than are best bet is to go in with Gundams, the missiles will have a hard time locking onto a target that small and agile.

**Serafina looks up at Raheem not completely sold on them yet.**

Serafina: I feel obligated to tell you that if this is an attack by the King then you are breaking your oath as a royal soldier by helping us.

**Raheem looks up at Serafina and matches his gaze evenly.**

Raheem: Although I don't rule out the possibility that this is an attack by some faction of the Haben military this is definitely not the work of the king. He would have certainly sent out a warning before he began the attack.

**Serafina and Raheem face off for a moment before Serafina decides to accept Raheem's help.**

Serafina: So Gundams it is, each patrol ship has about 30 Gundams in it already and I can have 4 carrier ships be ready in 10 minute.

**Raheem nods his head satisfied but Cagalli on the other hand looks shock.**

Cagalli: Wait a single patrol ship can carry 30 Gundams!

**Both Raheem and Serafina look at Cagalli not understanding her surprise.**

Serafina: Well no, if you really push it our patrol ships can carry 50 Gundams but there are currently only about 30 on board now.

**Cagalli bites her lip not liking where this is going.**

Cagalli: And your carrier ships, how many Gundams can they hold?

**Serafina doesn't understand what Cagalli's angle is.**

Serafina: I hope you realize I'm not stupid enough to tell you how many Gundams we currently have in our possession.

**Cagalli shakes her head almost a little desperate now.**

Cagalli: No it's not that it's just; please can you tell me how many Gundams it can carry.

**Serafina just stares at Cagalli for a moment then says**

Serafina: 70 Gundams why?

**Cagalli has to take a step back in shock.**

Cagalli: 7-70 Gundams wow that must be a lot?

**Everyone is staring at Cagalli wondering if she's losing it suddenly Raheem and Serafina laugh (it doesn't make sense to us but on Sora it's one of those obvious questions that only someone who's lived in a hole would not know).**

Raheem and Serafina: HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA

Raheem: A lot yea right.

Serafina: You don't have to act shock I know are carrier ships are pretty small.

**Cagalli is scared.**

Cagalli: Small?

**Serafina nods his head.**

Serafina: Yea, most nations now a days use the Nouyew class carrier which can hold 120 Gundams but I think the record for largest Carrier was 500 Gundams?

**Serafina not sure turns to Raheem. Raheem nods his head.**

Raheem: 500 Gundams but that thing is worth more than all of Haben plus its freaking massive, easily the size of a couple of city blocks. Only the largest of nations have one of those puppies at their disposal.

**Serafina and Raheem done with their laugh turn back to the battle plan. A messenger has come in carrying a screen like the iphone to which immediately Serafina starts talking to his men. Cagalli on the other hand is still shock by what she's learned.**

Cagalli (70 Gundams times 4 ships, 280 Gundams just like that and they're talking about it like that amount of Gundams is nothing.)

**Suddenly an even scarier thought enters Cagalli's mind.**

Cagalli (Maybe it is nothing compared to Sora standards. I knew that Gundams were more enrich in Sora society then on Earth but this is)

**Cagalli gets brought back down to Sora by Shadow.**

Shadow: Hey Cagalli you alright?

**Shadow isn't the only one concern; Kabira is also looking at Cagalli worried, seeing her friend's concern faces Cagalli gets a grip.**

Cagalli: Yes I'm fine, thank you.

Cagalli (Right this isn't the time for that, I'll worry about it later.)

**Shadow stares at Cagalli for a moment more then gets back to business.**

Shadow: Alright the Dark-Angel should be close; let's take a transport shuttle back to it and then get started on some Gundam Fighting.

**Shadow looks really excited. Cagalli rolls her eyes but nevertheless follows behind Shadow. Kabira gets up and also starts following them but Cagalli immediately puts a stop to that.**

Cagalli: Hold on a second, where do you think you're going Kabira?

**Raheem and Serafina look up at this new turn of events. Kabira appears to be annoyed.**

Kabira: To the Dark-Angel with you guys of course.

**Shadow looks impatient but Cagalli doesn't care and puts her foot down.**

Cagalli: No, you're going to stay here.

**Raheem likes this idea.**

Raheem: I agree under the circumstances it's safer with you here rather than on the Dark-Angel.

**This of course makes Kabira angry.**

Kabira: I've already been on many battles with the Dark-Angel why is it suddenly more dangerous now.

**Raheem struggles with saying an answer that won't upset Kabira further.**

Raheem: Well you see we didn't really

**Cagalli cuts him off before he says anymore; she puts her hand on Kabira's shoulder and crouches down a little to be at eye level.**

Cagalli: You've got it all wrong Kabira it's not that it's too dangerous it's that we need you right here helping Serafina coming up with a battle plan, we need you as a second commander.

**Cagalli looks up at Serafina for confirmation. Serafina clearly doesn't like this bullshit but he grits his teeth and smiles.**

Serafina: It would be an honor to have your expertise.

Serafina (This is a load of crap, if my Gundam wasn't so heavily damage I'll be leading a ship out there myself.)

**Cagalli nods her head satisfied and turns back to Kabira, for a moment Kabira hesitates thinking it over then she losses it. Kabira shakes Cagalli off and shouts**

Kabira: This is bullshit! Do you think I'm so stupid that I can't see that you're trying to manipulate me into staying here where it's safer! What the hell do I know about battle planning anyway, I'll tell you what, NOTHING! I'd be absolutely useless! I'd rather go with you guys and fight!

**Cagalli steps back shock. The camera switches to Cagalli's view point to show Kabira's image fade for a moment and be replace by a young Cagalli (Cagalli when she lead the Orb forces at the first battle of Orb, it's the episode where Kira and Athrun finally join forces.)**

Cagalli (There's nothing I can say to change her mind.)

**Shadow looks back and forth between Cagalli and Kabira then steps in.**

Shadow: And you think you'd be useful on the Dark-Angel?

**Raheem doesn't like the meanness in that statement.**

Raheem: Shadow!

**But Shadow ignores him and stares down at Kabira. Kabira looks away.**

Kabira: Well, no but still

**Shadow cuts her off.**

Shadow: But still what? You're going to end up just watching the battle in any situation so why not choose to watch it in the safest location.

**Kabira looks back at Shadow and shouts**

Kabira: Because I've been with you guys since we first started this mission, I've been with you every battle every Gundam fight and it just feels wrong backing out now!

**Shadow sighs and scratches his head.**

Shadow: Look Kabira right now you're useless.

**Cagalli finally coming out of here trance snaps at Shadow angrily**

Cagalli: Shadow!

**Shadow goes on.**

Shadow: But you're our friend and we want to keep you safe and the safest place right now is here, don't worry someday you'll get strong enough that you can walk on your own and don't need protection or a place to hide. It will come soon but today is not that day.

**Kabira folds her arms and looks away angrily not wanting to admit Shadow is right. Shadow just grins.**

Shadow: But if it makes you feel better you can pretend that you're Serafina's hostage to make sure we don't betray him or anything like that.

**Serafina and Raheem look at Shadow annoyed but Kabira can't help but laugh at that ridiculous notion.**

Kabira: HAHAHAHAHAH you watch way too many movies Shadow.

**Kabira seems to have cheered up somewhat. Shadow crouches down and makes his final move.**

Shadow: Tell you want Kabira, since you're not strong enough to fight yourself yet I'll go out there and fight for the both of us, you and Kenny can act as my brains out there when I fight.

**Cagalli can't resist saying**

Cagalli: God knows you could use some.

**Shadow annoyed ignores her. He holds out his fist, Kabira looks at it for a moment then back at Shadow. She finally caves.**

Kabira: Ok fine but just this once and next try just telling me instead of trying to manipulate me.

**She fist bumps Shadow's fist. Shadow smiling straightening up, he gives a triumphed smirk to Cagalli.**

Shadow: Sure no problem.

**Cagalli looks at Shadow annoyed but says nothing. Shadow and Cagalli begin to walk away. Kabira becomes frighten for a moment and shouts out**

Kabira: And since you're fighting for me you had better win!

**The episode ends with a confident Shadow wave back to Kabira and reply.**

Shadow: Well duh, see you later Kabira.

_**Author's Note: Happy Birthday ilianna620! Cheers to a great year and many more to come!**_


	55. Episode 54

Episode 54

**The episode opens up showing Cowboy, Quanlier, La Rouge and Nightwing running forward. The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show an excited Shadow grin thinking about what's to come.**

Shadow: This is so awesome; I can't wait to fight a royal soldier!

**Cagalli appears on his helmet screen frowning.**

Cagalli: Will you please try to stay focus Shadow, because of the long range missiles the Dark-Angel won't be able to follow us for backup, we're on our own.

**The camera switches to inside La Rouge's cockpit; Kenny looking offended appears on Cagalli's helmet.**

Kenny: Hey I'm still providing technical back up!

**Cagalli quickly apologizes**

Cagalli: Oh right, sorry Kenny.

**The camera switches to Quanlier's cockpit.**

Roxas: All we have to do is take out that long range missile launcher and then we can leave, simple.

**The camera cuts to inside Cowboy's cockpit.**

Nick: Serafina has also asked all of his mates to back off while he mobilizes his troops. So we're the first wave.

**The camera finally comes full circle by coming back to Nightwing's cockpit.**

Shadow: So our goal is to beat whoever's attacking us before the second wave comes out.

**Shadow hears something and looks up. The camera cuts outside to show long range missiles fast approaching, then cuts back inside Nightwing's cockpit.**

Kenny: Incoming long range missiles!

Shadow: What!

Cagalli: Crap!

Nick: Scatter!

Roxas: Argh!

**We cut back outside to show Nightwing and the other Gundams scatter trying to dodge the rain of missiles. The camera cuts back to inside Quanlier's cockpit to show Roxas curse.**

Roxas: Damn it, I thought the long range missiles couldn't lock onto us!

**Jack appears on the helmet screen.**

Jack: They can't, whoever is attacking is just firing random missiles at you hoping to get a hit. The good news is that they must be close.

**The camera cuts outside to show that Jack is right, although some of the missiles get close by luck most are way off and easy to avoid. The camera cuts into inside La Rouge's cockpit to show Cagalli annoyed grit her teeth.**

Cagalli: Well I'm not seeing it, Kenny can you run a scan?

**Kenny shakes his head.**

Kenny: No can do the Dark-Angel is too far away for our radars to pick up anything.

**Jack adds**

Jack: And your Gundams aren't equip with radar's or anything like that, you'll just have to keep your eyes open.

**The camera cuts back outside to show Cowboy do a quick couple of hops gaining some more distance from the falling missiles then cuts inside Cowboy's cockpit.**

Nick: I see it!

**The camera cuts to inside Nightwing's cockpit.**

Shadow: Where?

**Shadow is looking around but doesn't see it. The camera cuts outside to show Cowboy draw its gun, point and fire. The camera follows the beam bullet as it zips off into the distance passing a barely seeable missile launcher still firing missiles. The camera cuts back inside Cowboy's cockpit to show Kenny whistle.**

Kenny: Ok I'll admit it that was pretty good.

**The camera cuts outside to show Quanlier bare its fangs. The camera then cuts into Quanlier's cockpit to show Roxas almost growling.**

Roxas: What are we waiting for let's take it out!

**The camera cuts back outside to show Quanlier begin to take off when a new Gundam appears. This new Gundam is a Jackal Class animal type Gundam. The Jackal Gundam charges Quanlier and attempts a claw slash. The camera momentary does a split screen over it to show the Pilot.**

Royal Pilot: I don't think so!

**The screen returns to normal as Quanlier comes to a complete stop then hopes back dodging the Jackal Gundam's claw slash. Cowboy, La Rouge and Nightwing quickly come to Quanlier's aid. They line up facing the unknown Gundam. The camera cuts back into Quanlier's cockpit to show a pissed off Roxas.**

Roxas: Who the hell are you!

**The camera switches back to the royal Pilot.**

Royal Pilot: Heh like I'd give me name to rebel scum!

**The camera cuts outside to show the Jackal Gundam charge. The Jackal Gundam is definitely as fast as Quanlier as expected of any 4 legged animal type Gundam. Quanlier braces itself also preparing to charge but Nightwing cuts in front and performs a tilted horizontal beam slash. The Jackal Gundam stops and jumps back dodging the attack.**

**As the dust begins to settle the camera cuts into Nightwing's cockpit to show a grinning Shadow**

Shadow: Sorry but I'm going to be your opponent.

**Roxas quickly appears on Shadow's helmet screen.**

Roxas: What the hell Shadow, you just stole my prey!

**Shadow looks a little apologetic.**

Shadow: Oh sorry but come on I've never fought an animal Gundam before plus it's a royal Gundam.

**Roxas looks annoyed at Shadow's begging face, when suddenly Raheem appears on Shadow's helmet screen.**

Raheem: It doesn't matter who fights that Gundam as long as the rest of you goes after that missile launcher, we cannot allow it to get in range of the camp.

**Shadow jumps a little startled by Raheem's sudden appearance.**

Shadow: Whoa Raheem, where the hell did you come from?

**Raheem looks at Shadow annoyed.**

Raheem: Kenny established a communication link between this terminal and your Gundam; now please decide quickly we don't have much time.

**The camera cuts outside to show the missile launcher still in the distance, pass the Gundams heading in the direction of the rebel's camp. The camera then turns around and does a split screen over Nightwing to show Shadow get fired up.**

Shadow: I'm taking this guy!

**The screen returns to normal to show Nightwing charge the Jackal Gundam. The camera does a split screen over Quanlier to show an annoyed Roxas.**

Roxas: Fine but I call the next one!

**Quanlier turns around and takes off toward the missile launcher. The camera cuts into La Rouge's cockpit to show a startled Cagalli.**

Cagalli: Hey Roxas wait up you're going too fast.

**The camera cuts outside to show La Rouge and Cowboy chase after Quanlier. The camera turns back around to look at Nightwing. Nightwing is already demonstrating its new found speed/footing technique. Nightwing has its beam saber raised preparing for a left downward diagonal beam slash. The camera cuts into Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow grinning excitedly.**

Shadow (This is awesome, I only figured out this thruster footing thing toward the end game of my battle with Serafina so I wasn't really sure how fast I can go but now it's like I've double my original speed input when I just used the thrusters by themselves.)

Shadow: HA good luck keeping up with mekamkma

**We see Shadow's body come to a sudden an abrupt stop as the breath gets knocked out of the surprise Shadow. The camera cuts outside and does a freeze frame to show the Jackal Gundam head-butt Nightwing right in the gut. The camera cuts inside the Jackal Gundam's cockpit to show the confident pilot grin.**

Royal Pilot: Somehow I don't think that will be a problem.

**The camera cuts back outside to show the Jackal Gundam pull back then jump in the air, spin and perform a tail slap at Nightwing head. This isn't a normal tail slap, we hear a loud boom as Nightwing gets knocked off its feet and go crashing into the ground a couple of meters away head first.**

**The camera cuts back to La Rouge, Cowboy and Quanlier, they're making good progress on reaching the missile launcher, in fact they look to be almost within firing range. We cut to inside Quanlier's cockpit as Roxas asks**

Roxas: So how many more royal Gundams do you think are left?

**The camera switches to Cagalli. Cagalli just shrugs**

Cagalli: I don't know, it depends whether or not this is an official mission or one off the record.

**Nick curious asks**

Nick: What's the difference mate?

**Cagalli explains**

Cagalli: Well an official mission will have an entire squad of Gundams at the least if not more while an unofficial mission will have at the most a squad possibly even as little as 2 Gundams.

**Kenny pops up on Cagalli's helmet screen and adds**

Kenny: It's probably an unofficial mission with very few Gundams. If they had more Gundams they would have sent them ahead to attack the rebel camp instead of allowing Serafina time to build up his defense and come up with a plan of attack.

**Nick looks startled.**

Nick: Whoa Kenny almost forgot you were there for a moment.

**Kenny is slightly annoyed.**

Kenny: Oh thanks.

**Roxas on the other hand is even worse.**

Roxas: What are you even doing on this link Kenny, aren't you like useless without your radar's and stuff?

**This time Kenny is offend.**

Kenny: That's not true! I'm still the Shadow Knights technical support and I can be useful!

**Roxas doesn't look convince. Cagalli looks slightly confused.**

Cagalli: Hey Kenny if you're acting as our technical support then who's acting as Shadow's?

Kenny: Oh that; Raheem said he would.

**The camera cuts back to Nightwing; Nightwing pushes itself off the ground onto its hands and knees. The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow struggling to catch his breath.**

Shadow: *pant, pant* what the hell *pant, pant, pant* so freaking fast, I don't even see him attack.

**Raheem appears on Shadow's helmet screen.**

Raheem: Of course he's fast, 80 percent of all animal Gundams are faster than a standard human Gundam, and judging from his speed I estimate he's about double your current speed level.

**Shadow is shocked.**

Shadow: What! Double!

**Shadow sighs depressed**

Shadow (Man and I just got to this level of speed.)

**Raheem snaps**

Raheem: Watch out he's making a second run!

**The camera cuts outside to show the speeding Jackal Gundam dash around Nightwing then charge again. The Jackal Gundam reaches Nightwing in seconds and performs a claw stab attack aimed for Nightwing's head.**

**Nightwing tilts its head out of the way at the last second avoiding a direct hit however the Jackal Gundam does manage to cut Nightwing's cheek slightly. The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow grit his teeth in pain.**

Shadow: Shit!

**Raheem quickly begins giving Shadow advice.**

Raheem: Shadow listen to me, you can forget about catching that thing. The only time you're going to see it coming is when he attacks, you're going to have to completely rely on your reflexes to dodge and counterattack within moments of each other.

**Raheem is very serious but Shadow on the other hand just grins with growing excitement.**

Shadow: That's fine, no problem!

**Shadow says with absolute confidence. The camera switches to Raheem, Raheem is sitting at a desk with a bunch of different monitors on it; one monitor shows Shadow with a bunch of different body stats and medical information on it like heart rate and stuff.**

**Another monitor shows Nightwing in diagram form, we can see a small red spot where Nightwing got cut by the Jackal Gundam, right next to it is a damage percentage. This monitor is clearly to show how Nightwing is functioning. The third monitor shows what Nightwing can see.**

Raheem (Shadow is still a rookie, he has no idea how difficult the dodge and counterattack heartbeat technique is. I myself find it incredibly difficult to do, I can only do it right about 1 in every 20 attempts and I'm an experience Gundam Pilot. Still against an opponent with this much difference in speed it's his only shot.)

**The camera cuts back to La Rouge, Cowboy and Quanlier, they look like they're almost within firing range of the missile launcher. The camera cuts inside La Rouge's cockpit to show Cagalli concentrating.**

Kenny: Alright guys you're almost in firing range, get ready.

**Roxas looks annoyed.**

Roxas: If there were any more Gundams wouldn't we have run into them already?

**Before Cagalli can comment Nick shouts**

Nick: Watch out mates!

**The camera cuts outside to show a much smaller missile head straight for the Gundams, it's clear from the angle that this missile didn't come from the missile launcher. The Gundams scatter dodging the missiles and explosions that follow. The camera cuts back into La Rouge's cockpit to show Cagalli wildly begin looking left and right for the attacker while Kenny yells at Roxas**

Kenny: Damn it Roxas you just had to go and jinx it!

Cagalli: Where is the shooter!

**The camera cuts outside and swings over to Cowboy as Cowboys whips out its beam rifle and points it towards the sky, the camera does a split screen.**

Nick: Above!

**The camera swings up to look at the figure of an eagle rapidly descending towards the Gundams. It's hard to see clear details as it descends with the sun shining brightly behind it. Cowboy fires 3 shots at the Eagle Gundam. The Eagle Gundam with the sun still behind it easily and fluidly dodges the shots.**

**The camera cuts into Cowboy's cockpit to show Nick clench his teeth in annoyance.**

Nick (Damn it the sun's getting into my eyes.)

**The camera cuts back outside for a moment to show the Eagle Gundam tuck in its wings and spiral left towards La Rouge. The camera cuts back to inside Cowboy's cockpit as a panic Nick shouts out**

Nick: Cagalli watch out he's coming straight at you!

**The camera cuts outside and does a split screen over La Rouge to show Cagalli grit her teeth as she raises her shield and reaches for her beam rifle, but the Eagle Gundam is faster and La Rouge is barely able to bring up its shield before the Eagle Gundam fires several missiles at almost point blank range at La Rouge's shield.**

**The force of the missiles and the explosion knock La Rouge flat onto its back while the Eagle Gundam soars by. We do a quick split screen over La Rouge during the explosion as Cagalli shouts**

Cagalli: AHHHHHHH

**The screen returns to normal as Quanlier goes on the offensive. Quanlier is able to catch up to the speeding Eagle Gundam which at this point is flying close to the ground. The camera does a split screen over Quanlier to show an angry Roxas growl**

Roxas: Bastard!

**The screen returns to normal as Quanlier does a jump attack but the Eagle Gundam rotates in mid-air and while it's rotating it's transforming into a human Gundam (I'm still going to call it Eagle Gundam) and still on one rotation the Eagle Gundam delivers a powerful kick into Quanlier sending Quanlier crashing into the ground.**

**The camera cuts into Quanlier's cockpit to show Roxas grit her teeth as she climbs back onto her legs.**

Roxas: Shit it can transform.

**Roxas looks pissed. We can see Kenny on Roxas's helmet screen and he looks a little freaked out.**

Kenny: It's a transformable Eagle Gundam!

**Roxas looks annoyed**

Roxas: Thanks for stating the obvious Kenny.

**The camera cuts outside as the Eagle Gundam still in human form ascends to the sky and looks down upon its foes. The way it hovers in the sky staring down at Cagalli, Roxas and Nick is almost like he's shouting the difference in ability, skill and experience.**

**La Rouge and Quanlier climb back onto their feet and return the stare. The camera cuts inside the Eagle Gundam's cockpit to show a very confident and experience soldier.**

Royal Pilot B: Ok kids listen up because I'm only going to give you this chance once. I am a member of the Haben Royal attack and I have been given orders to disorganize and destroy as much of the rebel base as I can but according to my readings you're a Gundam Team and not rebel scum so if you leave now I'll forget I ever saw you.

**The camera cuts to inside Quanlier's cockpit to show an even more pissed off Roxas.**

Roxas: That cocky prick, he's looking down on us! He thinks he can beat all 3 of us just like that!

**Nick pops up on Roxas's helmet screen, unlike Roxas he's keeping a leveled head but there's an edge of nervousness in his voice.**

Nick: Maybe he can mate; he certainly didn't have any problem making us look like idiots a moment ago.

**Kenny pops up on the helmet screen and immediately takes Roxas's stance.**

Kenny: That's only because he used a blitz attack, if you guys saw him coming you would have never been overpowered like that.

**Cagalli also pops up; her face looks more along the line of Nick's.**

Cagalli: No it's not just the surprise attack he's skilled too, we can see it in the way he used the surprise attack to its fullest potential almost taking us all out in one hit.

**The camera switches to Cagalli's cockpit as she opens up a communication's line with Royal Pilot B.**

Cagalli: Who gave you the order to attack the liberators of Haben base?

**The camera cuts to inside the Eagle Gundam's cockpit to show a cold Royal Pilot B reply**

Royal Pilot B: That is not your concern.

**Cagalli grits her teeth in annoyance, as Royal Pilot B unfolds his arms and demands**

Royal Pilot B: What is your answer!

**The camera does a 3 way split screen first showing Quanlier, La Rouge, Cowboy then it switches to show their respective pilots. The three Gundam Pilots answer in unison**

Cagalli, Nick, Roxas: No.

**The screen returns to normal to show Royal Pilot B close his eyes for a moment, take a deep breath then shout**

Royal Pilot B: Then prepare to be destroyed!

**The camera cuts outside to show the Eagle Gundam transform quickly into its Eagle form then charge the Gundam Pilots. The camera switches back to Shadow's battle, Nightwing is cover in small cuts and scratches. Nightwing's shoulders are moving up and down slightly mimicking someone who's breathing heavily.**

**The Jackal Gundam is running circles around Nightwing; Nightwing is trying to keep it in its line of sight by only slightly turning its head. The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow no surprise breathing heavily.**

Shadow (Damn I never thought this dodge counterattack in a split second thing would be so hard. He's so god damn fast, I can see it in my mind what I want my body to do but when he attacks it all happens so fast that there's no time to think, I reflexively keep dodging him. It's like driving while reading at the same time, by the time I've processed his attack I'll already dodged it and by the time I begin my counter attack he's already long gone.)

**The camera cuts to Raheem sitting at a desk thinking.**

Raheem (The dodge and counterattack heartbeat technique is a skill that requires the absolute perfection of one's reflexes. The first part of the technique the dodge is easy, it's instinct for a normal human to either dodge or block an attack aimed at them after all no one wants to get hurt or experience pain. All it takes is some training to make sure a person's reflexes are able to dodge the attack.)

Raheem (Luckily I've been sparring with Shadow everyday so his reflexes are definitely on par with skill demanded by this technique. It's the second part of the technique that's tricky, most people only think about counterattacking after they've processed an opponent's attack but this technique requires it to also be instinct for a person to counterattack the moment they are attack.)

Raheem (To reflexively counterattack before you even realize you're being attacked is simply not natural for normal humans. It's a skill that requires constant and lots of training and I haven't seen Shadow work on it once. And last is to bring both skills together; it may sound easy but to do too opposite types of reflexes at the same time is like trying to tell your body to jump and sit down at the same time.)

**Raheem closes his eyes and thinks.**

Raheem (Still against an opponent like this it's Shadow's best hope but it's still a long shot.)

**The camera cuts back outside as the Jackal Gundam once again charges Nightwing. The Jackal Gundam is fast and jumps at Nightwing intending on doing a claw stab attack aimed at its chest. Nightwing pivots on its right leg dodging the attack by a hair.**

**The Jackal Gundam grazes Nightwing's chest but the cut doesn't even make it past the first layer of the armor. Time slows down a little as the camera cuts into the Jackal Gundam's cockpit to show Royal Pilot "tis". The camera cuts outside as time returns to normal. **

**After about a good minute Nightwing finally counterattacks by swinging its sword at the place the Jackal Gundam attack from, needless to say the Jackal Gundam is long gone by the time Nightwing attacks.**

**The camera cuts back to inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow taking deep breathes to try and calm down his frustration, it's not working.**

Shadow (ARHHRHRHRHEH this is never going to work. This technique is simply way to high above my level to even attempt especially without training. I'm going to lose at this rate, it's time I go for broke.)

**Shadow's eyes are glowing with their determine electricity. The camera cuts to inside the Jackal Gundam's cockpit to show a frustrated Royal Pilot.**

Royal Pilot (Damn it, I didn't think it take me this long to finish off this guy, but if his friends are on this skill level Lyra should be ok by himself. Still it's getting annoying that he keeps dodging all of my attacks by a hair. He hasn't tried to block my attack, he doesn't have a shield so it makes sense that he's more of a dodging type of Gundam fighter and it's obvious it takes way too much time for thought process to block an attack with a beam saber.)

**The Royal Pilot smirks as he come up with an idea.**

Royal Pilot (So my best bet is to attack him with something he can't dodge by a hair and has no time to process.)

**The camera cuts outside to show the Jackal Gundam still running turn and slide to a complete stop facing Nightwing. The camera does a momentary split screen over the Jackal Gundam to show a confident Pilot.**

Royal Pilot: Alright here I go!

**The camera cuts back to Nick, Roxas and Cagalli's battle. The Eagle Gundam soars in the air as both La Rouge and Cowboy try to shoot it down, but the Eagle Gundam rises, swirls, dives and maneuvers easily around all of the shoots. The camera cuts inside Cowboy's cockpit to show Nick grit his teeth.**

Nick (Darn it in the simulator all of the targets either just appeared or moved in predictable fashion but this is different. Hitting a moving target no, hitting a target that's trying to avoid getting hit is on a whole different plane. At least it helped me master dodging and returning fire.)

**The camera cuts to inside La Rouge's cockpit to show Cagalli also gritting her teeth.**

Cagalli (Sora Gundam battles always surprise me by how different they are from Earth mobile suit battles. If I were piloting a mobile suit right now then all I have to do is lock on with the targeting device but with a Sora Gundam it's more like I'm fighting with an actual gun rather than a Gundam. At least now I know why Drake had us drill the basics of marksmanship into our heads but still even the way the Gundams move are so different.)

Cagalli (Even the Freedom's movements seem robotic in comparison with this Gundam, true the Freedom's a 100x faster but it still moves in predictable patterns and battle maneuvers and an ace Pilot would be able to read it eventually but there's no pattern at all to the way this Eagle Gundam flies, it just feels so much like the way a real eagle would fly.)

**The camera cuts outside to show the Eagle Gundam's image fade for a sec and be replace by that of an actual soaring eagle, but the image quickly goes back to normal as the Eagle Gundam responds with a missile attack. La Rouge dodges the missiles in a twirl like fashion very balletic like.**

**Cowboy dives right rolls and takes a knee so it can quickly fire more shoots. The Eagle Gundam puts on the brakes just short of getting hit by one of Cowboy's beam bullets. The camera cuts inside of the Eagle Gundam's cockpit to show Royal Pilot B (Lyra) look at Cowboy analyzing.**

Lyra (That Gundam is the biggest threat, he's a sharp shooter and to be able to dodge and counterattack from that angle; I'll have to watch him.)

**The camera cuts back outside to show Quanlier well looking like a tiger trying to catch a bird flying above it. Quanlier keeps jumping up and down snapping its jaws at air. The camera cuts inside Quanlier's cockpit to show a furious Roxas shouting**

Roxas: Come on down here and fight me like a man you freaking coward!

**The camera cuts outside to show the Eagle Gundam dive left and then rise right dodging beam fire. The camera cuts into the Eagle Gundam's cockpit to show Lyra smirk.**

Lyra: As if!

**The camera cuts to inside La Rouge's cockpit to show Cagalli gritting her teeth as she struggles to aim. Kenny pops up on her helmet screen looking nervous.**

Kenny: Um guys I know you're kind of busy but THE MISSILE LAUNCHER IS GETTING CLOSER!

**The camera does a three way split screen to show Cagalli, Roxas and Nick look surprise having been completely focus on the battle.**

Cagalli (The missile launcher!)

Roxas: Shit.

Nick: Damn it!

**The screen goes back to normal still center on Cagalli.**

Cagalli (Darn it, the whole point of us being out here is to prevent the liberators of Haben from getting involve and the way we do that is by destroying that missile launcher.)

**The camera cuts outside to show Cowboy do a barrel roll dodging the missiles and quickly get up to return fire. The camera cuts inside Cowboy's cockpit to show Nick take charge.**

Nick: One of us should go after the missile launcher while the other mates take on this guy.

**The camera cuts outside to show La Rouge jump back a couple of paces dodging missile fire. The camera cuts inside La Rouge's cockpit to show Cagalli immediately against this.**

Cagalli: No, that's a bad idea if there are more Gundams guarding the missile launcher whoever goes after it will be outnumbered.

**We can see Nick with sweat forming on his brow look annoyed.**

Nick: Well we can't just waste time fighting this mate while the missile launcher keeps getting further and further away and I doubt any one of us could beat this mate by ourselves.

**Cagalli glares at Nick and is about to argue when Kenny steps in.**

Kenny: I think Nick is right.

**Cagalli turns her scary glare on Kenny who shouts out before she snaps at him**

Kenny: But only because I talked to Raheem, he said it's pretty common for special operations like this to be done in teams of 2, so I don't think there's anyone else you guys have to worry about in fact I think that missile launcher is automated and is running using an auto-targeting program.

**Cagalli grits her teeth a moment debating than goes with it.**

Cagalli: Alright but I think Roxas is the one that should go.

**The camera cuts outside to show Quanlier chasing after the Eagle Gundam. The camera cuts inside to show Roxas look serious annoyed.**

Roxas: What! Why me!

**She demands to know. We can see an angry Cagalli on her helmet screen snap**

Cagalli: Because you're not doing anything in this fight, without any long range weapons you can't touch him!

**Roxas grits her teeth annoyed but she can't argue with Cagalli's logic.**

Roxas: Fine.

**She spits out, the camera cuts outside to show Quanlier stop pursuing the Eagle Gundam and turn around to begin chasing the missile launcher, however this movement doesn't slip by the Eagle Gundam. The camera does a close up of the Eagle Gundam and then a split screen to show Lyra look annoyed as he realizes what they're up.**

Lyra (She's going after the missile launcher.)

Lyra: Like I'll just sit back and let you run away!

**The screen goes back to normal to show the Eagle Gundam dive heading straight after Quanlier. The Eagle Gundam is fast and gets even faster when it lowers to only a couple of feet from the ground (Gundam feet) and looks like it's going to quickly catch up to Quanlier, but Cowboy jumps in-between the 2 Gundams. The camera does a quick spit screen over Cowboy to show a determine Nick.**

Nick: No you don't mate!

**The screen returns to normal as Cowboy fires several beam bullets at the Eagle Gundam. The camera does a split screen over the Eagle Gundam to show an annoyed Lyra grit his teeth as he's force to rise in order to dodge the attack. The camera cuts inside Cowboy's cockpit to show Nick smile a little.**

Nick: You may be able to dodge my beam bullets from a distance mate but if you charge me I don't care how fast you are I'm going to hit you.

**The camera cuts outside for a moment to show the Eagle Gundam climb higher in the air. The Eagle Gundam transforms into its human form and hovers in the air. The camera cuts inside the Eagle Gundam's cockpit to show Lyra annoyed but still not concern.**

Lyra: Well if you guys are going to try petty tricks like that then I guess I have no choice but to treat you seriously.

**With that the camera cuts outside to show the Eagle Gundam pull out a ball and stick (think back to the battle with Serafina). The camera does a quick split screen to show Cagalli and Nick's shock faces**

Nick (A ball and beam!)

**The ball detaches from the stick remaining connected by a beam rope. The Eagle Gundam spins the ball around its head for a moment then lets it rip straight at Quanlier. The ball is fast and flies straight over Cowboy. The camera cuts inside Cowboy's cockpit to show Nick grit his teeth in shock and alarm.**

Nick: Shit, ROXAS!

**The camera cuts back outside to show the ball go a little left of Quanlier but then curve and head straight for Quanlier's left side. We do a momentary split screen over Quanlier just before it gets hit to see Roxas look up to see what Nick wants but it's too late.**

**The ball hits Quanlier hard in its left side knocking Quanlier clean off its feet. Quanlier hits the ground hard and rolls a couple of yards before coming to a stop. The camera cuts into Quanlier's cockpit to show a groggy Roxas.**

Roxas: Ughf what hit me?

**Cagalli, Nick and Kenny are all on her helmet screen looking concern.**

Cagalli: Oh my god Roxas are you alright?

Nick: That was a pretty hard hit mate, will you be ok?

Kenny: A solid metal ball.

**Roxas shakes her head then jumps to her feet.**

Roxas: Oh Cagalli sweetie where you worried for me? Well don't because I won't die or get injured until I get a taste of those sweet holy grail of bosoms.

**Cagalli quickly goes from concern to pissed.**

Cagalli: I'd sooner die then let that happen!

**The camera cuts to inside Cowboy's cockpit to show Nick still sizing his opponent up while they go at it.**

Nick: Hey mate do I have to worry about this thing exploding when it makes contact with me?

**Nick asks Kenny. Kenny shakes his head.**

Kenny: No, Serafina customize his ball and beam, from my calculations there's a 98.234 percent chance that what you're fighting against is the original unmodified version of the ball and beam.

**Nick clenches his teeth seeming to grow in anger.**

Nick: This is the mate's main weapon and he didn't pull it out until now! He's treating us like little tots! Plus he dared to hit a woman! As a man and as part of my code I won't let this stand!

**We can almost see waves of fierce anger coming off of Nick, his Neon gauntlet has started to glow and his intensity has even interrupted and startled Cagalli and Roxas's conversation.**

Cagalli: Whoa.

Roxas: Holy crap, I've never seen Nick pissed before.

Kenny: God have mercy on that poor Pilot going against Nick.

**The camera switches back to Shadow's battle. The Jackal Gundam is still circling Nightwing; trying to keep it in your line of sight is pointless it's just too fast. The camera starts to slowly circle Nightwing; Nightwing is holding its beam saber in its classic 2 hand stance. The camera starts to switch back and forth between outside and inside Nightwing's cockpit.**

**Shadow has his eyes close but we can see that he's concentrating, his Neon gauntlet is glowing but it's not a fierce flash glow more like the steady small under glow. We can almost sense it building in power, growing.**

Shadow (I have to reflexively attack instead dodge or block, I've never done that before but it can't be that hard. I just have to keep telling myself to attack, attack, attack, attack.)

**Shadow keeps telling himself to attack. The camera stops switching back and forth and stays outside, then spins around to face the Jackal Gundam. The camera does a quick split screen to show the Royal Pilot eyes snap open wider when he thinks he spots an opening.**

Royal Pilot: Now!

**The screen returns to normal as the Jackal Gundam stops and changes direction in mid-stride and charges Nightwing. A beam saber looking very similar to Raheem's square sword extends from Jackal Gundam's left side. The camera cuts to Raheem, Raheem is shock as he realizes what is happening.**

Raheem (Oh no that really is a Royal Gundam which means that attack is the Jackal slash!)

Raheem: Shadow watch out!

**The camera cuts back outside to show the Jackal Gundam jump up in the air in a jump attack at Nightwing, its beam saber is aimed at Nightwing's head. The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow's eyes snap open as his Neon gauntlet does a burst glow.**

Shadow (Attack!)

**The camera cuts outside as Nightwing takes one step forward towards the Jackal Gundam and swings its beam saber in a downward vertical slash. The Jackal Gundam twists in the air so it looks like the 2 beam sabers are going to miss each other.**

**Time slows down as the camera cuts inside the Jackal Gundam's cockpit, the Royal Pilot is shocked and we can see traces of fear on his face.**

Royal Pilot (He's not dodging! He's going on the offensive; no even if my attack goes through and cuts his head off it will cost me my left arm and leg! I won't be able to fight any more and Lyra would be force to fight all of the enemies by himself. I have to dodge.)

**The camera cuts back outside to show the Jackal Gundam force itself out of the way by transforming at the last second. Time goes back to normal as Nightwing's attack misses, but the dodge cost the Jackal Gundam. The Jackal Gundam transforms into a human Gundam but lands awkwardly on its elbow.**

**The camera does the X-ray thing and we can see one of the joints in the Jackal Gundam bend and get jam. The camera cuts inside the Jackal Gundam's cockpit for a moment to show the Royal Pilot howler in pain.**

Jackal Gundam: Warming transformation systems damage during fall, systems no longer functional, Gundam is unable to transform.

**The Royal Pilot grits his teeth.**

Royal Pilot: Damn it!

**The camera cuts to inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow look confused.**

Shadow: Huh? What happen, what's going on?

**The camera cuts to Raheem, Raheem is leaning back in his chair grinning relieved.**

Raheem (Heh looks like the battle just now was too fast for Shadow to process, but this really worked to his favor. The Pilot of that Royal Gundam didn't know how to do an emergency transformation evasion maneuver correctly and from the way he landed he obviously jammed the arm joint making transforming back into Jackal form impossible. Shadow can win this now.)

**The camera cuts outside to show the Jackal Gundam rise to its feet while at the same time pulling out its rectangular beam saber. Nightwing finally spots him, the camera cuts to inside Nightwing's cockpit.**

Shadow: Holy shit! When did that Gundam transform, but it looks freaking awesome and wait how come it has a beam saber version of Raheem's sword!

**Raheem annoyed snaps**

Raheem: Stay focus, the Royal Guard Gundam is a transformable human Jackal Gundam, and of course we have the same weapon because I'm the Captain of the royal Guard but that doesn't matter just hurry up and attack now while he's off balance!

**Shadow refocuses.**

Shadow: Right!

**The camera cuts outside to show Nightwing charge the Jackal Gundam. The camera cuts inside the Jackal Gundam's cockpit to show the Royal Pilot clench his teeth.**

Royal Pilot: A sword fight now huh, fine I'll show you the power of the Haben royal swordsmanship!

**The camera cuts outside to once more switch to Roxas, Cagalli and Nick's battle. Cowboy is unleashing a fury of beam bullets. These are different than before, each one looks closer and closer to hitting the Eagle Gundam who has to constantly swirl left, right, up, down, right. The camera cuts to inside the Eagle Gundam's cockpit to show Lyra gritting his teeth as he has to put more effort into dodging each shot.**

Lyra (Damn it, each of his beam bullets are getting closer and closer to hitting me; for a rookie Gundam Fighter his tracking ability is incredible. I have to take him out now or else I'm screwed!)

**The camera cuts outside to show the Eagle Gundam transform into its human form and send its ball and beam flying at Cowboy, but Cowboy doesn't dodge, instead it raises its shield and takes the hit. The ball slams into Cowboy's shield as it forces Cowboy's left leg off the ground in order to help Cowboy's left hand to reinforce the shield.**

**Cowboy's right leg slides a little and the camera does a split screen to show Nick grit his teeth with effort and then roar as he slams his left foot down and deflects the ball off his shield. The camera cuts inside the Eagle Gundam's cockpit to show Lyra shocked.**

Lyra: He deflected it!

**Before Lyra has time to comprehend this we hear Roxas pop up on his helmet screen.**

Roxas: Don't you dare ignored me!

**Lyra looks to his right as the camera cuts outside to show a charging Quanlier. When the Eagle Gundam threw its ball and beam at Cowboy it had to get low to the ground. The camera momentary cuts into Quanlier's cockpit to show a pissed off Roxas.**

Roxas: Don't you dare freaking ignored me!

**Quanlier pounces aiming high for the Eagle Gundam's head with its beam claws. The Eagle Gundam ducks down dodging the attack but the moment Quanlier lands it turns and pounces again this time aiming for the right hand. The Eagle Gundam hovers left evading the attack but Quanlier keeps charging. The camera cuts inside Quanlier's cockpit to show Roxas's fury**

Roxas: Since the beginning of this fight you've been ignoring me, acting better just because your Gundam can fly well guess what you may have wings BUT I HAVE FANGS!

**Roxas's Neon gauntlet is glowing. The camera cuts outside to show Quanlier release a devastating roar as it continues to chase after the Eagle Gundam never backing down or giving the Eagle Gundam a chance to counterattack. The camera cuts inside the Eagle Gundam's cockpit to show Lyra still gritting his teeth.**

Lyra (This one too, her charging speed and constant attacks, it's almost like I'm fighting a real tiger! Arrggg)

**The camera cuts outside as Quanlier pounces once more aiming at the Eagle Gundam's legs. The Eagle Gundam flys up into the air and transforms into its Eagle form, but it doesn't stop there. Cowboy rains down even more beam bullets forcing the Eagle Gundam to take even more drastic and evasive maneuvers. The camera cuts back inside the Eagle Gundam's cockpit to show Lyra grit his teeth then shout out**

Lyra: I won't lose, I won't be defeated here I'll SHOW YOU THE PRIDE OF THE HABEN ROYAL ATTACK!

**We can see Lyra's Neon gauntlet begin to glow in response. The camera switches back to Shadow's battle, Nightwing and the Jackal Gundam are in the middle of an epic sword fight. They're equal in strength, Nightwing performs a right horizontal beam slash while the Jackal Gundam performs a downward vertical beam slash.**

**The 2 strikes cancel each other out but the Jackal Gundam is pushed slightly back. Nightwing tries to take advantage of this opening by performing a stab attack aimed at the Jackal Gundam's chest.**

Shadow: Haha got you!

**But the Jackal Gundam twirls once dodging while crouching down. The camera cuts inside the Jackal Gundam's cockpit.**

Royal Pilot: Think again, sand tornado!

**The camera cuts outside to show the Jackal Gundam twist around again as it pushes itself upward performing a very powerful and very fast upward vertical slash, but Nightwing tilts back dodging the blow by millimeters, on purpose. We do a split screen to show a shock Royal Pilot and Shadow grinning like a lunatic having the time of his life.**

Shadow: Sorry not good enough!

**The screen returns to normal as Nightwing charges again. The camera cuts to Raheem, Raheem is relax and perfectly at ease.**

Raheem (Whoever this Pilot is he's not a very strong swordsman and the fact that I've been sparing against Shadow everyday has made Shadow even more able to fight against the Haben royal swordplay, one could even say that Shadow has become specialize at fighting against it.)

**The camera cuts back to Roxas, Nick, and Cagalli's fight. The camera focuses on La Rouge who as the fight got more intense has been pushed aside almost in the spectator role. The camera cuts inside to show a stun Cagalli.**

Cagalli (I've never seen a Gundam battle this intense before; Roxas, Nick and even that enemy Pilot their eyes are so focus so determine.)

**We can see Roxas, Nick and Lyra on Cagalli's helmet screen, suddenly Cagalli's eyes widens as she notices something.**

Cagalli (Their Neon gauntlets are glowing!)

**Sesen's words echo in Cagalli's head.**

Cagalli (Sesen: During a fight when our fighting spirit intensifies our Neon gauntlet glow in response the more intense our fighting spirit the brighter our Neon gauntlets glow. Fighting you who has no fighting spirit would be pointless.)

**Cagalli self-conscious looks down at her own dull metal color Neon gauntlet.**

Cagalli (My Neon gauntlet is the only one that won't glow; I'm the only one who doesn't belong.)

**The camera cuts outside to show the Eagle Gundam whip its ball and beam at Cowboy. It does this several times but Cowboy like a strong mountain or a proud wolf doesn't back down, using its shield Cowboy puts its foot down and puts its whole weight into its shield, deflects each and every one of the Eagle Gundam's attacks.**

**The camera cuts into the Eagle Gundam's cockpit to show Lyra grit his teeth in frustration of not being able to get through Nick's defenses. His eyes slide to the left.**

Lyra (Behind!)

**Lyra spins around. The camera cuts outside to show Quanlier charging the Eagle Gundam intending to attack from behind. The Eagle Gundam spins around and slams its ball and beam into Quanlier. Quanlier is thrown into the air but Quanlier spins in the air and lands on its feet.**

**Quanlier slides a little on the ground but Quanlier digs its claws into the ground and stops its slide. The camera cuts inside Quanlier's cockpit to show Roxas roar with a fierce wild power.**

Roxas: ROAR!

**The camera cuts outside to show Quanlier charge again, but the Eagle Gundam takes to the sky in its eagle form. The Eagle Gundam fires more missiles at Quanlier. Quanlier with agile reflects and animal like instincts dodges them all. The camera cuts inside Quanlier's cockpit to show Kenny shout in triumph.**

Kenny: The missile launcher that Eagle Gundam is using only has enough storage capacity to hold 368 missiles, its currently fired 334 missiles! It's almost out!

**Roxas smiles her wild victory tiger grin.**

Roxas: Which means he's going to have to rely only on his ball and beam later!

**The camera cuts outside and looks up to show the eagle Gundam flying high in the air. The camera cuts inside the Eagle Gundam's cockpit.**

Lyra (I'm running low on missiles; I can't keep this pace up especially when it's 3 on 1. I'll dive down and charge the camo Gundam first, my ball and beam also doubles as a mace so my melee weapon should have an advantage against his beam rifle in close range combat.)

**The camera cuts outside to show the Eagle Gundam dive close to the ground then charge straight at Cowboy. The camera cuts inside Cowboy's cockpit to show Nick's eyes narrow as he sees an opening.**

Nick: Cagalli aim at the sand around the Gundam!

**Cagalli blinks in surprise but nods her head.**

Cagalli: Huh, oh ok!

**The camera cuts outside to show both La Rouge and Cowboy open fire purposely missing the Eagle Gundam and hitting the sand next to it. The sand explodes around the Eagle Gundam soon creating a sand screen impossible to see through. The camera cuts inside the Eagle Gundam's cockpit to show Lyra grin with confidence.**

Lyra (I get it, you'll keep firing at the sand around me thickening the air with sand particles and then at the last second you'll hit the sand in front of me blocking my line of sight. The red weaker shooter Gundam will then shoot directly at me counting on my surprise and temporary blindness for a hit, but the camo stronger shooter Gundam is smart and he'll predict that I'll soar above the sand screen instinctively to dodge any incoming attacks so he'll aim for directly above the sand screen but I'll surprise them both by diving even lower underneath the sand screen. I'll sweep out the green Gundam's legs and use the last of my missiles to take him out.)

**With this plan in mind Lyra presses his attack forward. The camera cuts back to Shadow's battle. Nightwing is pressing the Jackal Gundam back as it keeps up the steady stream of attacks. Nightwing performs a stab attack aimed at the Jackal Gundam's chest. The camera cuts inside the Jackal Gundam's cockpit to show the Royal Pilot eyes open as he thinks he sees his chance.**

Royal Pilot: There, sand trap!

**The camera cuts outside as the Jackal Gundam catches Nightwing's beam saber inside the hollow part of its rectangle beam sword. The Jackal Gundam twist then pushes upward sending Nightwing's beam saber flying into the air.**

**The camera cuts back to Nick, Cagalli and Roxas's battle to show sure enough Cowboy fires a single shot directly in front of the Eagle Gundam. The sand gets thrown right into the air creating a sand screen. Time slows down as the camera does a split screen over the Eagle Gundam.**

Lyra (There it is.)

**The screen returns to normal as the Eagle Gundam dives even lower almost sliding on the sand. A beam bullet pierces the sand screen and flies right over the Eagle Gundam, another beam bullet fires above the sand screen. The camera does another split screen over the Eagle Gundam to show Lyra smirk with the confidence of an assured victory.**

Lyra (Just like I predicted now to finish them)

**Lyra gets cut off from his line of thoughts as the Eagle Gundam emerges from the sand screen and passes right in front of a waiting Quanlier. Because the Eagle Gundam has dip so low to the ground Quanlier has a height advantage just by standing straight up. The camera cuts inside the Eagle Gundam's cockpit to show Lyra in shock realize too late.**

Lyra (What! No don't tell me that they fired next to me to create a sand screen the tiger Gundam could hide behind and secretly pass me from!)

**Quanlier has its paw raised. The camera cuts inside Quanlier's cockpit to show a satisfied Roxas roar.**

Roxas: I TOLD YOU NOT TO IGNORE ME!

**The camera cuts outside as time goes back to normal as Quanlier paw slams the Eagle Gundam straight into the ground, smashing its head to pieces. The camera cuts back to Shadow's battle to show that Nightwing didn't get its beam saber ripped from its hands but instead Nightwing let go of its beam saber. **

**Nightwing attacks the Jackal Gundam with a right leg high kick straight into the Jackal Gundam's face. The Jackal Gundam never saw the kick coming and stumbles a little stun.**

**Nightwing quickly dives left and catches its falling beam saber before it hits the ground. Nightwing rolls with the dive then jumps back to its feet and in one swift motion attacks the Jackal Gundam. The Jackal Gundam tries to mount a counterattack but it's too late.**

**We do a quick flash screen, and then on the next screen we see Nightwing and the Jackal Gundam standing back to back for a moment. The camera does a split screen to show Shadow and the Royal Pilot. Finally the Royal Pilot grins.**

Royal Pilot: You're pretty strong for a rookie pilot.

**The camera cuts outside as the episode ends with the Jackal Gundam's hands then head fall off from its body having been cut off.**

_**Author's note: The name Lyra was provided by ilianna620.**_


	56. Episode 55  Fachtna makes his move

Episode 55

**The episode opens up directly after the battles; La Rouge, Cowboy and Quanlier are gathering together, from their body language we can tell they're tired from the battle. The camera cuts into Quanlier's cockpit to show Roxas exhausted complain.**

Roxas: Finally got my hands on that freaking bastard, god though this was such a drag to have to do a sneak attack in the end to win.

**Nick pops up on Roxas's helmet screen, he seems slightly offended.**

Nick: You have a problem with my strategy mate?

**Roxas looks at Nick annoyed**

Roxas: Yes, I got sand all over my nice pretty Quanlier because of you!

**Nick is naturally a very prideful person and is extremely irritated that the plan he worked very hard to come up with is being insulted.**

Nick: Fine next time you come up with the plan mate!

**The camera cuts into La Rouge's cockpit to show Cagalli also sweating heavily and looks exhausted. Roxas and Nick continue to bicker, and Kenny comes in at some point to try and break up the fight. Cagalli just grins relieved.**

Cagalli (It was a good fight; both Roxas and Nick were amazing.)

**Shadow suddenly pops up on Cagalli's helmet screen.**

Shadow: Never fear my friends the great, magnificent Shadow Zoomarey is here to save the day!

**Cagalli on impulse snaps angrily**

Cagalli: You're 3 hours too late!

**Nick and Roxas stop bickering and also comment**

Nick: Cagalli's right mate, you already miss the battle.

Roxas: Me and Quanlier kicked ass.

**Shadow looks crestfallen.**

Shadow: Ah man I wanted to get into another Gundam Fight.

**The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow look disappointed. Kenny pops up on his helmet screen and asks**

Kenny: So I assume your fight went well?

**Shadow grins full of pride and excitement.**

Shadow: Of course, you should have seen it I was

**Shadow stops in mid-speech as something in the back corners of his mind tingle.**

Shadow: Wait aren't we forgetting something?

**Now that Shadow brought it up the others look down thinking trying to remember.**

Nick: Well now that you mention it mate.

Roxas: What did we come out here for anyway?

Kenny: There's definitely something we're forgetting.

**A moment passes before the light bulb goes off and then everybody starts panicking.**

Shadow: AHHHHHHH THE MISSILE LAUNCHER!

Kenny: Oh my freaking god we forgot about the missile launcher!

**The camera cuts outside to show Nightwing, Cowboy, Quanlier, and La Rouge take off as if they just saw a ghost or to be more accurate if they just remember a missile launcher was heading to the camp where all of their friends were. The camera cuts inside Quanlier's cockpit to show a panicking Roxas.**

Roxas: How in the hell did we forget about the missile launcher!

**The camera cuts inside Cowboy's cockpit to show Nick gritting his teeth.**

Nick: We were so focus on the battle mates that it completely slipped our minds.

**The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow snap**

Shadow: None of that matters right now we just have to make it in time!

**The screen splits into multiply parts to show the determine Gundam Fighters.**

Cagalli, Roxas, and Nick: Right!

**The screen returns to normal as the camera cuts outside to show the Gundams start to move even faster towards their goals. The camera cuts forward in time, the Gundams are getting close to the camp and still there's no sign of the missile launcher. The camera cuts inside Cowboy's cockpit to show a very worried Nick.**

Nick: We're getting close to the camp mates.

**The camera cuts to inside Nightwing's cockpit to show a frustrated but determine Shadow.**

Shadow: It's going to be close but we still have time

**Shadow stops right in his tracts shock. He's not the only one; the screen splits into multiply parts to show Nick, Roxas and Cagalli all stop in their tracts completely shock. The screen returns to normal as the camera cuts outside to show the missile launcher broken into a 100 pieces.**

**Rather large pieces are in flames and standing on top of the wreckage is a small army of Gundams. The camera cuts back into Nightwing's cockpit, Shadow for once is speechless. Serafina pops up on his helmet screen looking angry but full of pride.**

Serafina: You're late Shadow.

**The camera cuts once more forward in time, Shadow, Kenny, Nick, Cagalli, Roxas, Kabira and Raheem are all sitting back in Serafina's meeting room. Roxas and Shadow are pissed at Kenny.**

Shadow: My legs were about to freaking explode from running so hard only to find out that Serafina had already taken out that missile launcher!

Roxas: Some warning would have been nice, we looked like complete fools standing there out of breath shocked like some want to be heroes!

**Kenny has his head bowed full of guilt.**

Kenny: I'm sorry.

**Kabira come to Kenny's defense.**

Kabira: Don't yell at Kenny it wasn't his fault; Serafina ordered all communications to be scrambled without telling him!

**Kenny adds**

Kenny: I tried to reprogrammed the communications link to work around the scrambler but

**Cagalli can see Kenny's pride injured and decides to also come to his aid.**

Cagalli: It's alright Kenny, those ex-military personnel know what they're doing, they literary make a living off it.

**Raheem finally steps up and takes center stage.**

Raheem: Cagalli is right Kenny you have nothing to feel ashamed of and that goes for the rest of you as well, you all performed your mission excellently.

**Shadow suddenly realizes something.**

Shadow: Wait you make it sound like this was all part of the plan?

**Shadow's question jumps starts the gears in Roxas's brain.**

Roxas: That's because it was, Raheem you jerk we were the decoys in this plan weren't we! You never thought for one second that we could destroy the missile launcher!

**Roxas says with shock realization, everyone looks at her surprise by this turn of events but when they turn to look at Raheem Raheem's honest face betrays him.**

Kabira: Raheem!

Nick: You dirty son of a

**Raheem puts up his hands in defense.**

Raheem: It's not like I planned this from the beginning, Shadow demanded to go out there and take them on without Serafina's troops getting in the way. This is a whole army we're talking about you didn't honestly believe we wouldn't include you in the overall plan.

**Everyone still looks at Raheem mad but Shadow cuts them all off from complaining.**

Shadow: Stop complaining!

**Now all eyes turn to Shadow shock.**

Kenny: But Shadow he used us.

**Nick nods his head and looks at Shadow curious.**

Nick: Yea mate I thought out of everyone you'd be the most upset.

**Shadow slumps into a chair.**

Shadow: Oh I'm still annoyed at Raheem for doing that but at the end of the day we didn't prove him wrong.

**Shadow's words cut straight to Nick and Roxas's pride. They hang their heads down low knowing Shadow is right.**

Roxas: Damn it.

Nick: The mate's right.

**Raheem upon seeing this new turn of events raises his hands again and tries to cheer them up.**

Raheem: No, no you guys did great still, better than what we hope for.

**Roxas annoyed at the compliment asks half-heartedly.**

Roxas: What did you think we'd just put up a good fight that delayed them but in the end get our ass kicked?

**Roxas didn't really mean anything by the question but Raheem's honest face once again betrays him.**

Roxas: Jackass!

Nick: A little faith mate!

Kenny: Meanie!

**Serafina walks in as Kenny, Nick, and Roxas continue to yell at Raheem. Kabira is the first person to notice him.**

Kabira: Serafina!

**Everyone stops what they're doing to turn and look at him.**

Serafina: Hello; we've finished interrogating the Gundam Pilots captured; your assumption about this being a 2 man team was right Raheem.

**Raheem's eyes narrow as he gets serious.**

Raheem: I see, so what were the results of the interrogation?

**Serafina looks at Raheem, Shadow and then at last Kabira debating something; finally he comes to a decision.**

Serafina: Before I tell you the results I want you guys to know that a lot if not almost all of my advisors and generals are against me sharing anymore information with you.

**Kenny shock asks**

Kenny: What!

Kabira: Why?

**Raheem's eyes narrow even more.**

Raheem (I'm getting a bad feeling about this.)

Raheem: Because they still don't trust us.

**Serafina looks self-conscious about it and obviously feels bad about it but he comes back strong.**

Serafina: That's correct but after all the work you guys have done to help us plus Kabira's speeches have proven to me beyond a doubt that you guys are trustworthy and it seems that the majority of my army agrees with me.

**Kabira is touch by the faith Serafina has in her.**

Kabira: Serafina.

**Serafina embarrass coughs and tries to move things along.**

Serafina: Anyway at first the prisoners refused to talk at all claiming we were just a terrorist organization and they owed us no explanation for their actions however after suggesting that since they wouldn't cooperate we might just have to let them go without in the desert…with no water. They were outraged and scared shitless, they demanded we treat them with the POW rights granted to them by Nevarda Treaty.

**Cagalli quickly asks Kenny in a low voice**

Cagalli: Nevarda Treaty?

Kenny: A treaty Haben sign stating that it will treat all of its POWs as human beings and promises other rights to soldiers.

**Serafina is smiling as he thinks back on this but the smile quickly falls from his face.**

Serafina: We tricked them into telling us who sent them on the mission by demanding proof that they were actually soldiers from the Haben official army as well as proof that they were acting under official orders. They gave us their army identification number as well as their mission report terminal.

**Raheem suddenly becomes infuriated**

Raheem: THEY DID WHAT!

**Shadow, Cagalli, Nick and Roxas lean in close to Kenny.**

Shadow: What's that mean Kenny?

Nick: Yea mate can you translate.

**Kenny with pride pulls out his laptop and begins typing on it.**

Kenny: In the Haben army special soldiers have well a sort of laptop that's used for text based communications directly from high ranked commanders.

**Cagalli once again connects the dots.**

Cagalli: To have access about high rank mission details and if they rebuild the laptop to piggyback off the commander's signal they could have access to a lot of secret and confidential intel. No wonder Raheem would be upset.

**Serafina regains a little bit of his smile.**

Serafina: Don't worry bodyguard although it would have been a great find to get a hold of a working mission report terminal we weren't that lucky this time. The prisoners sabotage the Wi-Fi circuit in the terminal. So no more in-coming messages and piggybacking a signal is impossible.

**Raheem breathes a sigh of relief.**

Serafina: However we were still able to get past mission history….I'm sorry Raheem, Kabira we found evidence that not only was this mission sanction the King gave the orders for it to be carried out personally.

**Raheem, Kabira, and all the others are shocked to hear this.**

Kabira: That, that can't be.

**Serafina forces himself to go on.**

Serafina: The prisoners confessed that the king gave them the mission personally.

**Raheem with anger never seen before snaps**

Raheem: THEN THEY'RE LYING!

**Everyone turns to look at Raheem surprise by this sudden outburst, even Serafina is a little startled by this.**

Serafina: It's not just their confession the mission report terminal had the record of the orders still in its memory.

**Raheem isn't backing down.**

Raheem: Then whoever sent them the mission was impersonating the king!

**Serafina blinks surprise by Raheem's conspiracy rant.**

Serafina: You think it's possible for someone to hack a highly coded private security link especially from the king's own mission command terminal.

**Serafina grows more and more confident and sure of his past assumptions however Raheem has a strong fierce stare, fitting of a proud old warrior.**

Raheem: I think it's more likely than the king giving those orders.

**The 2 soldiers from opposite sides of a war stare off, both sure beyond a doubt that their path is right, at last Serafina closes his eyes.**

Serafina: I must admit your loyalty to the King beyond any doubt is something to admire even if the King is unworthy of such loyalty.

**Kabira suddenly becomes scared of what is to come.**

Kabira: Serafina don't

**Serafina with renewed anger shouts**

Serafina: Yes, I'm sorry Kabira your speeches did have some valid points but this sort of action only proves that we were right about him all along. No we underestimated his viciousness; to think he sent his own daughter on this type of mission without her knowledge.

**Kabira quickly comes to her father's defense.**

Kabira: But my father didn't send me on this mission, I came on my own accord he doesn't even know I'm here.

**Serafina of course doesn't believe her although he is touch.**

Serafina: Kabira you truly are an honorable person to try to cover for your father, your heart is purer then gold. I can't forgive him, the man that sent his own daughter on a peace mission as decoyed for his true plans; he truly is the worst and I cannot allow this sort of king to be left in power! Come sunrise we march on Azize!

**Raheem and Kabira are shocked by this outrageous declaration.**

Raheem: Serafina are you serious, you may have grown a sizable force but to try to capture Haben's capital city.

**A bead of sweat comes down the side of Raheem's face, he's very nervous about how serious Serafina is. Serafina gives Raheem a wicked smile.**

Serafina: Don't worry Raheem I haven't lost my mind; I know that if we were fighting the King's army at the height of its power we would be crushed like insects but we're not.

**Raheem takes a step back gritting his teeth already knowing he's not going to like what's to come.**

Serafina: Due to the economy the King has been forced to cut back and downsize the military plus because of the increase number of Gundam raider attacks the military has been dispense throughout the land. So if I had to take a guess I would say that there's no more than 30 percent of the Haben military currently station in Azize and I know that my army can win against that.

**Raheem grits his teeth as he imagines the scenario Serafina described.**

Raheem: Maybe but only after a desperate struggle by the Haben army forces station in Azize, they're very prideful, they won't surrender unless it's a 1 to 50 ratio and maybe not even then.

**Serafina has a stubborn look on his face.**

Serafina: We won't surrender either, not until the last man standing falls.

**Raheem with the wisdom of the ages replies**

Raheem: Then it's going to be a long brutal battle where a lot of innocent bystanders and good soldiers are going to lose their life.

**Serafina tis as he turns away.**

Serafina: Your opinion is noted Raheem; goodbye and may we meet again someday.

**The scene ends with Serafina walking away without waiting for a reply. The next scene opens up outside. The camp is buzzing with activity, although it's the middle of the night everyone is up, packing up supplies, shifting equipment such as Gundams, weapons and other tools from ship to ship.**

**We can hear a howling of a dozen different generals giving orders as well as bangs, booms and clangs from 100s of different people all moving about and moving equipment. The camera observers all of this from eagle eye view, and finally comes to rest at the Dark-Angel.**

**The Dark-Angel alone sits quietly in the night unmoving. The camera cuts inside to the Gundam bay; Kenny, Nick, and Jack are sitting down in a gloomy mood.**

Jack: So that's what went down. Knowing Kabira I'm surprise she didn't try to stop Serafina.

**Nick shakes his head.**

Nick: It would have been pointless mate. Serafina had a fire in his eyes; the mate can only see the logic and facts that already fit his conclusion.

**Jack is a little confuse by Nick.**

Jack: Um?

**Kenny quickly explains**

Kenny: Serafina only listens to evidence or theories that support the idea that the King is evil and needs to be taken down.

**Jack now gets it.**

Jack: Oh I see, so um what are we supposed to do? I mean I know that the original mission was to bring Kabira and Raheem to Azize but since it's going to be the heart of a fierce battle I guess that's a bad idea.

**Kenny slumps his shoulders an obvious sign he doesn't know what to do. Nick pulls his hat down and says**

Nick: I think that's what everyone is trying to figure out mate.

**The camera cuts to a different part of the ship, Kabira is sulking in the cafeteria looking down at a bowl of soup. Raheem walks in.**

Raheem: You shouldn't be up this late Kabira it's not good for your health.

**Kabira is still sulking.**

Kabira: I know.

**Neither one moves, after a pause Raheem says**

Raheem: It's no use worrying; we're all too tired from today's events to come up with a good solid plan. I know we're all trying to beat the clock but a slow well thought out solid plan beats a fast shaky rush together plan. Once we get some rest we'll be able to think of something.

**Kabira nods her head but still looks gloomy.**

Kabira: I know Raheem it's just *hesitation pause* Raheem honestly tell me, do you believe my father set this up?

**Raheem is shock, so shock that he has to take a step back from the blow.**

Raheem: Wh-what.

**Raheem looks like he just got bitch slap, TWICE. Kabira afraid that if she stops now she'll never get the courage to ask again.**

Kabira: It's just that, well I mean from a general's point of view it's a good plan; even if my father didn't know I was here a preempted strike against the liberators of Haben isn't such a bad idea and

**Raheem over his shock takes one step forward and slaps Kabira. Kabira is beyond shock she actually got bitch slap. Kabira slowly turns to look back at Raheem, her eyes wide open as she slowly puts her hand on the red spot forming on her face as if she can't believe it's real. Raheem with strong resolve shouts**

Raheem: The King did not authorize this mission! It's true Kabira that I am a loyal soldier of Haben but I don't just follow me leaders blind, I know your father, he's been a good friend of mine for years and despite all the so called "evidence" there's one thing that stands out so clearly that it calls to me and cries innocence.

Raheem: Any general no any idiot could tell that sending 2 Gundam fighters against a rebel force as large as this one is simply suicide and you must remember Ms. Kabira that before coming here ourselves we knew nothing about how the rebels were. For all we knew the rebels would have killed them without hesitation.

Raheem: I know for a fact that your father, Shadi would never, ever send anyone to their deaths on a suicide mission and that is how I know that he had no part in this operation.

**Kabira falls silent; she looks down at the ground ashamed of her doubt but yet strangely at the same time happy that she was proven wrong. Raheem drops down to the floor onto his hands and knees.**

Raheem: Ms. Kabira I am so deeply sorry for striking you, there is no excuse on the planet to ever justify such action. So I'm willing to fully accept any punishment you deem appropriate.

**Raheem is so serious that it's a little funny. Kabira doesn't see the humor although she does feel the embarrassment.**

Kabira: Oh no, Raheem you don't have to get on your hands and knees; I deserved to be slap for doubting my father.

**Raheem is very insistent.**

Raheem: NO, as a bodyguard it is my duty to protect you from harm, to bring harm to you myself it is unforgivable please punish me so that my honor may be restored.

**Kabira is at a loss for words.**

Kabira: Um well, when you put it like that.

Kabira (What do I do, Raheem isn't going to be satisfied unless I give him so kind of discipline but I don't want to punish Raheem but if I try to give him some half ass punishment he'd demand something more server.)

**Kabira in desperation looks left and right trying to think of something. Roxas just happens to walk by on four legs right at the perfect time. Kabira panicking points a finger at Roxas and shouts**

Kabira: Raheem as punishment for striking me I order you to take Roxas out on a date.

**Raheem and Roxas look up stun for a moment then.**

Raheem: What!

Roxas: YES!

**Roxas charges in as Raheem gets up. Roxas without hesitation jumps on Raheem and grabs his waist.**

Raheem: Wait I thought you were mad at me Roxas?

**Raheem tries to shake her off.**

Roxas: I got over it.

**Kabira sighs in relief having found an answer.**

Kabira: Yes this is a fitting punishment and Raheem just think of it as practice for when you take Ailill back out on another date.

**The camera cuts outside as Raheem protest Roxas's lack of personal space. The camera looks up to capture the night's sky full of stars, they glitter like silver tears brightly in the darken sky. The camera looks down to show Shadow on top of the Dark-Angel laying down looking up at the stars; Cagalli once again climbs up to where Shadow is.**

Cagalli: You know Shadow the reason you can't get up until 12 in the afternoon could be because you stay up to 3 in the morning.

**Shadow glances at Cagalli.**

Shadow: I'm nocturnal but speaking of staying up late what about you?

**Cagalli takes a seat next to Shadow, and looks up at the stars.**

Cagalli: Nothing I just couldn't sleep.

**They stare off into the night sky.**

Shadow: The stares are really bright tonight.

Cagalli: Of course, stars are always brighter in the desert.

**Shadow a little annoyed replies**

Shadow: Know it all.

**Cagalli glares at him for a moment then shivers from the cold. We can see her breath from the cold air. Shadow grins**

Shadow: Cold princess? Now who's the stupid one for wearing a windbreaker?

**Shadow shows off his black windbreaker. Cagalli with pride glares at Shadow.**

Cagalli: It isn't smart when you wear that damn jacket in 100 degree weather and don't call me princess!

**Shadow still grins as he sees Cagalli suffering a little from the sudden temperature drop that happens in deserts, after a moment more he takes off his jacket and offers it to Cagalli.**

Shadow: Here

**Shadow says reluctantly. Cagalli looks at the jacket surprise that Shadow has the manners to offer it to her then makes the yuck face and says stubbornly**

Cagalli: No thanks, no offense Shadow but your jacket has gotten all smelly because you've been sweating in it all day.

**It's true; we can see waves of stink coming off Shadow's windbreaker but Shadow still takes offense.**

Shadow: Well fine then, if my windbreaker isn't good enough for you than you can just freeze! My windbreaker is awesome thank you; the only thing better would be a black cloak.

**Cagalli rolls her eyes.**

Cagalli: You and that obsession with a black cloak.

**Shadow just grins and gives Cagalli a thumbs up.**

Shadow: Of course it's all part of the dream. Dream plan part 1 get a black cloak, dream plan part 2 become the greatest Gundam Fighter in human history, and finally dream plan part 3 date a bisexual girlfriend and convince her into having a threesome with another girl!

**Cagalli shouts**

Cagalli: That's the stupidest dream plan I ever heard!

**Cagalli just doesn't know what to think of Shadow, she's never met anyone like him. Shadow on the other hand just grins at her. After a moment of silence they just both break out laughing, it's one of those for no reason laughs.**

Cagalli and Shadow: HAHAHAHAHAHAHHA

**After a moment of laughing they both calm down a little.**

Shadow: So are we just going to keep avoiding what really want to talk about?

**Cagalli thinks about this for a moment then hugs her knees.**

Cagalli: I-it's just a little much sometimes, I thought I'd be ok being gone from Orb this long but…I'm not!

**Cagalli almost cries.**

Cagalli: I miss Orb and the fact that I don't know anything that's going on there right now is killing me! I knew it was going to take time but I still didn't think it was going to be this long and I'm still nowhere close to getting back to Orb; I don't even know for sure that being in these Gundam Fights is going to get me back to Orb.

**Cagalli once again hugs her knees.**

Cagalli: And it's not just Orb, I miss Kira, I miss Lacus and I miss Athrun!

**Cagalli hesitates a little then adds in a softer quieter voice**

Cagalli: Even though I rarely ever saw them since the end of the war.

**Cagalli's on a roll now, she's been keeping a lot of stuff bottle up and now that she's open the cap a little all of the surface stuff is spilling out.**

Cagalli: Then there's the fact that on Sora Gundams are the entire military, don't get me wrong Gundams are an important part of the military on Earth too but the amount of Gundams from just one of your major nations could take on both ZAFT and the Earth Forces at the same time. If Sora ever went to war against Earth, Earth would be crushed without a doubt. And finally there's my latest failure, for once, ONCE, I know a war is coming before it breaks out, I know the reasons behind it but I still can't stop it!

**A breeze blows through as Cagalli struggles to catch her breath Cagalli looks at Shadow expectedly. Shadow takes a moment to think about everything then starts out slowly**

Shadow: Wow Cagalli you've got a lot of problems.

**Cagalli looks at Shadow annoyed.**

Cagalli: Geez Shadow thanks, very helpful.

**Shadow just grins at her.**

Shadow: I'm just playing with you, you shouldn't worry about a war between Earth and Sora why do you think the bigwig politicians decided to keep Sora a secret from Earth and keep all information about Earth on a need to know bases. Give them some slack Cagalli not everyone is so stupid or blind that they let something like a war between Earth and Sora happen.

**Cagalli thinks about this for a moment then nods her head.**

Cagalli: You're right Shadow, I've met a lot of crocked politicians lately and when I heard just how big most standard Sora militaries are I guess I just kind of panicked when I thought of what would have happen if those kind of people were in charge but that's just silly, there hasn't been a war so far and there's no reason to think there would be any in the future.

**Shadow grins having put to rest one of Cagalli's many problems.**

Shadow: That's right and as for this war well don't worry I'll figured out some way to stop it.

**Shadow radiates confidence, which Cagalli finds amusing.**

Cagalli: Just like that huh, and I thought it would be harder.

**Shadow just pounds his chest.**

Shadow: Doesn't matter how hard it is, I'm going to do it.

**Shadow a little quieter says**

Shadow: As for your friends well I'm going to be honest Cagalli making it to C rank won't be easy and it won't happen quickly but I promise you Cagalli we will make it to C rank and you will see Orb and your friends again someday.

**Cagalli smiles brightly lighting up the otherwise dark night, in the end all she really wanted was someone to tell her that she wasn't wasting her time, that she would get home someday.**

Cagalli: Thank you Shadow I feel better now, hahaha like I said I just got a little overwhelm but I'm better now. So anyway what about you?

**Shadow looks away and just tries to play it off.**

Shadow: Me, nothing's the matter.

**Cagalli looks at Shadow annoyed.**

Cagalli: Come on Shadow the tough guy act doesn't suit you.

**Shadow feels uncomfortable.**

Shadow: Well it's just that after hearing all of your big saintly caring about other people problems my problems just seem so petty.

**Cagalli is unimpressed.**

Cagalli: Let me be the judge of that and besides it's not fair if I tell you my problems but you don't tell me yours so come on cough it up.

**Shadow hesitates a moment more than gives in to Cagalli's logic.**

Shadow: Fine, I guess….I'm just frustrated with my level of Gundam Piloting.

**Cagalli blinks surprise obviously expecting something more.**

Cagalli: Huh?

**Shadow goes on.**

Shadow: I've been working my ass off training, I should be so much farther along as a Gundam Fighter but I'm not!

**Shadow has his fist clench and is gritting his teeth in frustration. Cagalli is still surprise by Shadow's problem.**

Cagalli (Shadow you're so different from anybody I know. If I was talking to Kira, Athrun or Lacus they would be worried about somebody else or a big world problem; compare to them Shadow no offense but you seem so selfish. But if I turn around and tell him that he's acting petty after I practically forced him to tell me I'd feel like an ass.)

**While Cagalli thinks this Shadow goes on.**

Shadow: Take today for example, I wasn't able to destroy the missile launcher.

**Shadow is taking his defeat seriously and Cagalli is surprise.**

Cagalli: Huh that's still bothering you, even before Raheem explained his plan I had already pretty much guessed it. That's why I wasn't too worried when we were fighting those royal Gundams I knew that if we got into any real trouble Serafina's forces would come help us and the same went for the missile launcher. Of course the best outcome would have been if we had destroy the missile launcher so they wouldn't feel as mad but that was too much to hope for and besides as long as it was destroyed it's fine.

**Shadow snaps**

Shadow: But that's just it! Seeing Serafina's Gundam Fighters standing over the remains of the missile launcher, it just sent home how weak of a Gundam Pilot I am.

Cagalli: But Shadow you did better than what was expected, you heard Raheem no one thought you could win against that Royal Pilot.

**Shadow snaps**

Shadow: Not good enough! I was supposed to win against him and still have time to destroy the missile launcher.

**Shadow is boiling with anger, anger at himself, he's clenching his hands and grinding his teeth. Cagalli just looks at him wide eye**

Cagalli (He's taking this so seriously, I knew that his dream was to be the greatest Gundam Fighter in human history but still I never thought he cared about it this much.)

**Cagalli suddenly smiles**

Cagalli (Well I have to say Shadow that's one thing you have over Athrun and Kira; neither one of them would have care how the missile launcher was destroyed as long as it was and no one got hurt. You definitely have more passion Gundam Fighting then they do, I'm sure if they had a choice they would never touch a Gundam again.)

Shadow: I just feel like I'm at the same level when we first met up at Slyer, that I haven't gotten any better at all.

**Cagalli finally brings her foot down.**

Cagalli: That's just crazy talk Shadow.

**Shadow looks up at her surprise.**

Cagalli: You've made tremendous progress since I first met you. Less than 3 months ago you didn't know anything about Gundam Piloting but now look at you taking on a train elite soldier and winning! So don't say you haven't improved, it's just hard to see. You still have a long way to go before you're the best but you're getting better every day. It's like that old saying goes, slow and steady right.

**Cagalli smiles at Shadow. Shadow looks at her stun for a moment then smiles back.**

Shadow: Right.

**The scene ends with the camera looking back up at the stars as Shadow says.**

Shadow: I guess we're even now.

**The new scene opens up in Azize the same night, unlike the rebel camp Azize is how you'd expect any other typical city to be at that time of night, quiet. One could say the calm before the storm, the yellow lights aluminates the silent streets as a gentle breeze blows**

**The camera finally comes to rest at the Royal Palace; we can see Shadi on a balcony staring at the Sanctus turris contemplating. His hair blows slightly in the breeze. Hirsi walks onto the balcony and stands a few feet away behind Shadi, after a moment Shadi says without turning around**

Shadi: Yes Hirsi what can I do for you on this fine lovely evening.

**Hirsi steps forward closer to Shadi but still respectively behind him.**

Hirsi: Your majesty I apologize for the intrusion I was just concern for your health, it's very chilly tonight.

**Shadi turns his head so he can purposely raise his right eyebrow. Shadi's chestnut brown face maybe tired but he isn't stupid, he can still tell if someone is worried for him.**

Shadi: Please don't treat me like a child Hirsi, I'm far too old for that and I have known you for too many years.

**Shadi turns back around to look at the Sanctus turris. Hirsi unfolds his hands and moves forward to stand next to Shadi.**

Hirsi: I'm sorry Shadi, I guess I've grown too use to dealing with Kabira, but I am worried about you.

**Shadi smiles, a smile crying for the future but laughing with the past.**

Shadi: Thank you Hirsi, for everything. I am truly grateful to you and Raheem for helping me raise Kabira. I'm positive that without you 2 it would be impossible for me to have done it alone. When my wife died it was the saddest day in my life but even in death my wife left behind me 2 friends that to this day continue to help me.

**Hirsi is becoming increasingly worried about Shadi throughout his speech.**

Hirsi: She was a magnificent woman. Shadi you're beginning to worry me, this isn't like you at all.

**Shadi smiles.**

Shadi: I'm sorry for worrying you my friend, I'm glad that you came tonight there's something I wanted to tell you personally before I announce it tomorrow. I'm going to resign my position as King.

**Hirsi is shocked, his mouth is slightly open and his eyes are popping out of their socket.**

Hirsi: W-what!

**Hirsi has to take a step back to regain some self-control from this news. Shadi nods his head.**

Shadi: The official announcement will be made tomorrow but I wanted you to know about it first.

**Hirsi angrily and desperately cuts in.**

Hirsi: You can't! If this is about the rebels then don't worry about it, the rebels represent the minority of the people. There's always going to be crazy people thinking the best way to solve a problem is with a gun!

**Shadi sadly shakes his head**

Shadi: You're right that the rebels represent an extreme faction but there's no denying that the overwhelming majority of my people are unhappy with my rule and as a representative of my people if they feel my rule is no longer acceptable then I must step down.

**Of course Hirsi knows this too be true but he grits his teeth and says**

Hirsi: The masses don't always know what is right; just look at history and how often the majority is in the wrong! They have no idea the burden of the rule. You can't bow down to them or the rebels! I know there is no one but you who can save Haben because there is no one who loves Haben as much as you!

**Hirsi is growing desperate.**

Hirsi: There hasn't been a change over in the ruling family in 10 generations! Your father, your grandfather, your great grandfather all ruled Haben what would they say if you quit now!

**Shadi sighs having already thought about that.**

Shadi: I don't know but that is why after I make the official announcement tomorrow I will be heading over to the Sanctus turris. Helpfully they will understand my reasons.

**Hirsi in rage/desperation shouts**

Hirsi: I don't understand your reasons!

**Shadi although sad is calm and composed he has made his decision.**

Shadi: Hirsi the way things are now our country will be engulf in civil war and I cannot allow that to happen. Right now the only way I can think of stopping it is resigning from my post and if that is what my country requires of me then I will oblige.

**Hirsi is breathing hard; clenching and unclenching his hands.**

Hirsi (I can't stop him. There's nothing I can say to change his mind.)

**Shadi yawns and turns around and walks away.**

Shadi: Well it is pretty late so I'm heading to bed like you suggested.

**Hirsi is forced to stand by and watch as Shadi walks away; his face is full of frustrated torment illuminated by the half light of the silver moon. The camera follows Shadi as he walks down the hallways of the Royal Palace, the soft yellowish glow of the lights set on the lowest diming intertwines with the silver shine of the moon slipping in from the elegant shaped solid oak windowsills.**

**Shadi comes to a stop at a dark brown simple door, due to the lighting and at first glance the door appears to be made from wood possibly oak, but a key pad next to the door seems suspiciously out of place. Shadi enters the code on the keypad, swipes his clearance card, and puts his thumb on a scanner.**

**After all of that we hear a very metallic clang sound as many locks within the door disengaged. The door automatically swings open and Shadi walks inside. The room Shadi enters is a humble everyday living room setting, a brown couch, a TV, a snow white sitting chair and a light stand; there are doors to the right and left leading off to what we can assume be the bedroom.**

**Shadi walks into the room and is shocked to find the lights on and a person sitting on his couch waiting for him.**

Fachtna: You were out awfully late tonight Shadi.

**Shadi stares at Fachtna surprise as if not believing his own eyes.**

Shadi: Fachtna what are you doing here, how did you get in?

**Fachtna sits on Shadi's couch as if he owns it; this isn't his normal hidden posture Fachtna is showing his fangs.**

Fachtna: We can get to that later Shadi; there are some other things I wish to discuss with you.

**Shadi is getting over his shock and beginning to get a bad feeling about this.**

Shadi: It's king Fachtna or your majesty; with respect you don't know me well enough to address me by my first name now as your King I DEMAND you tell me what you're doing in my room and how you enter!

**Shadi has brought up his strong King radiance; however Fachtna has long since been immune to such a presence.**

Fachtna: You see that whole King thing is one of things I want to discuss; you rarely ever bring it out but when you do you expect everyone to instantly obey. That offends me, it offends me on a deep intellectual level that you think I was so simple minded to just bow down and obey without question.

**Shadi drops his King personal quickly; Fachtna's attitude has shocked Shadi even more but he keeps his senses this time, Shadi begins to slowly inch back towards the door**

Shadi: Fachtna what have you done?

**Fachtna's eyes narrow as the door behind the King slams shut to reveal Zain and Byron standing behind Shadi; both have sober serious faces with arms crossed. Only Zain is armed, he carries a sword at his side and a gun in hand. When the door slams shut the King flips around to stare at Zain and Byron shocked at many things, being surround, former allies obviously bearing arms against him, and of course Fachtna.**

Fachtna: You're not that stupid Shadi you can guess.

**Shadi with pain spits out.**

Shadi: You, you were the traitor Fachtna!

**Fachtna mocks surprise.**

Fachtna: Oh so you did know there was a traitor in the council Shadi and here I thought you were blissfully unaware.

**Shadi with wounded pride replies**

Shadi: Yes; it was first brought to my attention by my daughter but later Hirsi also began to support the theory as he began his own investigation.

**Fachtna pretends to vaguely remember.**

Fachtna: Ah yes that did cause me a slight annoyance but it was nothing I couldn't work around.

**Shadi turns around now to face Fachtna.**

Shadi: But I wouldn't listen. I couldn't believe anyone within the council would purposely try to destroy Haben; a fatal mistake on my part.

**Shadi and Fachtna enter into a glare off, Shadi has had it with the games. The camera does a split screen and a close up of both eyes. They both have brown eyes but what completely different type brown eyes they have. Shadi's brown eyes are soft and kind like fresh planted soil, but Fachtna's eyes are hard and cruel with the yellowish tint like dry hard cracked earth in a wasteland.**

**2 very different eyes, 2 very different people; with a sudden real intensity, like a warrior asking for a final request before his demise, Shadi asks**

Shadi: What do you want Fachtna, what is your true goal?

**Fachtna dismisses the question with a wave of his hand.**

Fachtna: I don't feel like answering you; now this talk has gone on long enough.

**Shadi seeing no way to reason with Fachtna turns around to the 2 guarding the door.**

Shadi: Zain I've only met you a couple of times but you always struck me as honor prideful warrior and Byron we've worked together for years, I thought we shared the same goal for a strong honorable Haben our ancestors can be pride of. Is this truly the path you wish for, the future you wished for!

**Zain just smirks at Shadi.**

Zain: Sorry Shadi but I personally never felt any loyalty to this wasteland you call a country and Fachtna is paying me quite a lot of money for my work.

**Shadi grits his teeth and in his final desperate move looks to Byron for help. Byron's hazel eyes aren't cruel and he clearly doesn't enjoy this but they are even and steady; there isn't any hesitation in them. Byron doesn't say anything he just slowly walks up to Shadi.**

**After he's less than a foot away from Shadi he stops, a single beam of sweat falls down from Shadi but he still stands tall and dignified.**

Shadi: Byron

**Shadi doesn't get any further than that before Byron with the flick of his wrist pulls out the stun gun he had hidden up his sleeve. The blue electric glow dances dangerously for a moment before Byron brings it up to Shadi's neck. Shadi spasms for a moment from the electric current, then Byron pulls back and switches off his stun gun, his expression is impossible to read as Shadi collapses to the ground unconscious. Fachtna whistles slightly surprise.**

Fachtna: Wow that was pretty cold Byron, not even replying to the poor man.

**Byron turns around and says simply**

Byron: Words are cheap; I make my choices known through action.

**Zain smiles and claps happy**

Zain: I like this new guy Sir, up close and personal not like that coward Zagat.

**Byron grins enjoying a found memory.**

Byron: Hehe Zagat must be fuming at the ship because I got selected to come over him.

**Zain nods his head excitedly.**

Zain: Oh yes I can't wait to see the look of envy on his face.

**Fachtna sighs tired by the talk and gets up.**

Fachtna: Enough I get it you both don't like Zagat but I didn't ask for your opinions so please shut up. Anyway bring this fool down to the ship, he still has his uses.

**Zain and Byron straighten up and bow.**

Zain and Byron: Yes sir.

**Fachtna nods his head and walks outside while Zain and Byron go over to one of the doors and open it to reveal a large packing crate motorcycle size. Time cuts forward, we're on board Alex's ship. Alex is sitting in her captain's chair working on an Ipad while the rest of her crew works quietly at their respective terminals.**

**There's an air of professionalism among them, but it's cold with each person just expected to do their job and no one seems to care about anyone else so long as the job is done. Zagat alone paces all over the bridge looking annoyed and pissed, after a moment Alex sighs and puts down her Ipad.**

Alex: Zagat would you please stop pacing around my bridge as if you weren't picked for the basketball team.

**Zagat snaps**

Zagat: I'm not upset that Fachtna didn't pick me to come with him on this mission!

**Alex continues to look at him annoyed with this interruption.**

Alex (I never said you were.)

**Zagat with pride folds his hands and explains**

Zagat: I'm simply concern about the outcome of the mission.

**Alex decides to try working through Zagat's issues again. She picks up her Ipad and asks**

Alex: You took care of the security cameras and give them the map of the guards patrol routes for tonight right?

**Zagat looks at her offended.**

Zagat: Of course! I'm worried that those buffoons Zain and Byron screwed up.

**Before Alex can reply the doors open and Fachtna walks in.**

Fachtna: You have no need to worry Zagat, the crate worked perfectly; one could even say that Zain and Byron were born to be postmen.

**Fachtna can't help but grin at his own twisted humor; Zagat and Alex quickly get up and salute him.**

Zagat and Alex: Sir.

**Alex steps forward and begins giving him her report.**

Alex: Preparations are all set; we're ready to go on your command.

**Zagat steps forward and says boldly**

Zagat: I don't see why we can't use my ship Sir?

**Alex rolls her eyes.**

Alex: Maybe because we've loaded up all of the Gundams and weapons on board this ship already?

**Alex says sarcastically, however Fachtna turns to Zagat and replies**

Fachtna: How soon can your ship be ready Zagat?

**Zagat blinks surprise by the question then eagerly replies**

Zagat: Right now Sir.

**Alex is also surprise by this and looks at Fachtna questioningly but Fachtna simply nods his head satisfied.**

Fachtna: Good, you have until Byron and Zain make our "guest" comfortable in his new room to get back to your ship and get it up and running. You'll follow behind us to the coordinates I've marked.

**Zagat is shocked for a moment having not expected this to happen then he beams like a little kid that just got a kitty.**

Zagat: YES SIR!

**Zagat runs off. Alex on the other hand looks at Fachtna slightly offended.**

Alex: Forgive me Sir but I thought you said you wanted your best people assembled on one ship?

**Fachtna walks over to Alex's captain's chair and sits in it.**

Fachtna: I did but I read further into the documents that Byron gave me and concluded that the object I seek requires more space for transportation then this ship currently allows.

**Alex waits for more but Fachtna doesn't go deeper into the subject. One of the crewman states.**

Crewman: Ma'am dawn is approaching.

**Alex standing behind the captain's chair begins giving orders.**

Alex: Prepare the ship for launch in 30 minutes, we leave at sunrise.

**The episode ends with Fachtna thinking.**

Fachtna (Ah yes dawn how appropriate to start the final mission to my ultimate goal, it was a long journey but it will soon come to an end. Dawn shall truly represent the beginning of my day, my time.)


	57. Episode 56 The man in the desert

Episode 56 The man in the desert

_**Author's note: I like to dedicat this episode to my new friend and rival Maderfole, you've been a great help to me and I like to thank you.**_

**The episode opens up at mid-day at what once was the rebel camp. There's nothing left now other than an empty tent here and there. The sun's blazing hot rays seem even more intense today, we can see the heat shimmer in the air. The yellow sand blows about as the desert begins to retake the area the rebel camp had inhabited.**

**The camera finally comes to rest at the Dark-Angel the only ship remaining. The camera cuts inside the Dark-Angel's Gundam bay to show a few of the D-crew working on mundane maintenance for the Dark-Angel while the rest of the crew work on repairing the Gundams.**

**The camera focuses in on Jack who's working on Quanlier. Jack is squatting down as she tinkers with some wires, she pulls crushed wires out and installs new ones. She pulls out some kind of small blowtorch but instead of blowing flames it blows out small precise air puffs. Jack uses this to clean off small amounts of sand and metal fragments/shavings.**

**Jack works with absolute concentration, her hands move with the precision of a master surgeon's scalpel but at impressive speeds. Her eyes are sharp and scanning every nock and cranny letting absolutely nothing slip by her notice; however the most important thing is the presence she gives off.**

**Obviously there's pride, but there's also something else, an overwhelming happiness. Jack truly loves being a mechanic and she feels most happy while working on a Gundam, at the same time there's also a warm loving protective feeling. The Gundams are more than a machine to Jack. Jack stops for a moment to wipe her forehead which is full of sweat, oil and other dirt stuff, she smiles down at Quanlier.**

Jack (You did great out their Quanlier, Nightwing, Cowboy, and La Rouge. You worked hard and brought back your Pilots safely and now you deserve a nice little break to get fix up and all shiny again.)

**Jack changes her footing so that she's sitting down and leans back to examine her work in further detail, suddenly a soda is press to the back of her neck. The surprise chill factor causes Jack to jump a little startled. She turns around to see a smiling Shadow.**

Shadow: I heard from Nelsa that you hadn't taken any breaks yet.

**Jack annoyed turns her head away in stubborn pride.**

Jack: Nelsa has a big mouth.

**Shadow still smiling shrugs his shoulder and pulls his soda back as he begins to walk around Jack.**

Shadow: It's cool, if you don't want it I can

**Jack with amazing speed snatches the soda out of Shadow's hand.**

Jack: I never said that.

**Jack opens the soda and takes a sip.**

Jack: So the rebels have left already?

**Shadow grows solemn.**

Shadow: Yea, Raheem says that it will take at least 2 days for Serafina to march his troops to Azize.

**Jack takes another sip of her soda as she considers this.**

Jack: 2 days huh, that's not much time to come up with a new plan.

**Shadow goes back to smiling.**

Shadow: Don't worry something will come to me.

**Jack doesn't look reassure.**

Jack: How reassuring.

**She says sarcastically. Shadow's eyes open wider as a puzzle expression crosses his face.**

Shadow: Oh yea speaking of the rebels I have a question?

**Jack blinks surprise.**

Jack: Huh what is it?

Shadow: Well you remember that Kenny said he couldn't reach us because Serafina order all communication links to be scramble?

**Jack nods her head.**

Jack: Yea

Shadow: Well I was just thinking about my fight with Salim and he told me that Gundam's have completely different type of communication signal from ships and telephones and couldn't be scrambled or blocked.

**Jack sees the problem.**

Jack: Oh I see what you're getting at, well in that type of situation Kenny used a poor choice of words, he should have said encrypted. Well I guess that's also somewhat my fault, you see when the royal soldiers attacked I might have been testing out a new design for the Dark-Angel's long-range communications antennal, which I found out failed.

**Jack is rubbing the back of her head looking embarrass, but she goes on anyway.**

Jack: So the long-range communications antennal was out of action but Kenny came up with the idea of hacking in and piggybacking off Serafina's communications antennal which worked fine until Serafina order all of his communication's links to be encrypted then everything went to hell. Don't bother asking me the details since I don't understand half that programming crap but basically it froze Kenny's terminal and he wasn't able to do anything. Kenny ended up having to reboot his terminal and rewrite all of the software from scratch.

**Shadow folding his arms nods his head getting it, sort of.**

Shadow: Hmmmmm I see.

**The camera zooms out as a light color man with black hair and blond highlights walks over; he's got gray bored eyes and is typing in his own PDA. He stops in front of Quanlier and calls up to Jack.**

D-Mechanic: Hey Jack!

**Jack leans over the side of Quanlier and calls down to the mechanic.**

Jack: Yea Nelsa what's up!

**Nelsa types on his PDA and shakes his head with the same bored expression on his face.**

Nelsa: Look's like you were right Jack when you said that Cowboy's right arm's shoulder and elbow joints were out of alignment.

**Jack nods her head already confident that she was right to begin with.**

Jack: I knew it, begin repairs

**Nelsa cuts her off.**

Nelsa: Already on it, just thought you'd like to know where we are.

**Nelsa yawns, while Jack blinks surprise.**

Jack: Oh well thanks.

**Nelsa nods his head as he turns around and begins to walk away. Out of nowhere a wrench comes flying and whacks Nelsa right in the head.**

Nelsa: OWWWWWW

**Nelsa yelps out as he rubs the back of his head. Jacks calls out**

Jack: And next time don't stick your nose into other people's business!

**Nelsa turns for a moment to glare at Jack then turns away grumpy.**

Nelsa: I don't get paid enough for this.

**Nelsa grumbles underneath his breath as he walks away, suddenly we hear a loud crash sound, both Shadow and Jack flinch at second loud "ding" sound that follows.**

Jack: *sigh* now what?

**Shadow looks over curiously towards the direction of the noise but it's too far for him to see anything.**

Shadow: I wonder what it is?

**Jack stands up and puts her tools away and then rubs her hands clean on her jeans.**

Jack: Better go see what's going on.

**Jack begins walking towards where she heard the noise. Shadow just stands where he is content to let things rest where they may, too bad for him Jack notices this and quickly grabs the collar of Shadow's shirt and begins dragging him away.**

Jack: Oh no you don't, if I have to go see what's going on you definitely have to go, in fact as team leader you should have gone anyway.

**Shadow can't really reply since Jack is choking him with his own shirt. Shadow does wiggle around in a very good fish impression. The camera cuts forward in time, we're at the source of the noise. In the far corner of the Gundam bay there's what can best be describe as large cannonballs all over the floor. These cannonballs are huge like the size of a short person.**

**We can see a spot in the wall where they were stack, 1/3 of the cannonballs are still nicely stacked in their assign places not that anyone would notice considering the scatter mess the other 2/3 cannonballs made. Cagalli, Nick, and Roxas are on the floor rubbing their heads; oh one last thing the cannonballs are a deep shade of purple.**

**Cagalli, Nick and Roxas are groaning in slight pain but that noise is drowned out by Jack stomping her foot on the ground shocked. Jack lets go of Shadow who's still struggling to breath. Upon being released Shadow takes a big gulp of air.**

Shadow: AIRRRRRR, oh sweet merciful angel AIRRRRR!

**Shadow gets Nick, Roxas and Cagalli's attention however Jack takes center stage as she goes nuts.**

Jack: WHAT THE HELL HAPPEN, WHY ARE MY CANNONBALLS ALL OVER THE PLACE!

**Jack has a dangerous pissed off gleam in her eyes which scares the shit out of Nick, Cagalli and Roxas.**

Nick: Whoa mate sorry, sorry but this wasn't me or Cagalli's fault.

Cagalli: Nick's right Jack you see Nick, Roxas and I were coming down here to see how the repairs were going with our Gundams and if there was anything else we could do and then Roxas pressed a button on the wall!

**Cagalli points accusingly at Roxas. Roxas is crouching down and fiddling with her fingers doing her guilty monkey impression. Jack with scary angry red eyes glares down at Roxas.**

Jack: Did you press a button Roxas?

**Jack is talking softly but her serious tone of voice seem to go up 3 degrees making Roxas even more nervous then she already is.**

Roxas: Yes.

Jack: Why?

**Jack demands.**

Roxas: Because it was shiny.

**Everyone just stares at Roxas and in all honesty not really surprise, however Jack still looks like she's about to explode from anger.**

Jack: So your telling me that you pressed a random button in the wall which you had no idea what it would do just because IT WAS SHINY!

**Roxas cowards in fear and it looks like for a moment that Jack might actually attack her but Shadow having regained his breath puts his hand on Jack's shoulder.**

Shadow: Hey Jack take it easy, you're acting nuts.

**Jack shakes Shadow off her shoulder and flips around to face him.**

Jack: I'm acting nuts! Roxas just spilled over half of the linear cannonballs! Now I've got to recheck them all to make sure none of them were damage then put them away on top of the Gundams I have to oversee being repaired, the Dark-Angel regular up keep I have to double check which I know isn't finish because this crew is damn lazy and won't work unless someone is constantly shouting at them, the crew performance reports I have to make, plus I have to go over the budget with Drake!

**Jack is practically screaming at Shadow. Shadow feeling intimidated steps back.**

Shadow: Um something the matter Jack?

**Jack grabs Shadow's shirt and begins shaking him.**

Jack: YES GOD DAMN IT! You need to find a freaking captain! I can't take it anymore, I can't do both the head mechanic duties and the captain's it's just too much FREAKING WORK!

**Shadow begins begging for mercy.**

Shadow: Ok, Ok, Ok I'm sorry, I'm sorry I'll find a captain as soon as I can just hold on a little longer Jack.

**The camera turns around to look at Nick, Roxas and Cagalli as they watch the scene unfold, they look sympathetic.**

Nick (I understand where the mate is coming from, both the head mechanic and the Captain positions have a lot of responsibilities and it was only a matter time before their combined weight crushed Jack but the little gal put up quite the fight.)

**Nick smiles liking Jack's spirit. The camera looks over at Cagalli to show that she's thinking along the same lines as Nick.**

Cagalli (But it's not like Shadow can just stop somewhere now and find one; we don't have that kind of time we have to figure out our next move to saving Haben soon.)

**Roxas however is looking down at the cannonballs thinking about something non-Jack non-Haben related.**

Roxas: Why do we have cannonballs on board the Dark-Angel anyway?

**Cagalli absent mindedly answers**

Cagalli: For the linear cannons.

**A new thought enters her mind though as she takes a closer look at the cannonballs and reflects upon Jack's words.**

Cagalli: But why are they purple and what did you mean you had to test them to make sure they're working correctly?

**Jack having calmed down after venting at Shadow releases him and turns to Cagalli.**

Jack: They're purple because they're made out of Vuloma.

**Cagalli still looks confused but Nick and Roxas nod their head in understanding.**

Cagalli: Vuloma? What's Vuloma?

**Nick, Roxas and Jack all stop and stare at Cagalli, imagine if some guy on the street asked what steel was.**

Nick: What do you mean what's Vuloma mate? Vuloma is Vuloma the thing that S-generator domes are made of.

**Jack struggles to think of a way to explain Vuloma.**

Jack: Yea you know the type of metal, how do you not know about Vuloma?

**Cagalli annoyed by the stares snaps**

Cagalli: Because I'm from Earth!

**Jack folds her hands and leans back as she rolls her eyes**

Jack: Right because you're from Earth.

**Jack says with obvious disbelief, even Nick and Roxas don't look at Cagalli very convince. Cagalli looks at Nick, Roxas and Jack and takes a step back as she grits her teeth realizing just how crazy she must sound but luckily Shadow comes to the rescue.**

Shadow: Um I don't know what Vuloma is either?

**Nick, Jack, and Roxas now all turn to look at Shadow shocked but before they start complaining Shadow raises a hand and says**

Shadow: Yea, yea, yea me and Cagalli should probably know what it is but we don't so you could either A. spend the next 10 minutes asking how we don't know what it is or B. just tell us.

**Shadow grins proudly in one of his rare moments of intellectual superiority, while Cagalli rubs her temples.**

Cagalli (I can't decide what's worst, Nick, Roxas and Jack thinking I'm insane or Nick, Roxas and Jack thinking I'm as stupid as Shadow.)

**Jack can't argue with Shadow's logic so she gives up and just explains.**

Jack: Vuloma is a type of metal found on Sora; it has a unique special property of being able to absorb electric energy and then emits it back.

**Cagalli nods her head while rubbing her chin in understanding and fascination.**

Cagalli: I see, I thought the linear cannons for the Dark-Angel were more power than the ones for the Archangel.

**Shadow raises his hand.**

Shadow: Um I still don't get it.

**Cagalli looks at Shadow shocked.**

Cagalli: How do you still not get it?

**Shadow glares at the blond spiky hair girl looking at him in disbelief.**

Shadow (Smart-aleck know it all.)

**Jack sighs having pretty much expected this.**

Jack: You know what, instead of trying to explain how about I show you.

**Shadow nearly jumps out of his pants from excitement and even Nick and Roxas look up curious.**

Shadow: Really, oh man this is so awesome!

**Jack nods her head in an uncaring fashion as she walks over to the wall right next to the storage for the cannonballs. Jack pulls out a keypad from the wall and hits a few buttons, a section of the wall comes down like one of those fold up beds revealing a strange device built into the backside of the wall. At the center there's a sunken in dome with a holder where the cannon balls should be set.**

**To the side there's some kind of scanner, at the front at what once was the top of the wall there are a bunch of computers. Jack motions to one of the cannonballs.**

Jack: Hey can you guys place that cannonball on the holder.

**Nick shrugs.**

Nick: Sure mate.

**While Nick, Shadow and Cagalli together pick up the huge cannonball and place it in the holder Jack explains**

Jack: This is what we use to test the cannonballs to make sure they're working correctly, if there's a crack in the core of the cannonball then when it emits the electric charge it will be unstable.

**Once Shadow, Nick, Roxas and Cagalli place the cannon ball in the holder Jack motions for them to back up.**

Jack: You guys might want to take a step back.

**The Gundam Pilots look at Jack unsure but upon seeing her serious expression they all decide to take a step back. Jack nods her head when she judges they are far enough back she turns around and hits a few buttons on the computer.**

**Immediately an electric current hits the cannonball and pretty soon the cannon ball begins to emit a softer but undeniable electric energy cloak that covers the entire cannon ball making the cannon ball look larger, now it's as big as Nick the tallest person there. Shadow's eyes seem to grow as big as the cannon ball and he begins shouting with admiring excitement.**

Shadow: IT GREW! IT GREW! IT GREW!

**Cagalli flinches from the annoying figure in black shouting almost in her ear and ironically shouts back in anger**

Cagalli: STOP SHOUTING IN MY EAR!

**Jack after checking to make sure the readings are all green turns around to look at Shadow.**

Jack: The cannonball didn't actually get bigger per say.

**Roxas looks at Jack annoyed.**

Roxas: What are you talking about Jack it obviously got bigger?

**Nick nods his head in agreement.**

Nick: Yea mate what's with the double speak?

**Jack smiles enjoying having all of the answers.**

Jack: What I mean is that the cannonball didn't gain anymore mass; the electric cloak just increases the size of object but not the mass or weight. It gives the linear cannon balls that little bit of an explosive kick.

**Roxas's pupils have grown huge.**

Roxas: Shiny.

**Roxas's not the only one mesmerize, Nick, Cagalli and Shadow are also looking at it impress.**

Shadow: So cool.

Cagalli: Amazing.

**Jack happy about being in the spotlight shows off some more.**

Jack: How explosive it is and how big it gets is directly proportional to how long we let it charge but it can grow as large as a regular size house at max charge.

Cagalli: If it can become that big and powerful how come I've never seen it?

**Cagalli asks suspecting something.**

Jack: It's because the barrel of the linear cannon has to expand so that the cannonball can fit, but by increasing the width of the barrel we have to decrease its length which causes its speed to decrease. At max power the width of the barrel has to be huge in order to fit the massive size cannonball but this shrinks it's length down enormously giving it hardly any speed. At max power the cannonball moves as fast as a turtle.

**Cagalli nods her head in understanding.**

Cagalli (I see, so the larger and more powerful it becomes the slower it gets.)

**Jack continues**

Jack: The trick is the to balance the power with the speed, high level charges are too slow to hit a moving target which makes it impractical to use in battle.

**Jack enjoys her moment of glory for a few more minutes as the Gundam Fighters absorb and process this interesting new fact, then she cracks the whip and the scene ends with her shouting**

Jack: Alright enough fast facts for the day now make yourselves useful and help me test and put away these cannonballs you spilled!

**The next scene opens up in the middle of the desert. The sun is high in the middle of the sky not that I advise looking at it unless you like your eyes on fire, not that you could avoid the sun anyway with the bright yellow sand looking shockingly like a up close picture of the sun, not the space POV but the planet POV.**

**The camera focuses on one lone Gundam battling this unforgiving heat. The Gundam is a Soldier type Haben class Gundam however it's missing its shield and beam rifle. The armor looks worn and beaten but not from battle rather it looks like it was eroded away from the harsh elements. The once pride brown and yellow colors of the Haben military have been worn away leaving ugly metal unpainted colors.**

**The camera cuts inside the Gundam's cockpit to show the inside is just as hot as the outside. The metal cockpit almost looks like its glowing red from the heat. We can't see the Pilot because of the dark helmet screen. The Pilot is limping badly but not from any wound. He's exhausted, each step forces him to summon up all his strength to move and while that works for a while strength has its limits.**

Pilot (Have to keep moving, can't stop.)

**The Pilot falls to his knees his body literary failing on him. The camera cuts outside to show the Gundam fall the rest of the way to the ground. The Gundam lays on its chest face first in the sand unmoving. The camera cuts to inside the S-generator core of the Gundam. The S-generator is about the size of a basketball indicating very little power left but even that little bit gets snuff out as the last of the Gundam's power is used.**

**The hum of the gears and the buzz of the electricity die leaving the Gundam into a sickening dead silence. The camera cuts to inside the Gundam's cockpit to show that the Zero gravity bubble has turn off as a result of the loss of power. The Pilot is now lying face down on the floor of the Gundam unmoving.**

Pilot (Argh can't move anymore too weak. I can't feel my body, is this how it ends?)

**The camera cuts to the bridge of the Dark-Angel, Kenny, Alan and Thomas are on duty. Thomas is humming to a song and we can see the unmistakable signs of earphones with the wires leading to inside his pocket. Kenny is gritting his teeth in annoyances as his fingers rapidly type at his terminal while Alan alone leans in his chair doing nothing and looking bored, finally he has enough.**

Alan: Argh this is so stupid!

**Kenny turns around in his chair to face Alan while Thomas moves to pull his earphones out of his ears.**

Kenny: What's stupid?

**Kenny asks curious. Alan annoyed and angry snaps**

Alan: THIS! I'm a driver

**Thomas cuts in and in a pleasant musical voice corrects him.**

Thomas: Helmsman.

Alan: Doesn't matter! The point is why do I have to be on duty when the ship

Thomas: The Dark-Angel.

Alan: Stop butting in! When the ship isn't MOVING! It's pointless! What the hell am I supposed do!

**Kenny shrugs and turns back to typing on his computer.**

Kenny: It can't be help, even if we go back to 2 man duty shifts you'd still have to take a shift like everyone else. After all there are only 5 of us on the bridge crew.

**Alan still grumpy says**

Alan: Then you guys should hire more people.

**Thomas sings in a musical voice**

Thomas: RA DOE ME have you tried playing with the settings on your terminal to see what suits you best LA LA?

**Alan looking annoyed is about to reply when suddenly we hear a beeping sound coming from Kenny's terminal. Kenny's eyes quickly narrow as he gets serious.**

Kenny: The long range scanners just picked up a Gundam signature!

**Thomas and Alan immediately turn around in their seats and begin typing.**

Alan: Is it an attack?

**Alan says preparing to sound the alarm. Kenny frowns and leans closer to his screen as if that might make the data more understandable.**

Kenny: I don't think so, if it was an attack there'd be more Gundam signatures.

Ciro: Unless it's a surprise attack where all of the Gundams are using stealth technology and that one just F-up.

**Ciro and Rini have walked in and quickly take their seats. Alan looks at them suspicious.**

Alan: How did you guys get here so fast? I didn't even hit the alarm.

**Rini still focusing on her terminal replies absent mindedly**

Rini: Ciro was on his way here for the shift change with Thomas and I borrowed a book on programming from Kenny but none of that matters right now we should move to level 3 battle readiness.

**Ciro, Kenny, Alan and Thomas all just stop and stare at the raven woman with navy blue eyes with a large object wrap in a tarp leaning against the wall right next to her uncomprehending. Rini doesn't get it.**

Rini: You know the battle level where the crew is told to be ready for an attack even though an attack hasn't been confirmed?

**Still seeing the blank looks on the male faces Rini in frustrated anger shouts out**

Rini: Haven't any of you served in the military!

**The suit, wheels, programmer and musician all shake their heads causing the soldier to slap her head in frustration.**

Rini: Argh!

**While Rini openly makes it known about her frustration from being the only soldier on board a battleship Thomas swaying to his own musical voice so that his blond hair flies all around sings**

Thomas: ME, ME, LA isn't it possible that it's one of the rebels come to collect something they forgot?

**The brown hair suit rolls his eyes with obvious disgust.**

Ciro: Serafina didn't scream amateur to me.

**Kenny still looks uncertain.**

Kenny: The Gundam isn't moving, it's just sitting there.

**Rini having finish cursing her anger off gets back down to work.**

Rini: They could have some kind of long range weapon and are targeting us as we speak.

**Alan begins to tear at his orange hair for a few moments because of the nervous tension then screams**

Alan: That's it! I've had it!

**Before anyone can say anything Alan hits a few buttons and yanks the steering wheel towards his chest. The camera cuts outside to show the Dark-Angel's engines roar to life as the mostly black ship ascends to the sky creating an old contrast of black on yellow.**

**The Dark-Angel burst forward in a shower of speed. The camera cuts to inside the Gundam bay to show the motion hasn't gone unnoticed by Shadow and the others, who have just helped Jack finish putting away the linear cannonballs.**

Cagalli: We're moving?

Nick: Something's up!

**Jack looks pissed.**

Jack: Damn it Alan knows he's not supposed to move the ship without my permission! Shadow I demand

**Jack stops in mid-sentence noticing Shadow isn't where she left him; everyone looks puzzled for a moment until Shadow calls out in his excited battle ready voice**

Shadow: Hey are you guys coming or what!

**Shadow is already a good few feet away heading towards the bridge.**

Nick: Wait up mate!

Jack: Crippled or not I'm kicking Alan's ass if this is a joyride!

Roxas: This is going to be fun!

Cagalli: Hey don't leave me behind!

**Shadow's black windbreaker and Jack's jean coat are flapping while they run. Nick is holding onto his hat with one hand. Roxas is on all fours and Cagalli is leading up the rear as they all head towards the bridge. The camera cuts to the bridge as Kenny shouts**

Kenny: Alan what are you doing! You can't take off without Jack or Shadow's permission!

**Alan is finally smiling being back at home driving.**

Alan: Look kid, I'm like 10 years older than all of you "bosses" so forgive me if I don't feel like following your orders and besides guessing at what it is isn't going to help so we might as well get closer so we can actually see what's going on.

**Thomas sings in a dramatic voice**

Thomas: RA, RA, DOE Jack is going to be angry!

**Alan's smile slips his face but he says stubbornly**

Alan: I-I'm not scared of that half pint mechanic.

Jack: Half pint mechanic.

**The blood in Alan's veins turns to ice as we watch him actually turn whiter. While he had been talking, Shadow and the others had walked in. Jack has a smile on her face but it's not a normal happy smile rather a demonic smile from a predator about to attack its pray.**

Jack: Will those be your last words Alan and don't think I'll hold back because you're in a wheelchair.

**Jack begins cracking her knuckles but the fear leaves Alan as he turns his angry red eyes at her.**

Alan: You think I can't fight BECAUSE I'M IN A WHEELCHAIR!

**Alan looks like he would attack her if he could and Jack is too angry at this point to care that she offended him leaving the rest of the crew in an awkward staring match, which only gets worse when Kenny shouts**

Kenny: ALAN DON'T LET GO OF THE STEERING WHEEL!

**Alan ignores Kenny as he and Jack continue to face off, their red eyes erupting like a volcano. The Gundam Pilots act all at once; Roxas jumps up on Jack shouting**

Roxas: Snake hold!

**Roxas in a very un-bone like fashion wraps her whole body around Jack, twisting her arms and legs around Jack's arms and legs. Jack begins to struggle to charge Alan through Roxas but Roxas's snake hold keeps her perfectly still. Nick on the other hand charges Alan and putting both hands on his shoulders pushes Alan back against his chair.**

**Alan struggles against Nick's grip but it's pointless, without having any lower body support there's no way Alan can overpower Nick, and they both know it.**

Nick: Take it easy mate; I don't want to hurt you.

**Shadow and Cagalli rush to the steering wheel and grab it at the same time; unfortunately a thought hits them both at the same time.**

Shadow: Um do you know how to drive this thing?

Cagalli: No.

**A moment more passes as the princess and the rookie fighter allow this new information to process, then at the same time.**

Shadow and Cagalli: KENNY!

**In a style and grace all his own Kenny is already 5 moves ahead.**

Kenny: Already on it, I transferred the steering controls to my terminal but I can't do any advance maneuvers without the wheel extension.

**Like a crowed amusement park several conversations are going on at once, Roxas and Jack; Nick and Alan; Jack and Alan cursing each other out; Cagalli, Shadow and Kenny about the steering. Of course with everyone talking and trying to be heard the volume quickly rises to headache levels. With a booming resonating voice that's hard to believe that came from a human Thomas sings in a low frequency causing everyone to cover their ears in pain.**

Thomas: **Doe, doe, doe** we are in visual of the Gundam.

**Thomas brings up the image of the Soldier Haben Gundam lying in the sand on the main screen. The sand has wasted no time in claiming its new meal, already the fingers and the toes are buried under the sand. The image and Thomas's song is enough to distract everyone from their conversations. There's confusion on everyone's faces**

Cagalli: What is that?

Jack: A Soldier type Haben Gundam but its damage from an explosion plus it's been out in the desert for an extend period of time without any repairs.

**No one bothers to ask how the young dirty blond hair mechanic knows it was damage by an explosion, they trust her experience. Rini adds**

Rini: This could be a trap, the classic Pilot in distress we should

**Before Rini can finish Shadow is already moving.**

Shadow: Jack I'm taking Nightwing out to rescue that Pilot!

**Immediately Shadow is met with protest.**

Cagalli: Don't be short sighted!

Rini: We don't know if it's a trap!

Alan: We don't even know if there's a pilot inside, it could just be an abandon Gundam.

**Alan's red eyes are still resonating with the anger he holds at Jack but that anger is like sand in a jar. Only the top soil is the anger he feels at Jack, the rest is something he's gathered over time and he's directing it all at Shadow. Shadow doesn't back down, clad in black all of Alan's red hot anger simply seems to disappear in the black abase of darkness rather than hitting something and catching fire.**

Shadow: There's a Pilot in there, I know it.

**Shadow speaks with his quiet but firm electrical intensity which is backed up by his Neon gauntlet which has begun to glow slightly. His bright green eyes make the hairs on Alan's neck stand up, and without any fuel for Alan's anger to feed off of and against Shadow's crushing constant assault Alan's will grows tired and fails under Shadow's. Alan turns away, the battle of wills may only have lasted a second but the impact is felt on a subconscious level by all present.**

**Shadow spins and for a moment he emits the essences of a true leader as he begins giving commands.**

Shadow: I'm heading out there; Kenny tell Nelsa to have my Gundam ready for launch; Jack clear the Gundam bay and tell the medics to be on standby for emergency care; Cagalli you'll launch with me and cover my back, Nick and Roxas will remain on standby and Rini you'll take command of the bridge if a battle does happen but until then have the crew ready for battle.

**Shadow's plan MAKES SENSE which shocks everyone not to mention the commanding way he presents it has everyone mumbling ok, and for a moment he actually looks like a respectable leader until.**

Shadow: Oh Rini just remember to keep the military talk to a minimal after all only about 20 percent of the crew have any military experience.

**Shadow says this in his typical happy excited fashion while rubbing the back of his head in a embarrass sort of way which ruins the whole image. Of course Shadow doesn't wait for anything he turns around and shouts**

Shadow: Let's go Cagalli!

**Shadow takes off with his black clothes making him look more like a villain then rescuer. Cagalli shakes her head causing her spikes to deflate a little.**

Cagalli: That moron trying to act cool!

**In frustration she runs her hand through her hair re-spiking it to the pleasure of Roxas and immediately takes off after Shadow shouting**

Cagalli: Shadow wait up for me!

**The metal chains on the back of Cagalli's leather jacket flap almost dangerously with the sudden speed, but thankfully they don't take anyone's eye out. Cagalli's flame ignites the others into action. Jack with wrench in hand, Roxas mimicking an antelope, and Nick pulling his hat into battle ready position charges after them.**

**The senior members stare off at the "kids" in surprise shock, while Kenny focuses solely on his computer. Ciro is the first to speak, his hazel eyes have a sharp scanning look like someone sizing up a baby horse deciding whether it can run or not. He fiddles with the cufflinks on his solid white dress shirt.**

Ciro: Did you see that?

**Rini nods her head biting her lip.**

Rini: Yes, for a moment Shadow displayed a level of leadership that I've only seen in high rank military officials or politicians.

**Ciro nods his head in agreement.**

Ciro: Yea, if he ever learns to control it and when he gains a large amount of battle experience he could be one scary SOB leader.

**Alan puffs unimpressed and turns back to his terminal.**

Alan: You guys are reading way too much into this, there's no way in hell that idiot is going to ever become anything other than an idiot heh even the chances of him becoming a professional Gundam Fighter are slim at best. In the end we can only do what we're capable of and a natural can never become the greatest Gundam Fighter ever.

**Alan says this last part kind of sadly as he stares at his own legs. Rin and Ciro stare at him for a moment then Rini laughs at her own foolishness while Ciro settles for a grin.**

Rini: Hehehe yes you have a point Alan.

Ciro: Yea I guess we were just overthinking things.

**Compared to the life experiences between the suit and the soldier Shadow is no more than a no talent, no luck, child and the leadership ability he shown was simply a fluke.**

Thomas: He has good eyes.

**Now Rini, Alan and Ciro turn to Thomas surprise. It takes them a moment to work out what was different with the blond hair man dressed in musicians clothing and then it hits them at once. THOMAS ISN'T SINGING**

Thomas: His eyes glow with a determination that's rare to come by, he never gives up no matter how many times he gets knocked down, he always rises.

**Thomas's voice sounds weird without any musical elements, it's almost unnatural the way his words have no laughter or warm care-bear feelings in them but his gray cloudy eyes are as serious as they've ever been. The scene ends with Thomas saying**

Thomas: I wouldn't underestimate him if I were you.

**The next scene opens up showing Raheem, and Kabira walking the halls of the Dark-Angel, something's up, people are running full force in one direction.**

Kabira: I wonder what's going on Raheem; it's weird not seeing the crew slacking off.

**Raheem walks beside Kabira, his chestnut eyes scanning each and every person coming within 5 meters of Kabira. His muscles are tense ready for an attack from any direction but it's not like he's doing it on purpose, it's second natural to him, like driving a car.**

Raheem: I don't know Ms. Kabira but whatever is going on is happening in the Gundam bay.

Raheem (The ship started moving a few minutes ago but now it stopped. If we were under attack the alarms would be going off so then what?)

**Raheem and Kabira enter the Gundam bay. Nightwing and La Rouge are frozen sort of like statues crouching down in classic "placing" pose. The soldier Haben Gundam is lying face up on the floor. The camera zooms in to the top of the soldier Haben's chest, directly above the cockpit door.**

**Jack is crouching down and has pulled out some kind of smoother; it looks remarkably like a polisher only more intense and powerful. Jack also has a small portable saw which she alternates using. Shadow, Nick, Cagalli, and Roxas are surrounding Jack anxiously waiting for something. Kabira and Raheem climb up onto the Gundam curious as to what is going on.**

Kabira: Hey guys what's going on, where did this damage Gundam come from?

**The cowboy is the only one who hears this, everyone else is just too focus on Jack to even notice a bomb go off. Nick pushes his hat up in slight surprise his blue eyes shining clearly with the shade from his hat gone.**

Nick: Oh hey mates. This looks like a lost Gundam wandering the desert. Jack thinks the navigation systems were knocked out by some kind of explosion and since then the mate's been wandering the desert lost for over a week.

**Raheem with shock looks at the Gundam with new eyes, as if searching for the incredible Pilot who survive through all of this.**

Raheem (Over a week in this area of the Haben desert with navigations systems down, in the academy we went over a unit in case a situation like this happen. It covered how to ration your emergency food, and basic survival techniques for the desert and even how to navigate by the stars if you're absolutely desperate. Of course since the stars are constantly moving that method is unreliable at best and should only be used as a last resort. What they really told us was that if your navigation system is down your best and only hope is to wait for your ship to find you by your Gundam signal.)

**Nick continues to talk while the old soldier looks on impressed by the Pilot who beat the odds.**

Nick: The mate's lucky to have survived, if he hadn't wandered just inside the radius of our long range scanners we'd never have picked up his signal.

**Raheem nods his head with a pale ghost face, finding lost Gundams buried in the sands with the remains of their Pilot was never fun.**

Raheem: I agree, the desert shows no mercy and quickly swallows those who lose their way.

**Kabira performs a hand gesture in the Haben religion.**

Kabira: We must thank our ancestors for watching him and guiding him to us.

**Kabira closes her eyes and gives a silent pray while Jack cries in triumphed**

Jack: Ah-ha!

**The cockpit door makes a "clang" sound and slowly opens. The sand has gotten into the gears creating a very harsh grinding sound that might be worse than scratching a chalkboard. When the door finally does open the impulsive but focus Shadow jumps down without hesitation. In contrast the ever wise and cautious Cagalli shouts**

Cagalli: WAIT Shadow we don't even know if there's a pilot in there! IT could be a trap!

**The camera cuts to inside the Soldier Haben's cockpit to show Shadow dress in darkness descend into the dimly lit room but the 2 shades of black are completely different. The room filled with dust is a gray smoggy black while Shadow's clothes are pure shine black.**

**Shadow lands lightly on his feet. The only source of light is coming from the open cockpit door. Shadow's piecing green eyes shine in the dark and spot the figure unmoving on the ground.**

**The Pilot is within the ring of light but is still lying face down. Shadow rushes towards the pilot and gets on his knees as he turns the weak figure over.**

Shadow: Hey are you dead?

**Shadow asks the still unresponsive pilot. Shadow begins to remove the pilot's helmet. The camera cuts to back outside the cockpit door to show everyone leaning over to look inside trying to see who the Pilot is. Raheem narrows his eyes but they suddenly burst open with recognition.**

Raheem: Jubal!

**The camera does a close up of Jubal's face, Jubal is dehydrated and in bad shape but shallow breath climbs its way from death's final shores out of his mouth. Jubal is not ready to die. The camera cuts forward in time, we're waiting outside the doctor's office.**

**Raheem is pacing back and forth very uncharacteristically, he's been unsettled. Roxas, Nick, Cagalli, Jack, Kenny, Shadow, and Kabira are sitting down against the wall waiting. Roxas, Shadow and Kabira all look worried while Nick respectively waits with his hat tipped down low. Jack can feel the tension in the air like hearing a baby crying on the bus.**

**Jack making sure no one is looking leans in close to the ever reliable programmer and asks**

Jack: Um Kenny this may sound horrible considering the circumstance but who is Jubal?

**Kenny with his greatest gift of infinite understanding nods his head and explains**

Kenny: Jubal is a Gundam Pilot on Salim's ship, he fought Roxas in the battle we had with Salim.

**The grease monkey does the "Ohhh" face as she vaguely remembers someone by that description, before any more talk can commence a man in white comes out. Raheem like an overprotective parent rushes to him.**

Raheem: Doctor how is he?

**Everyone gathers around as the doctor speaks.**

D-Doctor: He's a lucky man, he was very dehydrated and malnourished but he'll make it.

**Relief pierces the tension like a hot air balloon.**

D-Doctor: He is insisting to speak with you right this minute; I've tried to calm him down several times but he refuses to get any rest without having talked to you first. I could give him drugs but in his weaken state I'm afraid of how it might affect him.

**Raheem stands tall and proud his tan skin radiating power.**

Raheem: The drugs are not needed Doctor, I'll go see him but rest assured I will keep it very brief so he gets plenty of sleep.

**D-Doctor nods his head in satisfaction and allows Raheem and the others to enter. Jubal is in the classic hospital bed with a bunch of different heart monitors, blood monitors and tubs with weird liquid attached to him. Despite all this Jubal remains awake, his eyes are like that of a wounded but determine brown bear.**

Jubal: Sir.

**Even at his weakest Jubal remains a loyal soldier and tries to force his body to salute Raheem. Raheem with 2 strong quick strides reaches Jubal and paces his hand on Jubal's shoulder.**

Raheem: At ease Jubal, there's no need for formalities here.

**Jubal looks at Raheem thankful. Roxas walks over to the edge of the bed and does the whole worried dog look.**

Roxas: How long were you out there?

**Jubal's eyes shift out of focus for a moment but he forces himself to stay awake.**

Jubal: Over week, I survived off the food and water stored in the Gundam but I ran out of both 2 days ago. Thank the ancestors I had memorized the latest map of the area where we thought the rebels were meeting. I traveled by night and manage to make it to the area but I still didn't know the exact location of the meeting and by that time the sand dunes had shifted so the map that I had was all but worthless.

**Jubal's voice is horse and cracks with effort of each word but he marches on nevertheless determine to say what he has to.**

Jubal: I must have wandered for days hoping to just stumble into someone and when I didn't I began to panic and I made the amateur mistake of traveling during mid-day!

**Jubal looks away ashamed of his actions. Raheem with a strong voice says loudly but clearly**

Raheem: Jubal as a higher ranked official I order you not to be ashamed of your actions! You were under extreme circumstances and you made your country proud by surviving them!

**Jubal looks up at Raheem touched. Raheem's chestnut brown eyes are full of kindness and great respect for his comrade and Jubal can see this respect and it takes all of his will power to stop himself from balling like a child.**

Raheem: But please son tell me how this happen, how did your Gundam get damage, where was Salim and why wasn't he looking for you, do you know if Salim manage to contact the King?

**Upon hearing Salim's name Jubal flinches from an unbelievable amount of pain. He begins slowly**

Jubal: Salim…*choke sob*….Salim didn't make it to the base.

**A sinking feel begins to hit those attended.**

Raheem: What do you mean he didn't make it, Jubal where is Salim!

**Raheem demands with growing fear. Jubal holding back tears cries**

Jubal: He's dead!

**Shock, the feeling of being overly surprise hits everyone but worst of all it hits Raheem like a bullet. Raheem actually knew Salim and in a lot of ways Salim was like a son to Raheem. Raheem has to put a hand on wall to steady himself while the dam of Jubal's emotions burst.**

Jubal: I was in my Gundam in the Gundam bay when it happen, I was just about to test the linear catapult when BOOM, next thing I knew my Gundam was buried in sand and the ship….the ship was in FLAMES! It was an explosion, a sneak attack, I don't know how they got the bombs on board but they must have since the explosion came from the inside of the ship. The explosion must have activated the linear catapult before I got fried so I made it but…but everyone else is dead! Johny, Cobano, Auire, Ginola they're all DEAD, how could this happen, one moment they were all alive, I had just made a joke with Ginola on the communications link and then the next they're all dead and I'm all alone!

**Jubal is going hysterical, the trauma he suffered is too great and he's beginning to lose it. His heart rate is climbing dangerously high but Raheem is no longer in any condition to help him. Raheem looks shell-shocked and is just standing there starring off into space. Shadow steps in this time.**

Shadow: Jubal stay with me! Did you see who did it, who was the one who killed Salim?

**Shadow can't hide his own anger over this, he shakes Jubal a couple of times to snap him back to reality. Burning revenge ravishes Jubal's eyes.**

Jubal: It was one of Fachtna's men, Salim had us look up all of the ships registered under Fachtna and his advisors; I recognized the ship but I can't remember who it belong too. I did manage to get a tracking beacon on it when they flew over the *sob* wreckage.

**Roxas looks confused.**

Roxas: Tracking Beacon?

Kenny: Haben class Gundams are equip with one each, it makes life easy for taking down raiders or bandits hiding in the desert.

**The doctor comes rushing in and after checking the heart monitor he starts shouting**

D-Doctor: What the hell is going on in here, I brought you guys here because I thought you would help calm the patient down not almost give him a heart attack, OUT NOW!

**The D-Doctor although small somehow manages to throw everyone but Jubal out. Kabira goes to comfort Raheem who still looks shell-shocked while Cagalli, Roxas, Nick, Jack and Kenny move around Shadow planning.**

Roxas: What's the next move Shadow!

**Roxas is pissed and she's ready to sink her fangs into someone, we can see her Neon Gauntlet start to glow.**

Jack: I can salvage the tracking locator from Jubal's Gundam but I don't know if the beacon is still in place. It's been over a week and if they've been in any battles or combat they you can bet for sure that they've notice it.

**Nick with blazing blue eyes asks**

Nick: But what if the mates haven't been in any direct combat recently; from the way they fight I doubt they get their hands dirty often.

**Jack considers this.**

Jack: Well it's standard for a mechanic to check over the entire ship after a battle but if they've only been doing regular maintenance and have gotten sloppy I suppose it is possible that the tractor beacon is still on and operating.

**This seems to satisfied Nick and Roxas who are already out for blood but Cagalli once again acts as the voice of wisdom and reason.**

Cagalli: And if it is working then what? We track them down and kill them?

Roxas: Sounds good to me.

Cagalli: But that won't bring back Salim, and it won't help us save this country, we need to be thinking long term not short term.

**Raheem finally over his shell-shock steps forward his eyes burning with a hatred that doesn't match his chestnut eyes at all.**

Raheem: On my authorization as Captain of the royal guard we will arrest all personnel on board the ship and bring them to Azize to start a proper investigation into Fachtna's activities. Serafina maybe an arrogant smug kid but he won't attack if we show him evidence of Fachtna's crimes.

**Cagalli with kindness but firmness says**

Cagalli: But we don't have any evidence Raheem, it's probably all gone now lost in the desert and the only thing Jubal saw was a ship. We can't prove anyone on board that ship did anything

**Shadow with his eyes closed has been quietly listening to everything but now he opens his eyes, which look like they shoot lightning bolts at Salim's murderer, and stands straight and tall, his neon gauntlet begins to glow.**

Shadow: Cagalli that's enough. I know this may be stupid and short sighted and overall just a bad move but those bastards killed Salim in cold blood and if we don't make them pay then who will?

**Cagalli looks at Shadow a little startled by this type of anger from him.**

Cagalli: I know you're angry Shadow but revenge isn't

**Shadow once again cuts her off.**

Shadow: This isn't revenge, its justice and we owe it to Salim to at least try to bring his murderers to the law.

**The episode ends with everyone but Cagalli grow stronger in resolve.**

Nick: For Salim.

Roxas: For Salim.

Jack: For Salim.

Raheem: For Salim.

_**Author's note: Hello again everybody, wow it feels like I've been making a lot of these recently anyway there are a couple of things I wish to talk to you about. As I'm sure many of you many of you already Know I had recently challenge Maderfole. *Holds up hands to stop out cries* yes, yes I know my story is like a pebble compared to his mountain of a story, yes I know he's the battle writer with 10x the experience, and yes I know he's got an extremely loyal fanbase. So if I know all this why in the world did I challenge him well to be honest I had recently felt my story/writing was just lacking so I decided to look at other fanfiction stories with a higher review count to see what they have that I didn't.**_

_**The led me to Maderfole who by far has the most reviews at least in Gundam Seed fanfic with almost 1000, so in the moment I wrote him a PM claiming my story would eventually be better then his; of course I'd expected to be ignored so imagine my surprise when he writes back to me accepting my challenge with open arms. With that being said I don't regret my actions; I know it's going to take me a long time before I can catch up to Maderfole's level, I know I probably only have like a 5 percent chance of beating him but you know what? I'm going to aim for that 5 percent because beating Maderfole isn't the final goal, I'm aiming for the top!**_

_**Now with all that being said Maderfole has been a great help to me, my only regret is that I'm nowhere near as helpful to him as he is to me. He brought up to me the idea about opening up a forum. To be honest a forum never really entered my mind considering I have such a small fanbase, no sense opening up a forum no one will ever comment on however let me know what you guys think, if you want a forum I'll make one for you. Speaking of forums I did look over at Maderfole's forum including when he wrote about me. Yea I wasn't feeling the love of friendly challenge, to be honest I felt like a black guy walking in on a KKK meeting.**_

_**I think there's been a misunderstanding with Maderfole's fans, I didn't mean to offended any of you. I can tell that Maderfole any you guys put a lot of heart and soul into the story; I feel it with every word and I can see it with how well writen it is and that's why I challenge you. Do you think I would waste my time challenging someone who only puts halfassed effort into their writing? If I'm going to challenge anyone it's going to be the best and that's you and I am deeply sorry if I offended you. *sigh* although from what I read on the forum I doubt any of them are still reading my story not that I blame them considering who I'm being compare to.**_

_**This brings me to my final point, my story has been getting a serious beating on the reviews, now I've always looked at negative reviews as a chance to see mistakes in writing an improve on them because let's face it; I've put my heart and soul into this story so the last thing I want to see is mistakes however I won't deny it does get to me after a while hearing so many people say my story is crap and their has come a point where I thought about stopping but then something interesting happen. I went back and read one of my earlier episodes and as I'm reading this I'm thinking too myself "this isn't bad" and in the end it's our own opinion that counts.**_

_**So I'm going to continue writing; I'm going to charge on through all the tough reviews and become stronger from them and I encourge all of my fellow writers out there to do the same. My story maybe crap, I maybe going down in a burning flame of ruin and humiliation but if I'm going down I'm going down running forward, aiming to beat Maderfole a new friend and rival and beyound! For those of you still reading I thank you for letting me rant now onward!**_


	58. Episode 57 Linear Positron Comet P1

Episode 57

**The episode opens up showing a bird's eye view of the Dark-Angel on the move; its black and green coat pierces the yellowish sand. The camera flies down like a roller-coaster ending right beside the Dark-Angel. The camera cuts inside the Dark-Angel's bridge to show the bridge crew as well as Cagalli, Zuke, Nick. Zuke and Nick are leaning on opposite sides of the wall while the blond punk rock girl paces behind the Captain's chair. Cagalli has exited her wise and caring mode and entered her fierily pissed off mode.**

Cagalli: This is a mistake!

**The poor brown hair programmer caught in the middle tries to ignored Cagalli and let her flame out.**

Kenny: Um from the tractor locator Jack hooked up I can tell that the ship that killed Salim is on the move.

**The noble blue eyed cowboy pushes up his hat; his eyes are strikingly like a wolf's calm and calculating right until he sinks his fangs into his pray.**

Nick: Where are they headed mate?

**Kenny types for a moment then shakes his head.**

Kenny: Nowhere, from my estimates they're just heading for some random part of the desert.

Alan: It doesn't matter; they're moving like some lost tourist, we'll be on them by the hour.

**Alan proclaims as boastful as ever. Cagalli looks like she's about to make a whole in the floor from her pacing.**

Cagalli: This is a mistake! We shouldn't be wasting our time on revenge, it's never the answer but that stupid thickheaded Gundam Fighting junkie won't listen to me!

Zuke: I agree with blond natural.

**Says the statue like figure with rich black skin, surprising everyone even Cagalli.**

Zuke: The mission was to bring the brat and the bodyguard to Azize, it's not our fault they chose a city which is about to be engulfing in war nor is it our problem. The fact this mission has dragged on so long is a disgrace.

**Cagalli annoyed now replies**

Cagalli: You know we have names Zuke.

**Zuke yawns showing off his perfect white teeth.**

Zuke: The name of a natural is about as meaningful as the name of a cockroach.

**Cagalli glares at him in response being upgraded to irritated although she has grown a little accustomed to his geneist actions.**

Nick: Sorry this is taking so long mate but maybe if you didn't have an ego bigger than the ship and helped we might get down faster.

**The cowboy stares off at the black figure with the goatee making the whole scene feel like the good guy taking on the bad guy.**

Zuke: Or maybe if you simply just complete the mission instead of getting involved with all these silly little side quests we can be done before we all turn old and gray.

**Nick gets up off the wall and comes around to face Zuke who remains motionless other than his mouth.**

Nick: To help a mate in need is part of my code.

**Nick's blazing proud blue eyes shine brightly.**

Zuke: Then your code has as much fibber and meaning as a piece of toilet paper.

**Nick goes for his gun but Cagalli grabs him and with all her might holds on.**

Cagalli: Easy Nick, EASY you're better than this!

**Nick continues to struggle while Cagalli switches back to her wisdom and rational mode and begins to reason with him. The camera cuts forward in time and to a different part of the ship. The Gundam Fighting junkie and Roxas are walking down the hallway talking.**

Roxas: Jack chased me out of the Gundam bay; she's doing a check through of our Gundams.

**Roxas sways her hips seductively as she walks on all fours showing off the areas where her tight jeans are ripped drawing several male D-crew member heads as well as Shadow's.**

Shadow: Jack has her own system so just let her work, so are you and Jubal

**The red wild hair shakes her head.**

Roxas: Oh no, it's just that he was really sweet in bed and it pisses me off when a good guy gets beat up by a bully.

**Putting his hands in his windbreaker the not so noble black knight asks with ulterior motives.**

Shadow: So you don't have any boyfriends?

**Roxas shakes her head and yawns**

Roxas: I don't do relationships just one night stands.

**Shadow trying to be smooth**

Shadow: So that means you and I could

**And fails**

Roxas: In theory yes but you still have to become more interesting before I even consider it.

**Before Shadow can reply any further their Neon gauntlets ring from an incoming call.**

Kenny: Shadow, Roxas we're about to come into range of the enemy ship so get down to your Gundams and be ready.

**The always eager warrior can't hide his excited grin.**

Shadow: You got it Kenny.

**Shadow hits the "end" button on his Neon Gauntlet then turns to Roxas.**

Shadow: Let's go!

**The camera cuts back to the Dark-Angel's bridge as Raheem burst into the room quickly followed by Kabira. Cagalli and Nick are no longer their instead Jack is sitting in the Captain's seat. Raheem a man on a mission marches over to her.**

Raheem: We're close.

**It's a statement not a question but Jack can't help but feel the need to reply under the overwhelming authority the muscular tan figure emits.**

Jack: They'll be in visual and scanner range in minutes.

**Ciro runs his hand through his sleek gelled brown hair as he adds his own 2 cents.**

Ciro: It's nice to be on the attacker end of a surprise attack instead of the defender.

**The crook smiles at a tiny joke only he understands; the soldier on the other hand is all business and no pleasure.**

Rini: We should go in fast and hard; if we do this right we can take down their shields and primary weapons before they even know what hit them.

**The musician spins around in his chair singing.**

Thomas: ME, RA, DOE activating shield and beam CIWs.

**Ironically the once overly confident orange hair driver is the most nervous out of them all; his red eyes blink sweat away as he tries to just focus on steering.**

Alan (God damn it why am I so freaking nervous, it's not like I've never been in battle before, then again this is the first time I know I'm about to be in battle. The other times happen so fast that my adrenalin kicked in before I had time to even think about it.)

Alan: We're getting a visual now!

**Everyone turns for a moment to look at the main screen. The main screen blinks once then reveals 2 familiar ships; Alex's and Zagat's. Alex's ship is on point. The camera cuts to inside Alex's ship's bridge; Alex is sitting in her captain's chair doing work on her Ipad while Zain who is also on the bridge cleans his gun. He asks absent mindedly**

Zain: How far away are we to whatever coordinates the boss gave us?

**Flipping her long black hair behind her head Alex replies**

Alex: Not far at all I say 10 minutes maybe

**Alex gets cut off by one of her crew members.**

Lore: Captain we've got a battleship fast approaching.

**Alex looks up her crystal emerald eyes blink for a moment as they process this new information then she shouts**

Alex: Bring it up on the main monitor!

**The camera cuts back to the Dark-Angel's bridge to show confuse looks on everyone's faces.**

Jack (What the hell is going on, why are there 2 battleships?)

**Shadow, Nick, Cagalli and Roxas all pop up on the main monitor dressed and ready in their Gundams.**

Cagalli: See this is what happens when you jump before looking!

**Cagalli of course is quick to point out the down side to not planning anything beforehand. Alan's red eyes narrow in recognition then anger.**

Alan: Hey isn't that ship in the front the one that attacked us over the ocean?

**Recognition dawns on everyone's faces.**

Rini: Is it the one that killed Salim?

**The tall programmer shakes his head and quickly replies while continuing to type at his terminal.**

Kenny: No the signal is coming from the second ship in the rear.

**Alan leans forward and pushes the wheel in, startling Jack by the charge.**

Alan: Doesn't matter, that ship made us look like fools last time!

Ciro: I agree with the orange head, no one humiliates me and expects to live! Activating linear cannon.

Rini: Payback is a bitch, activating high energy beam cannon and locking on to target.

**Jack is taken by surprise by her very independent crew and struggles to regain control.**

Jack: Hey I'm acting Captain you can't just

**The camera cuts to inside Alex's ship, Zain is now standing directly behind Alex shocked by the sudden appearance of the dark blade coming for them.**

Lore: High energy beam cannon locking on to us Captain!

**Alex flips her head around her green eyes already seeing 3 moves ahead.**

Alex: EVADE 30 meters port! Activate shields and beam CIWs and prepare for counter missiles on my mark!

**The camera cuts back to the Dark-Angel's bridge as the raven takes a slow feint inhale of breath then says coldly**

Rini: Firing!

**The camera cuts outside to show the Dark-Angel fire its high energy beam cannon. The camera quickly cut to inside Alex's ship's bridge as Alex shouts**

Alex: NOW!

**The camera cuts back outside to show Alex's ship dodge to the left with little time to spare and immediately response with missiles. The camera cuts to the bridge as Rini's navy blue eyes flare with annoyance.**

Rini (Damn missed.)

Kenny: INCOMING MISSILES!

**The young mechanic screams**

Jack: Dodge!

**Alan pulls hard on the wheel. The camera cuts outside to show the Dark-Angel's right side rise about 20 meters in the air dodging the attack. The camera cuts back inside the Dark-Angel's bridge to show the turbulence shake Raheem and Kabira up a bit. Raheem almost slams his strong muscular feet onto the floor stabilizing himself and puts a hand on the Kabira to prevent her from falling.**

Raheem: We came here to arrest Salim's killer not pick a fight with the ship that kicked our ass last time!

**Nick quick thinking responds with**

Nick: This ship is part of Fachtna's crew, we'll take them out first and then go after Salim's killer later, after all mate we just prove the tractor beacon is still in effect.

**Jack with bigger problems or more precisely people with guns to worry about snaps**

Jack: Let's first worry about surviving! Kenny launch the Gundams; Ciro fire the linear Cannon!

**Ciro's hazel eyes are cool and relax.**

Ciro: Way ahead of you little girl. Alan steady me out.

**Alan begins turning the wheel. The camera cuts to inside Alex's ship's bridge, Fachtna comes bursting in their his brownish/yellowish eyes crackling with anger.**

Fachtna: Can someone please tell me why on my day of victory, when I am moments away from attaining something that I have wanted for a very long time, that a ship who shouldn't even know we're here IS ATTACKING US!

**The camera cuts outside to show the Dark-Angel fire its linear cannon. The camera cuts back to inside Alex's ship's bridge as Lore sweating shouts**

Lore: Incoming linear cannon fire!

**Alex is beginning to set up her mental chess board.**

Alex: Evade descend 37 meters down, counter attack with missiles and for the love of god someone please bring whoever is attacking us up on the main monitor.

**The camera cuts outside to show Alex's ship duck down dodging the linear cannonballs and responds with more missiles which the black ship with neon green paint dodges with ease. The camera cuts back to inside Alex's ship's bridge, the main monitor blinks to reveal the black and green ship in all of its glory. Alex and Zain are shocked and outrage.**

Zain: That ship!

**Alex grits her teeth and sharpens her green eyes into daggers.**

Alex: The Dark-Angel.

**Fachtna still pissed looks back and forth between his minions and connects the dots.**

Fachtna: The Dark-Angel, as in the Shadow Knight's ship? The team that's currently protecting Shadi's brat and has been the thorn in my side ever since they came to Haben and that I have repeatedly asked you to kill!

**For the first time we have ever seen Zain ignores the larger muscular man.**

Zain: Alex tell your men to have Shadowkun prep and ready for launch.

**The tall green eyed viper is concentrating on her mental chess board.**

Alex: Fine, Lore send out all of the Gundams.

**The smaller man takes off without another word. Fachtna upon seeing their concentration decides to let go of their momentary insubordination.**

Fachtna: Contact Zagat and tell him to pull back and stay out of this battle.

**We can almost see Alex mentally adjust her plans accordingly.**

Alex: Very well.

**Alex nods toward Lore who complies. Fachtna walks over behind the Captain's chair and after waiting patiently for all of 10 seconds coughs then glares down at the woman dress in elaborate bright green emerald clothing.**

**Alex looks up at the figure shorter than her but obviously more muscular and takes the hint. Alex has to take a deep breath and with great reluctance gets out of her Captain's chair and surrenders it to Fachtna. The camera cuts back to inside the Dark-Angel's bridge to show fancy dress pants Ciro look annoyed.**

Ciro: Damn I missed, I almost forgot how frustrating annoying this ship is to hit.

**The commando nods her head.**

Rini: Someone on board that ship has excellent eyes, the ability to predict a shot just from the angle of the gun and the fact that we're moving

**Jack annoyed rolls her passionate red eyes and snaps**

Jack: Yes they're very good thank you for bringing that up Rini; Alan try circling around them, Kenny fire the missiles again and Ciro if you get another shot take it!

**The older gentleman looks at the young girl ordering him around annoyed.**

Ciro: Tis I do that anyway without you saying.

**Kenny multitasking at his computer says**

Kenny: Shadow, Cagalli, Nick and Roxas just launched and are heading for the ship now.

**The camera cuts back to Alex's ship's bridge; Alex has taken a position behind her Captain's chair; her green eyes have narrowed in her classic tacticians face. We can see her mental chess board, the game is still in its early stages but it appears Alex is playing black.**

Alex (White moved first in a poor planned surprise attack, they've probably already released their Gundams and judging from the way ship is moving.)

**Alex begins laying down the building blocks to her plans.**

Alex: Prepare to dodge missile fire from portside, they're coming around our starboard so fire missile tubes C through F 48 meters in front of the ship then fire the linear cannons after a 10 second delay 23 meters below the point of fire for the missiles.

**The camera cuts outside to show the Dark-Angel begin moving to the right of Alex's ship. The larger ship fires its missiles again but Alex's ship dodges it and responds with its own missiles. The Dark-Angel dives down in an attempt to avoid the missiles which works but the linear cannonballs make a direct hit. The camera cuts inside the Dark-Angel's cockpit to show the explosion rock the crew.**

Thomas: ME, RA, RA direct hit shields at 95 percent power.

**Jack demonstrates the colorful language she learn as a mechanic then snaps**

Jack: Pull back Alan, Ciro give us some cover fire!

**The camera cuts outside as the Dark-Angel begins trying to gain some distance from Alex's ship while firing its linear cannons. The camera looks to the ground to show the Shadow Knights's Gundams hustling towards Alex's ship. The camera cuts into Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow in his battle concentration mode. Cagalli appears on his helmet screen, she's breathing hard.**

Cagalli: Shadow you're running too fast *pant* only Roxas can keep up with you *pant* slow down before you pull too far ahead.

**Shadow grits his teeth in frustration.**

Shadow: But Jack is getting hammered out there!

**The once ruler understands but she pushes her point across.**

Cagalli: I know but Nightwing can't even reach the enemy ship, it's too high in the air.

**Of course Shadow already knows this but it won't stop him from being stubborn. The camera switches to inside La Rouge's cockpit to show Kenny pop up on Cagalli's helmet screen.**

Kenny: Cagalli, Nick the enemy ship is now within range of your beam rifles.

**Cagalli blinks for a moment surprise to hear this then she reaches for her beam rifle. The camera cuts outside to show La Rouge pull out its beam rifle and aim it at Alex's ship while still running. The camera cuts back inside La Rouge's cockpit and switches to Cagalli's POV, Alex's ship is still a good distance away and it looks kind of small like hitting the bullseye of a target. We switch back to normal POV with a close up of Cagalli's amber eyes narrowing as she takes aim.**

**The reluctant Gundam Fighter shakes her head after a moment and says**

Cagalli: The enemy ship is too far away still, I can't hit

**Cagalli is interrupted by a loud beam shot behind her. The camera cuts outside to show Cowboy running behind La Rouge fire several beam bullets at Alex's ship. The beam bullets soar in the air like arrows and would have hit Alex's ship if it weren't for the energy shield. The camera cuts inside Cowboy's cockpit to show Nick with his piercing blue eyes concentrate on Alex's ship. Cagalli pops up and exclaims**

Cagalli: Wow Nick, I know I've say this before but you're a really good shot.

**Although Nick appreciates Cagalli's words they can't hide one simple fact.**

Nick: My beam rifle isn't powerful enough to do any real damage to the shields.

**The camera cuts inside Alex's ship's bridge, to show a very small red light go off on Lore's terminal.**

Lore: Captain enemy Gundams are attacking.

**Alex focusing solely on her chess match dismisses it with the wave of her hand.**

Alex: Ignore them; Zain is handling the Gundam end of things focus solely on their ship.

Lore: Yes ma'am.

**The camera cuts to inside Alex's ship's Gundam bay, Shadowkun's red and yellow paint scheme shine as it stands in front of about 60 Gundams. We can only see 2 kinds of Gundams, flying Gundams and land Gundams. The ratio is about 30:70 in favor of the land Gundams. The Gundam bay doors are open but there's no sign of a linear catapult. The camera cuts inside Shadowkun's cockpit as Zain begins giving orders**

Zain: Flying units 3 and 6 you're going to fly over top of the Gundams and force them to scatter, ground units 7, 3 and 8 are going to perform a pincer move and create a wall between the Gundams preventing them from regrouping. I want the remaining ground units to focus their fire power on taking down the animal type purple Gundam and the red, yellow, orange Gundam; all reaming air units are to take out that green camouflage Gundam, be careful he's a good shot. The black Gundam is mine and mine alone; anyone who touches him will be killed immediately after the battle.

**Zain's angry eyes show how deadly serious he is.**

Zain: These Shadow Knights have been a constant slap of humiliation for us for too long today is the day we take them out!

**Zain receives a huge cry from his troops.**

All: YES SIR!

**The merc isn't interested in hearing praise from his troops.**

Zain: Then what are you waiting for, Air units out!

**The camera cuts outside to show the flying Gundams make their way to the front and begin taking off. The camera cuts back inside Shadowkun's cockpit to show that Zain only has one thing on his mind.**

Zain (Shadow Zoomarey, you beat me by luck last time but my Rukovat sword style will put you in place this time. With Alex running the ship I can keep my concentration fully on you.)

**The camera cuts outside to La Rouge, Cowboy, Quanlier and Nightwing. They stop as they begin to see the overwhelming number of Gundams exit Alex's ship. The camera cuts to inside Cowboy's cockpit to show Nick whistle**

Nick: Whoa wee there sure are a lot of them.

**Shadow pops up on the cowboy's helmet screen and says stubbornly**

Shadow: We've been outnumber before and come out on top.

**Cagalli also pops up and points out.**

Cagalli: But never this badly before.

**Roxas is the last to show up and by far the most restless, her purple eyes are looking ready for a fight.**

Roxas: It's not the size that matters but the user now enough talk, let's kick some ass!

**The camera cuts outside to show Quanlier charge. The camera does a split screen over Nightwing to show an eager Shadow follow suit.**

Shadow: I second that motion!

**Nightwing storms off. The camera cuts inside La Rouge's cockpit to show Cagalli angrily shout**

Cagalli: Shadow, Roxas wait! We should come up with a plan first!

**Nick pops up on Cagalli's helmet screen and shouts**

Nick: Mate watch out from above!

**Cagalli startled looks up. The camera cuts outside to show La Rouge mimicked the action to see incoming Gundam size missiles just in time. La Rouge dives to the right while Cowboy dives to the left both dodging the missiles. Cowboy barrel rolls once then jumps to its legs spots the 5 Gundams the missiles came from and in seconds takes them all down with its beam rifle, 3 head shouts 2 chest shots.**

**The camera swings over to La Rouge to show it pick itself up and just in time to raise its shield as more flying Gundams open fire only this time with beam rifles. La Rouge with one hand holds its shield and reaches for its beam rifle with the other and begins returning fire. The camera cuts inside La Rouge's cockpit to show a grim Cagalli.**

Cagalli (This is just great, we're outnumber, we're separated, and we're fighting against a ship that reads against our every move just great!)

**Cagalli thinks bitterly. The camera cuts outside and looks up to show Alex's ship and the Dark-Angel to be in a surprising stalemate. The Dark-Angel fires its high energy beam cannon and linear cannon at roughly the same time. Alex's ship dips down dodging the energy blast and raises its right side barely avoiding the linear cannonballs. Alex's ship fires its linear cannons while the Dark-Angel fires its missiles.**

**The 2 attacks hit each other at the same time canceling each other out in a fierily burst of explosion and smoke. Missiles come flying out of the smoke nailing the Dark-Angel's shields. The camera cuts inside Alex's ship's bridge as Alex taps her fingers against her Captain's chair thinking of her next move.**

Alex (They've gotten better since I last fought them. Their attacks are becoming better coordinated but that's not enough for them to win it's simply dragging the game out.)

**We can see on Alex's mental chess board. The game at first glance seems to be pretty even but an experience chess player can tell that black has an underlying strategy going on. The camera cuts back outside and zooms in on Cowboy being attack by a dozen or so flying Gundams at once. Beam bullets are flying all over the place at Cowboy but Cowboy is swift on its feet, stepping right or left dodging the bullets and when all else fails blocking it with its shield.**

**Cowboy is force to play defense and can't get any shots off while the flying Gundams keep pressing it. The camera swings over to La Rouge, an enemy ground Gundam charges La Rouge and attempts to perform a vertical beam saber slash but balletic La Rouge spins around the Gundam and whacks it on the back of its head with the poll side of its beam Guan Dao.**

**The enemy Gundam pushed by its own momentum crashes to the ground but La Rouge doesn't get much time to celebrate its victory since its met with beam fire seconds after. La Rouge blocks the beam bullets with its shield while putting away its beam Guan Dao and pulling out its beam rifle.**

**The camera swings on over to Quanlier. The purple Gundam with silver streaks is flying within the ground enemy ranks creating havoc, running at full force while using its tail to bring enemies behind crashing down and performing beam claw stab attacks to bring down enemies in front. The ground Gundams are force to only used their melee weapons for fear of hitting their comrades but Quanlier is way too quick for them to hit.**

**The camera finally spins around and comes to rest at Nightwing who is being ignored. Nightwing is running around chasing after the ground Gundams who are trying their best to avoid combat. The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow extremely pissed off.**

Shadow: What the freaking hell! Why are they ignoring me?

**Shadow's question is quickly answered.**

Zain: That would be my doing.

**Shadow stops dead in his tracts, his bright electric green eyes open wide in surprise. The camera cuts outside to show Nightwing stop chasing after the ground Gundams as the red and yellow Gundam with sword in hand appears behind it. Nightwing slowly turns around to face the enemy he's been truly waiting for. The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow grinning with overwhelming excitement.**

Shadow: Zain, so you told your troops to ignore me!

**Zain grins confidently; in his mind he's already won the battle.**

Zain: Yes that way when I defeated you you can't use the excuse that your Gundam was damage in a prier battle.

**If there was a heart monitor attach to Shadow we would see it sky rocket now as his grin grows even wider.**

Shadow: HA will see ABOUT THAT!

**Shadow screams as he charges. The camera cuts outside as Nightwing charges Shadowkun. Nightwing performs a downward vertical beam slash which Shadowkun blocks by raising its sword horizontally. Shadowkun taking a step right rolls its sword off Nightwing's beam saber going for hilt bash to the head but Nightwing sees this coming and tilts its head to the right and re-gripping its beam saber counterattacks with a left horizontal beam slash.**

**Shadowkun jumps back within inches of getting slice like a tomato and follows up with a stab attack. Nightwing sidesteps right but Shadowkun as quick as a bullet chains a right horizontal slash to its original attack but Nightwing is just as fast at adapting and blocks with its beam saber in a fluid natural motion then without removing contact Nightwing slides along Shadowkun's sword and shoulder bashes Shadowkun in the chest.**

**The shoulder bash creates and opening in Nightwing's defense which Shadowkun takes advantage of by pulling back on its attack and hilt bashing Nightwing in the face; both Gundams jump back then charge again. The camera looks up to the battle with the ships, Alex's ship is slowly gaining ground on the Dark-Angel.**

**The Dark-Angel is trying to get closer to Alex's ship but Alex's smaller ship is doing a good job of keeping its distance with careful placement of its missile attacks. The Dark-Angel fires its high energy beam cannons but Alex's ship puts on the brakes dodging the blast and surprising the Dark-Angel by suddenly being in point blank range. Alex's ship is the first to draw its weapon and fires 5 consecutive linear cannonballs right into the Dark-Angel's shield.**

**The Dark-Angel tries to fire its high energy beam blast but Alex's ship drops like a stone and once again dodges the hit and responds with missiles. The Dark-Angel swings its bow left barely dodging the missiles and performs a 360. The black ship looks for a counterattack but Alex's ship has already gotten a fair distance away. The camera cuts inside the Dark-Angel's bridge as the blond musician sings**

Thomas: LA, LA, LA shields at 74 percent.

**Zuke still leaning against the back wall says**

Zuke: You guys suck.

**Small little Kabira looks up at the towering muscular black man with her stubborn fierce brown eyes and says**

Kabira: You shouldn't criticize other people if you can't do a better job.

**Zuke doesn't even bother to open his eyes.**

Zuke: I can defeat such weak opponents with my eyes close; the fact that you insects can't defeat them simply shows your own weakness.

**Kabira gives up deciding it best to ignore Zuke. Ciro breathing heavily slams his fist into his terminal.**

Ciro: This is getting else nowhere they're always one step ahead just like last time!

**The dirty blond hair mechanic sitting in the Captain's seat already knows this and grits her teeth in frustration.**

Jack: Kenny is there any chance the Gundams can back us up?

**Kenny typing on his terminal shakes his head.**

Kenny: They're pretty out number so it's going to be a while before they can help us.

Raheem: There's no use in worrying about what we don't have we just have to work with what we got and come up with a plan.

Rini: Incoming linear cannonballs.

Alan: Already dodging!

**Raheem takes a mental step back as he watches the crew work.**

Raheem (I wish I could be more help but I've never been one for planning offensive battles, that is why I am not the Captain of the Royal attack.)

**The camera cuts to an unknown part of Alex's ship, we are in a simple plain white room with a bed, toilet, and a sink. Shadi stripped of his throne sits on the floor by the door his face hard to read. Byron steps into the room holding a tray of food.**

Byron: Your food your majesty.

**Byron sets the tray down as the king looks up at the emotionless person in front of him.**

Shadi: Thank you; tell me Byron is Fachtna under attack? I can feel the vibrations and hear the explosions outside.

**Byron senses Shadi's true intentions and stomps them out swiftly.**

Byron: We are under attack but not by your forces your majesty. Not that any foe could win against the combined might of Alex's strategies and Zain's excellent Gundam Piloting skills.

**Shadi looks down disappointed in the news. We hear another explosion close by but the shockwave doesn't even reach the ship.**

Shadi: Tell me Byron why do you still address me as your King, surely that traitor Fachtna would insist that you instead place that titled on his shoulders and why do you not come in here with any guards?

**Byron closes his eyes and says simply and coldly**

Byron: If you're looking for an ally in me your majesty you might as well look for birds underwater. With all due respect your years as King have made you physically weak and fat your majesty. If you were to attack me right now I'd simply beat you in hand to hand combat.

**Byron is so confident that it's not even funny. Shadi looks up at Byron insulted but grits his teeth knowing that Byron speaks the truth in its most harshest of forms.**

Byron: As for why I still address you as my King it is because you are, although we have abducted you your titled still holds. Fachtna has shown no interest in becoming King of Haben, it is not his ultimate goal.

**Shadi blinks in surprise/anger/frustration.**

Shadi: It's not! Then what is his goal, what does he want?

**Shadi understandably is angry, but Byron remains cold and emotionless.**

Byron: I wish I knew.

**Byron turns around and begins to leave but he stops at the door.**

Byron: Some might disagree with me on this but I feel it is your right to know. We have one ship currently attacking us; they are the Gundam Team Shadow Knights.

**Shadi is once again surprise.**

Shadi: A Gundam Team?

**Another explosion can be heard.**

Byron: Yes, the one that's currently been hired to protect your daughter.

**It takes the King a moment to fully comprehend Byron's words.**

Shadi: My daughter.

**But when he does Shadi seems to grow 10 inches in moments, he stands tall rage fully consuming him, his normal soft light brown eyes full of blood-rage.**

Shadi: My DAUGHTER!

**His teeth seem to become like a savage animal's razor sharp and deadly, his small frame seems to put on 10 plus mass.**

Shadi: **MY DAUGHTER**!

**Shadi charges Byron but Byron is already on the other side of the door. The door closes shut and although to an outside observer all those changes appear to happen in actuality Shadi hasn't changed at all other than the anger fuel adrenalin pumping through his system but that doesn't stop him from slamming into the door and attacking it with all of his might while screaming his head off**

Shadi: BYRON YOU TELL FACHTNA THAT HE MAY RUIN HABEN, HE MAY SMEAR MY GOOD NAME, HE MAY KILL ME BUT IF HE SO MUCH AS TOUCHES A HAIR ON MY DAUGHTER'S HEAD I WILL RIP HIM LIMB FROM LIMB AND THEN YOU'LL SEE HOW FAT AND WEAK I'VE BECOME!

**It's a good thing we can't see Shadi through the door because I'm sure his anger filled face would give me nightmares. Byron still with eyes close listens to Shadi for a moment then walks away. The camera cuts back outside to show La Rouge, Cowboy, and Quanlier in pretty much the same situation they were in since the beginning, they're making slow progress in defeating all of the Gundams.**

**The camera looks over to Zain and Shadow's battle; unlike last time this battle is in a very tight deadlock. Nightwing is on the offensive with a downward left diagonal beam slash, right horizontal beam saber slash, upward vertical beam saber slash and a jump attack. We hear the sound of electrically on steel as Shadowkun uses its sword to block all attacks except for the last one.**

**Shadowkun sidesteps the jump attack and flipping its sword around so the hilt is resting on its fist like iron knuckles unleashes several jab attacks aimed for Nightwing's head but Nightwing tilting its head left and right dodges the attacks with room to spare. The camera cuts inside Shadowkun's cockpit to show Zain beginning to breath hard from effort.**

Zain (Arrrrg the kid's improve since I've last fought him. He doesn't have a style yet but I'm definitely feeling traces of the Haben soldier style.)

**Shadow appears on Zain's helmet screen; he's sweating too and breathing hard.**

Shadow: What's the matter Zain, I thought your Rukovat sword style you brag so much about is tougher than this.

**Says the lunatic with a crazy smile on his face and a happy gleam in his eye. The camera cuts outside as Nightwing performs a downward right diagonal beam slash which Shadowkun blocks by raising its right arm. The hilt is still resting on Shadowkun's knuckles meaning the blade is running the length of Shadowkun's arm becoming the perfect armguard. The camera cuts back inside Shadowkun's cockpit to show Zain insulted shout fiercely**

Zain: You little piece of shit, you think just because you fought against a couple of guys since we last had a one on one that you're suddenly better than me now! Let me show you Rukovat at its best!

**The camera cuts outside as Shadowkun jumps back gaining some distance between itself and Nightwing. Shadowkun begins to switch up its footing, bouncing on one foot then the other in a classic boxers stance. Shadow is still too inexperience to know what switching in footwork means and instead goes in for a stab attack aimed for the chest.**

**Shadowkun with its quick footwork deflects Nightwing's beam saber off its sword armguard and performs a series of quick jab attacks aimed at Nightwing's chest. This time Nightwing can't dodge and the jab attacks connects; 1, 2, 3 in quick session right to the gut then Shadowkun flips its grip and pulls its sword around trying to cut Nightwing's head off but Nightwing brings up its own beam saber and blocks the attack.**

**But Shadowkun has surrendered power for speed and quickly pulls back its blade and goes for a left horizontal slash aimed for the head, then a downward vertical slash aimed for the head. Nightwing blocks all of these attacks with its beam saber but because of the attacks Nightwing is forced to raise its guard high leaving it vulnerable.**

**Shadowkun takes advantage of this by once again flipping its blade and performing another 3 quick hilt jabs to Nightwing's chest then once again flips its sword to use the blade to attack the head. The camera cuts inside Shadowkun's cockpit to show Zain laughing his head off.**

Zain: HAHAAHAHA how do you like my Rukovat style now!

**The camera cuts outside to show Nightwing sidestep Shadowkun's hilt jab attack but Shadowkun flips its sword out and goes for a stab attack which Nightwing stumbles backwards to avoid but Shadowkun charges forward flipping its blade again and performs a powerful uppercut into Nightwing's chest. The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow get the breath knocked out of him. Coughing Shadow asks**

Shadow: I thought Rukovat was a sword fighting style not some boxing crap, you made such a big point of bragging about your swordsmanship!

**The camera cuts back outside to show Nightwing perform a right horizontal beam slash but Shadowkun jumps back dodging the attack then charges Nightwing in zigzag fashion. The camera cuts inside Shadowkun's cockpit to show Zain with wide wild eyes.**

Zain: But that's just it, don't you see! The hilt is a part of the sword, my sword becomes what I desire it to be; amateur sword fighters try to match their fighting style to their sword while I know to match the sword to my style!

**The camera cuts outside as Zain shouts this Shadowkun slams a powerful right-hook into Nightwing's face and in the same motion it flips its sword and tries to back hand Nightwing with the blade but Nightwing at the last second tilts its head out of the way just barely avoiding a lethal blow but still receives a nasty gash, sparks fly as cut wires show. Nightwing rubs the wound with its left hand then charges.**

**The camera cuts to inside Alex's ship's bridge, we can hear explosions left and right as Alex barks orders, telling the crew what to watch out for and how to react all the while Fachtna sits in the captain's chair observing everything. His fingers are intertwined as his index fingers gently tap each other, his brownish yellow eyes are absorbing all that is happening and adjusting the larger plan accordingly.**

Fachtna (So these are the Shadow Knights that have been giving my minions such a hard time. For an E rank team they aren't bad; they've been train well, hell they're already better than the Haben military at least in one on ones. An archangel class ship, an interesting choice for a vessel and definitely packing more firepower than any ship I currently have at my disposal not that they know how to property use it.)

Fachtna (Alex is using the "thousand paper cuts to death" method of attack. Slow but effective and we're clearly gaining ground on them ship wise.)

**Fachtna looks at a small monitor on the Captain's chair armrest, it shows the Gundam battles.**

Fachtna (Unfortunately it looks like we're getting pushed back Gundam wise but I shouldn't have expected much considering the cheap force I hired, tis not even worth ranking in GFC, not that money was the issue I simply couldn't trust an experience Gundam Pilot in case they should find out about my prize and try to intercept me. No better to have minions that could only beat an enemy by swarming them rather than a season veteran that could make chopsticks out of these E ranks.)

**Fachtna zeros in on Zain's battle.**

Fachtna (Ah yes Zain; the only other experience Gundam Fighter other than myself after all when swarming an enemy doesn't work I need someone who can do the job by themselves. He seems to be going full force at that black Gundam. Hmmm something isn't quite right; Zain appears to be winning but I get the feeling that Pilot isn't working at full force. I would dare say that Pilot has 2 things on his mind, tis typical rookie mistake. When in a Gundam Fight you should only be thinking about Gundams, anything else could get you defeated.)

**Fachtna continues observing everything from his ego made shrine up high as we look to Alex. We can see her mental chess board and black is kicking ass, white's defense is being slowly spread more and more open allowing for checkmate soon. Alex smiles confidently already seeing victory.**

Alex: Alright move the ship forward 78 meters angle toward the starboard side of the Dark-Angel and then begin to ascend but the ascension is a faint and instead descend 47 meters and fire the missiles at the underbelly of the Dark-Angel.

**Alex smiles envisioning her sweet plan in mind. The camera cuts to the Dark-Angel to show things aren't going well, everyone except Thomas who remains ignorant of the world is getting extremely frustrated.**

Thomas: ME, ME, ME shields at 54 percent.

**This doesn't help; Ciro slams his fist into his terminal again.**

Ciro: This is humiliating, even with a surprise attack we still can't land a single hit on that ship!

**Rini also shares in the crook's concerns.**

Rini: The battle maybe lasting longer then last time but it's going to end the same at this rate.

**Still in the shadows with eyes close Zuke observers everything.**

Zuke (The crew is beginning to panic; if a retreat isn't called soon perhaps it would be best to wait the remainder of the battle out in my Gundam.)

**Alan almost as if he can feel the other ship laughing at them glares his angry filled red eyes at Alex's ship on the main monitor.**

Alan: We can't win like this, we need a new plan, a new idea; we need something new something they haven't seen before.

**The young acting Captain desperately struggles to think of something but no new ideas are coming.**

Shadow: Did someone say *arhg* new and crazy *pshdc* idea.

**Shadow pops up on the main screen, we can see his face twist in pain from a gut punch or his head suddenly snap left or right from a punch to the face, everyone looks up at him surprise.**

Kenny: Shadow what are you doing you're still in the middle of fighting that Zain guy!

**Shadow's grunts with effort as he launches his own attack. He spits out**

Shadow: Tell me about it.

**Jack shakes her head and says**

Jack: Look Shadow as much as we appreciate the help you don't know what's going on in our battle so

**Shadow grunts with effort again only this time he seems to be blocking an attack.**

Shadow: That's not true I've been watching the fight since the beginning.

**Shock looks crosses everyone faces even Zuke can't completely cover his shocked look as he opens his eyes for a moment then quickly closes them. Raheem being the first to recover shouts out with angry/worried/concern.**

Raheem: You fool! You should only be concentrating on your Gundam Fight, are you trying to get yourself killed!

**Shadow's breath gets knocked out of him and then his head snaps right then left. A little daze he says**

Shadow: I know it's been a real literal pain in the ass.

**The camera switches to inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow stumble a bit for a second but then Shadow gains his footing, shakes his head and forces himself to focus. His bright green eyes spark with his electric excitement as his Neon gauntlet glows steadily.**

Shadow: But that doesn't matter, right now I've got a plan to turn this all around.

**The camera switches back to inside the Dark-Angel's bridge as Shadow with a firm authority shouts**

Shadow: Listen Ciro I want you to fire a max charge linear cannonball a little bit to the Dark-Angel's right below the enemy ship.

**The vest is taken back.**

Ciro: You want me to fire a max charge linear cannonball, you do know that at max charge the linear cannonball moves

**Shadow with little time cuts him off.**

Shadow: Moves at the speed of a turtle yea I know just do it!

**Jack and Kenny begin to complain and say stuff about how bad an idea that is but the world goes quiet for a moment as Ciro's hazel eyes lock onto Shadow's green eyes. They stare off for a moment, Ciro has run with a bad crowd for a long time and he knows how to judge someone's intentions at the right time.**

Ciro: Fine.

**Jack shocked snaps**

Jack: Ciro!

**Ciro snaps back**

Ciro: Look we all know that we need to do something crazy and out there to catch this guy off guard so I say we follow the kid's plan!

**A stun silence falls on the crew but Ciro already making his choice ignores them and types on his terminal.**

Ciro: Charging linear cannonball to max.

**The camera cuts outside and zooms in on the Dark-Angel's right linear cannon. We can hear the clicking of joints as the mouth of the linear cannon opens while the length shrinks. We can see the linear cannonball charge as its energy cloak grows bigger and bigger. The camera cuts inside Alex's ship's bridge, Alex has her eyes close as she visualizes her victory over and over again.**

Lore: Captain, the enemy ship is firing a max charge linear cannonball.

**Lore isn't so much scared as she is surprise; it appears that a max charge linear cannonball is an unusual occurrence on the battlefield. Alex opens her eyes and is equally surprise.**

Alex: A max charge linear cannonball? They must be at their wits end, wait that takes 5 to 10 minutes to charge why am I only hearing about this now?

**Lore looks a little sheepish.**

Lore: Well I didn't know what they were doing to only a couple of minutes ago and I kind of assumed you already knew about it.

**The black hair green eye Captain slaps her head in frustration an annoyance.**

Alex (Note to self, next time you accept a job as Captain make sure the crew they give you is competent first.)

**Alex clenching her fist says with controlled anger**

Alex: I can't see the future Lore and you're supposed to inform me of anything the enemy ship does unless I say otherwise.

**Lore can tell that Alex is angry but before she can reply Alex snaps**

Alex: Keep to the plan just avoid the linear cannonball; it's moving at the pace of a turtle so I'm sure you can handle that correct!

**Lore timidly nods her head.**

Lore: Yes Captain.

**The camera cuts outside and looks down to show the Shadowkun jump right dodging a downward vertical beam slash then follows up with 3 hilt jabs to Nightwing's left side. Shadowkun flips its blade and performs a tilted right horizontal slash aiming for Nightwing's feet. Nightwing jumps back but like a hunting dog Shadowkun gives chase. The camera cuts inside Shadowkun's cockpit to show Zain grinning widely knowing he has the upper-hand.**

Zain: What's the matter Shadow; where's that cockiness from before! Don't tell me this is all that you're capable of!

**The camera cuts back outside to show Nightwing fall further back from Shadowkun. The camera looks up as Alex's ship begins to make its move. Alex's ship begins to ascend as the camera does a split screen over the ship to show Alex.**

Alex (Alright first the faint then the)

**Before Alex can finish that thought the screen splits again to show the black hair crazy lunatic whose plan defiles laws of common sense.**

Shadow: Rini NOW!

**The screen returns to normal to show the Dark-Angel not fall for the faint and instead activate its positron cannon. The gun glows red as it begins to vibrate at high speeds building power, time slows down for a moment as the camera cuts inside Alex's ship's bridge. Alex's green crystal eyes snap open in shock as she sees what's coming.**

Alex (They saw through my faint!)

**It's too late though to change course. The camera cuts outside to show the ship already begin to descend right into the line of fire then cuts back inside as Alex shouts**

Alex: All hands brace for impact!

**She bites her lips as she recalculates her plans in nanoseconds.**

Alex (This is just a minor setback, a lucky all-in card gamble that they won. My shields are still at full power so after taking a direct hit from a positron blast I should still have about 50 percent of shield power left more than enough to finish these guys off.)

**The camera cuts outside as time goes back to normal. The Dark-Angel fires its positron cannon, the red fog like blast speeds towards Alex's ship however at the last second the slow moving bright yellow ball gets in the way. The positron blast hits the fully charge linear cannonball and for a moment the 2 attacks fight each other and look ready to explode but the linear cannonball like a ball going against a jet stream of water slowly begins to lose ground or to be more accurate begins to gain speed being pushed by the positron blast.**

**The linear cannonball somehow grows bigger absorbing some of the positrons. We can see red "veins" spread across the yellow ball making it look more like a comet with the remaining positron blast acting as its tail. This all takes place in a matter of seconds and the new "comet" attack rockets forward straight at Alex's ship. The camera does a split screen to show a very startled Captain and mastermind.**

Fachtna: What the hell!

Alex: The positron blast hit the fully charge linear cannonball!

**The camera cuts outside and looks down at the Nightwing whose insane Pilot dreamt this up bringing order from chaos or maybe chaos from order. The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit as the man dress in black like his Gundam waves his arms in a dramatic fashion and shouts**

Shadow: Dark-Angel special move LINEAR POSITRON COMET!

**The episode ends with a freeze frame of Shadow grinning his head off while in the background the "linear positron comet" heads flying to Alex's ship like a freight train.**


	59. Episode 58 Linear Positron Comet P2

Episode 58

**The episode opens right where the last left off, with the linear positron comet in its burning yellow and red glory slam right into Alex's slightly green tinted shield. We hear the roar of electric thunder as the shield and the comet collide, but this isn't a one hit explosion, no the linear cannon ball is still being pushed forward by the force of the positron blast.**

**The shield desperately struggles to hold its ground while the yellow comet with pulsing red veins continues to try and break through however this isn't all it's doing. The linear cannon's energy coat is still growing, much slower now but with the remaining positron blast no longer able to push the linear cannonball forward it once again begins to be absorb.**

**The comet may continue to grow but it becomes increasingly unstable the larger it gets. We can see its form become oval as the core struggles to hold its energy coat in shape. The camera cuts inside the Alex's ship's bridge to show the bridge shake continuously and very frighteningly, everyone seated is desperately clinging unto their chair for fear of being thrown about like a rag doll.**

**The woman with long black hair and emerald green eyes alone is not sitting down and thusly in the greatest danger. Alex hugs her captain's chair for dear life.**

Lore: Shield power dropping fast! 90 percent, 80 percent, 70 percent!

**The camera looks back around at strategist who's just been out played.**

Alex: Argh!

**The camera cuts back outside to show cracks begin to form in the green tinted energy shield originating from the comet. The cracks are slow and small at first but they spread and grow wider each and every moment but the comet's positron tail has been swallowed whole with all of the energy being transferred into the now evenly colored red and yellow ball.**

**Without any positron blast pushing the ball forward the linear cannon gently drifts slightly back, it's still touching the small ship's energy shield but it's no longer pushing against it giving the heavily damage shield a little break. The camera cuts inside Alex's ship to show Lore breathe a sigh of relief.**

Lore: *huge sigh* shields stabilizing at 17 percent power, just a little more and the enemy would have broken our shields.

**The camera cuts outside to show Lore has spoken too soon. The comet can't handle all of the positron's energy and has become too unstable, and like all unstable items the linear positron comet or LPC for short explodes. This isn't a little explosion either no it's the explosion of a very powerful bomb and rips the poor weak green shield to shreds. The green shield shatters like glass and green shards rain down for a moment before dissolving in the air but it doesn't end there.**

**Red positron lightening rains down on the now defenseless ship blowing large chunks and pieces off wherever it hits. We can see the red lightening hit several of the missile tubes and one of Alex's linear cannons blowing them sky high. The camera cuts inside Alex's ship to show the lightening and explosion rock the ship to an unbelievable and extremely dangerous vibration. Terminals and wall plates start blowing up from overloading circuits.**

**Once the ship started shaking at the extreme frequency automatic seatbelts activated and fastens themselves to the crew keeping them somewhat safe in their padded chairs but the chairless Captain doesn't have that protection, although she manages to hold onto the captain's chair for a time once the vibrations got high enough to activate the safety seatbelts Alex gets ripped from her chair and flung right into a wall.**

**The green eyed chess master hits the wall hard but her impact isn't the most pressing matter, the tip of Alex's long black hair hits an exposed circuit. The circuit is shooting sparks left and right and one of those sparks hits Alex's black hair igniting it. The camera cuts outside as the last bolt of electric red lightening hits the ship.**

**It doesn't take a mechanic to know that Alex's small ship is in bad shape. The red lightning bolt that hit the missile tube ignited the missiles causing an explosion that took out a huge section of ship. Exposed wires and fires are everywhere, grey smoke is coming off the doomed shipped like a chain cigar smoker. The camera cuts back to inside Alex's ship's bridge, if you thought the ship was smoking bad the bridge is even worse.**

**At least outside the smoke is dispensed throughout the air but inside the bridge is like the smoking section of a bar and inspires several coughing fits from the bridge crew. 2 of the bridge crew members unbuckle their seatbelts and run to put out the fires with some kind of square box that acts like a fire extinguisher that's found close by. Lore coughing and still with a working if cracked terminal begins damage report more on instinct than anything else.**

Lore: *cough* shields down *cough, cough* hull damage 32 percent *cough, cough, cough* left linear cannon down, missile launcher tubes A through F, K through O, and U through Z down.

**Lore breaks off into a coughing fit. The camera finally turns around to look at Alex whose black hair is on FIRE; this is why people say to remember to put on your seatbelt. Luckily for Alex her long black hair flipped over her head when she fell face first onto the fall after she got slammed into the wall, unluckily the fire is quickly spreading down the length of her hair to her head.**

**Even dazed it takes the green eyed strategist whose heart rate is probably off the charts to understand her situation and what she has to do in under a nanosecond. Without hesitation she pulls out a small pocket combat knife and cuts her hair as close to her head as possible without cutting herself off, and then quickly barrel rolls out of the way of her soon burning mass of hair.**

**Even as the tactician does this her mind is still shocked and focus on one thing, the mental chess board which we can now see. White with a surprise move no one saw coming checked black.**

Alex (I've been checked, I've been checked, I've been checked.)

**The camera cuts to the Dark-Angel to show everyone with stun/amazed faces, on the main screen the unhittable, the invincible ship which for so long has kicked their ass lay in ruins heavily damage. Jack sums up this new development in a display of great poetic wording.**

Jack: Wow.

**Her noble crew follow their acting Captain's shining example.**

Ciro: You can say that again.

Rini: Magnificent.

Alan: Holy shit.

Thomas: *whistle*

Kenny: Wicked.

**Raheem and Kabira are too stunned for words, but the most interesting person to look at is the black-skinned person now standing straight up with his dark brown eyes open wide; this attack was so powerful that not even geneist Zuke can ignore it.**

Zuke (Incredible, it actually worked.)

**We have a brief flashback, to show an outrage computer programmer exclaim**

Kenny: Are you INSANE! You want to fire the positron cannon into the linear cannonball!

**Shadow is grunting with effort as he multitask battle strategies and battling Zain.**

Shadow: Yea, from what Jack told me that linear cannonball at max power is too slow to hit anything but if we hit it with the positron blast then it will get pushed forward at super high speeds.

**Ciro rolls his hazel eyes.**

Ciro: Right and which insane logic did you use to reason this?

**Alan turns to look at Ciro a little guiltily.**

Alan: Actually it kind of makes sense to me.

**Zuke standing in the back yawns and says in a bored voice**

Zuke: They're more likely to explode then one propel the other.

**Jack shakes her hands as if trying to grip the far away fighter.**

Jack: Shadow the linear cannonball especially at max power is designed to explode on impact can you see where I'm going with this?

**Shadow gets the wind knocked out of him but he recovers quickly.**

Shadow: But won't the linear cannon absorb the positron blast?

**Alan loses what little faith he had in the plan.**

Alan: Um isn't by definition Max power mean unable to absorb any more energy and besides the positron blast is a completely different type of electric energy, we don't even know if the Vuloma core will absorb it.

**When one loses faith another gains it. Jack maybe cautious but in heart she is a mechanic constantly thinking of new improvements and inventions.**

Jack: Hold on a second Shadow might be on to something, the max charge is just a safety cut off point. The Vuloma can still absorb more electric energy but it becomes too unstable at that point to be safely fired from the linear cannon.

Rini: But since the linear cannonball has already been fired we don't have to worry about it.

Jack: Right and in theory the Vuloma core should be able to absorb the positrons.

**Kenny does a couple of quick calculations then says**

Kenny: Not only that but I'm estimating a 63 percent chance that the linear cannonball will create a kind of cushion in the small area where the positron blast and the linear cannonball meet because of its absorbing effect. That cushion could allow the positron blast to push the linear cannon forward without causing it to explode.

**Zuke can no longer hold onto his skepticism.**

Zuke: You guys can't possibly be considering this, I know your naturals but you can't be this stupid, the olds of all these slim chances you're talking about coming together and actually working is less than 5 percent and let's say for one crazy moment that all these theories do actually have some merit to them you still need a god like sniper to pull it off.

**Rini the blue eyed soldier who has been on the fence up until this point now perks up at this comment.**

Rini: Um excuse me.

**Zuke turns his hostile dark brown eyes unto the proud sniper.**

Zuke: Please with your natural eyesight it's a wonder how you can even see your targets, in order for this to worked you'd have to hit the linear cannonball dead center, even if you're off by a millimeter it will cause the linear cannonball to roll off the positron blast assuming it doesn't explode on contact and let's not forget the linear cannonball is moving, the ship you're on is moving and enemy ship which is your actual target is also moving! Not even a coordinator can line up a perfect shoot with 3 separate moving targets.

**Zuke is right, all of Rini's experience as a sniper tells her the shoot is incredibly difficult if not impossible but her pride as a sniper and soldier can't accept Zuke looking down at her simply because she's a natural.**

Rini: Well it's a good thing I'm a natural then.

**Rini smiles a little on her play on words while Zuke scowls.**

Rini: Heh history only remembers those that can pull off the long shots so what the hell, we're going to lose anyway I might as well aim for Shadow's long shot.

**The black hair raven sums up everyone's opinion, even the grouchy geneist Zuke although he still doesn't think it's going to work. Thomas quietly hums as he silently listens with a smile.**

Thomas (Ra, ra, ra they still may not think much of Shadow but at least they're at the point where they're trying out his plans. Fa, Fa, fa)

**Yes, Thomas even sings in his head. We come out of the flashback to see Zuke cold dark brown eyes are analyzing the attack.**

Zuke (It worked, no it far exceeded even that moron's wildest hopes and dreams. The linear cannonball on top of the positron blast acted like an armor piercing bullet, if that shield had been on anything less than full power it would have broken from the piercing power of that attack alone but that was expected in fact that result was the whole point of trying this crazy attack in the first place.)

Zuke (No it was the second result no one saw coming, no one consider what kind of effect absorbing positrons would have on the linear cannonball, it stabilize the energy cloak in a way making it resistant to exploding on impact and instead became more of a time bomb. Not only that but it also amplified the explosiveness of linear cannonball by 5x and increase the power of the electric discharges. A 2 prong attack that devastates any ship it makes a direct hit too.)

**Raheem is the first to recover and see the opportunity here.**

Raheem: What are you guys waiting for; their shield is down, over half of their ship and weapons are damage we'll never have another opportunity like this again FINISH THEM OFF!

**Something isn't completely right with Raheem; his normal kind brown eyes have an unnatural hatred in them, something of which only Raheem's young tan companion picks up on.**

Kabira (Raheem.)

**Despite Kabira's concern Ciro smiles.**

Ciro: HELL YEA! That crazy bastard did it; I'm firing the linear cannon at its bridge for the kill shot!

**Ciro's comment gets everyone moving again**

Kenny: HAHA I knew it would work, preparing to fire the missiles.

Rini: Heh not a bad shot on my part and it's about time I finish what I started. Preparing to fire high energy beam cannon.

**The red eye mechanic feeding off the moment says boldly**

Jack: That ship has pushed us around too many times well todays the day we finally defeat it once and for all!

**The camera cuts back to what remains of Alex's bridge, most of the fires have been put out and we can hear some heavily duty fans sucking up the smoke and blowing out fresh air. Alex is standing and moving back towards her spot behind the Captain's chair, her once beautiful black hair looks like well like someone took a knife to it and started hacking, it's really short now, almost a buzz cut.**

**Other than that though we can't really tell how much physical damage she took, her emerald green eyes look a little dazed or shell shocked.**

Lore: Captain the enemy ship is locking onto us with their linear cannons!

**There's no concern in Lore's voice, in fact it's a little strange how the entire crew is indifferent about each other. We can see by the way they work that the only thing they care about with their coworkers is if they can perform their job, no one shows the slightest concern about a fellow bridge crewmember's injuries. The chess master's emerald green eyes refocus and sharpen as she starts giving commands.**

Alex: Drop the ship 30 meters and counterattack with the functioning linear cannon, also prepare for missile fire from the port side and high energy beam blast straight on!

**Fachtna still sitting in the Captain's chair glances at his strategist and asks**

Fachtna: Are you alright Alex?

**There's no concern in the yellowish brown eyes of Fachtna, this is all business to him. Alex is simply his tool and he's assessing whether or not she functions anymore.**

Alex: I can do my DAMN job Fachtna!

**Alex's sharp emerald eyes glow with the insult; she turns away though and says in a softer voice**

Alex: I was just checked.

**The boss is still deciding whether or not he should throw Alex away.**

Fachtna: You make it sound like you've never been checked before Alex. There's an old saying about how perfection killed a man.

Alex: No, I've been checked before Fachtna, I've even been checked mated before but I've always always seen it coming! I've prepared myself for the check, have counter moves planned out if possible. I normally see a check coming 3 to 4 moves at the latest ahead time but this was the first time I have ever been blind sighted by a check.

**Fachtna loses interest having finally decided Alex is still capable of fulfilling his goals.**

Alex (I've never seen a move like that, I had been dominating the match creating total an absolute chaos for white's side but it's as if that didn't even faze him, no he saw order in the chaos I created and fire back at me in a way I've never seen nor predict evening the playing field. But who did it, who played that single turn around move!)

**We see Alex's mental image of a chess board with black dominating and white in utter chaos as Alex self-assured of her victory sits confidently in a chair while her opponent remains hidden in darkness, but from out of the darkness a hand appears. The hand undeterred by the seemingly hopeless situation picks up a piece and moves it.**

**This simple act completely turns around the game shifting the balance of power to white while a shocked Alex looks on unbelieving. We exit Alex's mind and come back to reality as the Captain's crystal green eyes seem to be fracturing with a growing insanity when by some act of fate the main monitor, which is cracked and damage but otherwise still working, flickers and cuts to Nightwing and Shadowkun's battle.**

**The now very short black hair tactician focuses on the midnight black Gundam with green eyes.**

Alex (That Gundam, that Pilot!)

**We have a brief flashback to when Nightwing almost cut Alex's bridge in half in their previous battle. Alex's hands begin to shake with furry as the ropes of her sanity tighten on the form of her new foe.**

Alex (He's the one responsible!)

**The camera cuts outside to Shadowkun and Nightwing, the red and yellow Gundam is looking up at the blue sky now smoky grey with the red flames of Alex's ship. The camera cuts inside Shadowkun's cockpit to show the magnitude of the attack even distracted the mercenary Zain.**

Zain (What the hell just happen, I heard a huge bang and then when I look up Alex's ship is in flames.)

**Something catches the corner of the merc's orange eyes, as Zain turns his head the camera cuts outside to show what Shadowkun saw. It's Nightwing waving its green beam saber all around in victory. The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow celebrating his victory.**

Shadow: OH YEA WHO'S THE MAN! WHO'S THE FREAKING MAN! KENNY YOU BASTARD WHO'S CRAZY NOW!

**I'm going out on a limb here but I'm going to say that Shadow is happy. Zain pops up on Shadow's helmet screen,**

Zain: You, you did that to Alex's ship?

**Zain asks, he looks confused. Shadow is on such a happy high that he doesn't even mind Zain just popping up,**

Shadow: Yup, well it was my plan anyway so it counts as my punch.

**Zain's orange eyes flare with anger believing he's being deceive.**

Zain: That's impossible! You're lying to me, Alex is the greatest tactician I have ever met, there's no way you just came up with some half-assed plan by glancing at the battle!

**Shadow's green eyes spark with the insult,**

Shadow: I didn't just glance at the battle; I've been watching the whole battle since the beginning!

**The mercenary is taken back.**

Zain: Wh-what! Are you telling me that since we began fighting you've had one eye on the ship battle!

**Zain's surprise quickly transforms into anger as he takes this new information as a great insult.**

Zain: You COCKY SNIT NOSE BRAT! You dare only give me half of your attention!

**Zain consumed with rage charges. Shadowkun charges Nightwing. Shadowkun has flipped its sword so that the hilt is acting like iron knuckles and the blade acts like an armguard, Shadowkun moves at incredible speeds and is on Nightwing in heartbeats. Shadowkun pulls its arm back like a catapult and then let's it rip.**

**Shadowkun's arm seems to rocket forward like well a rocket, aimed for Nightwing's chest but in the blink of an eye Nightwing brings up its hand and catches Shadowkun's fist with ease stopping the mercenary in his tracts. The camera does a split screen over Shadowkun to show Zain shocked beyond measure. The screen returns to normal as the camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show a grinning green eyed Gundam Fighter.**

Shadow: Don't you remember though Zain; you were the one who taught me to always keep one eye on your ship in an uncertain situation.

**The camera cuts to inside Shadowkun's cockpit to show Zain's orange eyes blink in surprise.**

Zain: What?

**We have a brief flashback to Zain and Shadow's first battle when Zain tricked Shadow into moving out of the way of Zain's ship. We come back to the present to show Zain still having difficulty in processing the fact that he helped his enemy.**

Zain (I…I helped him grow.)

**The camera outside to show Nightwing take advantage of its opponent's distraction. Nightwing lets go of Shadowkun's fist and gives a pretty mean right hook for a non-boxer/non-hand to hand fighter. The camera cuts back into Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow get his game face on as his neon Gauntlet glows in response.**

Shadow: That's right Zain, but don't worry now that I know for sure that the Dark-Angel is going to win I can put everything I have into this fight. Today's the day I finally beat you!

**The camera cuts outside as Nightwing tries to overtake Shadowkun. Nightwing's attacks have change they're no longer as random and wild as they once were, they're focus and controlled. The green beam saber is no longer aiming for the obvious kill shots of the head and body but instead is aiming for the arms and legs particularly the arm with the blade armguard.**

**Nightwing performs a title angle right diagonal slash, a downward angle horizontal slash, a curving stab attack. Shadowkun twist, raises and lowers its blade armguard blocking all of the attacks but just barely and Shadowkun doesn't come out unscratched.**

**Shadowkun's arm is covered in a dozen small cuts. The cuts themselves aren't deep in fact they barely pierce the armors surface and they don't cause any internal damage. The camera cuts inside Shadowkun's cockpit to show Zain sweat a small river as he desperately struggles to hold his ground.**

Zain (Damn it the kid was holding out on me, his attacks have gotten more concentrated more accurate. He's still an amateur sword fighter but he's switch tactics, he's trying to weaken me first by damaging my arms and legs.)

**The camera cuts back outside to show Shadowkun still getting push back by Nightwing. The green beam saber comes at the Shadowkun's blade armguard in a curving stab attack, Shadowkun sidesteps the attack but Nightwing doesn't let its enemy gain any room with its green beam saber performing a tilted downward horizontal beam slash aimed at Shadowkun's right leg.**

**Shadowkun slides its right leg back dodging the blow and counterattacks with boxer's right hook and follows up with several jabs, but Nightwing doesn't back down. Ducking down so that the right hook misses Nightwing then performs a standard cross guard with its arms blocking the jab attacks. The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow gritting his teeth from the very painful attacks.**

Shadow (Zain's entire attack pattern is based on him flipping his sword back and forth between his hilt attacks and regular sword attacks but if I keep close to him then he won't have any room to flip his blade out defeating his Rukovat sword style.)

**The camera cuts outside to show a flash of yellow paint as Shadowkun tries a straight punch aimed at Nightwing's cross guard but Nightwing drops its guard and crouches down dodging the attack. A green flash lights up the air for a moment as Nightwing performs an upward jumping vertical attack aimed at its adversary's red chest. Shadowkun in a desperate struggle for survival dives left dodging the blow.**

**Shadowkun barrel rolls on the ground for a moment before coming to a complete stop. Its knees are on the ground with its left hand fingers digging slightly in the yellowish tan sand, its right hand with hilt still resting on it is pulled back making the final effect look like a runner in starting position. The camera cuts inside Shadowkun's cockpit to show orange eyes of fierce incredible anger.**

Zain (This was to be my moment, my triumph over a weak opponent who stole victory from me last time through a cheap TRICK! And yet here I am getting my ass handed to me tenderized!)

**Zain so caught up in his anger doesn't even realize he screams the next part aloud.**

Zain: I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS!

**The camera cuts back outside as Shadowkun charges, time slows down as Nightwing takes up its classic 2 hand stance with its green beam saber sticking straight up dead center. The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit as we see Shadow breathe in deeply and then breathe out. We enter Shadow's mind as he remembers a past event during his sparring with Raheem.**

**Raheem and Shadow are sparring in the Dark-Angel's gym, both warriors have their respective blades in hand and are facing each other. Shadow being young and impulsive is the first to move. He charges the older soldier and jumps up high in the air performing a jump attack. Raheem blocks the wild attack with ease.**

**Raheem and Shadow enter into a duel with both fighters trying to push each other back their blades locked and trembling with the effort they're putting into it. Raheem lets go of his blade with one hand and in quick session palm strikes his own blade. The sudden added force causes Shadow's sword to jerk backward whacking Shadow in the head knocking him out cold.**

**We skip ahead a little till after Shadow regains consciousness. Shadow ever prideful no surprise looks bummed out by the latest string of defeats and sits down gloomily on the matted floor. Raheem stands over him subconsciously taking up his teacher's pose.**

Raheem: Your attacks are still too wild Shadow; you have to focus them more onto a single point on the body. Aiming for the entire body isn't going to cut it against an experience warrior; you have to be more focus then that.

**Raheem's kind chestnut eyes are not cruel but they are firm and very serious but Shadow seems to have heard this before.**

Shadow: Arrrr you sound like Drake.

**Raheem blinks in surprise upon hearing about this second teacher.**

Raheem: Drake? As in your manager?

**Discourage Shadow just nods his head.**

Raheem: Well that Drake fellow did strike me as one who could hold himself in combat and since he is your manager it's only natural that he'd point out the flaws he sees in your swordsmanship.

**Shadow frustrated replies**

Shadow: I've tried, and tried, and tried but I just can't get the hang of it.

Raheem (This isn't good; Shadow is becoming increasingly discouraged by his inability to focus his attacks. I can understand why it's giving him a hard time; it's not like learning an actual move where one can just repeat it a thousand times till they get it down. It's more like breaking a bad habit, like biting your nails and it requires a constant self-checking and correcting. I have to keep him motivated.)

**Suddenly a wicked idea enters the normally noble soldier's mind. He smiles a little evilly as he says slowly**

Raheem: Your attacks have to be more focus, like Cagalli's.

**Shadow's head snaps up and his green electric eyes take on a sharp look, just the effect Raheem was hoping for.**

Shadow: Cagalli?

Raheem: Oh yes, although I have to admit that might be setting your sights too high. I mean Cagalli just has a natural talent for focusing her attacks into tight groupings, she's very gifted in that sort of area; perhaps I should set your sights a little lower

**A very prideful/insulted Shadow explodes with anger.**

Shadow: NO FREAKING WAY! If Cagalli can do this whole focusing thing then so can I, anything Cagalli can do I can do better!

**As if to prove his statement true Shadow jumps up and begins to fiercely attack the air with his sword. Raheem has to try really hard to not laugh at this.**

Raheem (Hehehe just as I thought, Shadow views Cagalli as a rival not that that's any surprise to anyone who sees them argue. Still I wasn't lying when I said Cagalli has natural talent that Shadow does not.)

**Shadow interrupts Raheem's train of thoughts.**

Shadow: I still don't see the point of this though Raheem. Will it really make that much of a difference in battle?

**The wise old warrior just smiles knowingly at Shadow.**

Raheem: Let me put it too you like this Shadow, a bullet is small and little right yet somehow it can kill a giant, why is this? Because a bullet has all of its power concentrated into a single point. In a fight all it takes sometimes is hitting your opponent in that single weak point with all you've got.

**We come out of the flashback as Shadowkun comes at Nightwing with a straight hilt punch with all of its speed, but in the same heartbeat Nightwing swings its beam saber in a simple right horizontal beam slash. The 2 attacks clash in a huge shower of bright white sparks. Nightwing's beam saber hits the butt of Shadowkun's sword's hilt.**

Shadow: hAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Zain: Rgggggggggg

**For a split second nothing happens as both Gundam Fighters try to force their attacks through with brute strength, but then in slow motion the beam saber cuts through its elder classic counterpart. The hilt of Shadowkun's sword gets slice right in half, along with Shadowkun's right arm. The camera does a split screen over Shadowkun to show the priceless look of shock on the normally self-confident Zain's face.**

Zain (What just happen, his beam saber cut through the hilt of my sword but that's impossible. I cover the hilt of my sword in anti-beam coating, so the beam saber shouldn't have been able to cut through it that easily.)

**Remember the priceless look on Zain's face I mention, it gets even better when Zain's orange eyes narrow as he realizes what happen.**

Zain (No wait, the butt of my hilt never got any anti-beam coating put on it. My mechanic didn't think it was necessary considering how small a diameter it was and the chances of a beam saber strike hitting it were slim to none.)

**Zain thinks this all in a split-second, time goes back to normal as Nightwing finishes its first attack then spins around and cuts off the still stun Shadowkun's legs. The top of Shadowkun's body begins to fall forward while Nightwing spins around one more time and finishes Shadowkun with a downward vertical beam slash.**

**Pieces of red and yellow Shadowkun litter the ground surrounding Nightwing. The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit to show Shadow breathing heavily as he struggles to catch his breath, sweat is pouring down his face and into his green eyes. Shadow blinded blinks his eyes repeatedly to clear them, and then slowly he comes to a realization.**

Shadow: *pant, pant, pant* I won. I freaking WON! YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

**The camera cuts outside and looks up as Shadow begins to do his victory dance. Alex's ship seems to be suffering the same fate as Zain, with its one remaining linear cannon it fires a linear cannonballs at the Dark-Angel. The Dark-Angel moves a little but it quickly becomes obvious that the movement was wasted since the attack would have missed anyway.**

**The Dark-Angel responds with missiles and high powered energy beam cannons, Alex's ship dodges the missiles but the beam blast hits the left side of the ship. The camera cuts inside Alex's ship's bridge as vibrations from the blast quiet. The vibrations weren't that powerful so no one got hurt this time.**

Alex: What the HELL WAS THAT! I told you to fire at 34 meters to the left of their ship not 55 meters!

**The unfortunate crew member Alex is yellowing at rubs his head in embarrassment.**

Crew member: Sorry ma'am but it looks like the aliment was thrown off for our remaining linear cannon.

**Alex rubs her hand through her now extremely short black hair in frustration as she swears then she begins snapping orders, but like the wise one once said it's the quiet ones you need to fear the most. Fachtna sits silently in the captain's chair but emits a deadly smog feeling as his cruel calculating yellowish brown eyes take stock of the situation.**

Fachtna (This battle is over, we were already losing in the Gundam side of this fight with Zain being the only hope of defeating them. I have to admit I'm surprise that rookie Gundam Fighter was equal to Zain, if Zain hadn't lost his cool at the end there the fight would have been dead even instead of that rookie gaining the upper hand. But with his defeat it's only a matter of time before the Shadow Knights overpower the mercenaries, after all numbers mean little against actual skill.)

Fachtna (To make matters worse the ship part of the fight which we were winning has rolled completely downhill. I still can't believe that linear positron crossover attack, heh I like to meet the lunatic that dreamt that up. Alex's ship was already smaller and less armed then the Shadow Knight's ship; that attack caused the ship too much damage, too many of the defenses and weapons went down or were damage. Quite frankly it's a miracle that this ship hasn't been shot down yet, or maybe not so much as divine intervention as it is Alex's skill as a strategist.)

Fachtna (But even Alex can't make a plan to win this battle, with virtually no weapons and her decaying ship falling to pieces on her, it's no longer about skill. It's the equivalent of a blacksmith trying to make a sword with no metal, and a toy hammer no skill is important but one still needs the right tools for the job and Alex no longer has them, it's time to pull out.)

**Fachtna brings what looks to be a watch on his wrist close to his mouth. He hits a button on the watch and begins to speak softly**

Fachtna: Byron take Shadi to the escape shuttle and wait for my instructions, also do it quietly and unnoticed by the rest of the crew.

**Byron voices emits from the watch just as quietly as Fachtna**

Byron: Yes Sir.

**Fachtna lowers his arm and then casually gets up and stretches as if the ship he was on wasn't about to go down in a burning ball of flames.**

Fachtna: Well gentlemen and ladies I believe a new plan of action is needed, Alex please join me in the conference room so we can rethink our strategy.

**It's as if the words "I am crazy." Appear over Fachtna's head because that's how everyone is looking at him, but merciless eyes of a dead crop field prevent anyone from challenging him, but Alex isn't anyone.**

Alex: NOW! Are you out of your mind!

**Fachtna turns his intense deadly glare at Alex who replies with her stubborn prideful emerald glare.**

Fachtna: Yes now, Lore can surely handle a few minutes in charge while we discuss the plan.

**Lore yelps**

Lore: ME!

**We hear and feel an explosion but the shaking of the ship doesn't seem to affect the 2 giants, after one more moment Alex finally and reluctantly yields.**

Alex: Fine, Lore you have the bridge.

**Alex's disobedience has definitely begun to irritate Fachtna but the boss chooses not to say anything about it yet. He turns and leads the annoyed Captain out of the bridge, however this is Lore's worst nightmare come true.**

Lore: Wait what?

**The new Captain doesn't get much time to process this new event before.**

Crew member: Captain enemy ship is firing their missiles.

**Lore looks right then left before he realizes who they're talking too.**

Lore: Hold on are you guys talking to me!

**Lore doesn't get an answer before we hear an extremely loud explosion followed by a huge rumble that violently shakes the bridge. The camera cuts to the hallway outside the bridge to show the reach of the vibrations. Alex braces herself against the wall in order to keep her footing but not even the violent shaking seems to have any effect on Fachtna, after a moment the shaking passes.**

Fachtna: Come Alex we don't have all day.

**Alex's tactician mind is painfully aware of how bad her ship is doing and it's almost unbearable for her not to charge onto the bridge and start giving orders. She takes out her annoyance on Fachtna.**

Alex: And where exactly are we going Fachtna, the conference room is the other way not that I see any point in going there to discuss strategy. We can save time and do it here.

**Fachtna not bothering to even turn around to face Alex yawns bored as he says**

Fachtna: Don't be silly Alex no amount of planning can help this ship win this battle. I just didn't want to let on to the people on the bridge.

**For the third time today the chess master is surprise, at least this time she wasn't trying to outsmart Fachtna.**

Alex: A retreat, although losing to that blasted ship offends me I'm not stupid. I know that our chances of victory have drop down to less than 10 percent and was in the middle of coming up with a plan of retreat before you demanded my presence with this meeting.

**Fachtna's cold uncaring dead crop eyes look over his shoulder at Alex slightly annoyed that she still doesn't get it.**

Fachtna: A retreat, not exactly more like an escape. Our destination is nearby so we can travel their by escape shuttle.

**Fachtna continues walking while the cold chill of his plan hits Alex freezing the not so cold Captain in place.**

Alex: You want to use my ship as a decoy to keep the enemy distracted.

**Fachtna is becoming increasingly annoyed by Alex's lack of vision.**

Fachtna: Of course, if we were to retreat the entire ship to the location our enemy would follow and then they might steal the item of value. They'll fight long and hard pointlessly to survive, as big of an advantage as the enemy has on them they'll have a tough time putting in the finishing blow. It should buy us more than enough time to

Alex: Do whatever you want while my crew gets KILLED!

**The normally calm calculating strategist is growing more and more emotional while the mastermind is becoming increasingly annoyed at these interruptions.**

Fachtna: Your crew can be replace, they're just low life thugs that are a dime a dozen in the underworld. Surely as a strategist you can see the need to sacrifice a few pawns.

**The Captain doesn't see this at all.**

Alex: These are PEOPLE FACHTNA NOT PAWNS! They have lives, families, love ones and as Captain of this ship they're my responsibility! You're out of your mind if you think for one moment that I'm OK WITH THIS PLAN!

**The fierce loyal anger Alex displays is honorable considering the type of people she works with but Fachtna has had enough. He turns around to face Alex, we've always known Fachtna had yellowish brown eyes like a dead crop field and his frame is big/muscular but he's never come off as a fighter that is until now.**

**His muscles are becoming tense as he rotates and stretches his shoulders warming them up and his stance, it has no openings. Fachtna maybe a crocked politician but he isn't weak, this man knows how to fight and the aura he emits screams a season fighter with lots of kills under his belt.**

Fachtna: You seem to be forgetting WHO'S in charge here Alex! I'M THE ONE signing off on everyone's paychecks including yours! I've tolerated your insubordination up until this point because you were so focus on defeating our enemies but now it's time I pull in the leash!

**Under the intense pressure Fachtna emits Alex backs down a little.**

Alex: I'm sorry…Sir but we don't need to sacrifice the crew; I can come up with a plan that can get what you want with no needless deaths!

**Desperation is seeping out of Alex, which doesn't go unnoticed by Fachtna who has calmed down a little after the Sir comment.**

Fachtna: I'm surprise at you Alex, your loyalty to your crew is interesting considering I'm sure it's one sided; if I offered a raise to any member of this crew I'm sure they'd stab you in the back for it.

**Alex grits her teeth knowing this to be true but an instinct buried deep inside screams out what it means to be a true Captain and refuses to be silence.**

Fachtna: With that aside though the fact is that you don't have a plan now nor do you have the time to make one. We're going with my plan.

**Alex still hesitates, there's a battle going on within her, a conflict of interest in which both parties struggle to win.**

Fachtna: But then again you are different from them Alex, you're not working with me for the money but for a very deep and personal reason so let me ask you this; when you are so close to attaining your deepest desire are these people really worth throwing all you've worked for away?

**The devil's salesman smile dances across Fachtna's face as Alex struggles with conflicting feelings before she finally looks down like an alcoholic giving in to drinking again.**

Alex: No.

**The devil's smile widens as he completes his sale. Fachtna turns and begins to walk away.**

Fachtna: I didn't think so, now come Alex we still have much to do.

**The episode ends with the now ex-captain reluctantly following the man she sold her soul too.**


	60. Episode 59 Rock Bottom

Episode 59

**The episode opens up showing La Rouge cut off the arm of an opponent while in a graceful manner sweep out his legs with the pole side of her Guan Dao. The enemy Gundam crashes to the ground but a new one appears behind La Rouge.**

**La Rouge doesn't see the enemy and just when the enemy Gundam is about to stab its sword into La Rouge's chest its head explodes. La Rouge startled turns to look around as the camera cuts inside La Rouge's cockpit.**

Cagalli: What the

**Nick appears on Cagalli's screen.**

Nick: You got to make sure to watch your back mate.

**The camera cuts outside to show Cowboy and La Rouge both with beam rifles and shields in hand go back to back. The camera cuts to inside Cowboy's cockpit.**

Cagalli: Thank you Nick.

**Nick smiling just nods his head.**

Nick: No problem mate, now let's wrap things up here.

**The camera cuts outside to show Cowboy and La Rouge unleash beam bullet fury. The camera turns away and looks at Nightwing who's now just observing the battle. The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit.**

Shadow (Nick, Cagalli and Roxas have got this no question.)

**Shadow looks up at the ship battle.**

Shadow (And it looks like the Dark-Angel's going to win too, HA just what I expect from my team, a perfect victory.)

**A cocky grin crosses Shadow's face for a moment but then his eyes narrow. We do a quick switch to Shadow's POV to see him staring at Alex's ship.**

Shadow (Still something doesn't feel right, that ship's not moving the same as before. It's like, a different opponent huh?)

**Something catches the corner of Shadow's eye.**

Shadow: Nightwing zoom in!

**The camera zooms in on the object to reveal an escape shuttle. The escape shuttle looks like a F-117 Nighthawk jet plane, however appearances can be deceiving as we quickly learn when the camera cuts inside to reveal a simple almost military style seat room. The only thing in the room is 4 seats on each wall with harnesses.**

**There's one door which we can assume leads to the control room and a pulled up ramp which well leads outside. There's also one window on each wall; Fachtna, Shadi and Alex are all strap down in a seat with Shadi also handcuff to his seat. Fachtna has his hands folded across his chest and eyes close almost as if he's sleeping.**

**Caught up in her own thoughts past and present Alex's green eyes are downcast to the ground with her hands resting on her knees. Shadi alone seems to be happy ironic considering he's handcuff and a prisoner**

Shadi: So Fachtna you seem to have lost a good ship.

**It's as if someone gave Shadi a shot of happy juice, seeing Fachtna get his ass handed to him was definitely a good morale boost.**

Fachtna: A minor setback, not that any setback at this stage really matters.

**The smile of hope quickly leaves Shadi's face as the ominous words send a slight fear down his spine.**

Shadi: What do you mean Fachtna?

**Shadi gets his answer in the form of a speaker.**

Byron: Sir we're at the coordinates you gave.

**A tremor of excitement runs through Fachtna as his eyes pop open, this is it the very moment he's been waiting for.**

Fachtna: Finally. Keep us steady Byron.

**Fachtna unbuckles his seatbelt/harness and gets up. He motions for Alex and unlocks Shadi to follow. Alex does so without hesitation while Shadi reluctantly follows curiosity overriding his fear. Fachtna's eyes gleam with overwhelming excitement.**

Fachtna: Byron open up the ramp.

**The wind begins to whip pass Fachtna and the others as the ramp descends. Fachtna turns to face his audience as the first rays of light come soaring in. He waves his arms in a grand fashion, the excitement seems to have made him a little bit crazy.**

Fachtna: Ladies and gentleman you are about to witness the awakening of the base of joint operations between Haben and Falk; a base which has been dormant for over 50 years.

**The ramp comes down to reveal…more sand, both Alex and Shadi look at the desert for a moment then look up back at Fachtna. Shadi breaks out laughing.**

Shadi: HAHAHHA now I know you've lost your mind Fachtna, diplomatic relationships between Falk and Haben have always been bad, not that that's unexpected considering during the great war we were on opposite sides but still to purpose a secret base between our country and there's heheheh your crazier then I first thought.

**Even Alex looks at Fachtna a little skeptical but she's wise enough not to say anything yet. Fachtna still smiling is uncaring about Shadi's doubt.**

Fachtna: Ye with so little faith.

**Fachtna pulls out what looks like an old box shape walkie talkie.**

Shadi: An old RF7 radio Fachtna, I'm surprise you found that anywhere but a museum.

Fachtna: I actually stole this from a museum. Now excuse me while I put in the right code frequency.

**Fachtna hits a few keys on the box radio, then points it at the ground unafraid of the very big drop should he slip. The ground begins to rumble as if an earthquake were happening, the sand begins to sink into an unknown cavern. A perfect circle appears in the sand and I'm talking a huge freaking hole ship/Gundam size.**

**The hole is so deep that it appears to be pitched black on the inside. The camera looks back up at the conspirators and prisoner. Shadi's mouth drops to the floor as his eyes almost pop out of his head. Even Alex looks a little surprise although it's clear she had some idea of what was coming not that Fachtna cares much about her at the moment, he's completely focus on Shadi's shock.**

Fachtna: Do you believe now Shadi? Byron take us in.

**The camera cuts forward in time then does a quick swan dive into the hole. We see that the actual base is deep underground with the hanger serving as the bottom of the hole. The hanger is so far down that no light from the sun can reach it, spotlights have been set up along the perfectly circle wall allowing people to see what they're doing.**

**However the spotlights are covered in cobweb and dust and have clearly not been used in a long time, the lack of use has them emit an eerie half-light fitting for the moment. Layer upon layer of dust along with sand covers the mostly empty hanger with Fachtna's escape shuttle looking completely out of place in this otherwise abandon complex. The camera cuts inside the compound, the underground base too little surprise is made completely from metal with little paint or decorations. Contrary to its hanger the inside of the base is clean with fluorescent light bulbs shining brightly, although the thought of being miles beneath the earth's surface does ruin the image a little.**

**Fachtna with confident knowing strides leads Alex who is looking around with mild curiosity, Shadi handcuff and still not believing where he is, and Byron stone face.**

Alex: I was expecting this place to be in ruins when I saw the hanger but it's amazing that the auto-cleaning devices are still running plus the equipment seems to be running at optima efficiently.

**Like the kid who found the North pole where Santa lives Fachtna begins to reveal all of his knowledge/plans in gleeful excitement.**

Fachtna: Yes well the Falkmans and Habenians who design this place originally intended for their secret alliance to last for a much longer time and it seems that most of the maintenance was done by droids. When the owners abandon the place they must have forgotten to turn them off.

**In shame/disgust Shadi shakes his head.**

Shadi: A secret alliance between Falk and Haben, how could I not know of this or of this complex?

**Shadi sighs depressed at his newest failure as King however Fachtna still on his kid finding North Pole high explains**

Fachtna: I wouldn't feel too bad Shadi; the alliance wasn't sanction by either government. Its history is actually rather interesting, you see at the time both Falk and Haben were at a low point in the Gundam Fights, all of their fighters were below C rank so naturally other nations were beginning to take advantage of this lack of military strength. It never amounted to anything major but at the time a numerous politicians in both countries feared that once allies would soon try to engulf them.

Fachtna: The politicians reached out to others who they believed understood their situation, so it was only a matter time before the 2 countries found each other. It was really only a party of concern government leaders, the majority of both governments had no idea these talks were taking place, sharing fears and trying to help each other survive in this dangerous game.

Fachtna: Eventually an agreement was form between these collective groups of individuals, a shield must be created to protect their countries from invasion or attack and that is how this secret base came to be. Hehe but something went horribly wrong or in my opinion horribly right; the defense mechanism they design turned out to be more powerful then intended and what was supposed to be a shield became a weapon instead.

Fachtna: To make matters worse both countries were starting to do well in the Gundam Fights again proving their previous fears unfounded and nosy eyes were beginning to notice these secret meetings. Scared of being caught with a weapon of mass destruction they burned all traces of this project and locked away this base for what they thought to be forever and ceased contact with each other.

Byron: Why didn't they just destroy this base and the weapon?

Fachtna: Heh the base is built deep into the landscape; to destroy it would have created geological evidence of its existence. As for the weapon well if you're talking about blowing it up with bombs even then traces of it would remain and a smart mechanic who finds the wreckage would tell it comes from both Haben and Falk craftsmen.

Fachtna: As for dismantling it that would've taken far too long with their secret close to being revealed. No it was easier and safer to just lock it away in this base; after all they would have never dreamed of anyone ever discovering such a well hidden fortress. Not until everything was too old and decayed to be of any real use.

**Fachtna leads his minions and hostage down several corridors. He never hesitates when choosing which corridors to go down and each time he comes to a door with a lock he already has a pass code at the ready. This doesn't go unnoticed by Shadi.**

Shadi: So how do you know about it Fachtna and how do you seem to know where you're going even though this is supposed to be your first time coming here?

**Fachtna smiles at the still nonbelieving king.**

Fachtna: The answer is actually one in the same, you see as hard as they tried to get rid of all the evidence one copy of this base's blueprints remain and found its way into my possession. It's from the blueprint where I first learned about the weapon and it's also the reason why I know where I am going and why I'm already very familiar with the security of this complex.

**With new found anger the King stops and demands**

Shadi: If you already knew about this place then why did you create this WAR! Surely you could have sneaked in here without drawing attention to yourself so WHY!

**It goes against Fachtna's normal instincts to reveal the details of his plan to anyone, after all he's not so cheap comic book hero, but this was just too masterful of a piece to keep to himself, he had to show it off.**

Fachtna: You haven't really been paying attention have you Shadi, I said I only had the blueprints and as much as I had wished it held no details to the base's actual location. Exact location I should say, from the design it was clear that the base existed underground, plus some of the wording was clearly Haben. Knowing that it must be somewhere in the Haben desert I joined the Council hoping to find more clues.

Fachtna: I also began sending geo-sonar experts to begin searching the desert, area by area; I was going to find that weapon even if I had to dig the entire desert up. That's when the first incident happened; one of the medical manufacturing companies began to pick up on the sonar waves my people were sending out. Hehehe it was a rookie mistake on my part, I should have remember that medical manufacturing companies in Haben use sonar to detect if any living animals or plants are in the designated chemical release area.

Fachtna: Luck though was on my side, hahahhah the owner of the company actually called me up thinking that we were some kind of wildlife experts and wanted to know if the animal had escaped into the waste area. I manage to buy myself enough time for the raiders I hired to attack, I realized then though that other medical companies in the area or in areas I was going to check would have the same detection capabilities so I hired the raiders to attack them all but attacking just medical companies would have begun to look suspicious so I hired more raiders to attack the other companies as well to make it look like a very raidery season. All the while I piece together the history of this place I told you earlier from rumors and old seemingly useless documents.

Shadi: That explains the increase in raider attacks but not the economy downfall, Sandstorms or you falsifying documents!

Fachtna: To be honest a civil war was an unexpected side effect to my plan, it was something I never originally intended.

**Shadi stops moving shocked, it was only logical with Fachtna's revealed treachery to believe that he was the one who caused this civil war.**

Shadi: What.

Fachtna: Oh yes, I mean I'm flattered that you think I can create sandstorms but even I'm not that good. You can thank your god, ancestors or whatever being you worshipped. As for the economy well the economy was already beginning to sink into a recession because of the sandstorms and other issues long before I did anything, my attacks on Haben's industries simply pushed Haben from a recession into a depression. And we all know that it's from the depression that the flames of civil war began.

**Shadi grits his teeth knowing this to be true as well but stone face Byron asks**

Byron: So why falsify documents that gave away Haben relief money?

**Fachtna just gives his twisted little evil smile.**

Fachtna: Well I figured since the flames were already there I might as well throw some wood on it, I didn't know how at the time but I figured a civil war might come in handy at some point in the future.

**Shadi glares at Fachtna with intense loathing.**

Shadi: You monster.

**Which just makes Fachtna laugh.**

Fachtna: HAHAHAHA it was just too good of an opportunity to miss, of course I had a little snag there for a while after I found the base. The opening as you notice required an old radio along with the secret frequency code used during those days

Byron: That's why you needed those old S-class files.

**Fachtna quickly glances at Byron annoyed at being interrupted but just goes with it.**

Fachtna: Yes that's correct Byron, the S-class files you gave me had the secret frequency code I needed within them.

**The group comes to one final door which Fachtna quickly opens, behind the door is a large grand room, with a normal size width but a huge height. A Gundam could fit in here without banging his head although he probably be squeezed a little bit. The room also holds Gundam size iron elevator doors keeping something locked up.**

Fachtna: And here we are at last our final destination.

**The mastermind moves over to a panel besides the iron doors while Shadi sadly shakes his head.**

Shadi: All of this, just for a weapon.

**Fachtna's brownish yellow eyes flare with insulted as he turns around and marches over to Shadi and without a single word he grabs the king by the throat and lifts him off his feet with a single hand, choking the ruler.**

Fachtna: Not just any weapon, a weapon so powerful that its very creators feared it and took extreme measures to keep it locked away forever! In fact one of those measures is why you're here now Shadi.

**Still chocking Shadi Fachtna turns around and begins marching over to a panel next to the iron wall dragging Shadi with him. Struggling like a caught fish Shadi tries to pull Fachtna's hand off his throat but the demon's hand is like steel incapable of bending to a normal person. Shadi's tan skin begins to change colors to purple from lack of oxygen.**

**Alex watches this while trying to put up her poker face similar to Byron's stone face but the cruelty, and horror of this ruthlessness is too much of a load to add on top of her loss of her ship. Her appalled of this act shows.**

Fachtna: They sealed the weapon in a sensor room so if anyone tried to cut in, boom, the whole base is blown to pieces and they left a 2 part lock they thought impossible to be open. The first is the King's seal; the super encrypted software impossible to hack or bypass that requires the genetic code matching to the ruler of Haben.

**Fachtna finally drops Shadi allowing the king to breathe, while the gentle ruler is distracted in the blink of an eye the demon unlocks his handcuffs and places his right hand on the panel.**

Fachtna: And that's where you come in Shadi, since this happen during your father's rule his genetic coding is what's listed as the ruler thus making you and all of his descendants consider the ruling family since the crown is normally passed down by heir.

**A red scanner glows on the wall as Shadi's genetic code is scanned. The red light disappears as we begin to hear the unmistakable sounds of gears turning. Fachtna in awe lets go of Shadi's hand as each bang and clang rings his one step closer to his deepest desire. The panel sinks into the wall and disappears as a compartment below the panel opens to reveal a computer terminal.**

Fachtna: And just like that the first gate has been unlocked.

**Shakily Shadi having regain his breath rises to his feet, his soft fertile brown eyes have a determine unwavering look as they stare at the back of his enemy. Shadi charges what he thinks is a distracted Fachtna. We hear clicking clanging sounds followed by the sickening sound of metal through flesh.**

Fachtna: That wasn't very smart of you Shadi.

**A small glass blade with an inch width has extended from Fachtna's right hand. Fachtna still has his back to Shadi who impaled himself on the hidden blade. The sword has cut right through Shadi's chest and is sticking out about 6 inches from his back stained in bright red dripping blood. The sword acts as a dam blocking the blood from gushing out although it is already beginning to leak.**

**Shadi's eye twitches in surprise/pain, he coughs out blood once. Fachtna careful to keep his hand on the item of which the blade extended from turns around to face the King.**

Fachtna: Otusna's secret blade, not a great sword by many standards considering it's made out of glass and if used incorrectly it will break on the intended target but still one can't deny its surprise factor. I mean I carried this oversize lighter in my pocket around for years and not once did anyone suspect that with the simple flick of a switch a blade of glass would extend from it.

**Shadi glares at Fachtna with deep loathing but the glare cost him as Shadi begins to cough out more blood as a bright red spot begins to appear on his shirt.**

Fachtna: Still that was rash of you Shadi, you know that I was a Gundam Fighter; what on earth possessed you to come at me?

**Fachtna asks with sadistic humor but Shadi with dried blood on his chin looks Fachtna dead in the eye and says**

Shadi: I *wheeze, wheeze, wheeze* am *wheeze, wheeze* the *wheeze* KING!

**Shadi grows in strength with each word, with each drumbeat of his resolved.**

Shadi: And as the King I cannot allow you to have this weapon Fachtna for it is my responsibly and duty to protect my people from any dangers and all threats, and you Fachtna with this weapon puts my people in great danger. So I will stop you even if it costs me my life because that is the vow I made when I took office.

**Radiating honor, pride, loyalty and sacrifice Shadi embodies all that a true politician should be, however Fachtna's joyful mode seems to have soured because of the light.**

Shadi: Heh a fool all the way till the end Shadi, I suppose you believe your ancestors will stop me if you should fail and that you'll find peace in the great beyond, HA yea right.

**This is getting nasty, Fachtna is beginning to insult Shadi's religion, think if someone was dissing on Jesus.**

Shadi: The ancestors work in mysterious ways but I have faith that you shall fall, that even now a plan is in motion to bring you down but I waste my words on you, the Haben religion no any religion requires faith and trust neither of which you have.

Fachtna: And I waste my words on you.

**With blinding speed Fachtna moves his glass sword horizontally almost cutting Shadi in half. The spine doesn't look to be severed but a lot of blood comes rushing out as the King falls backwards.**

Shadi (I'm sorry ancestors that I could not live up to the honor and privilege that is King of Haben and could not fulfill my duty but most of all I'm sorry to you Kabira, I hope one day you can forgive your foolish father.)

**The camera cuts to Shadi's POV. The world with Fachtna's SOB smug face grows dim and black when suddenly a bright light consumes everything. It's a bright sunny day and we're in middle of a playground as we watch a young Kabira swing on the swings, she turns to us/Shadi her smile brighter than the sun as she shouts innocently**

Young Kabira: Come play with me daddy!

**We come out of the happy dream back to reality as Shadi's body hits the ground with a sickening duth.**

Byron: Did you have to kill him?

**Fachtna retracts his blade and puts it back into his pocket as he replies**

Fachtna: I would have killed him sooner if the scanner didn't check vital signs as a measure to make sure the DNA didn't come from some sort of swab, but enough of that Alex you're up.

**The murderer takes a step back as a slightly pale Alex steps up to the computer terminal and begins typing on it. Byron notices the lack of need of communication between the 2.**

Byron: Care to fill me in Fachtna?

**Like a hawk waiting for its prey to move Fachtna never takes his eyes off Alex.**

Fachtna: Ah yes my apologies dear Byron Alex and myself have already discussed this in detail and I was showing off to our deceased King before, something I've been dying to do for years; I forgot you are relatively new to my organization. The second lock is the Falk lock, basically it's a standard encryption system that required decoding except they went old school and wrote everything in secret code, for example 8 to your or I might actually mean 3 in the software.

Fachtna: A purposely confusing code that's design to trip outsiders up, only high ranking officers in the Falk military are taught how to decipher it.

**Byron turns to look at the seemingly normal Captain and asks**

Byron: But then why does Alex know it?

Alex: Because I used to be a high ranking officer in the Falk military.

**For the first time Byron's stone face slips as he looks surprise. Fachtna on the other hand looks impatience as he asks rudely**

Fachtna: I assume you're talking because you managed to hack it, rather fast but not impossible.

**Alex is still concentrating fully on the terminal.**

Alex: Of course, this security might have been advance for its time but now you might as well consider it a padlock I just picked.

**Like a hungry dog chasing a steak Fachtna asks excitedly**

Fachtna: Excellent, that terminal is connected to this base's entire mainframe, what does it say about my weapon!

**Fachtna demands to know. Alex types a little more than stops as she slowly shakes her head and says sadly**

Alex: I'm sorry Fachtna but it seems that your information is faulty, the weapon was disassembled and its blueprints wiped from the system. Nothing is behind these doors.

**Fachtna eyes almost shatter as his mouth drops to the floor, both Byron and Alex look at him with pity as they wait for their boss to recover.**

Fachtna: I see, it truly is unfortunate…unfortunate that you chose to betray me at this time Alex.

**With wide emerald eyes Alex steps back shocked.**

Alex: What I didn't

**With a smile oozing of self-confidence Fachtna just stares at the traitor amongst traitors and cuts her off**

Fachtna: You can cut the crap; I must say though that I was hoping that you wouldn't go back on our deal. Zagat you can come out now.

**Like a loyal pet snake Zagat's jade eyes appear from around the corner of the normal door.**

Zagat: Oh how I've long for this day.

**Zagat begins to walk towards Alex who chooses to keep as much distance from herself and Fachtna's loyal pet as possible. Alex begins to walk along the wall.**

Fachtna: For a long time now I've been aware of your growing distaste for my methods, what can I say some people are born to be cold hearted cold blooded ruthless killers but you are not. I knew that it was only a matter of time before that good conscious of yours got the best of you although I was hoping that you would still serve me for a while longer.

**Too late does Alex realize that Zagat's true goal was never her but the computer terminal. With an eager to please smile Zagat giggles**

Zagat: Hehehe I bet you never knew that I had stolen one of the holy grails of Falk their secret code translate book. It was the hardest thing in my life to steal, even harder to make it look like I didn't steal it but I guess that's just what makes me better then you Alex.

**In harmony Fachtna adds**

Fachtna: So I prepared for the worst, I had Zagat shadowed us and wait just in case something like this happen but really Alex I thought we had an agreement. You would unlock the Falk security for me and I would let you have access to this base's database and all of its records, it's disappointing that you would try to cheat me out of my end of the bargain oh and speaking of my end of the bargain how are we coming on the decryption Zagat?

**Zagat still giggly says**

Zagat: Well I had to learn everything based off the text book instead of with an instructor, and the text books have holes in their knowledge in case of someone like me steals them but for something this old I have enough of an understanding to piece it together.

**Fachtna nods his head satisfied then turns back to Alex smiling like a predator about to devour his pray.**

Fachtna: Of course there is always the possibility that I'm wrong, that you're telling the truth so let's just stand here and wait; after all if you're not lying then you have nothing to fear.

**Alex's heart stops for one whole moment as she stands there stun, then her emerald determine eyes narrow as she goes for her concede gun. She manages to draw it but like the devil himself Fachtna is quicker taking out his own hidden gun and fires 5 shots. One at Alex's gun sending it flying away and 2 in each of her legs causing Alex to crumble to the ground.**

Alex: OWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

Fachtna: I guess we have our answer, don't worry I only hit the muscle but I doubt you'll be standing on those legs without some medical help which might be hard to get since I'm terminating you from our healthcare package this instant.

Alex (It hurts to even tense my leg.)

**Gritting her teeth in pain Alex glares up at Fachtna.**

Alex: It looks like you've got everything planned out Fachtna.

**Looking around Alex does a quick estimate of her situation and possible countermoves but her shoulders slump as her estimates turn back nothing good.**

Fachtna: But of course, I knew that you were a strategist with amazing talent always thinking 5 moves ahead so naturally I had to make sure I was always 1 move ahead of you.

Zagat: FINISH!

**Zagat shouts out in triumph while Alex's normally bright emerald eyes grow dull with defeat, she's not dead just spiritually defeated. We once again hear large gears turning but this time the Gundam size iron doors begin to open. Fachtna once again steps back the pupils on his eyes widening in awe of the object of his desire standing right before him.**

Fachtna: And there he lies, Vent de la mort.

**Fachtna whispers its weapons name as if frighten a loud noise would scare it away. The camera turns slowly to look at the reason Fachtna has killed and caused so much destruction. The weapon (Vent de la mort) at first glance looks to be a beige Gundam size thorn bush, but on closer examination we can see a reoccurring pattern.**

**The pattern is 2 curve poles on a spinning platform, with 3 smaller 2 curve poles on individual spinning platform and a group spinning platform. The pattern continues to repeat with each curve pole getting smaller and smaller; also on the curve poles themselves are hair like miniature curve poles on spinning platforms.**

**When in motion the Vent de la mort would definitely be something to see but for now it remains as unmoving as the dead. Fachtna continues to just stare at it embracing himself in its glow but Byron on the other hand notices something else that open as a result of the second lock being unlocked.**

Byron: The hanger!

**Understandingly Byron is surprise but Fachtna in his dream like state just waves him off.**

Fachtna: You don't have to be so surprise Byron, Vent de la mort is obviously too big to be move throughout the complex so it's only natural the weapon vault would be right by the hanger. Unfortunately though there was no access side from the hanger which is why we had to come around the long way. Zagat what are you waiting for load him up onto the ship!

**Zagat immediately runs past the weapon to the hanger, to his ship and starts yelling at his crew to start bringing out the loading trucks. Fachtna after a moment more of staring at his beautiful prize begins to slowly walk towards Zagat's ship with Byron right by his side.**

Byron: So Fachtna now that you have this weapon what do you intend to do next?

**Fachtna smiles with his pleasant thoughts.**

Fachtna: Well for starters I'm going to give it a test run by destroying Haben's capital Azize then

**Fachtna gets no further as a single voice, a chaos factor he did not account for, shouts out to him**

Shadow: Stop right there!

**Unwilling to believe his perfect moment is ruin Fachtna freezes in place while Byron snaps around to see where the unknown voice comes from, even the defeated Alex lifts up her head curious to see who would still challenge the demon.**

**There he stands, Shadow Zoomarey dressed in his normal black jeans, black T-shirt, and black windbreaker. He's come from the normal door entrance not the iron door entrance and stands with sword pointed at Fachtna.**

Shadow: Hey douchbag not looking at me, are you Fachtna?

**His boldness surprises both Alex and Byron, this isn't a sneak attack, it's an open challenge.**

Alex (Who the hell is this kid, what the hell does he think he's doing challenging Fachtna?)

**With great annoyance and irritation Fachtna turns around slowly to face this new nuisance.**

Fachtna: That would be me but may I ask who are you?

**Shadow grins full of excitement and confidence.**

Shadow: I am the great, the almighty, dashingly handsome Shadow Zoomarey team leader of the Shadow Knights!

**Recognition dawns on Fachtna upon hearing "Shadow Knights".**

Fachtna: Shadow Knights, the princess's hired Gundam Team, so you've been the pain in my ass. Pray tell how did you stumble upon me and this location?

**Shadow pleased with himself boast.**

Shadow: I spotted you running away from the battle so I decided to follow you, I lost you for a bit but when I found a giant hole in the ground I thought "hey why not here" and from there it was a piece of cake finding you. 2 things, you talk really loud and you forgot to close the doors behind you.

**Eyeing the insulting kid coldly Fachtna says**

Fachtna: Well bravo my rude little friend for finding me. So what do you want, money?

Shadow: No thanks, I'm here to bring you in Fachtna surrender quietly and I won't have to hurt you.

**Fachtna is genuinely surprise by this response.**

Fachtna: Really are sure you want to be prickly about your money now, being a poor E rank team is tough it's been known to break many dreamers. I can offer you enough money to buy the most state of the art Gundams with the most powerful weapons and supplies. Even a rookie pilot can tell how valuable those advantages can be in the fights or is your commitment to being the best not that strong?

**Shadow's bright green electric eyes flare with the insult.**

Shadow: If I wanted money I'd rob a bank and let me tell you something I'm going to be the best Gundam Fighter there ever was!

**Shadow's voice sparks a resolve so strong that even Alex despite her common instincts and tactician mind find herself with hope once again. We can see his Neon gauntlet start to glow slightly.**

Fachtna: HAHAHHAHAHAH the greatest Gundam Fighter ever, well I would be lying if I said I never dreamt the same dream when I first started out in E rank. In fact I believe the dream to be at the top is shared by all E rank Gundam Pilots, of course reality comes to crush those dreams very quickly.

**Shadow doesn't like his dream being insulted.**

Shadow: Enough talk Fachtna are you surrendering or not

**Shadow is stopped mid-sentence by Fachtna suddenly disappearing and reappearing right in front of him moving faster than Shadow can track. We see a flash as Shadow's pupils widen as he realizes what's about to happen. Shadow jumps back as blood begins to spatter from a huge wound coming from Shadow's right shoulder to his left thigh.**

**Shadow's hands begin to shake as he manages to stay standing for a few more moments, but the river of blood coming from his slice open chest gets to him as the sudden blood lost makes him sink to his knees and collapse on the ground. To give him some credit he does manage to hang onto his sword. Fachtna quickly putting away his glass sword as fast as he drew it turns to face Byron.**

Fachtna: Now you see was that so hard? There's no excuse why it took this long to kill this pain in the ass, I swear they just don't make minions the way they used to.

**Fachtna shakes his head in disappointment as he begins to walk away.**

Shadow: Wait this isn't over!

**Surprising everyone Shadow stubbornly lifts up his head and glares up at Fachtna, his sword hand twitches but not even pure willpower can give Shadow the ability to move his body.**

Alex (He's still conscious after taking a blow like that!)

**Fachtna looks down at Shadow dismissively.**

Fachtna: Forcing yourself to stay conscious despite the loss of blood, well I will give you some credit, not many E rank Pilots can do that but let me tell you a life learned lesson kid, willpower alone is not effort to make it to the top. That nasty little cut I gave you across your chest is something you can't force your body to get over and even if you could fight me you wouldn't be able to beat one on one.

**His green electric eyes go out of focus for a moment as blood once again fights to subdue the rookie Pilot but Shadow fights it off again and refocuses on Fachtna.**

Shadow: Screw you, I'm going to beat you Fachtna and then I'm going to the top of GFC fight charts!

**Despite himself Fachtna is becoming annoyed at this stubborn insolent little punk.**

Fachtna: Since fate is taking too long allow me to be the reality check that crushes your dreams. You know all those fights you've been getting into between my people and the Haben military, all those Gundam Pilots you've been kicking the ass out of?

Shadow: Yea so what of it!

Fachtna: I'll let you in on a little secret, excluding Zain, all of my people and 97 percent of the Haben military are so weak that they're not even able to be ranked in the GFC Gundam Fighter charts.

**Like someone telling a pro-boxer that all of his fights up onto this point have been rigged Shadow is stun.**

Shadow: What?

**Fachtna smiles cruelly down upon him.**

Fachtna: That's right kid, ahhh did you think while beating up on those professional soldiers and mercs that you gotten really good. All that training must have finally paid off and now you must be on a C rank level to be crushing so many Gundam Pilots at once. To be fair your line of thinking was correct, if you were in any other country you would find all of their military Gundam Pilots were D rank Fighters at the lowest.

Shadow: You're lying!

Fachtna: As much as the government would wish it so no I'm not, due to cut backs and relatively peace from foreign invaders in addition to the civil unrest the Haben military training has been laxed allowing for this shameful army to exist. There are a couple of exceptions to this of course, let's see well for starters there is Jubal he was a E-9 before they listed him as MIA, then there was Salim an E-5 before the same happen to him, the leader of those rebels Serafina is also an E-5, Hirsi is a D-8 no surprise considering he's the captain of Haben's royal offense, which just leaves Raheem coming in at first place with a rank of a D-7.

Fachtna: As for the reason my people are so weak well it's because I'm cheap and these days you pay for what you get with Zain being my only exception at the rank of E-3.

**Fachtna's reality almost crushes Shadow. The fights he fought so hard in, lost and won, trained to the bone for meant so little in the grander scheme of things would be enough to crush anybody, but in true form unique to himself Shadow laughs.**

Shadow: HAHAHAHHA

**Fachtna glares down at him.**

Fachtna: What's so funny!

**He demands to know. Shadow looks up at him believing to have found his answer.**

Shadow: I realize that you must be an A rank pilot so when I beat you that puts me on top!

**Fachtna in turn laughs at this.**

Fachtna: HAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHH me an A rank pilot now that is good.

**Shadow once again looks crestfallen as he realizes he must have been wrong, but for the first time ever we've seen Fachtna begins to look sad.**

Fachtna: I'm flatter you think so highly of my skills but in truth before I retired from Gundam Fighting I was never able to get my rank higher then D-1.

**Back again is the crushing force of reality stealing the happiness and hope from dark clouded figure.**

Shadow: You're, you're just a D-1.

**Fachtna shares in Shadow's pain.**

Fachtna: That's right kid and now do you see how hopeless your dream truly is, look at how strong you are now look at how strong I am and I'm only a D-1. I doubt you've ever met one or seen an A rank battle but those guys are monsters capable of destroying entire armies and landmasses. There's no way either you or I will ever attain that level of power so do yourself a favor and just give up.

**For one moment, the 2 Gundam Fighters connect and share each other's pain then Fachtna turns away his supposed to be happy occasion turn bittersweet.**

Fachtna: Let's go Byron.

**Vent de la mort has already been moved onto Zagat's ship. Fachtna makes a quick stop at the computer terminal and hits an obvious red button with the word lock written on it. The iron doors begin to close but not before Fachtna and Byron slip through them and the second set of doors to the hanger. We can see Zagat's ship now and a little ways away closer to the main entrance is Nightwing down on one knee. Zagat runs to Fachtna and begins to apologize.**

Zagat: I'm sorry Sir he must have come in behind me and those lazy sons of bitches I call my crew didn't think it worth contacting me over

**Zagat would have gone on longer with excuses but Fachtna like an old man after a long day wants to get straight to the point.**

Fachtna: Vent de la mort is on your ship safe and secure correct?

**Zagat walking with them nods his head.**

Zagat: Correct Sir, I also took the liberty of moving the escape shuttle on board the ship. Um but what do you want us to do about the Gundam?

**Fachtna stops for a moment and glances at Nightwing.**

Fachtna (So he's the one who defeated Zain.)

Fachtna: Leave it, it's a Basic Original, it's not even worth its weight on board my ship nor the bullets to destroy it. Prepare to take off.

**Zagat nods his head then rushes to his ship. Byron curious looks at Fachtna and asks**

Byron: Are you just going to leave them there?

Fachtna: Alex and that rookie pilot won't be able to move without medical assistance and Shadi will be dead in about *looks at expensive gold classic watch* 3 minutes I say from blood lost but you're right, just to make sure

**In the blink of an eye Fachtna pulls out his gun and empties his magazine into the now close walls of the hanger side doors leading to the weapon vault. Naturally the bullets only make a very slight dent but it's the attempt that matters, almost immediately after the bullets make contact with the large iron doors alarms start going off.**

Speaker: Attention all personnel, an attempt to break into the weapon's vault has taken place, as accordance with policy the building will now self-destruct. All personnel have 10 minutes to evacuate or forfeit your life.

**The message plays again as Fachtna with long quick strides begins to quickly move towards Zagat's ship with Byron close behind.**

Fachtna: There, now they'll all be dead in 10 minutes.

**The camera cuts backs to the defeated warriors, each tried to challenge Fachtna alone and each now lay in defeat. Alex looks up at the speaker her face wrinkles in annoyance.**

Alex: That bastard intends to bury us alive, heh not that we could escape from here anyway.

**Says the once mighty Captain who hit rock bottom. Shadow still face down on the floor lifts up his head to Alex and asks**

Shadow: Hey, is that Kabira's dad?

**Alex looks at him surprise but seeing no point in arguing or wasting time lying she just tells the truth, they'll both be dead in a few minutes anyway.**

Alex: Yea that's the King, or was I should say before Fachtna killed him.

**Screaming in pain on many levels the black mass lifts up his hand and stabs his sword down on the ground using it like a cane to help himself up.**

Shadow: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

**Shadow's shirt is ripped completely open showing off his chest or what we can see through the blood. Interestingly enough we can see that Shadow doesn't have any abs. It's not like he's fat or anything he just hasn't develop any abs yet. Shadow manages to force himself to his feet.**

Alex (He can stand with that injury!)

**Shadow is white, well whiter than normal, he looks like he's going to pass out any second but self-anger, determination and stubbornness keep him up and active. Shadow begins moving towards Shadi, he stumbles after 2 steps but regains his balance and takes 2 more steps before collapsing again.**

**This time Shadow lands closer to Shadi. Alex looks at the moron who is refusing to accept his fate and asks**

Alex: What are you doing?

**Shadow begins to drag himself closer to Shadi.**

Shadow: Saving Kabira's dad!

Alex: Tis you're wasting your time, he's already dead.

Shadow: NO HE'S NOT! Look he's still breathing which means he can still be saved!

**Shadow's right, although it's very faint and getting fainter tiny rises and falls can be detected through Shadi's chest. He's still breathing but Alex remains skeptical.**

Alex: So he's got some life in him still, but that pool of dark red blood on the ground speaks louder than his little heartbeat.

**Shadow ignores her and slides himself closer to Shadi's wound into the deep crimson pool. Shadow keeps his head in the air so no blood gets on his face but his midnight black attire dyes red as it gets on his hands and chest mixing with his own blood. Shadow lets go of his sword and reaches around to his side.**

**We finally notice a matching black pouch hanging on Shadow's right side belt loop. The beg went unnoticed for 2 reasons, 1 it was behind his windbreaker and 2 it blends in with his clothing. He pulls out a syringe with blue liquid in it and quickly pops off the cap protecting the needle**

Shadow: Assiel to help the blood clot to stop the bleeding.

**Shadow stabs the syringe into a vein near Shadi's chest and presses the blue liquid into his system. Shadow pulls the syringe out once the liquid is all gone then throws it away. He quickly reaches again into his bag to pull out another syringe only this one has green liquid in it.**

Shadow: Raphael to help the healing factor and prevent infection.

**Shadow stabs the syringe into roughly the same spot then throws it away and reaches into a bag a third time pulling out a yellow liquid syringe.**

Shadow: And last but not least Haniel to speed up blood production in the bone marrow.

**Shadow for one last time reaches into his bag and pulls out some kind of duct tape looking like item. He begins to quickly pull off pieces of the tape and wrap it around Shadi's wound.**

Shadow: Finish things off by wrapping the wound in medical bandages. Come on old man, your daughter would be pissed at me if you died.

**While Shadow finishing sealing Shadi's wound Alex looks at him as if he just pulled a rabbit out of his hat or in this case highly expensive and hard to attain to the general public drugs.**

Alex: How do you have possession of those drugs? Only license emergency first medical responders should have access to them.

**Shadow finished wrapping Shadi's wound wipes his sweat filled forehead and puts the now blood soaked bandage tap back in his bag.**

Shadow: What can I say my GFC manager has connections.

Alex: Heh that was still pretty smart of you to bring them here, you might have just bought the king an extra 30 minutes not that it matters.

**Shadow gets a faraway look in his eye as we have a brief flashback to when Shadow fought those thugs to protect Kabira. The image itself is of Shadow covered in wounds and bath in his own blood. We come out of the flashback to show Shadow say quietly almost to himself.**

Shadow: I learn from my mistakes.

**A quiet moment ensues as these 2 enemies lay engulf in their thoughts then.**

Speaker: 7 minutes until complex destruction, all remaining personnel please evacuate.

**With lots of grunting and pain Shadow once more forces himself to his feet.**

Shadow: Well no time for chitchat let's get going.

**Finally Alex gets a better look at Shadow's chest wound, and with her tactician mind and instant replay ability figures out how Shadow can still move.**

Alex (His wound, it's shallow; on the surface it looks bad but that's only because it's bleeding badly. The cut isn't deep at all and no arteries or organs were hit, I see, Shadow did jump back at the last second. At the time it happened so fast that I just assumed Shadow jump back after the strike but when I rethink it it's possible that Shadow could have move back an inch before the blade touch his skin and in a fight an inch can be the difference between a lethal blow and life.)

**Alex smiles.**

Alex (Looks like that know it all Fachtna finally made a mistake.)

**While Alex thinks about this Shadow has lifted Shadi up and onto his back. Shadi being bigger and heavier then Shadow causes Shadow's wound to hurt like a son of a bitch but the Gundam Fighter grits his teeth and ignores the pain and walks on over to Alex. Alex looks up to see what he wants.**

Shadow: Come on we don't have much time.

Alex: What?

Shadow: I said get YOUR ASS MOVING!

**Alex looks at the kid standing in front of her and asks**

Alex: Are you a moron? You do realize I've tried to kill you on several occasions don't you?

**Shadow looks confused.**

Shadow: You have, when?

**Shaking her head with annoyance Alex explains**

Alex: I'm the captain of the ship that attacked you over the ocean and the ship you just attacked.

**Shadow with surprise recognition shouts**

Shadow: Wait that was you!

**Alex smiles to herself.**

Alex (I see, he didn't know I was an enemy and now that he does he'll)

**Shadow interrupts her thoughts by shouting excitedly**

Shadow: Those battles were awesome! I mean I never really did care much for strategy battles but those were so amazing, now I definitely can't leave you here, I want to have another one of those battles.

**Naturally Alex is shocked by this unusual response but this quickly turns to anger.**

Alex: What the HELL is the matter with you! I just told you I tried to kill you and your friends and your response is I want to save you! Look Fachtna shot my legs so I can't get up even if I wanted to so just go already.

**Shadow blinks not taking any offense to the yelling.**

Shadow: Oh sorry I didn't realize you couldn't walk; then I'll just carry you too.

Alex: MORON! Look at you with that wound on your chest plus you're already carrying Shadi, you can't carry 2 people and make it out of here! Why can't you take a hint, I don't want to be saved!

**Alex begins to speak softer, more sadly.**

Alex: My life doesn't matter anymore, this op with Fachtna was my last lead, I bet everything on it. I gave 3 years of my life to Fachtna so I could have access to this database only to find another dead end, another disappoint in life. There was no information on her here either; I just can't do this anymore.

**Sad, this isn't an enemy, this isn't a soldier, Alex just looks someone who's had a really hard life, someone whose been dealt a bad hand by fate one too many times and just wants to lay in her ditch and die. Shadow looks down at Alex and for the first time his face is unreadable.**

**Then with lightening reflexes he grabs Alex's elaborate emerald shirt and throws her onto his back.**

Alex: Whoa what!

**For a moment it looks like Shadow's legs might buckle under him as they begins to shake uncontrollably. His chest wound painfully rips open even wider as more blood pours out and splatters on the ground and to make matters worse the speaker comes back on.**

Speaker: 5 minutes until destruction of complex, anyone still left must evacuate now.

**But Shadow takes deep breathes as he forces his legs to steady out and ignores the pain and blood coming out of his body.**

Shadow: You're the enemy so that means I've got no reason to listen to you so shut up and let me carry your ass out of here.

**Shadow's eyes are serious, the most serious we have ever seen as they spark with an electric current, his Neon gauntlet begins to glow. Looking down in surprise Alex doesn't have long to gasp as Shadow begins to take one painful step at a time towards the normal doors and the long way out. The camera cuts forward in time, about 2 minutes to be precise. We're in the middle of one of the hallways as Shadow's leg gives causing him to crush to his knee.**

Speaker: 3 minutes until complex is destroyed.

Alex: Look you've reached your limit you can't carry us both out of here so just put me down and

**Shadow biting his lip as we see a blood trail behind him forces his leg to rise despite the extreme load.**

Shadow: I said SHUT UP, don't tell me what my limit is! We're going to get out of here!

**Shadow begins to march on his neon gauntlet glowing steadily as he carries the faithful and the faithless; he even manages to pick up the pace slightly. The camera cuts forward again in time another 2 minutes. Shadow's made it to the hanger but he looks bad; he's gotten deadly pale and is breathing really hard as he struggles to stay conscious.**

**We can see the ominous little red road leading all the way back to where he started.**

Speaker: 1 minute until self-destruct features engage.

**Shadow without a word turns in the direction of his Gundam and begins to walk there. Alex surrendering to fate by this point looks up at Nightwing and receives her final surprise for the evening.**

Alex (That black Gundam! Wait that's this kid's Gundam, so then this kid is the one who blind sighted me with a check. This little guy is the one who's been giving me all this trouble!)

**Alex looks down at Shadow giving him the whole "I thought you'd be bigger look" but when Shadow sees Nightwing a different thought enters his head.**

Shadow: That bastard! It's one thing to insult me but how dare he insult Nightwing, not trying to steal him, not even shooting him! Treating Nightwing like some worthless piece of scrap metal! We'll show that asshole what we're made of right Nightwing?

**Alex looks back and forth at the crazy guy talking to his Gundam. The camera once more cuts forward in time but this time just a few seconds. Shadow finally in Nightwing's cockpit throws Alex and Shadi off his back onto the wall outside the Zero-gravity's bubbles range.**

Shadow: Strap yourself and Kabira's dad in; it's going to be a bumpy ride.

**Alex leaning over to reach Shadi does what she's told while Shadow goes over to his locker room and quickly gets out his pilot suit, however when he starts taking off his clothes in front of Alex that's when she has a problem.**

Alex: Wait, what the hell are you doing!

**Despite being near death on a number of levels and reasons Shadow grins and says in his version of flirting.**

Shadow: There's no time to change anywhere else and besides if you look that says more about you then it does about me not that I would blame you, I am pretty hot.

**Alex turns away from the undressed Shadow.**

Alex: tis you rude little punk.

**Shadow gets change and steps into the middle of the zero-gravity field.**

Alex: You do know that using the NS system while your body has an open wound like that will only intensify the pain?

**Shadow replies sarcastically**

Shadow: Thanks for reminding me, Nightwing let's get going!

**The lights begin to come on as Nightwing activates.**

Nightwing: Activating S-generator.

**The camera cuts into Nightwing's core as we see a strange crystal be struck by an electric current and explode into a mini sun. The camera cuts back to the cockpit.**

Nightwing: Activating NS system.

**The black fog appears and quickly flies towards Shadow as the red lines spread across his body but this time the pain is a 100 times worse.**

Shadow: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

**When the red lines disappear Shadow looks fried and semi-conscious.**

Nightwing: Activating Zero-gravity bubble.

**The bubble appears and Shadow begins to float into the air, just in time as the camera cuts outside for the final countdown.**

Speaker: 3, 2, 1, self-destruction activated.

**We cut to various parts of the base as bombs go off creating huge explosions incinerating everything in the area. The camera cuts to the hanger as we see both the normal door and the iron door explode into flames, cracks begin to appear on circle wall leading to the surface as the already iffy lights blink out putting everything into total darkness, oh and did I forget to mention the huge larger then Gundam size chunks of rock coming off the wall. The camera cuts back into Nightwing's cockpit as Kenny appears on Shadow's helmet screen.**

Kenny: Shadow where the hell are! We already defeated the enemy ship and Cagalli, Nick and Roxas finished off the last of those Gundams

**Breathing hard at the very bottom of his deep wells of stamina Shadow wheezes out.**

Shadow: Kenny tell the medics to be ready for emergency care.

**Kenny's blue eyes grow wide with concern for his close friend.**

Kenny: Shadow talk to me, what the hell is going on

**Shadow cuts the communication line no longer having the strength to talk with Kenny, he looks up. The camera cuts outside as Nightwing looks up its green eyes shining in the dark at rock bottom, looking up at the very faint star which represents the top. The camera cuts back inside Nightwing's cockpit while a very pessimist Alex lists how screwed they are.**

Alex: We're at least 3 miles below the surface with no light, from what I've seen your Gundam can't fly and this place is falling apart on top of us, still think we can make it?

**Shadow doesn't respond at first, in a way looking up at the stars suits him, then he begins to speak more to himself then to Alex.**

Shadow: I'm going.

Alex: Huh?

Shadow: To the top.

**The camera cuts outside as Nightwing's thrusters roar to life. The thrusters combine with the lights coming from Nightwing's eyes create enough light so that Shadow can at least so in front of himself. Nightwing charges the wall as the camera cuts back inside his cockpit.**

Shadow: Fachtna you were right about me.

**The camera cuts outside to show Nightwing jump onto the wall and then kick itself off to the wall on the opposite side up in a zigzag fashion. We have a brief imagine of Shadow training with Drake on the spiral staircase before the camera cuts back into Nightwing's cockpit.**

Shadow: I did think beating up those soldiers so easily and finally beating Zain made me a great Gundam fighter.

**The camera cuts outside to show a section of the wall Nightwing lands on gives way. Nightwing flips backwards in a downward arc landing lower then were it was but Nightwing runs along the wall for a bit before gravity takes its hold. The camera cuts back inside Nightwing's cockpit.**

Shadow: But you showed me the truth, you showed me reality.

**The camera cuts outside to show Nightwing stop wall running and jump upward again once it starts to feel gravity take hold. Good news is that the light is getting brighter allowing Shadow to see much better. Bad news is the amount of debris falling has increase. The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit.**

Shadow: That I'm still at rock bottom but that's not going to stop me!

**The camera cuts outside to show the rain of rocks makes it impossible now for Nightwing to make a jump from one side of the wall to the other so instead Nightwing jumps from rock fragment to rock fragment still heading upwards. The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit.**

Shadow: I don't care if the road to the top is long; I don't care if the road to the top is hard, I'm GOING!

**The camera cuts outside to show Nightwing jump off a smaller rock fragment, it desegregates right after. Nightwing's trajectory is off and it's not going to land on any rock fragment, but Nightwing reaches out with its arm and grabs one and using all of its upper body strength Nightwing propels itself up like a freaking rabbit. The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit.**

Shadow: You hear me Fachtna me and Nightwing are going to the top, we're going to be better than we've ever been before!

**The camera cuts outside to show Nightwing is getting close to the surface, the sky is open wide for them to see but almost like god himself denies them access a huge section at the top of the circle wall collapses in on itself blocking the exit and sealing the base off. The camera cuts inside Nightwing's cockpit.**

Shadow: You may have given up but me and Nightwing aren't! So come on Nightwing don't fail me now, let's show Fachtna, let's show the world THAT WE AREN'T TO BE **UNDERESITMATED**!

**Shadow shouts at the top of his lungs. The camera looks down at his black Neon gauntlet to show it begin to glow even brighter than before, which finally draws Alex's attention.**

Alex (He's Neon Gauntlet, it's glowing brighter.)

**The camera cuts inside Nightwing's core to the bright white ball of light which is the S-generator. The S-generator puffs and seems to grow just a little bit bigger. The camera cuts outside to show Nightwing's green eyes flash with more power and in a swift and fast motion Nightwing grabs and activates its beam saber. Its green light brightens the darkness as Nightwing flies upward from all its momentum it generated combined with the thrusters. The camera does a split screen over Nightwing as it charges the wall, showing an unyielding Shadow.**

Shadow: HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

**The camera cuts outside to the surface of the desert, we're right over top of the spot where the base is supposed to be located. We can see the fresh brown turn earth sealing the entrance, for a moment nothing happens then BOOM; dirt explodes and showers the ground as Nightwing flies upward out of the hole and into the sky. Nightwing slows and for a moment it hangs in the air looking up at the sky, the episode ends with Shadow declaring.**

Shadow: So prepare yourself Fachtna, this isn't the end you hear me. THIS ISN'T THE END!


	61. Episode 60 Guns Drawn

Episode 60 – Guns drawn.

The episode opens up inside the Dark-Angel just outside the medical bay. Raheem, Kabira, Cagalli, Jack, Kenny, Nick, Roxas and even Zuke all wait outside with different levels of worry, concern and anger with the exception of Zuke whose black goatee rises and falls with his chest in deep and steady sleeping breaths. Raheem eyed the black geneist with anger. He had grown used to Zuke's rants of coordinator superiority but to sleep while one of Raheem's best friends Shadi lay near death! If Raheem had been in a better frame of mind he would have realized that the mere act of Zuke being there was in itself nice…for the geneist anyway but Raheem was blinded by his anger. He was still suffering from the loss of Salim who had been like a son to him. Fachtna had killed him, maybe not directly but Fachtna in the end was responsible for it, as he was for everything.

The nightmare was still fresh in his mind. Once Kenny lost signal with Nightwing everyone became worried. Shadow had simply told them that he was going to check out something and nothing more. It reached to the point where Nick, Cagalli and Roxas were going to launch again to investigate when the signal was re-established, but the news was not good. Kenny could not get much out of Shadow but that was not by choice. Shadow had been in too much pain to continue the communication link, a downside of the NS system. If the mind or body was too exhausted, the communication link would automatically shut off for the protection of the pilot. Kenny immediately ran a vitals scan of Shadow and the results were not good. Shadow's injuries were serious and needed immediate medical care. Shadow had managed to pilot Nightwing back to the Dark-Angel but the moment Nightwing had step into the Gundam bay it collapsed. Raheem recognized this wasn't a mechanical error but that the pilot himself had collapsed. Jack along with several other mechanics wrenched the cockpit open to reveal the most horrible scene Raheem had ever seen.

Shadow laid on the floor his skin was sickly white from blood loss but that was not where Raheem had been looking. Behind the young fighter lay the last person in the world Raheem had expected to see, his majesty the King. For one moment, a horrible unforgiving moment Raheem had actually thought Shadi was dead, another friend lost to the evil in the world. The medics immediately rushed in, they may have been lazy about mundane work but they took their job seriously when needed. The rest had gone by in a blur that Raheem barely remembered. The medics stared shouting to one another about emergency drugs they needed to administer, Shadow needed a blood transfusion ASAP and other comments that Raheem didn't register.

Raheem had been too busy blocking Kabira from seeing anything. Raheem had not been thinking, it had been a reflex to protect his young companion from seeing that horrible sight. Despite Kabira's pleads and punching, Raheem had not let her through, he would not allow Kabira to see her father so weak and near death nor Shadow who Raheem knew Kabira admired immensely. She would never voice this out loud but Raheem saw through her secret glances and the way she turned to look at him when he was making decisions or in Raheem's opinion crazy commands. Raheem suspected that Kabira had developed a hero crush on the dark figure and nothing hurt worse than seeing ones hero defeated.

Then the medics took Shadi and Shadow to the medical bay. Raheem still shocked himself, barely even registered the third person in the cockpit, a female with short black hair and a bright emerald coat. One thing though did stick, Shadi one of Raheem's closest friends still lived if only by a thread and that's where they were now. Waiting and praying, he had already said a thousand prayers to his ancestors, reciting all he could remember by name to give both Raheem and Shadow the strength to stay on this plane. Raheem could also lightly hear Kabira praying to her ancestors again. Roxas, Nick, Jack, Kenny, Cagalli and strangely enough Zuke stood close together taking comfort in each other's presence. Although Zuke still appeared uncaring about anything he at least kept silent. The door to the medical bay opened as the head doctor came out. He was tired, he had worked as hard as his body would allow him to, then worked even harder and now it was time to tell the loved ones the results.

"How are they Price?" Cagalli was so consumed with worry for Kabira's father and the block head that she had forgotten to address the doctor by his proper title. It had worried her at first to find out that their head doctor was a recovering alcoholic, which of course was why he was working here to begin with, no hospital would hire him. But after having several pleasant conversations with Price, Cagalli's worries were put to ease. While he still suffered from a drinking problem Price took his job as doctor seriously and never so much as looked at a bottle for at least seven hours before his shift, and he would sooner cut off his own hand then drink during. It was off duty where he struggled but he was working on it.

"They'll both be fine." Price told them while giving them a warm but tired smile. He saw the instant relief in tension as they all seemed to breathe a sigh of relief except for Zuke.

"Shadow lost a lot of blood and had a large laceration across his chest but we hemmed it together and gave him a transfusion. He should be fine in about a day. It was the other one I was really worried about."

"He has a NAME! It's SHADI!" Raheem snapped in anger. The detached way the doctor had talked about Shadi, the man who had helped him so much enraged him.

"Of course Shadi" Price did not take any offense from the muscular tanned man, it was common for loved ones to become angered at anything and it was always best to humor them until they calmed down.

"Shadi had suffered severe injuries including multiple organ and artery damage. His body had almost been severed in half. We've managed to repair most of his organs and arteries and have started him on drugs that should repair the rest and increase cellular regeneration. After that we'll begin to hem him together, the process will take a while since we have to reconnect muscle and nerve tissue but he's made it over the worst of it and we are expecting a full recovery within a month. It really is a miracle; someone had been smart enough to give him Assiel, Haniel, and Raphael, without it he most certainly would have died."

Kabira said a quick prayer thanking her ancestors. It had been Shadow who had saved her father. Kabira knew that Shadow had begun carrying around a medical pack with him which included Assiel, Haniel and Raphael since after his defeat by the thugs in Haben Harbor, though Kabira never asked him about it. She could tell that Shadow still felt ashamed of the incident although Kabira couldn't understand why. The prideful warrior had fought hard, and protected her. The way he kept getting up until his body literary started to fail him, the way he so willingly became a human shield for her, he would have given up his life for her and he didn't do it because he felt obligated to! He did it because they were friends, no in Kabira's opinion Shadow had nothing to be ashamed of in that fight, he had proven he was a hero.

"When can I speak with my dad?" Kabira asked the doctor.

"I'm afraid he's still unconscious and unfortunately the drugs we're giving him have been known to deepen sleep so he'll probably be out for a while. Shadow though and the other patient are awake, Shadow is still on the weak side but he refused to go to sleep like I asked and insisted on talking to you guys."

"I'm sorry mate but did you say other patient?" Nick asked curious. He had not been there when Shadow had gotten back and had only heard that somehow Kabira's father was also in the cockpit in bad condition.

"Yes, the third patient is female. She suffered gunshot wounds to both legs but we've already treated that. She'll be fine in an hour or two."

"Do you mind if we speak to Shadow, doctor?" Raheem asked.

"Raheem! Shadow needs his rest!"

Kabira cried out. Raheem knew it was unfair, he knew it was a little bit cruel to ask Shadow who had saved the ruler of Haben, and other questions after such intensive care but it had to be done. Something had happen, something big that would change things. If Fachtna had reached the point where he had kidnapped the King from the palace then he was no longer content to sit in the shadows and manipulate things from behind the scenes. He was making his move and Raheem had to know what that was for the sake of Haben.

"No Kabira, Raheem is right, besides you heard the doctor, Shadow wants to see us. Do you really think that bonehead is going to sit still if he doesn't get his way?"

Raheem looked over gratefully at Cagalli who was smiling kindly down on Kabira. It struck him again how the spiky haired blond seemed to understand Kabira's feelings so well. Cagalli was just able to connect with Kabira more than anyone, even himself and it was thanks to that that she always seemed to know just what to say to Kabira. Kabira smiles back at Cagalli as she thought about it.

"You're right; heh Shadow would hurt himself more if he doesn't get his way."

"It's alright but keep it brief and for the love of God try not to spike the heart rate on this one. My job is hard enough as is."

Nick tips his hat at the doctor. "We'll do our best mate."

The doctor nods his head and steps aside allowing the rest of the Shadow Knights and co. into the medical bay. Currently there were four patients in the medical bay, Shadow, Shadi, Alex and Jubal. Jubal and Shadi were still unconscious. Everyone except Alex was hooked up IV's and various medical drugs depending on their needs. Several things happened at once when everyone walked in. Kabira cried "Father" and ran to her dad's bedside. Cagalli, Jack, Kenny, Nick and Roxas rushed over to weary Shadow.

"How are you doing mate?" Nick asks but before Shadow can answers Cagalli snaps

"What were you thinking just going off on your own without telling anyone anything? You're the team leader you have to stop acting like a child!"

Shadow pissed off, is about to snap something when Jack interrupts "At least you didn't damage Nightwing as bad as I thought you would."

"Yea Shadow it looks like you're improving," Kenny says with a grin. Shadow just glares at Kenny, slightly annoyed at being cut off…again but then grins as he makes a joke.

"Yea, maybe I'm as good as Kira now." Shadow says this while starring at Cagalli who rolls her eyes annoyed.

"No you're not."

"Kira? Isn't that your brother Cagalli?" Jack asks Cagalli curious.

"Yes," Cagalli said with a sigh "unfortunately I made the mistake last night of telling Shadow that Kira was also a Mobil-I mean Gundam Pilot and then he had to know how good Kira was and if I thought Shadow could beat him."

"WHICH I CAN!" Shadow shouts despite Nick and Kenny telling him to calm down and not get so excited.

"NO YOU CAN'T. Trust me when I tell you that Kira could kick your ass in a hundred different ways in under a minute." Cagalli shouts in response taking a small amount of pride in her brother's skill. Jack curious asks

"Do you think you can tell me about his Gundam later?"

Surprise Cagalli just shrugs. "Sure."

"You're Alex Viper, Fachtna's consultant!"

It was Raheem that had shouted this in anger; he had been staring at the girl laying in the bed next to Shadow's when it finally hit him where he saw her before: in Fachtna's office. Alex was alive even though she wanted to be dead. She had bet everything on this lead that the information she wanted was in the Haben and Falk joint base but it wasn't, it was just another dead end. For the first time since Alex left Falk she was out of leads. When she had started there were hundreds of them so many that most would have given up but Alex had been determined. She worked slowly and carefully like picking each individual straw in a haystack trying to find the needle. She had spent _years _searching for her answers! She had given up so much, love, comrades, even her own morals. For a while now Alex was aware that she was sinking lower and lower. It had started out small, talking with a drug dealer here, flirting with a member of the mafia there but then it progressed. She started running drugs for dealers, planning heists to rob innocent people for no reason at all but to gain information from those that hired her, but it was the first time she planned a murder for the mafia did Alex realize just how far she had fallen but by then it was too late.

In her mind Alex decided it was too late for herself, she had already compromised her morals so she might as well go on, sink lower. For it she did not find answers then what would the point of it all have been? That had eventually led her to her last lead and Fachtna. Fachtna was by far the worst person Alex had ever worked with; at least the mafia had enough respect and self-control to not go and massacre hundreds of civilians for no other reason but to create chaos. Fachtna was cold hearted, ruthless and scariest of all, he was smart.

Fachtna knew that between his real job and his own agenda he needed a few smart people capable of working without the need for micromanagement. Which was were Alex, Zagat and Zain came in. While they were all listed as his consultants in case they needed to speak to him personally right away, in truth Zagat and his people were the ones in charge of helping Fachtna's corruption into the Haben political system spread, Alex and Zain were tasked with controlling the raiders to make sure they behaved according to the agreement and at times take direct action against anyone that got in Fachtna's way. Unknown to the others Alex had confronted Fachtna about his ultimate plan when they first met. Alex still did not know how Fachtna had heard about the secret base or its weapon, Alex herself had stumbled upon it in her search for answers, but it was clear that Fachtna had tracked it down from the Haben side while Alex followed from the Falk side. A deal was made, Alex and Fachtna would work together to reach the secret with Fachtna taking lead since he had already established a solid working ground and then when they got there Alex would be the key to the second lock and in turn she would have complete access to the bases files. She had never been sure what she would do when she got there. The Alex before her journey would have never agreed to the deal in the first place, the Alex midway through her journey would have only said yes but in reality stab Fachtna in the back. What held Alex back from doing this though was the fact that Fachtna was strong and smart. Even with all of her military training Alex wasn't sure if she could defeat Fachtna and for a long time Alex seriously considered giving him the weapon and just walk away.

It had scared her to think that she could seriously consider giving a weapon of mass destruction to this madman and not even care about how many people he would end up hurting but the world had been harsh to her and hardened her soul till only her burning desire for answers remained. In the end though her decision had been made for her, the files, the answers to which she had even given her soul to the devil to find where not there, it was another dead end. In her bitterness Alex had lied to Fachtna, not because she was good like Fachtna claimed but because she wanted to crush his dreams like hers had been crushed. From there her fate had been sealed. She had been resigned to death, to take her spot in hell when that brat had grabbed her and saved her. She still can't believe he managed to carry both Shadi and herself to his Gundam in time. How fitting for the man who had defeated her twice before to defeat her claim to death as well.

"ANSWER ME!" Raheem shouted. Alex had been so lost in her thoughts that she had barely heard Raheem the first time. She gazed lazily at him and replied casually

"Ex-consultant, Fachtna fired me."

After that everything happened in a blur, at least for Shadow. Come on give a guy a break, Shadow had spent all day fighting, he had to carry Shadi and that tall girl in the bright green clothes, who by the way were not light back to the Dark-Angel, and to top it off he got his ass kicked by that freaking crooked politician superman and what was up with that anyway? Politicians were not supposed to be strong; they're sleazy lying backstabbers whose sole abilities include a silver tongue, a black hole for a heart, and their mistress's number on speed dial. Nowhere in there did it include freaking superman abilities. Shadow had only ever seen one other person with that kind of superman skills: Drake. Shadow still didn't know how they were able to move like that. Both times Shadow hadn't even seen them move…no he had seen Fachtna, at the last second when Fachtna was pulling his blade out of his pocket and bringing it upward. If Shadow hadn't recently been training with Raheem on that whole heartbeat dodge and counter attack thing he would never have been able to dodge that strike. Well almost dodge, close enough anyway at least that's what the medics told him. The cut itself wasn't deep at all which is why he didn't bleed out although he came pretty close from what everyone, especially Cagalli, keeps telling him. Raheem said something about that girl...Alex being placed in the brig, whatever that was. Shadow vaguely remembered telling the others about what happen in that cave base thingy. After that he decided to take a nap.

Shadow awakens to the sound of whistling. He blinks a couple of times to regain his senses after passing out then looks around to spot Roxas sitting by his bed reading a book while whistling. In true Roxas style though, she was lying in her chair upside-down reading upside down, her red hair was touching the ground.

"Which animal are you imitating now?"

"None, laying upside-down is a trait numerous specious have, but no animal ever discovered by man was capable of reading a picture-less book."

Shadow sits himself up in bed and looks around the room real quick. That girl…Alexice maybe, well whatever she wasn't there. Kabira's dad and Jubal were still out cold although Jubal did look a lot better; the lucky bastard would probably be all right to go soon. Shadow looked back over to Roxas and smiled as he says in what he considers a seductive voice.

"Aw were you worried about me?"

"Not really, you can take a punch if nothing else. Jack, Kenny and Kabira decided that one of us should be watching you guys at all time. That's why I'm here wasting my time reading a book instead of trying to seduce Cagalli!" Roxas shouts accusingly at Shadow, as if this was his fault. Shadow just ignores her and asks

"So what happen to that other girl…Alice?"

Roxas bored turns a page in her book. "You mean Alex? You really suck at remembering names Shadow. Anyway Raheem brought her down to our jail cell for questioning a little while ago."

"The Dark-Angel has a jail?"

"I know right, and it's not called a jail cell either they call it the brig."

"Why?"

"I don't know, it's some kind of military thing, or ship term."

Roxas and Shadow ponder this for a moment, then Roxas looked up at her injured friend, hesitant for a moment then says slowly "I'm worried about Raheem; he's not acting like himself."

Some people like Cagalli thought Shadow was childish and irresponsible, but Roxas knew better. Shadow was a risk taker with poor team work skills but sometimes being impulsive was a good thing. As much as she loved Cagalli's breasts….the poor girl was just too damn slow to act. Cagalli had no problem with little things but when it came down to anything major Cagalli will just stand there all day analyzing the problem, all possible solutions and consequences, then deciding which course of action would bring the best outcome. While that in theory sounds good, the amount of time that it requires is ridiculous if not infinite which is why Roxas asked Shadow for help. Shadow might not handle the situation in the best way but at least he would act sometime this century.

"I know."

#######

_Location: Dark-Angel's conference room._

Alex was currently handcuffed to a chair being interrogated by the captain of the Royal Guard.

"For the last time what are Fachtna's plans?" Raheem slams his hand down upon the table while leaning in close to Alex, glaring at her. The soldier had been trying to question her for the last couple of hours but Alex had refused to cooperate. It wasn't as if she was trying to protect Fachtna, she cared as much about him as he for her, no it was simpler than that. Alex was hurting; the world had hurt her so why should she help it or anyone else for that matter.

"I request an attorney."

"DON'T SCREW WITH ME!" Raheem's normally kind chestnut brown eyes burned with rage as he finally lost his cool and flipped the long table over. Not that it did any good since Fachtna's ex-minion just stared at him with dead eyes. No matter what he asked that was always her response. While it was true that Haben law stated that someone accused of a crime had the right to an attorney that right was suspended during times of war if the crime or capture of the suspect happened in the middle of a combat zone which Raheem was positive Alex knew. Even if he did humor her, the amount of time it would take to send for a lawyer would be far too long and unfortunately Haben law didn't recognize video or holograms as a lawyer's presence.

"Fachtna is doing something big! Shadow told us that the traitor grabbed something from that old base, something valuable or dangerous enough that the base had been rigged with explosives. If you tell me what it was and what he was planning on doing with it I'll talk with the judge to make sure you don't get the death penalty for your crimes."

"I request an attorney."

It was too much, her uncaring look, the fact that she had information that could save Haben yet would not speak it. For all Raheem knew this demon girl could have been the one to kill Salim, the young man who was robbed of his chance of becoming a great leader in the Haben military. _If she wouldn't talk willingly, then I'll make her talk_, thought Raheem as he raised his hand preparing to strike the helpless woman handcuffed to the chair.

"Raheem!" Raheem clenched his fist in anger as a voice stopped the act. Cagalli had walked into the room and now stares at Raheem appalled.

"She will not talk, and I don't have time to play games." Raheem spoke coldly. It was a good thing Cagalli had told Kabira to stay outside, to see her normally kind bodyguard act in such a monstrous way would have hurt the young girl dearly. Kabira had earlier expressed her concern to Cagalli about Raheem's uncharacteristic behavior but Cagalli hadn't realized the extent of the problem until now.

"I've talked with Kabira, Raheem about Haben law regarding prisoners. You can't hit her nor is any other form of torture allowed by Haben law, even during war." The wise girl spoke the truth. It had long since been Haben law that torture was forbidden by all. Even today it was a hot topic discussion that not all agreed with; several times bills had been proposed to allow it under extreme circumstance, like war or against criminals who threatened the safety of a large number of the population but the bill never got enough votes. At the end of the day no one wanted to say they had voted for torture. Raheem slowly and reluctantly lowered his fist.

"Send the traitor's minion back to the brig, maybe in an hour or two she'll open her mouth and start talking." _Though not likely, _Raheem thought.

A thousand different thoughts began to enter Cagalli's mind as Raheem began to walk away. For starters she had undeniable proof now that Raheem was acting differently from his normal calm and composed demeanor. It was no longer a sneaking suspicion or just gut feelings, whatever was bothering Raheem was affecting his judgment and his actions. For him to be able to torture the prisoner, even something some people would call minor, like ruffing the suspect up showed a clear lack of self-control and moral degeneration. If Raheem had done it and if it ever came out in the light he would almost certainly lose his position in the Haben military. But what Cagalli feared more than that was of what became of the noble man's sole. To cross the line between honorable soldier and torturer was not a good thing, no Raheem could no longer be trusted to overcome whatever was bothering him on his own, for his own sake and for Kabira's something had to be done….but what? Cagalli could openly confront him but Raheem was a proud strong warrior and might not response well to any open confrontation. She could try to be subtle about it, but Raheem might ignore her if she doesn't talk about the issue that's bothering him. Cagalli suspected that one of the trigger causes was the death of Salim, though Cagalli herself didn't know Salim well she could see enough from the way the two acted around each other that they were close. Still the subtle approach had its own downsides as well, if Cagalli said the wrong thing she would end up pushing Raheem further into his growing madness. Although Cagalli understood loss she had never been capable of killing someone for it.

Sure there had been a couple of close calls, like when she thought Kira had died by Athrun's hand but even still she had been more angry with herself then Athrun. Thank God she had not been able to kill Athrun but that was because of her own strong morals and Athrun's character, no this was a different situation. This girl Alex was not Athrun showing his own pain over the death of a close friend and confusion, she was cold and uncaring, and Raheem was not Cagalli. Cagalli could see it in his eyes, Raheem could kill someone in cold blood, he was already that far gone. Perhaps an open confrontation would be the better move; she could set it up like an intervention. That way there would be no slip of tongue or twist of words; their meanings would be clear and loud. Still… It would not be until ten minutes later that Cagalli realized that Raheem had already left; leaving Alex in Cagalli's charge to transport to the brig, and Cagalli would be no closer to deciding on what to do about Raheem.

#####

_Location: Haben Palace._

_This day could not get any worse_, thought Hirsi as he walked down the hallways leading from the balcony where he had last scene the king to the king's bedroom. It was a little bit difficult to maneuver around the police and security since they almost crowded the entire path looking for clues but Hirsi was agile if nothing else. Parliament was in an uproar, the king had been missing for almost two days now and Hirsi had been the last person to see him. They had lost half a day on the search since there had been no signs that something had happened to the king and he had not just gone out without telling anyone but Hirsi knew better.

The moment his majesty had missed his first appointment Hirsi knew something was seriously wrong, despite the King's frame of mind the last time Hirsi had seen him he knew that Shadi would never ever miss an appointment with no notice. Hirsi had spent the next three hours going over all of the security footage of the exits and of the last moments the King was seen on camera entering his housing section of the palace. The king was never seen on camera again. After what might have been a millionth replay Hirsi noticed a slight flicker on the last frame of the door to the King's housing section closing, after calling the tech experts over they confirmed that someone had messed with the security cameras. This lead to only one logical conclusion, someone had kidnapped the King. While Raheem remained absent Hirsi was in charge of the King's protection and palace guard which meant that many in parliament were already calling for his job. Hirsi paid them no mind, they needed him now; with both Shadi and Raheem missing Hirsi alone was the highest ranking office in the military. Unless proof was found of him being somehow involved with the King's disappearance they would not remove him yet. Besides Hirsi's anger fueled him and gave him strength, someone had come in past his security and kidnapped one of his closest friends from literary right under his nose, when Hirsi caught the people responsible he would should no mercy.

"Sir you're needed in the military command center immediately." A messenger had caught up to Hirsi as he was about to enter the king's housing section for the fifty-seventh time. Angry at this disruption Hirsi snaps "I'm busy looking for our king, have someone else sign my God damn paperwork today!"

Feeling that was enough Hirsi moves to go into the room when the messenger grabs his arm. Hirsi surprised turns again to look at the messenger and for the first time takes in the signs of panic in his eyes and in the small but constant shake of his arms.

"Sir you don't understand, you need to get to the military command center right away."

####

_Location: Azize's military command center. Time: 10 minutes later._

Hirsi burst into the military command center, a large spacious room with over a dozen computer terminals, a dozen different monitors lining one wall, and at least two dozen people running around. In the center stood the 3D model of Azize, with the highest ranking officers other than himself looking over it already forming a strategy. Hirsi's day had just gotten worse.

"What's the situation?"

"Sir a large number of unknown ships are approaching the city's boarders." One of the computer techs answered him.

"How many and how long do we have until they hit us?"

"We're getting over three dozen ship signatures sir, the unknown vessels will reached the city's boarders within two hours sir."

"TWO hours? Why am I just hearing about this now?" Hirsi demands to know. The tech looks a little skittish then answers slowly

"Our surveillance satellite for this region was shut down last month due to the cost of upkeep and we haven't finished upgrading our long range scanners."

Hirsi curses then snaps "Sound the Gundam alarms within the city. Level one battle stations, all personnel are to report to active duty right this minute. Have the troops organized and then have them begin helping the civilians evacuate to the Gundam shelters starting with hospitals and schools then moving into residential areas. With that done have them take up defensive formations Gerico and Calltro around the city but make no mistake, evacuating the civilians to safety takes priority. Also contact all military forts within Haben, have the ones nearest to us send the troops they can spare for backup while the rest begin patrolling the Haben boarders in case of evasion or attack."

"Yes Sir!" Shouted all within the command as they began to fulfill Hirsi's orders. This wasn't good, the king was missing and whoever was attacking had assembled a decent size force equaling that of the current troops within Azize. The closest backup would be three days journey away, two if they were lucky. While the civilians of Azize practiced Gundam drills like every major city on Sora it would still take time to evacuate and clear an entire city. Hirsi could hold back another thirty minutes but then he would be forced to order his troops to stop aiding the civilians and begin taking up their defensive stance.

#####

_Location: Liberators of Haben's command ship. Time: two hours later_

Serafina was standing in the war room overlooking the battle plan being form by the Liberators top tacticians. Serafina may have brought the rebels together and he may be the best Gundam pilot in the force but that doesn't mean he knew a damn thing about long term strategies, he was still young after all. That was alright though since Serafina was able to admit it, if he could not make brilliant battle plans himself then he would order the best tacticians within the army to make them for him.

"Mr. President all troops are in position to attack on your order's sir. From what our scouts and scanners are reporting the Royal's army is still scrambling to make a solid defense formation. If we attack now we can make a clean break into the city itself."

Then again just because they were better tacticians then he was didn't mean they always knew what was the right move to make. War was not just a battle of machines and weapons after all.

"No, the Royals have already been brainwashing the people's minds into believing that we are nothing more than bloodthirsty extremists. If we attack without restating our demands we'll be nothing more than the terrorists they make us out to be."

Some of his advisors looked disapprovingly at this decision while others nodded their head, either way Serafina had made up his mind.

####

_Location: Azize's military command center._

Things were still not looking good. Despite all of Hirsi's and the Haben military's best efforts more than eighty percent of the civilian populations were still not evacuated to the Gundam shelters. Hirsi once again cursed, while Gundam drills were performed every three months it was only in designated and notified areas and Hirsi could not remember the last time they did a city wide Gundam drill, just because of the looting and rioting it caused without heavy police and military presence. Now more than ever Hirsi wished they had practiced city wide Gundam drills. He could feel time being wasted like whips whacking his back, shelters were filling up at rapid rates causing people to stand on line for valuable time while they struggled to count to see if they were full or not then they would have to inform the people they were and tell them which shelters still had room, not that it matter since more time was wasted with people going to those shelters only to find out that they had become full. That wasn't even including the looting and rioting that had broken out all over the city, the police were overwhelmed, they needed military support and Hirsi desperately wanted to give them it but their defense line was weak enough as is and he needed to strengthen it as much as he could before the enemy attack. If only he had more time.

"Sir, the enemy fleet is contacting us. It's the rebels."

The rebels! Of course, Hirsi knew they had been gathering their forces but no one had suspected they would be capable of attacking a city, especially Haben's capital. Hirsi with a nod to the young soldier who had informed him, walked over to one of the wall monitors then nods to one of the techs to connect the communication. Hirsi was momentarily caught off guard by the young kid who appeared before him. _By the ancestors, he must be near Kabira's age_, thought Hirsi as the young Haben began to talk.

"I am Serafina Milena, president of the Liberators of Haben, to whom am I speaking with?"

Hirsi clenched his fist as he had to resist the urge to cut the communication link right then and there. For a kid this age to claim to be the leader of the rebels was an outrage and insult but Hirsi needed to buy time right now. "I am Hirsi Semper fidelis, captain of the Royal Attack."

"I see," replied Serafina as he looked around the room searching for the tyrant.

"I wish to speak to the Shadi Tahsin."

Hirsi gritted his teeth struggling to contain his rage from the way this insolent brat addressed his majesty by his first name but he had to remain calm, every second he bought with this conversation was another second closer to a better defense formation.

"I'm afraid that the king is unavailable at the moment."

Serafina suspected as much. If he was an evil cowardly tyrant who had set his own daughter up in a trap only to find out it had failed and left clear evidence back to him he would hide too. "Heh hiding in some hole no doubt."

That was it! There was only so much a man could take before he had had enough! The king who had fought to defend the rebels from their well-deserved fate: being blasted by a beam cannon by the full force of the Haben military, who was even willing to meet them halfway in there ridiculous demands by resigning his own position just for the sake of peace was kidnapped and probably in grave danger and here is this snot nosed brat calling his friend a coward! Come to think of it the timing of this attack was a little too perfect.

"Our demands are-"

"We know your outrageous and insane demands already! Did you think we wouldn't monitor your website?"

Serafina blinked in surprise at this royal dog cutting him off but his eyes quickly narrowed. "So if you know our demands will you give in or will you fight?"

"The Haben military will never give in to demands made by terrorist especially terrorists that kidnapped our KING!"

Gasps of surprise rang throughout the Azize military command center as almost everyone stopped what they were doing and turned to stare at the accused on the screen. Serafina quickly thought _Shadi has been kidnapped? No the timing is a little too perfect, the tyrant gets kidnapped right after his plan to cripple us fails, not likely. I see now the high ranking military staff is working with Shadi to make Fachtna their scapegoat, they must have been the ones to manipulate Kabira's mind into believing that conspiracy crap._

"HA you expect me to believe that crap? Covering for your king won't save him!"

"Trying to play ignorant huh? Fine, then once we defeat you we will rip the king's whereabouts from you!"

"We will attack in twenty-four hours! We give this time to not strengthen your defenses but so that the civilians can make it to safety. We will not give you any more time so make use of what you have!" Serafina could already hear the cries of protest from this decree behind him. No doubt the council will chew his ass out for this but Serafina would not allow this organization to become a ruthless monster. They would do all they could for the civilians and if any did die during the battle it would be the fault of the royals for not protecting them!

Hirsi as did the rest of the military command blink in surprise of this kindness as the traitor cut the communications link. Hirsi could not be sure if this was a ploy to make them weaken there defense so they could attack them when their backs were turned but if that was the case why even bother to contact them and not just attack straight away?

"Sir if the rebels are serious that means we have an additional twenty-four hours to strengthen our defense line!" One of the commanders shouted with joy. Yes in twenty-four hours they could most certainly have the troops in Azize form into a strong defense formation around the city but…

"Have all troops that aren't already in a defense formation return to the city and begin helping the police to stop riots and looting as well as help the civilians into the Gundam shelters."

This statement was met with several cries of protest, with the majority being "We can't waste our manpower helping the civilians."

But in a loud booming voice Hirsi cuts them all off. "YOU people seem to be forgetting that we are soldiers and as soldiers our first duty is to protect the people! Not land, not buildings, not even ideas; our first duty is always, ALWAYS to protect the people and as the current leader of this army that is what I'm ordering all of you to do!"

After a moment of silence the soldiers replied to the captain of the Royal Attack. "Yes Sir!"

######

_Location: A building in Azize that Fachtna has complete control over._

Fachtna was having one of the best days of his life. With the chaos of the pending attack by the rebels and the king's disappearance, no one had bothered to check on his whereabouts. He had expected to have to deal with several annoying questioners but nope not one had shown up. It had paid off for Fachtna to act as an easy forgettable politician. Valuable enough to be included in small cabinet meetings of the king's trusted advisors but unimportant enough that no one bothered to asked his opinion about any issue. The perfect position, one capable of observing everything while at the same time unlooked upon.

Fachtna was currently pacing the hallways to keep his excitement under control. Vent De La Mort was being setup in the desert by his best mechanics, the machine had been well built and there had been far less need for repairs then he had originally thought. Very soon Vent De La Mort would be ready to activate and its first target would be Azize, eliminating both the rebels and the Haben army. Lose end problem all solved and then he could move on to better and grander things. Zagat walked up to Fachtna and matches pace with him.

"Ah Zagat has the modifications to my Gundam been completed yet?"

"Almost sir"

Fachtna knew something was wrong with Zagat. The little weasel wasn't smiling and soaking in his knew found role as Fachtna's right hand man, or even the warm way Fachtna had greeted him. Not that it mattered since Fachtna's day was going too great for anything to ruin it. "Spit it out already Zagat, silence does not suit you."

Zagat knew how bad Fachtna's temper could get, especially if you ruined his good mood, and for a moment he actually wished someone else had been promoted to Fachtna's second in command but he dashed the thought aside and summed what little courage he had.

"I've reviewed the footage from the security cameras we had set up by the Haben and Falk secret base…A black Gundam escaped from the base as it was collapsing."

The effect was instant; Fachtna stopped moving and turned to glare angrily at Zagat with his yellowish brown eyes. "WHAT?"

That was impossible! None of those three should have been in any condition to move, let alone pilot a Gundam out of there. No time was not to be wasted now; he had to assume the worst. All three had survived and were heading his way with Shadi's brat's Gundam team. Alex would have been turned so they must know all about his weapon and its weaknesses. "Brogan and Daly should be nearby looking for work from the upcoming battle, contact them and agree to pay whatever they want, also tell the mechanics to work double time on repairing Zain's Gundam."

Zagat looked up in surprise at Fachtna. The boss rarely ever went to outside help, even if he was low on man power. Things were getting serious very quickly; Brogan and Daly were mercenaries similar to Zain only they did solo hunts whereas Zain worked with a ship and crew. This worked very well for Zain since it had been his crew who had pulled Zain's safety pod from the desert. Still Brogan and Daly were equal to Zain with their Gundams and own set of piloting skills. "Boss are you sure?"

"YES I'm sure! An enemy that should have died has arisen from the grave and are probably heading this way right now! I'm tired of wasting my time with swarm techniques, these Shadow Knights are strong so I need equally strong Gundams to challenge them and tell Zain to stop screwing around and use his second sword already! I know he likes to fight with only one sword so as to purposely make the battle more difficult for himself but I won't have it! He is to fight with his Gundam at full power and with both his swords!" Fachtna would not let these Shadow Knights come and ruin all that he has worked for.

Zagat bows deeply and replies "As you wish sir"

#####

_Location: Dark-Angel's brig. Time: 15 hours after Serafina's decree._

The mind goes funny after one's hopes and dreams are completely crushed. Then again hopes and dreams weren't the right words; it was more like a desire. A desire for answers that had consumed everything, and with it gone nothing but a crushing despair remained. Alex sat in the bed inside the brig which looked like a police stations holding cell, with a single bed, some room to walk and bars blocking the only exit. There was one D-crew member stationed as a guard while the other one had gone up to collect food. He came down now holding three trays of what all the crew had deemed slop. He kept one for himself, handed another to his friend and passed the third underneath the bars to Alex.

"Here's your food, you've got one plastic fork and one plastic knife that we're collecting afterwards so don't try anything."

Alex eyed the man then the food with dead eyes. She wouldn't have tried anything anyways, there was just no point. Alex got off the bed and picked up the food tray and began to play with her slop. Her brain had long since stopped working and progressed into a self-pity coma so her body just reacted on instinct and her instincts told her to eat, so she did. Then something happened, the taste of the slop as insane as it sounds began to trigger something in her brain. Alex had expected to receive prisoner food, food that was designed to be healthy and taste horrible but this was a completely different monster. It was as if whoever had cooked it had tried to make it taste good as crazy as that sounded, and that made it taste even worse. It wasn't designed to taste bad which Alex could take, no this was screw up by the cook, a cooking screw up of the worst kind and that offended Alex for she herself was a cook. She tried to ignore it; she tried to go back to her dead dream state but like a person awoken from sleep it was impossible to attain that again.

"What the hell is this crap?" Alex threw her food startling her guards who jumped up and quickly went for their guns.

"I know I'm your prisoner but what on Sora did you do to whatever that was, to make it taste so bad? It's inhuman to feed anyone that god damn slop!"

It's was only when the guards looked away embarrassed and Alex wide eyed glanced at their food did she discover that they too were eating that horrible abomination.

"Yea our cook kind of sucks."

"Sucks? Sucks is the greatest understatement of the year! That food was not fit to be eaten by animals, that food's existence offends me and my palate! I demand to speak to the cook responsible for such atrocities so that I can set him straight for all the chefs in the world!" Alex was aware she might be taking this a little too far but she couldn't help it. Her father was a chef, she had learned to cook since she was a child and the first thing her father had taught her was pride in food. Pride in the artwork which was cooking which was why Alex tended to go a little nuts when she found people half-assing cooking jobs.

"Wait you can cook?"

"I have been trained as a chef of the highest degree and can cook food five times greater than this in my sleep."

The two guards with hope in their eyes crouched low together and began whispering to one another so Alex couldn't hear. Though she did catch one part

"Shadow's the only one who's crazy enough to actually listen to this idea."

"Dude I'm so starved for good food that I'll sell my soul to the devil, let's go ask him." And after Shadow was brought down to the brig where Alex once more proclaimed that she could make food better than this in her sleep Alex found herself in the kitchen cooking once more.

####

_Location: Dark-Angel's cafeteria Time: eighteen hours after Serafina's decree_

The flames over the stoves roared as Alex instructed each cook on what temperature to set each stove at. Alex used the term cook loosely; it was the clear to her the moment she entered the cafeteria that none of these "cooks" had ever had any experience cooking anything other than microwavable food. Dicing together vegetables, mixing spices, hell even properly cooking steaks was beyond their abilities. Alex with a quick fluid motion cut onions and tomatoes while at the same time flipped the contents within the frying pan over the fire.

"How's the coboase meat coming and where the hell are the spices?" Alex shouted. She could have turned around to look herself but the sight of the armatures cooking the meat and mixing the spices would have been too painful for her to bear. Satisfied that the vegetables were chopped and that the Iolkg was properly stirred she rested the frying pan over the stove and went to inspect the soups while quickly glancing at the oven where the bread was being baked, she had made the dough herself from scratch.

"Coboase meat is going to be another five minutes….I think."

"The spices are almost ready."

Having no choice Alex glanced over and grimaced at the way the rest of her cooks were cooking their assigned items. "I said ¾ cup of beer on the meat NOT freaking 5/4 cup so stop freaking eye balling it and get a God damn measuring cup out NOW! For the love of God how many times do I have to tell you, twist when you mix the spices not pound!"

The cooks cowered in fear of the woman who had turned her emerald green coat inside out to reveal a white chefs outfit.

"Yes ma'am, right ma'am." Several of them shouted and then ran into each other on their way to accomplish whatever task she had set before them before she unleashes her rage. Alex rolled her eyes at this display then proceeded back to cooking. Despite all of these hassles Alex was happy; it felt good to be cooking again. The smells of the spices, the cooked meats, soups, and bread; the warmth from the flames and bustling of bodies flying around to complete the cooking for herds of people; the sounds of knives slicing food, people shouting to one another, the sizzling of meat, the hissing of cooked vegetables, the footsteps made by those outside waiting in anticipation; there was nothing in the world like cooking in a kitchen.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?" Shouted Zuke from the entrance of the cafeteria as he, Cagalli, Nick and Raheem stared dumbfounded by the chef cooking their food; the very same person who had tried to kill them on several occasions. It was unlike Zuke to become this emotional, but this situation was so ridiculous that it called for an equally outlaying response. Of course if something was ridiculous that meant that only one person could be behind it.

"Hey guys, over here I saved us a table!" Shadow was sitting down at a table without a care in the world. Kenny, Jack, and Roxas were also sitting at the table. Cagalli had heard about this mysterious new chef from the crew and suspecting something amiss marched down here to get to the bottom of it, but this was so crazy that not even crazy could describe it.

"Shadow what the hell are you doing? Why are you letting the prisoner cook OUR FOOD?"

"Her name is Alex."

Kenny popped in but Cagalli's flaming eyes sent him right back down.

"Relax princess you worry too much, I still have guards watching her."

Cagalli glances at the guards supposedly watching the prisoner. They weren't so much as watching her as they were eating the food she served to them.

"I feel safer already." She says with heavy sarcasm.

"Come on mate don't you feel this is a little more dangerous than normal?"

"If she was cooking something bad I'll be able to smell." Roxas said to Nick with confidence, while Jack adds

"I don't care if the chef is the devil himself at this point, just as long as he knows how to cook."

"ARE YOU MORONS INSANE?" Everyone in surprise looks up at Zuke who has lost his perfect mask of nonchalance. "This is the same woman, who for weeks now has been trying to kill us and you're just going to let her have access to our kitchen WHERE WE EAT!"

Alex focused completely on her cooking walks over to them and begins passing around a plate of steaming hot unidentified food to everyone at Shadow's table.

"Thanks Alex."

"Next time Shadow pick up your own God damn food, I'm not a server!" Alex replies rudely as she turns and walks. Shadow grabs his fork and is about dig in when Zuke interrupts again.

"Don't eat that! She obviously poisoned it so that she can escape!"

Kenny leans in to Jack and whispers "I've never heard Zuke talk so much before."

"I know."

"I'm a coordinator you stupid naturals I can HEAR YOU!"

Zuke glares at them but when he turns back around Shadow and Roxas have already started eating.

"Oh my freaking God it's so God damn good!" Tears of joy are streaming down Roxas's face as she abandons her silverware and dives face first into her plate devouring it like a half-starved dog.

"Noehk dotjesj thalka posjejiktw to me." (Nope doesn't taste poisoned to me.) Shadow says between mouthfuls of food and he struggles to slam more of the delicious stuff into his mouth. Kenny and Jack take one look at this then dive in too.

"I can't live like this anymore. I rather die happy."

"Screw it I'm hungry."

Zuke further enraged turns to Nick and Cagalli for support. Raheem seems to have disappeared.

"You know I'm going to agree with Shadow on this one mate just because it bugs you so much mate." Nick says with an evil grin having finally found something that upsets the asshole, Nick sits down and begins to eat as well just leaving Cagalli. Cagalli didn't want to be the only one agreeing with the geneist for very clear reasons. Cagalli despite all logic found herself inclining with Shadow; it was something to do with the way the prisoner…Alex looked. So focused on her task but there was still a crushing sadness about her, Cagalli understood the need to do something or else the sadness would crush you. Shadow also looked so calm and confident that she wouldn't betray them, it was a little unsettling about how certain he could become about something. There was no doubt in his mind.

The final straw though was the fact that Cagalli was hungry. Not even Desert Dawn had served food this bad and she was just sick of it, so when her stomach growled Shadow looked up and asked "Are you going to eat it or not? Because I will if you don't."

Cagalli reluctantly sat down to the outrage of Zuke and began to eat the greatest meal she had ever tasted in her life.

"FINE but when she comes and slits your throats in your sleep don't tell the reaper you were blind sighted!" With that Zuke marches away, leaving a very heated fight about who would get his food.

####

_Time: 21 hours after Serafina's decree._

_Those lazy bastards_, Alex thought as she began to wipe down and clean the stoves and the entire Kitchen by herself. Apparently just because she was a prisoner they felt she had to do the whole cleanup work by herself…_whatever_. Alex was feeling a little bit better; it had been a long time since she had been in a kitchen. Not since she joined the Falk army, sure she always made her own food but that dull in comparison to the rush she got in a real kitchen designed to cook for multiply people. Not those silly little ego kitchen in houses. Alex took a moment to look around at the empty tables and took a great amount of pride in her work. Just hours before it had been packed, full of people who had heard stories of the wonderful food she had made and even more just wanted seconds or thirds. She had cut off the demand at seconds, even though the food supplies were extremely well stocked, to her surprise, it was never a good idea to go around wasting food in an uncertain situation. The only reason she had even allowed seconds was because of the relatively small crew they had, the smallest she had ever seen for a ship. Alex had overhead the argument the leaders of this Gundam team were having. She would have sided with the tall black man; it still came as a shock that the team leader Shadow had actually let her work in the kitchen. While it was true that the thought of drugging them to make her escape had crossed her mind, it was immediately crushed by her overwhelming pride as a chef. To a chef there was no worse disgraced then someone getting sick off the food you had made. Her father had said "Alex it could be the tastiest chicken in the world but if it causes the customers to become sick it is a complete failure." Alex was in the middle of cleaning the second grill when she heard footsteps behind her. She sighed as she said

"The kitchen is closed, come back later."

"I did not come here for the food."

It was the cold way the man had said it that set Alex on guard. She turned around to see the man who had tried to interrogate her earlier…Raheem.

"Alex Viper for crimes against Haben, for the murder of Salim, with my authority as captain of the Royal Guard I hereby sentence you to death." There was no hesitation, there was no doubt as he drew his sword and lifted it high over his head. He was too close; the criminal could not escape no matter which way she dived, if she chose to do so. Her emerald eyes open wide in realization. The episode ends with Raheem beginning to bring his blade down.

_Author's note: I'm BACK! Like the phoenix I have arisen from the ashes of despair to emerge hopefully stronger and better than ever. There's just so much to talk about where do I even begin, ok happy holidays to everyone! The first thing I should address is the switching of format; I've always said that if enough people told me to I would switch to novel format. I still feel that it's a little rough compared to other fanfics but I'll do the best I can and hopefully it will become better in the long run._

_Next up I like to introduce my new editorAurelian620, take a bow you're awesome you deserve it. She has volunteered to help with my horrible grammar so that should improve if nothing else about my story does, she's also been a great help with spotting plot holes or mistakes and I like to take a moment to dedicate this episode to her._

_Third thing up is that I have gone back and proof read all of my previous episodes, so if you read back you shouldn't see mistakes like I don't know RIFT instead of rifle (it scares me a little when I make such a constant mistake and yet no one says anything about it). I have also tweaked something's with the heaviest changes being in the first 5 episodes, episode 1 which I titled _The end _has also been completely rewritten in novel format, so tell me what you guys think about them compared to the original. If you guys like the original more I can always put it back up._

_One last thing, before you guys say anything Aurelian620 only helped me with the grammar on the first 5 episodes and from this onwards, episode 6 through 59 you're stuck with me proof reading and correcting it. I like to say I corrected a bunch of mistakes but since I'm the one who made them in the first place there's probably more I didn't see again. *sigh* but I just wanted to say that's not her fault, that's mine but enough of me ranting. Gundam Seed Shadow is back and it's going to get __better!_


	62. Episode 61 Triggers Pulled

Episode 61 – Triggers pulled

The episode opens up with Raheem's rectangular blade slowly coming down towards the startled chef. Alex's emerald eyes open wide as her life flashes before her eyes seeing that the end draws near. Just as Raheem's blade comes within a ruler of the top of Alex's head, a black smaller blur slams into Raheem's side successfully tackling the soldier to the ground. Raheem curses himself for being so focused on the execution of the prisoner that he forgot to pay attention to his surroundings then quickly punches his attacker three times in the chest.

Shadow's breath gets knocked out of him as he rolls over to get distance between himself and Raheem. In hindsight it probably hadn't been a good idea to tackle a fully trained elite soldier but then again since Raheem hadn't sliced him in half like he normally would have when Shadow tried sneak attacks, Shadow suspected he wasn't the only one off his game. Shadow did allow himself to take pleasure in the fact that his hunch about Raheem doing something stupid was right. It was out of character for Raheem to leave the cafeteria without agreeing with Cagalli in saying how stupid Shadow's idea about making Alex their temporary head cook until they could drop her off at a police station was. Which was why Shadow double backed to the kitchen after talking to one of Alex's guards who had told him that Raheem had relieved them of duty, thus leading to the tackle and present events.

Raheem gets up first with his sword still in hand. Shadow is close behind and takes a step in-between Raheem and Alex. Raheem's chestnut brown eyes open wide in surprise as he takes in the young Gundam fighter. Despite Shadow's natural good humor his stance and eyes grow serious, fighting and battles are cool but it crosses a line when someone tries to take the life of another especially in cold blood, that wasn't cool at all. "What do you think you're doing Raheem?"

Alex takes a step back, still in shock by how close she came to death yet again in such a short period of time, the moment her mood rose someone came to swat it back down. This was different though because she didn't foresee it, in her despair she dropped her chess games and tactics and had just given in to the flow of time, therefore the events unfolding before her eyes were new and surprising, for the first time in years Alex had no idea what was coming, she had no plan, no probable predictions of all possible outcomes. Her fate was up in the air with a violent storm on the rise.

"The prisoner for whatever reason isn't going to talk and is going to remain loyal to Fachtna. I see no point in wasting time in giving her, her due punishment." If Raheem had not come to respect Shadow he would not have even bothered to explain himself. Shadow's eyes narrow as the intensity in his electric green eyes increases.

"And who died and made you judge, jury and executioner?"

Raheem met Shadow's intensity with a winter soldier's stone cold resolve. "As the Captain of the Royal Guard I have the authority to deal out punishment during war times as I see fit, now I ask you move aside Shadow."

Shadow's hand casually touches the hilt of his katana; Raheem also still held his blade in a neutral stance, not a restful stance. Shadow had learned the difference the hard way as he seems to learn everything.

"Screw you Raheem. I'm team leader of the Shadow Knights and this is my ship and I'm not letting you kill anyone on it." _Well technically this is Jack's ship but I'm team leader so it counts just as much as mine, _Shadow reasoned in his mind while Raheem continue to eye him.

"You seem to be forgetting that we're the ones that hired you making us your superiors and even before that this is a Haben matter, you shouldn't interfere."

"Screw you in response to all your statements."

_Stubborn jackass ,_Raheem thought with fury. In that moment Raheem began to consider how to go through Shadow without hurting the kid too badly. He immediately dismissed using his gun, gun control was heavy in Haben resulting in most bandits being restricted to only using swords which was why he and many other elite soldiers chose to carry their melee weapons. It was both good training for piloting Gundams and helped to disable thugs with other melee weapons, rather than having to shoot or kill them. Raheem of course knew how to use his gun well but he rarely did, only when confronted with another gun wielder.

No this battle would be of swords not guns, and suddenly the rage blew against his dam of control. He did not want to fight and hurt Shadow; he liked Shadow for all his troublemaking and impulsiveness. Shadow helped bring a sense of calm and humor to an otherwise tense and doomy situation and Raheem knew that he as well as the crew performed better because of it. No one worked well when the foreshadowing of doom hung over their shoulders. But Shadow was in his way to granting Salim justice and Raheem couldn't understand why.

"DAMN IT SHADOW, WHY? Why are you even defending her? She KILLED Salim!" Raheem had lost it, his rage spew forth in hurling rocks startling Alex even more. She had not expected someone such as the Captain of the Royal Guard to succumb to such intense rage and she racked her brain as she tried to place the name. Her once again unasked guardian tensed as he shouted back in return

"Is that what this is about? Is that why you've been acting nuts lately? You don't even know for a fact that Alex killed Salim!"

"She might as well have! She worked for that god damn traitor, took how many lives in his name! She could have left, she could have told someone at any time what Fachtna was up to and STOPPED HIM but she chose not to and Salim suffered for it!"

"You're not the only one that's hurting! I missed Salim too! He was my friend!" Shadow did not speak lightly, he meant it. Although their time had been short Shadow liked Salim and had wanted to meet him in battle again for another awesome fight but now that was never going to happen. No one ever claimed that life was fair.

"DON'T COMPARE MY PAIN TO YOURS! You were not Salim's teacher, you did not know him for ten years, and taught him the ways of the sword, of the mind, of what it means to be a soldier! You did not know and encourage his dreams, watched his progress with eagerness and pride, fought for him when others were being unfair! You did not promise his FATHER AND MOTHER that you would watch out for him! He was my responsibility!"

Alex stumbled and tripped. She had read about those who had strong spatial awareness could often sense the emotion of others but even without such powers Alex could feel the rage and sadness coming off Raheem in waves. What made it even worse was that it was justifiable rage, rage that could have affected anyone who had gone through the same circumstance and not the psychotic rage she had grown accustomed to from the people she normally worked with.

"Ok I'll give you that your pain is worse but that's also why you're acting crazy and as your friend it's my job to stop you from doing something you're going to regret later! With that Shadow takes out his sword from its sheath. If Raheem wasn't so enraged he would be amused that this young warrior actually thought he could beat him. He gripped his sword with both hands and switched into an offense stance.

"I can see that I can't reason with you with words, I don't want to beat you senseless Shadow especially after your recent recovery but you're not giving me much of a choice."

Shadow grins as he too grips his blade with both hands and takes his classic offense stance, sword opposite to the center of his body with the tip pointing at his target, Raheem.

"Don't worry about me, modern day medicine is amazing, I'm all recovered and I'm not going to lose to you."

Raheem closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. "I'm sorry Shadow but if you won't move aside then I'm going through YOU!"

Raheem in a startling first play charges Shadow. Shadow blinks and takes a step back in surprise since normally he's the first one to attack. Raheem is fast and reaches Shadow in seconds. In one fluid motion without slowing down Raheem swings his blade in a simple but powerful vertical sword slash. Shadow barely has time to raise his sword above his head to block the attack but even still, the power in Raheem's attack combined with Shadow's still sore wound causes the young warrior to drop to his knees. _Shit, my stupid chest wound hurts, Shadow_ thinks as he grits his teeth in pain. Not that he has much time to dwell on this since Raheem follows through with a straight kick right into Shadow's gut. Shadow's breath gets knocked out of him as he goes rolling backwards. With Shadow literally out of the way Raheem turns to face his true target, a still stunned and unmoving Alex. Raheem with determined eyes raises his sword and then jumps back as he hears and sees Shadow attacking. The captain of the Royal Guard hadn't expected Shadow to recover so quickly but still dodges the strike with ease while Shadow quickly says to Alex. "Now would be a good time to run."

Alex finally sparked back into motion nods her head as she turns around and takes off. Raheem charges after her but Shadow blocks his path. Raheem with fury goes on the offense and begins to attack Shadow with a wave of sword attacks. Shadow may have improved his sword play but Raheem is still evidently better, even in rage his attacks are in tight close groupings packing enormous power from Raheem's extremely muscular body.

Shadow desperately struggles to block the attacks while ignoring the building burning pain in his arms and in his chest wound. Shadow is forced to take step after step back as Raheem overpowers his defenses. Shadow is soon pushed out into the Dark-Angel's hallway with another surprise straight kick from Raheem. _Damn it, he's too strong, I can't win in a head on fight, _Shadow rapidly thinks to himself as he barrel rolls away from Raheem dodging another kick. He jumps to his feet and then tries to circle around Raheem similar to what he did in his battle with Serafina but Raheem won't fall for such a trick and quickly charges Shadow to break out of the circle. Shadow quickly side jumps off a wall to stop himself from running straight into Raheem, then drops down and barrel rolls again to get under Raheem's guard while Raheem performs a left horizontal slash where Shadow was standing moments before. Shadow jumps up behind Raheem and attempts a stab attack but Raheem just as quickly spins around and connects a roundhouse kick to Shadow's face knocking him down again. Shadow a little dazed, rolls away from Raheem shakes his head and spits then stands back up as the fight continues.

The fight continues all throughout the ship drawing the attention of many crew members. Word of the fight spreads throughout the ship and quickly reaches Kabira's ears. While sparing matches between Raheem and Shadow had become a regular occurrence, the intensity of this fight, or so Kabira had heard was beyond the normal playfulness of a regular sparing match. With a sense of dread Kabira rushed through the hallways towards where she last heard they were.

Raheem's behavior had become strange as of late, he had become distant from her as peculiar as that may seem. Kabira had known Raheem as long as she could remember; her father had once made a joke that it was Raheem's job to protect her from bullies and Hirsi's job to beat up anyone who made her cried. Of course not to be out done her father had boasted he did both jobs anyway, they were more like his backup.

Still as quiet as Raheem normally acted he emitted a warming presence over Kabira, like a blanket, the she could feel whenever he was near. Yet lately despite Raheem standing right next to her she couldn't feel that blanket, it was almost like Raheem had sunken into himself. Kabira shivered as she thought about the old stories Naif had told her about the machine soldiers. Emotionless beings that sought only to destroy, or worse the Qurlai cyborg soldiers whose anger had fueled their machine parts to completely consumed them turning them into killing machines of death and destruction. _NO, Raheem isn't like that, _Kabira thought fiercely to herself as she mentally whacked the thought back down. She was just getting paranoid from the thought of a civil war and approaching doom. Raheem was just upset like herself, he was human after all. _Still it wouldn't hurt to check, _Kabira thought as she ran smack dab into Cagalli. Kabira had been so lost in her thoughts that she hadn't even seen Cagalli round the corner. Both girls fall to the ground on their behinds and grunt in pain an annoyance.

As Cagalli got back up her amber eyes widen as she registers Kabira also getting up. "Oh Kabira, you're in hurry somewhere?"

Kabira focused on Cagalli and immediately felt relief. Shadow was great; a hero beyond a doubt but Cagalli was wise. Any question Kabira had Cagalli held the answer, that and Kabira felt a connection with Cagalli, an understanding. Shadow gave Kabira the confidence to act but it was Cagalli who taught Kabira the right way to act. Cagalli would lead them in the right direction while an impatient Shadow would push them from behind.

"Sorry Cagalli I didn't see you. I wanted to go over and check out Shadow and Raheem's sparing match, I heard it was getting pretty intense." Kabira faked a smile as she masked her concern but it was Cagalli who laughed.

"HAHAH that's for sure, I just came from there and told them to cool it before they hurt themselves but they just shooed me away. They claim it was a serious battle between warriors to see how strong Shadow had become but between you and me I think they're just nervous about the upcoming battle with Fachtna not that they'd ever admit it. It's probably better not to bother them."

Relief instantly spread through Kabira, it was just a sparring match after all. Cagalli suddenly snapped her fingers. "Oh you know what Kabira I've been meaning to ask you about books in Haben. It's been forever since I've been to a So-a library and I was wondering if you could recommend any good books for me?"

Kabira smiled, her favorite novels coming to mind. "Sure, in fact I know a great website where you can read free e-books."

"Let's head to my room then, there's a computer terminal there."

Kabira eagerly nodded her head and began to follow Cagalli, away from Shadow and Raheem's battle. Cagalli felt sick, and scared. Sick from how she had taken advantage of Kabira and straight up lied to the girl who trusted her and scared about how easily she had been able to do it. Cagalli sucked at lying, not that she found that a terrible thing which might be why she never tried that hard to lie before. Still Cagalli had quickly found out that as unpleasant as it was, some level of deception was needed in her job as Orb's Chief Representative but that didn't stop Cagalli from trying to never lie. Not that she had much choice, as Nick pointed out during one of their poker games Cagalli had a terrible poker face. Even small levels of deception or white lies as people called them were simply beyond her ability and every time Cagalli had no choice but to lie, they always saw through it. No matter who she tried it on, or what kind of lie she told they always saw through it.

It wasn't a "tell" Nick had said, more like aura she emitted, a shift in the body language that screamed "I'm lying!" Kabira had already proven several times that she could see through Cagalli's attempt at deception, which was why Cagalli was stunned her lie had worked. Raheem was not ok, and that fight wasn't a sparring match, it was a battle. Cagalli pieced together what happen after talking to the guards Raheem had relieved and seeing the unmistakable look of bloodlust in his eyes while Shadow desperately fought him off.

Cagalli, Nick and Roxas had wanted to jump in but Shadow told them to back off, which was actually pretty smart for him. Shadow was already injured and despite the advance level of medical science that Sora displayed, Cagalli wasn't sure how far recovered he was and from what Shadow had told them Fachtna was a strong Gundam Fighter, a D-1 and considering they were all still in E rank Cagalli knew it was best to have herself, Nick and Roxas ready to confront him at any time. Still before she left Cagalli had made sure that both Nick and Roxas agreed to step in if it looked like Shadow was about to be seriously hurt, someone had to watch that moron's back but for now Cagalli could do nothing for Raheem but hope Shadow would work something out and besides it was Kabira that Cagalli worried about. Her beloved nation was about to enter a civil war, her father laid in the medical bay still unconscious and they were no closer to figuring out how to defeat Fachtna.

There was no doubt in Cagalli's mind that if Kabira saw her trusted and honorable bodyguard acting like a monster consumed by his anger it would hurt her beyond measure. She had to protect Kabira, Kabira had suffered and given enough! Having to also deal and reason with Raheem was not just unfair it was cruel and Cagalli would not allow it. With that thought fuelling her every action Cagalli found her snake tongue and had weaseled and sweet talked Kabira out of looking for Raheem. To tell a straight lie to Kabira's face had made Cagalli feel like she had just taken a bath in the sewer. She had never felt lower, not even when she realized Yuna had taken advantage of her, _but I will protect Kabira, even from the truth, _Cagalli thought fiercely. She had already made the point clear with the crew so all that mattered was Shadow getting through to Raheem. _You better not screw this up._

Shadow was losing. His battle with Raheem was taking them all over the ship with Shadow constantly getting pushed back. Their blades clashed and banged, Shadow was desperately trying to maneuver around Raheem, to find some magical weak spot or angle that he could attack from but that wasn't happening. Raheem was definitely acting more aggressively today than ever before but he was far too skilled to allow his anger to hinder him rather Raheem allowed his anger to fuel his strength, increasing the power of each one of his hits.

Raheem though still dodged, blocked and pulled back when needed; his defenses hadn't lessened at all. Several times Roxas and Nick called out to Shadow asking if he wanted their help which Shadow always declined saying he had it under control. Raheem while charging Shadow performs a right horizontal slash. Shadow blocks by turning his blade vertically and attempts to hold his ground but he can't even come close to matching Raheem's power and gets pushed off balance, stumbles and falls flat on his ass. Shadow rolls backward dodging another kick and hops back up, but Raheem sensing weakness presses his attack. Rapid sword attacks with the strength of a sledge hammer, or at least what Shadow thought a sledge hammer would feel like at the speed of a car. Shadow begins walking backwards at a steady pace to try and get away from his attacker, it's all Shadow can do to either dodge or block the attacks but Raheem presses Shadow even harder and then suddenly pulls his attack back. Shadow wide eyed stumbles forward from the absence of pressure, straight into Raheem's kick.

Once again Shadow is sent backwards, only this time into a door. In an effort to regain his balance he accidently grips the handle, opens the door and falls straight out into the desert. The sun blazes bright yellow in the blue cloudless sky, the brownish yellow sand glows with warmth from the sun as Shadow crashes into it. Luckily the door wasn't that high off the ground and the Dark-Angel isn't in motion. A steady breeze blows across the sand picking particles up and placing them down causing Shadow to quickly get a light dusting on his chest. Shadow struggles to his feet quickly, wiping sand and sweat away from his eyes, his chest wound had stop aching and turned into a dull painless sensation but his arms and legs still screamed from the beating he was receiving from Raheem. His breath was ragged like a race horse on its last lap, his shoulders moved up and down in time with his breathing as he forced his tired arms to hold his suddenly very heavy blade. Raheem jumped lightly down and easily parries a sword swing by Shadow and delivers a roundhouse kick to Shadow's chest sending him to the ground and rolling off the sand dune.

"That's enough Shadow, if I wasn't holding back you would be dead by now and we both know it." The fact that Raheem looked perfectly fine, other than a slight sweat, despite the battle backup his statement, he was just in better physical condition then Shadow. Shadow lay face up on the sand a little ways away from Raheem, sweet glistening his face as he struggles to regain his breath. "I know you think you're doing me a favor but you're not, you may be nineteen but you're still just a kid. You can't see the big picture yet, when you're older you'll understand but I'm going to do what I know is right."

Shadow was at the end of his rope, it wasn't that Raheem was really strong or incredibly smart; he just had a lot more experience than him. No matter what trick Shadow thought up Raheem had seen and fought against it a dozen times before. Raheem was also using his superior stamina and muscles perfectly against Shadow, forcing his weaker opponent to perform at a high pace, draining all of his power. Shadow was exhausted and could already feel his conscious slipping again, he was out of ideas and worst of all Raheem was still perfectly fine.

"_Don't give up." _A whisper in his ear, the sand brushing against itself in the wind and his subconscious mind filling the blanks but Shadow never did care much for logical answers. He always took things for what they were and his eyes open wide in surprise as he recognizes the voice then a smile spreads across his face as he slowly stands up much to the annoyance or Raheem.

"What you know is right huh? You know what Raheem you sound just like Serafina,"

"What did you say?" Raheem asks challengingly clearly offended.

"I said you're just like Serafina, you both are so blinded by your anger that you can't even see the enemy standing right before you!"

Raheem struggles to hold himself back for a moment he had faced worse taunts then that before and relaxes his muscles slightly although his eyes still narrowed in anger. "Is that so, well all I see standing before me now is a beaten young impulsive stubborn Gundam fighter past his limit."

The wind blows behind Shadow as the sand brushes up against his back. Shadow smiled feeling its warmth; he always did like warm climates on account of him getting cold easily. "Your right about all that but I won't lose to you because Salim told me not to."

The wind picked up slightly behind Shadow but Raheem paid it no mind. Rage of unknown proportion boiled his blood. It was part of Hadize, the religion most Haben's practice, that the ashes of the dead became the sand and communicated with the living to aid those who had proven themselves in their time of need but Shadow was not HABEN! Shadow did not practice the faith and as far as Raheem knew Shadow knew little to nothing about the Haben religion and yet here he was mocking it.

Claiming to have heard Salim's voice telling him to win, that kind of taunt was low, the dirtiest of the dirtiest and it pissed Raheem off beyond imagination. Shadow wasn't just insulting Raheem by mocking his faith, he was insulting all of his ancestors as well. "YOU DARE MOCK MY FAITH!"

Raheem tried to charge but suddenly the wind picked up again. Perhaps it was luck, or fate, either way Shadow's back was to the wind protecting him while Raheem faced the gust of sand and wind head on. It was instinct for Raheem to jump back and raise his sword high over his face protecting his eyes. In that one moment Raheem felt something, hands holding his arms, legs and even his chest in place, preventing him from moving. Raheem surprised turns to see who is holding him and is shocked to see Salim grinning while holding his arm. It wasn't just Salim, there were his uncles, friends and his father all who passed away holding him down, preventing him from moving. Raheem didn't understand what was going on or why they might be hindering him but the moment quickly passed as the wind died down. They disappear and the feeling of being held was gone. The Haben blinked, unsure what had transpired or what it meant until he looked down to see the warrior he was just insulting earlier standing right before him. Raheem's guard was high protecting his face and Shadow had slipped his sword right under it so that the tip just barely touched Raheem's neck. Raheem eyed him in shocked as his loss began to dawn on him. Shadow panting and seeming barely conscious grinned and manages to say

"Like I said, your anger blinds you to the enemy standing right in front of you." And just like that Raheem had an epiphany, a sudden realization and lining up all of puzzle pieces. Shadow was right; he had been allowing his anger to cloud and affect his judgment in a way it should not. His power to take a life should not have been used for his own personal vendetta; it was a sacred power, a great responsibility, and Raheem had shamed himself and has family by waving it around to justify his own vengeance. It was no wonder that his ancestors had intervened and come to the aid of Shadow.

Raheem lowers his blade and bows his head in shame. "You're right, I'm sorry Shadow."

Shadow blinks for a moment surprised that everything worked out so well. Waiting until the wind blew sand right into Raheem's face worked beautifully, Raheem had frozen up with his guard high, protecting his eyes creating the perfect opening Shadow had taken full advantage of. The loss seemed to have fixed Raheem, HAHA just like he had planned or so Shadow deluded himself into believing. "It's cool, let's head back to the ship I could use a beer."

Raheem laughed, he had been right on the edge of darkness about to fall, shamed his ancestors and almost disgraced the Haben military not to mention beaten Shadow to a bloody pulp yet here Shadow was just shrugging it off like it was no big deal. Raheem couldn't tell if the kid was idealistic or just plain stupid either way his simple mindedness lightened Raheem's spirit and for the first time since he found out about Salim's death Raheem was able to smile. "First we should get you checked out by the medics and then if they say you're ok you can get a drink."

Shadow makes a face at this as both he and Raheem put away their swords and begin walking back towards the ship. "The doc is all uptight though, man he's probably going to freak when I tell him I've been fighting."

Raheem struggles to contain more laugher but suddenly stops dead in his tracks shocked by the person standing in the doorway to inside the Dark-Angel. Shadow surprised by Raheem's shock turns to see the same person and his mouth drops slightly. Standing in the doorway was Alex Viper looking down at them.

Alex didn't know what she was doing. Her strategist's mind had begun screaming at her when she ran from her would be executor to make a break for it. The ship wasn't in motion, she had a rough idea where they were, there was no one watching her so she could steal supplies and maybe if she was lucky find a car she could use and best of all the crew was fighting amongst themselves. This was a prisoner's dream, a perfect chance at escape. She had been so close to doing it, her feet were running down the hallway and thanks to the fact that everyone on the ship wore regular clothes she didn't stick out so no one bothered to look at her….but something happened. Alex didn't know what lead her chess like mind back to Shadow's battle, maybe because her escape was so easy it bored her mind but whatever the reason Alex had begun to analyze the battle. She took in both warriors' size and muscle mass from memory; she also could tell how skilled they were from the way they held their blades and their foot work. From her encounters with them she took into account intelligence, and for the bodyguard Raheem she made a special note of experience, a known fact that elite soldiers were top of the military in terms of combat skills and the gun shape she had observed in the soldier's right back pocket although she couldn't tell what type of gun. It had all pointed to one logical conclusion, Shadow would lose.

Alex had stopped then, surprising even herself. Shadow only had a twelve percent chance of victory which basically meant he was going to lose. It's not like she cared about him, hell it was stupid of her to even think about the battle in the first place when her escape needed her full attention….then again what was the point of escaping. Even if she made it to a town what would she do then, she had money but there was nothing in the world she wanted, except answers.

The world was a big place though and she no longer had any leads, and despite how far she had fallen, Alex was not crazy she knew that randomly searching every dark corner and base for answers would waste her time for little to nothing. She suddenly felt a great bitterness against the world, there were many religions on Sora, Habens were one of the few people who didn't believe in a God per say. They believed all of their ancestors and deceased loved ones watched over them from the spirit plane and influenced events with their bodies that had become ashes that were released onto the sand. Alex didn't care about religion, Gods are unstoppable beings that no plan can be devised against them which bothered her as a tactician so she preferred not to think of them, still if there was a God, or Gods or hell even a higher power in general it was unimaginably cruel and twisted. The world had been cruel to Alex and she wanted to be cruel back….no that wasn't completely true anymore. Shadow alone had been nice to her; he was an idiot who couldn't do math. She had tried to kill him and his friends twice and he had saved her twice now, whatever math he was using was insane.

Still she was happy he didn't go all saint on her, preaching how he was going protect her because that was the right thing to do or saying he still saw goodness in her, God that would have made her vomit and pissed her off. Saints just made her feel guilty about her misdeeds which lead to her natural anger about them acting so noble and better then her. Luckily though Shadow was no saint, in a way he was like a storm; wild and unpredictable, completely acting off instincts and whims. He saved Alex because he wanted to nothing more nothing less, he didn't want Raheem to kill her so he protected her, nothing more nothing less. At the end of the day though Shadow had been nice to Alex simply because he wanted to be, he didn't care what other people thought, ironically including Alex herself he did what he wanted to do. Without even realizing it Alex had turned around and began to run in the other direction back to the fight.

Alex had watched the fight pretty much from the beginning, she could have escape but she didn't want too. She didn't know what she was looking for by watching their fight, but there was something, something she had felt and seen every time she witnesses Shadow fight and she wanted to see it again. Alex finally realized what it was at the end of the match, Shadow won through a combination of luck and a big gamble. Putting the wind to his back hoping it might distract Raheem had been stretching it but it had worked.

The wind had picked up just in time blowing sand straight into Raheem's face distracting him so Shadow could get the victory and that's when Alex finally realized what it was she wanted to see. Determination: a drive to win that was so strong that it surpassed pain, the odds and fought on. Alex used to have that kind of determination but years of shit storm after shit storm had eroded it down, Alex had simply let go of it thinking it was the way of life, but here was this kid getting up each time he was knocked down, his determination only growing in strength no matter what the world threw at him. It was inspiring and it had been a long time since Alex had felt inspired.

The final straw though was the look on Raheem's face, the anger was gone. The hurt was still there but already that looked to be healing, the anger though, anger that had been rightly directed at her, was gone. Shadow had been nice to Alex, he saved her life, he inspired her and made her want to believe naïve things again, the green eyed natural had gotten a person who wanted to kill her to let go of his anger that she deserved to receive and Shadow wanted nothing in return. No he wasn't doing it for her, he wasn't even thinking about her, Shadow did those things simply because he wanted to, helping Alex had simply been a side effect and that's what Alex liked best. She didn't feel pitied or looked down upon, nor did she feel he was afraid of her or wanted something from her and he wasn't trying to reform her. Shadow had just been nice to Alex and Alex in turn wanted to be nice back.

"Fachtna found a weapon at that base; I memorized its blueprints and basic information before we cut our connection so I can tell you all about it." Giving them information about Fachtna neither helps Alex nor hurts her; it was simply a choice of if she wanted to be nice or not and for the first time in a long, long time Alex wanted to be nice. She wanted to believe again that the world wasn't just a cold heartless place.

#####

_Location: Dark-Angel conference room._

Shadow, Cagalli, Nick, Roxas, Zuke, Jack, Kenny, Kabira and Raheem all sat around the table watching Alex as she shared her information on Fachtna's new weapon.

"Vent De La Mort was originally created to be the ultimate defense. The idea was to manipulate Mother Nature herself to create the perfect shield, I didn't have time to look at the details of its design but the summary said it worked by making each one of its parts rotate at high speeds. Thousands of these "hairs" decreasing in size rotating around each other effectively created high level hurricane class winds. Originally Vent De La Mort was supposed to just create a wind barrier so to speak, it would create hurricane winds in a circle around the machine's position that would shield against any attacks. Vent De La Mort was also supposed to be able to control the size of the circle so that it could be used to defend the entire nation but they failed at these two tasks. The hurricane winds affected everything within the circle except the heart of the storm an area maybe a mile in diameter. But what is most terrifying of all is that they couldn't control the size of the storm. It continued to grow bigger and bigger until the machine itself was shut off, they never did any tests to see how big the storm could get so it's possible the storm would continue to grow until it consumed all of Sora."

There's a moment of silence as everyone takes this in then Jack sighs. "And of course a weapon like that lands into the lap of nut job."

Nick nods his head in grim agreement. "Fighting a hurricane, I can't say I'm looking forward to that mate."

"Especially after the last one." Kenny adds after quickly glancing over Shadow, the last hurricane had not been a fun ride at all. Raheem looks down at the table sensing the impending doom.

"If we knew what his target might be we might be able to stop him before he could even get that monster started."

"It's Azize."

All eyes turn back to look at Alex surprised, except Zuke who continues to lean against the wall appearing to be sleeping.

"I overheard Fachtna tell that to Zagat at the base but I don't know why he's doing it. Fachtna's crazy enough that he might just be doing it to test Vent De La Mort's abilities."

"Well how much damage could a strong hurricane do to Azize?" Cagalli asks Kenny. Kenny does a quick reference and calculations in his head then replies

"Azize is pretty deep inland so it hasn't faced a strong hurricane in a long time so the buildings probably aren't designed to withstand them, not to mention the hurricane will pick up sand from the desert becoming a sand storm increasing its physical power. I estimate a seventy-six percent chance that most buildings that aren't reinforced will be destroyed and since this is a manmade storm, if it stays over the area long enough even the reinforced buildings might not make it. But our major concern would be the shelters, Haben shelters are built into the ground so I give it a ninety-two percent chance that the shelters will be buried under mountains of sand. Suffocation, cave-ins, starvation, murder caused by mass panic would all happen with days of being trapped. There's a real possibility that no one would survive this storm."

The air feels heavily with the weight of the lives of an entire city at stack. While everyone struggles to get used to this new gravity of responsibility, Zuke lifts his head and stares Alex down. "Don't forget we're basing all these assumptions on the word of this natural. She claims to have been fired but that could be an act so she could give us this false information at best, sending us on a wild goose chase but at worst leading us into an ambush."

All eyes turn from Zuke back to Alex waiting for a response, Alex just shrugs. "I just felt like being nice and giving you the information, it's up to you if you believe me or not. Either way I don't care, it doesn't really affect me."

No one except Shadow who seems far too relaxed in the kind of situation is fully satisfied with Alex's answer but before anyone can question deeper Jack exclaims "Wait that's it?" Swinging their heads everyone turns to look at an excited Jack who eagerly begins confirming her idea with Kenny. "Kenny if rotation speed is as fast as you say then the motherboard control system couldn't possibly be on the machine itself, even if it could survive the g-force there would be no way anyone could access it while the machine is on!"

Kenny's eyes open wide as he begins to follow along Jack's reasoning. "So they have to use an external control system, that's brilliant Jack!"

Shadow raises his hand before they can start talking again. "Um in Earthonian please?

Kenny still excited turns to the others and explains. "Vent De La Mort needs a remote control, a separate computer to monitor it and control its actions

"And if we can find that computer we can destroy this weapon before Fachtna can use it!" Raheem finishes with equal excitement, Fachtna was strong and smart but he was not God. He had weaknesses.

Cagalli with a focused look tells Kenny "Kenny bring up a map of Azize."

Kenny quickly brings out his laptop and hooks it up the conferences table. As he types on the computer the lights dim and a three dimensional map of Azize appears on the table. "Fachtna has to have his remote-control set up somewhere in Azize since that's where his bases are, plus given the age of equipment it's probably going to need some repairs, repairs that can't be made on a ship but at an actual facility with proper tools and since it hasn't been that long since Fachtna acquired the weapon he most likely still has it there."

Nick nods his head following Cagalli's logic. "Makes sense to me mate."

Cagalli encouraged by everyone's nodding continues "Right, so the building that Fachtna is using is probably going to be reinforced against storms so it can survive against the attack."

Alex steps in and points to one of the buildings on the map. "Then it has to be here, this is the only building that Fachtna controls that has both the proper equipment for repairs and has a reinforced structure."

With building excitement Kabira stares at the building and says "Then all we have to do is take control of that building."

Everyone is beginning to swell with confidence that hope brings but Roxas bursts their bubble. "That's cool and all but that's assuming we get past Serafina's and the Haben military's forces which probably have met and are going at each other like cats and dogs now. Plus I would bet Fachtna has a trick or two up his sleeve."

Alex looked at Roxas, surprised for a moment, the red head may act wild and animalistic but she was unexpectedly insightful. Raheem debates the problem in his mind for a moment, coming up with offensive strategies was normally Hirsi's area of expertise but Raheem would just have to get over that and adapt.

"If we try to enter the city in the Dark-Angel both sides will identify us as an enemy, I doubt either side will listen to us if we try to explain otherwise. No I think the Dark-Angel should remain outside the city to avoid getting dragged into the battle, that leaves us with only entering the city through Gundams but going in one single group will be dangerous for multiple reasons. First if we walk into one of Fachtna's traps, we'll lose almost all of our possible fighting strength and second if we enter the city as a group of three or more Gundams both sides will think of us as a team with a specific task and therefore call for more forces to stop us but if there are only one or two Gundams then they probably won't call for reinforcements right away."

Everyone nods their head in agreement and Cagalli finishes Raheem's thought. "So we need to split into groups of two."

"I'm in." Surprised, everyone turns around to see Jubal standing in the doorway, it's unclear how long he's been standing there but judging by his expression Jubal has heard everything.

"It's not right that complete outsiders are the only people risking their life to stop the true enemy of Haben so I'll go, not just for my comrades who Fachtna slaughtered but to represent the Haben people as well." The resolve in Jubal's voice is as unyielding as the desert winds but that doesn't stop Cagalli from trying.

"Don't be stupid, you just got released by the doctors you should be resting!"

Jubal nods his head towards Cagalli in respect. "I appreciate your concern and I understand the dangers, but it is my life to risk."

Cagalli quickly counters "But that's just it; it's not just your life you're risking. If you suddenly lose consciousness in the middle of battle what's going to happen to your partner? You're not just putting yourself in danger you're putting us in danger as well."

Jubal blinks having not thought about that before but grits his teeth and clenches his fist in frustration as he struggles to think of something to say. "B-But I feel fine." He says quietly knowing that's not a good enough answer. Nick stands up and walks over to Jubal, he puts a hand on Jubal's shoulder surprising the soldier and looks him straight into the eyes. They stare at each other for a moment then Nick says

"I trust you mate, I'll fight with you."

A look of relief and gratitude crosses Jubal's face while Cagalli looks on stunned.

"Wh-What! Look even if he could fight we don't have a Gundam to spare!"

"Um well actually that's not true." Jack says awkwardly as she and Kenny begin to fidget in their seats while Cagalli glares at them.

"Don't look at me like that, me and Kenny-"

"Don't drag me into this!"

"Were bored while you guys tried to break Alex."

Alex a little offended steps in and says "They didn't break me, I just choose to give the information away."

Jack ignores her and continues to go on the offensive against Cagalli. "So we decided to fix up Jubal's Gundam, we both figured we could learn more about military type Gundams from working on it and we did!"

"Why didn't you say something to us BEFORE HAND?" Cagalli shouts as she slams her hand down on the table glaring at Jack, Jack shouts back

"You're not the boss of me and I don't check with you every time I have to wipe my ass!"

Kenny steps in before this can go any further. "Guys…well ladies actually but that's not the point; this isn't the time for this. Look Cagalli I can understand your concern, but Jubal has been clear by the medics and he has a slightly improved Gundam, if I say so myself, and since we're about to fight Fachtna while being smack dab in the middle of two opposing armies I'll take as many Gundam Pilots as I can get."

Jack and Cagalli glare at Kenny for a moment causing him to tremble, then they sit down and Cagalli reluctantly yields to Kenny's reasoning. "Fine, that makes Nick and Jubal one team"

Cagalli gets cut off as Roxas jumps at her and seizes one of Cagalli's arms. "I call Cagalli's team!" Roxas then proceeds to nuzzle Cagalli's arm while Cagalli desperately struggles to throw Roxas off, but Roxas has a cat like grip.

"GET OFF OF ME!" Everyone except for Alex who is slightly bewildered by this behavior chooses to ignore this.

"Ok so Cagalli and Roxas are going to be another team." Jack says fully enjoying getting back at Cagalli who is now rolling on the ground to try and get Roxas off to no avail.

"Wait I didn't agree to that, GET OFF ALREADY!" Cagalli's voice is like background music to the others. Kabira with sudden concern says

"But that means Shadow will be by himself."

All eyes turn to Shadow…who is sleeping. At some point in the conversation he must have fallen asleep.

"Tis stupid natural." Zuke says while looking down upon Shadow. Kenny goes to wake his friend but Raheem stops him.

"Let him be, it's been a tiring couple of days and he will need his strength for this operation." Raheem turns to face the others deciding how best to say his next statement. "Shadow…will not be going alone. I will go with him."

Gasps of astonishment sound in the hall as even Roxas and Cagalli stop struggling to turn and look at Raheem in awe. Raheem first turns to face Kabira. "I am sorry Kabira but I must leave you and ask you to stay on board the Dark-Angel in my absence. As a bodyguard this is absolutely a failure but I agree with Jubal, it isn't right for just the Shadow Knights who are not Haben to risk their lives. I will go with Shadow in his Gundam so that I may aid them in taking control of this building, I am your bodyguard but I am also the Captain of the royal guard and it is my duty to defend against any attacks against Haben. I hope you understand."

All eyes turn to Kabira as she thinks about this for a moment. The idea of not having Raheem with her during this period of great danger was truly terrifying but she trusted the Shadow Knights….they were her friends. Beside Cagalli wouldn't be afraid in this situation and so Kabira wouldn't be either. "I understand Raheem." Raheem sighs deeply relieved by her words.

Kenny sums everything up. "So I guess it's decided then, the Dark-Angel will sit outside the city and wait while the three teams enter Azize and take control of that building. Nick and Jubal, Cagalli and Roxas, and Shadow and Raheem."

#####

_Location: Liberator's of Haben command ship. Time: Seconds before Serafina's deadline._

Serafina looked at the watch on the wall as the last seconds before his deadline count down. Part of him wished that the royals would call and surrender to avoid any bloodshed, another part wanted bloodshed. No one called. The episode ends with him saying. "Begin the attack!"

_Author's note: _Sorry this took so long coming out, there was a real life issue that came up so I couldn't update but hopefully I'll be able to get a bunch more up soon. Anyway I'm not sure if I mention this before but Earthonian is the language spoken throughout the universe including on Earth and Sora, all other languages such as English, German, Spanish, Japanese and such are considered dead languages like Latin or Greek that no one uses anymore.

One last thing, I started a forum for my story it's somewhere in the back but you're recognized it by title, feel free to open topics about whatever you want (involving the story of course). I already added the first topic, favorite character. That's right it's time we have a favorite character poll so feel free to either tell me who's your favorite character and why on a review, PM or at my forum. Until next time my friends.


	63. Episode 62 Bullets Flying

Episode 62 Bullets Flying

_Location: Fachtna's reinforced building Time: 2 hours before Serafina's deadline_

The episode opens up showing a catwalk overlooking a Gundam bay. Three people are standing on the catwalk overlooking their Gundams. One looks to be a Haben wearing loose fitting light clothing sitting on the ground cross legged in what appears to be a battle meditation. The second man is the shortest of the three; he's shirtless wearing only a sleeveless open jacket showing off his abs. He's leaning on the rails watching the mechanics work. Zain is the third man looking over his gun with absolute focus.

"So Zain I heard you got your ass kicked by an E-10, that's pretty sad for an experienced mercenary like yourself. Maybe having your own ship and crew has made you soft?"

Zain looks up with slight annoyance at the smartass wild child leaning on the rail although Zain knew they had to be about the same age the bastard just had a childlike appearance. "You never could get it Daly that having a ship and crew doesn't make one weak but makes them stronger with added support, then again I shouldn't expect too much thought from someone choosing such a ridiculous fake name like Daly."

Daly grits his teeth as he casually reaches for his own gun, a Glock. "Call it ridiculous one more time, I dare you."

Zain tightens his grip on his own gun but before either can make a move a voice cuts through.

"That's enough!" Fachtna marches over with Zagat on his right and Byron on his left. Zagat snickers

"Awww I wanted to see the silly mercs kill each other."

"Don't be stupid Zagat, they will be more useful alive then dead." Zagat turns to glare at Byron but before he can speak Fachtna rolls his eyes and snaps.

"Quiet!" Fachtna then turns to face the mercenaries. "Thank you for coming on such short notice Daly and Brogan."

"Thanks is not needed Fachtna as long as the money is what you promised." It was the monk who spoke this time. Fachtna eyes him, annoyed at being interrupt but continues nonetheless.

"I'll give you double if you're successful." A shocked silence fills the room, in mercenary circles Fachtna had a reputation for being cheap so for him to already be offering double was something.

"Do we have an agreement gentleman?"

"Hell yea!"

"Agreed."

Fachtna nods his head satisfied. The trick to working with mercenaries was the pay to effort ratio; if you didn't offer them enough money to cover damages to their Gundams and extra to ensure they would risk their own life then the mercenary would more than likely abandon the mission if it proves too dangerous. With Fachtna offering this much money they would fight to the best of their abilities.

"Excellent, Byron will give you your positions as well as information on your targets, destroy them no matter what."

####

_Location: Azize and surrounding areas. Time: Current._

At Serafina's word every battleship opens fire with missiles and beam cannons, Gundams are launched from transport ships while the Gundams already outside the ships begin to run towards the Haben military line. Several of the Haben's military ships move up front and activate their energy shields to protect the rest of the forces from the frontal assault, while their own Gundams begin to charge. We can see the land ships begin to advance and fire their cannons to try and break Serafina's line. Flight Gundams are the first to directly engage enemy Gundams. Some are in melee combat while others fight from a distance. The Ground Gundams begin to fire their beam rifles and smaller missiles at each other while looking to gain higher ground but already we can see several groups of Gundams charging straight ahead regardless of the rain of beam bullets and exploding sand looking to engage in close quarters combat. The sound of missiles, beams, and cannons is deafening with each blast sending up a gust of sand and taking out multiple Gundams. Every ship is equipped with beam shielding so none have been destroyed yet but the battle is still early.

####

_Location: Azize military command center. Time: 4 hours after the start of the attack._

Hirsi looked at the map again in a vain attempt to change the results he saw with pure will power. His line had been pushed back…a lot. The battle had already spread half way into the city with major damage in several areas. Thank the ancestors that they had the extra time to help the civilians get into shelters so causalities should be low on that end, still that had cost them valuable time to set up a proper defense line which was one of the major reasons why his troops were losing. Another reason as much as it pained him to admit it was that the rebels were just better Gundam pilots. The Haben military had an advantage with their military ships vs. the rebel's second hand ships but the average soldier was just a weaker Gundam pilot then the average rebel and it was costing them. The only saviors were the elite royal soldiers but there were too few of them in this battle to compensate for the gap. Hirsi grits his teeth as he muted out the rest of the battle committee, for the last ten minutes they had been arguing about a new strategy to regain the lost ground. It's not that the plans were bad it's just they needed better pilots to complete them and unfortunately all of their good pilots were busy trying to save and cover the asses of the bad ones. Finally Hirsi had heard enough. "I'll head out, and begin reinforcing the back of our line and cut off any Gundams that managed to break through."

Several cries of protest started to form on the committee members' mouths but Hirsi silence them. "I am the best Gundam pilot currently not fighting on the front lines and until we can reinforce our lines we won't be able to regain any ground we've lost, Kemp you're in charge."

One of the committee members salutes him in response. "Sir."

Hirsi nods his head and quickly turns to leave the room before anyone else could protest.

####

_Location: Liberator's of Haben command ship._

Serafina stood quietly in the back overlooking his tacticians and the general out lay of the battle. They were winning of course; Serafina had been right when he first purposed a strict Gundam piloting regiment. Serafina knew that they would never be able to match the royal's ships or weapons but in battle nothing was more important than Gundams and that they could match. So Serafina had purposed a heavily strict and intense Gundam piloting course for all of his men. Still even though they were winning Serafina felt restless. Since the battle had begun he had sat back as his tacticians took over, he learned from previous battles that his poor attempts at large scale battle strategies would only distract them or waste their time explaining why that wouldn't work so Serafina had kept quiet only observing and asking questions here and there.

The tacticians were confident that victory could be achieved against the Haben military, the only real question was how much it would cost. Still even though victory was within his grasp Serafina wasn't happy. Serafina wasn't sure what he was expecting to feel, obviously sorrow due to causalities and damages done to the civilians, but that couldn't be helped that was war. Serafina supposed he wanted to feel a sense of accomplishment, despite all of the heartache, all of the pain they had risen and triumphed over the evil tyrant but that wasn't what Serafina was feeling. All he felt besides the sadness was a bitter taste in his mouth. Winning wasn't making him feel happy, it wasn't making him feel proud or satisfied; he still felt this burning anger inside… "_Defeating the King won't stop your anger it will just give you a hollow sense of victory." _Shadow's words echoed in his mind. _NO! _Serafina though fiercely as he pushed the thought down. That buffoon didn't know what he was talking about, no; the reason why Serafina wasn't happy was because his instincts were telling him not to let his guard down. The battle was not yet over, the royal's elite soldiers were still causing them trouble and they could always have some kind of last resort trick at the ready.

"I'm going to head out to help with the cleanup." Serafina informed his tacticians and advisors who immediately met him with a rain of protest.

"You can't Mr. President."

"What if something happen to you, where would our army be without its leader?"

"It's undignified for our president himself to go out onto the field of battle."

Serafina raises his hand to stop the roar of protest. "Gentleman I understand your concerns but the liberators of Haben are not so weak that they would fall apart at my death and vice president Kaique is more than capable of leading the liberators of Haben should it come to that. This is our moment, we are on the verge of achieving what no one thought we could, the taking of Azize, Haben's capital city and here I stand doing nothing. I have always been more of a foot soldier then a planner therefore it is only fitting that I go out there to help the rest of my men." There were still some grumbles of discontent but Serafina was well respected and he made good points. Vice president Kaique was more than capable of running the liberators should the need arise and in all honestly Serafina wasn't really doing anything other than waiting. The young president was a good Gundam pilot, one of the best in their forces plus the morale of the troops would rise if they see the president fighting alongside them. Serafina makes one more respectful nod to everyone then leaves the command center.

####

_Location: Just outside Azize._

Black smoke drifts into the sky as fires rage in different parts of the city. We can hear the distant sounds of missile fire and large scale beam weaponry. The Dark-Angel sits quietly facing the city, like a midnight black raven watching the world turn. A gentle breeze blows by turning the top layer of sand like ripples in a sea. The doors to the Gundam bay open as the linear catapult extends outward. Cowboy is first up to launch. Nick is focused, his heartbeat slow and steady as he prepares for the battle. This Fachtna guy was a bully and Nick didn't like bullies; his code told him to stop a bully when he saw one and that was what he intended to do.

"Nick Mu, piloting Cowboy launching!" Cowboy launches from the catapult, lands and moves a couple of feet to the left. Jubal's Gundam is up next, fully repaired and armed with shield, beam saber and beam rifle. Jubal was just as focused as Nick; he had spent what felt like an eternity in the medical bay recovering from both physical and mental wounds. Now was the time to finish what his comrades had started, it was time for Fachtna to be brought down.

Jubal's Gundam launches from the catapult and lands beside Cowboy. The Gundams nod their head and then move out. La Rouge is next on the catapult. Cagalli unlike Jubal and Nick was far from relaxed and calm. If anything she was feeling a little twitchy which she found highly embarrassing considering out of everyone she had the most experience going into full scale Gundam battles such as this, but still she couldn't help it. This was the first time she was going into battle with absolutely no backup….well not counting Roxas. Roxas was even more unpredictable and wild then Shadow and that was saying something.

They had arrived outside the city a little over an hour ago; it had killed both Kabira and Raheem to see their nation in the ugly civil war but there was nothing they could do about it. If Kira or Athrun were here they could perform an armed intervention stopping the battle in midstride but no one on the Shadow Knights were as strong as they were. They had no choice but to rely on the safety devices in Sora Gundams and hope that causalities would be minimal.

Kenny along with Raheem had analyzed the battle and came up with routes for each set of teams to use where fighting would be on the lesser side as Kenny had put it. Raheem had also warned them about going near a tower that was a staircase like structure known as the Sanctus Turris. Apparently it was a very important holy building in Haben. Attacking it was like attacking their ancestors and deceased loved ones. Raheem summed it up nicely; putting so much a scratch on the Sanctus Turris was the quickest way to get both armies shooting at you with everything they got. Although Cagalli thought Raheem was exaggerating a little, she had to admit that the overwhelming majority of both military forces would practice the Haben religion and despite not being very religious herself Cagalli had known very dedicated believers so she had a pretty good idea what might happen if they inadvertently damaged the property. Still even with all of the preparations Kenny and Jack had been doing, and all the tips Raheem had given them along with the training Cagalli had been doing she still felt uneasy. Cagalli was not afraid of dying, through more trials then she care to admit Cagalli had complete faith in the Sora safety device. No, Cagalli was scared of screwing up. This was it, one way or another this drawn out escort mission was coming to an end and Cagalli was terrified of making a mistake, of costing Kabira her nation. If Athrun or Kira were here Cagalli could feel safe, they were the best and if she screwed up they would be able to fix it, like during the ZAFT invasion of Orb when she had been seconds away from dying and causing her country to go up in flames when Kira came and saved her. Cagalli still found herself wishing occasionally in battle that Kira and Athrun would once again come out of nowhere and save the day but ever so slowly that fantasy was beginning to disappear like the early morning mist to reveal reality. _Kira and Athrun aren't going to descend from the sky and rescue me if I fall…ever._

It wasn't improbable it was just impossible, not only was she on a completely different planet, they don't even know that the planet existed. It pained Cagalli to admit to herself that Kira and Athrun weren't watching her back, that safety net had always given Cagalli a warm sensation making her feel safe even in the most chaotic situations and admitting to herself that the net wasn't there was like waking up early in the morning and getting splash in the face with ice cold water. It was unpleasant, it was painful but it was time Cagalli faced reality. She needed to be fully aware of all her assets, all the factors at play, every single variable and dispel all illusions leaving only the cold hard facts. Cagalli could not make any mistakes today, she had to be at her best and she would have to trust the others to be able to do their best too…for Kabira.

"Cagalli Yula Athha piloting La Rouge launching!" La Rouge is fired out of the catapult and lands lightly on its feet and quickly sidesteps right. Quanlier hops onto the catapult, wagging its tail, stretching its paws and rotating its joints. Roxas was excited, her seduction plan with Raheem was back on track thanks to Shadow but at the moment Roxas was focusing her efforts and skills on Cagalli. Cagalli was the biggest fish Roxas had ever hunted and by far the toughest. Roxas knew she needed patience if she was going to be able to seduce Cagalli, Cagalli as sad as it was is as straight as an arrow and unlike those other girls at bars Cagalli had a strong sense of self. Cagalli was not curios in the slightest which made her that much harder to seduce. There was nothing Roxas could do to speed the process up and if she tried it would only hurt her chances with Cagalli. No, the only way to seduce Cagalli was a long-term strategy full of tiny little moments like this. The fear and adrenaline rush of battle would increase Roxas's closeness with Cagalli; the strangers become brothers in a foxhole effect. Plus Roxas couldn't wait to rip apart this Fachtna guy, he hurt Shadow and Kabira so that bastard was dead the moment Roxas spotted him.

"Roxas Nile Quanlier taking off!" Quanlier gets launched from the catapult and lands right next to La Rouge. Roxas opens up a communication window with Cagalli. "Never fear Cagalli, I Roxas will protect your bosoms from harm."

Cagalli didn't jump when Roxas suddenly appeared on her helmet screen, which she felt proud of. Cagalli hated the fact that anyone with another Gundam within a half a mile could open up a communication window with her without her approval. She had lost quite a few times in the Gundam fights because her opponent had suddenly popped up right when Cagalli was about to fire or attack, completely startling her. She had asked Kenny to make it stop doing that or at least give her some warning beforehand but Kenny had said it was part of the original coding of all Gundams entangled into the same code that controlled the power flow from the S-generator. He had gone on to tell Cagalli that even though research had been done into finding a way around this, no one had been able to create a new code that could control the power flow from the S-generator nor separate the two codes and any tampering into it had often resulted in the S-generator core exploding, thankfully the safety devices limited the explosion but still it was a quick way to permanently destroy your Gundam. The original creator of the Sora Gundams apparently didn't want that featured to be changed no matter what new designs people came up with, so as long as they used the S-generator they had to use that code which meant that they had to deal with their enemies being able to talk to them at will.

Of course the pilot could block the call by cutting the link and although Cagalli didn't fully understand it, links between Gundams could be locked so that a third party Gundam couldn't eavesdrop on the conversation, so anything Roxas and Cagalli said to each other would be safe from outside ears. Unfortunately she wasn't sure they would be saying anything of value.

"Roxas would you please be serious this one time, this is important."

Cagalli spoke slowly emphasizing each word.

"You're so adorable when you act all serious Cagalli."

Cagalli took a deep breath to steady her rising temper and for the first time ever she found herself preferring to work with Shadow over someone else. "Let's head out."

Roxas suppresses a smile as she watches Cagalli get frustrated and angry which was good. Cagalli tended to get lost within herself at times, trying to bottle up all of her emotions for whatever reason and that simply wasn't healthy. Cagalli needed to relax more, just let down her defenses from time to time so that she could breathe and more importantly so Roxas could sleep with her. The first step in getting Cagalli to drop the wall was to stop her from retreating into herself and get her to be more open with her feelings and no emotion was easier to draw out then anger. Roxas could be patient when she wanted to be and no prize was worth her patience more than Cagalli, Roxas will set up her pieces one at a time until they all line up perfectly. "Lead the way Cagalli, oh and feel free to work up a sweat while we run."

Cagalli rolls her eyes at the perverted comment but chooses to ignore it since acknowledging it would only further encourage Roxas's attempts to flirt with her. La Rouge turns and heads off into the desert with Quanlier following behind wagging its tail. Last up onto the catapult is Nightwing. Raheem sat uncomfortably sitting down buckle up. Gundams were not originally intended to carry passengers although the cockpit was spacious enough for multiple people to be in it since there were no seats.

In fact the only reason there were seatbelts built into Gundams in the first place was because of a paper some mechanic wrote a couple of decades back stating that one would never know when a Gundam Pilot might need to transport someone out of a battle zone in their Gundam and boom just like that every Gundam mechanic on Sora installed some padding and seatbelts in their Gundams. Still, riding second class in a Gundam was extremely dangerous and uncomfortable.

It had been painful for Raheem to leave Kabira, he almost broke out into tears but he somehow had managed to stay composed and leave Kabira with some words of comfort. He believed that Kabira would be safe on the Dark-Angel, this late in the game Fachtna wouldn't waste his time targeting Kabira anymore. It was Haben itself that was endangered and Raheem was going to save it.

Shadow was focused; with an underlying excitement he felt whenever he entered battle. The docs had been reluctant to give their ok for Shadow to go but luckily for Shadow the docs were good and his wounds although serious and potentially deadly were easy to treat and quick to heal; besides Shadow was technically their boss so he was going no matter what. Fachtna may have beaten him in human combat but Gundams were a different story, Shadow wouldn't lose in a Gundam Fight.

"Shadow you're clear to launch." Kenny informed him. Shadow nodded to the programmer, and closed the window as he momentarily turned off his helmet screen to look at Raheem.

"You ready Raheem?"

"I am."

Shadow nods his head, turns his helmet screen back on and looks straight ahead.

"Alright, Shadow Zoomarey piloting Nightwing and Raheem….the guest, launching!"

Raheem tried to say something about Shadow's "guest" comment but was interrupted as the catapult activated and launched Nightwing. Nightwing flies in the air and pencil dives down on the sand, Nightwing lands on the sand with both feet but its left leg slips causing Nightwing to drop to one knee. Raheem gets shaken a little but he supposed given Shadow's history with landings it could have been much worse.

"Almost had that one Shadow, the best attempt yet." Kenny told Shadow honestly over the helmet screen. Shadow grins proudly at his best friend's comment. He was finally starting to get the hang on landing though he still didn't know how other people especially Cagalli were able to do it so easily but that was beside the point, time to focus.

"Here I come Fachtna, let's go Nightwing!"

Kenny's fingers were like a lightning storm on the keyboard with each stroke appearing and disappearing in rapid secession. Kenny kept a communication window open with everyone as long as he could but eventually they went out of communications range, then Kenny switched over to tracking his friends by their Gundam's locators. Kenny wished that Jack and Kabira weren't both hovering over him like worried hens, or more like worried little sisters. Kenny smiled to himself as he thought about his own younger sister, then shook his head and scolded himself. His friends were counting on him…for what he wasn't sure considering they were going to be too far away for any of the Dark-Angel scanners to do much good, not to mention the fact he couldn't even talk to them but statistically speaking a programmer on any mission increases the rate of success by at least ten percent so Kenny would be at the top of his game to deal with….well anything.

"Will we know if they get into a fight?" Kabira asked. She already suspected the answer but just standing here doing nothing was driving her nuts, that and watching the other members of the bridge crew besides Kenny relax and goof off wasn't helping.

"No, the damage reading programs are too complex to be sent from that large a distance." Kenny answered without looking up from his computer. Jack paces around her captain's chair; if she were a real captain she should be sitting down in a calm and composed manner but God damn it she was a Gundam _mechanic_! She thought best when she was moving, plus moving and working with her hands calmed her.

"Not that we need it, they'll all be in combat pretty soon." Jack added to Kenny's statement. Kabira suddenly more concern says

"But I thought you and Kenny picked routes that didn't have any military Gundams on it?"

Ok that was annoying, Kenny hated it when people misquoted him. "I said the routes had the least amount of military Gundams on them, the difference between them fighting ten Gundams versus a hundred Gundams."

"Oh, Ok sorry."

The proud programmer could get a little bit sensitive when someone hinted that he made a mistake in Kabira's opinion. Jack had stopped pacing and stood behind Kenny watching the moving blinking dots representing Shadow and the others.

"Cagalli and Roxas have the most direct path so they'll be the first to encounter any kind of resistance."

#####

_Location: North Azize, just outside the city._

La Rouge and Quanlier were running straight towards Azize. They were still outside the city in the desert but they could see the city growing larger in the distance.

"This is so boring! When are we going to get to fight someone?"

Cagalli glanced at Roxas on her helmet screen annoyed; if it's not Shadow it's Roxas acting like a child with no sense of responsibility. With a great sigh Cagalli explains "The majority of the fighting is happening in the east of the city, but stay on your guard, fights have broken ou-"

"WATCH OUT!" Quanlier rushes in front of La Rouge and collides with another animal type Gundam that was moving full speed toward La Rouge about to lop its head off with beam claws.

"ROXAS!" Cagalli screams as she jumps back and raises her beam rifle. Quanlier and this unknown animal Gundam were going at it, they were rolling around on the ground snapping at each other's throats while at the same time trying to stab each other with their beam claws and Cagalli was sure if they had fur it would be flying now. _Damn it Kenny's out of range, it looks like another tiger class Gundam like Quanlier. They're too close together I can't get a clear shot!_

"Roxas put some distance between yourself and the enemy Gundam so I can shoot!"

Quanlier/Roxas growls in response then puts its tail on the ground and lifts up its body startling the assailant. The enemy Gundam jumps off Quanlier as Quanlier rolls backwards finally putting some distance between itself and the other Gundam. La Rouge lines up its beam rifle and fires but the enemy Gundam is too fast and jumps back dodging the attacks. The enemy Gundam jumps back, rolls over and sidesteps dodging all of La Rouge's beam bullets.

After a moment more of this La Rouge stops firing and holds its position while Quanlier steps right up next to it. Quanlier's tail waves back and forth as it hunches its shoulders and spreads out its back legs ready to pounce at a moment's notice. The unknown Gundam is painted all black and looks very similar to Quanlier only bigger and bulkier. Cagalli opens up a communication window with Roxas; her purple eyes had turn into almost glass like slits. Cagalli shivered a little, Roxas could be a little scary when she got serious in battle but before Cagalli could say anything the enemy Gundam pilot contacted them.

"Well, well, well so you're the Gundam team that's been giving that cheap bastard Fachtna such a pain in the ass that he actually paid me for some help."

The pilot looked just as wild as Roxas, Cagalli observed before commenting. "You work for Fachtna?"

"I wouldn't say work, Fachtna hired me to take you guys out, the name's Daly and I'm a mercenary."

Some mercenaries like Zain looked down on Daly because he liked to introduce himself to his opponents if the chance presented itself. Daly didn't really care what others thought though, Daly was his stage name anyway, the name he used to increase his fame and reputation.

"Oh, quick question are either one of you a Shadow Zoomarey?"

Both Cagalli and Roxas blink in surprise then glance at each other not sure what to make of the question. Roxas answers first.

"Um…no."

"How do you know about Shadow?" Cagalli asks with a fear of a traitor on the Dark-Angel racing through her mind.

"Dude I looked you guys up on the web, you're on the GFC website listed as the Gundam team Shadow Knights with Shadow Zoomarey listed as your leader." Daly replies looking at Cagalli like she's an idiot. Cagalli resisted the urge to slap herself, of course they would be on the web, the Gundam fights are a major sport on Sora so all the teams were probably listed somewhere on their website. Come to think of it she should really look at the site herself some time, if she was going to be stuck participating in these Gundam fights she should have a better idea of how they work.

"SWEET, we're famous!" Roxas shouts suddenly glowing with joy. Daly openly laughs at her.

"Famous, HAHAHAHAHAHA, hardly! You're an E-10, other than the GFC official website you guys don't exist and even on the GFC website the only thing they have on you is your team's win/lost record and your team leader. That's why you gave Fachtna's intelligence network such a hard ass time, if you had been famous they would have already known everyone on your team's names, Gundams, stats and individual win/lost record with a detailed breakdown of each Gundam fight but because you guys are such big nobodies hehehhe Fachtna couldn't find anything on you other than your team name, HAHAHAHAHA!"

Cagalli glared at the punk before her and weirdly she could feel Quanlier tense beside her, some things about the NS system she would never get used to. Cagalli could understand Roxas's anger, while it was not her goal to become a big time popular Gundam fighter, it did annoy Cagalli being called a nobody, and being laughed at, something she was not used to.

Daly continues his rant "But hey this Shadow guy beat Zain, the poor guy took it so hard with his enormous pride and so here I figured I would take this Shadow guy out, maybe have a decent fight, and one up that swordsman bastard," Daly sighs "but sadly lady luck is not on my side. Oh well I guess me and my Gundam Black Panther will just take you guys out instead."

Ok now Cagalli was really starting to get annoyed, trash talk wasn't something she was used to in a Gundam battle. Normally on Earth the pilots kept to themselves and rarely ever talked unless they knew their opponent.

"Cagalli you go on ahead, I'm taking this shit for brains cockroach down." Roxas had locked the communication link between herself and Cagalli so Daly couldn't overhear. Cagalli glances at her animalistic companion surprised.

"No way, if we fight him two on one we'll have a better chance at winning plus we shouldn't split up. Without Kenny guiding us we might never be able to regroup again, not to mention without Kenny and Jack we don't know a thing about this guy's Gundam so it's too dangerous."

Roxas cuts in and sums up everything in a simple sentence. "We don't have the time."

Five words and yet they spoke to the heart of this operation. Cagalli knew Roxas was right and took a moment to marvel at her straight to the point answer, Roxas had done it several times before but it never ceased to surprise Cagalli when Roxas was able to see right through the heart of a situation and sum it up in simple terms. They were racing against the clock to stop Fachtna before he used his weapon and they did not have the time to waste in hard Gundam fights and judging from their first encounter that was exactly the fight Daly would give them.

It was better for one person to deal with Daly while the other moves on, after all it was better for one person to reach Fachtna in time than thirty late people. Cagalli knew all of this yet a part of her still didn't want to leave.

"Will you be alright?"

Roxas blinks in surprise upon hearing the concern in Cagalli's voice and for the first time in a while looked at Cagalli's eyes and not her breasts. Cagalli was genuinely worried about her and that touched Roxas; friendship felt warm. "I'll be fine, don't worry."

Cagalli couldn't help it, she was even surprising herself. Despite all of her sexual harassment, perversions, laziness, craziness and just the plain trouble Roxas caused her, Cagalli was still worried about her. The red haired girl had grown on Cagalli, like an annoying older sister who drove the blond nineteen year old nuts all the time. Roxas was Cagalli's friend and she cared about what happen to her.

"Just remember, there's no back up right now so even though the safety pod will protect you from being killed by a Gundam-"

"It will leave me like a sitting duck that anyone could walk by and capture, and thusly torture, kill and other mean things; I know. Right now defeat in a Gundam fight is the same as death."

Cagalli looks Roxas in the eye making sure she understands the danger. If time wasn't a factor Cagalli would have stayed to help Roxas anyway, but time _was _a factor, she had to go. Cagalli turns to go but before she leaves Roxas says "The same goes for you Cagalli, be careful."

Cagalli looks back for a moment at Roxas surprised by the lack of bosoms mentioned then smiles and nods her head.

"I will." La Rouge dashes forward, attempting to catch Black Panther off guard. Black Panther lets La Rouge run right on by not moving a screw; instead Black Panther focuses entirely on Quanlier. Roxas watches Daly unblinkingly through the communications link, Roxas personally liked to see her opponent when she fought them, it made the battle more intimate.

"I was under the impression Fachtna was paying you to keep us out of his hair?" Faking a sweet smile as she says this Roxas's teeth look more like fangs. Daly returns the smile with his own dagger like teeth.

"He is, but I'd figured I'd kill some time playing with you and your weak ass Gundam first. That should give that other crappy Gundam fighter plenty of a head start."

Quanlier's tail twitched in annoyance but otherwise remained motionless.

"Weak ass Gundam?"

"That's right, the tiger class Gundam is so outdated and you don't have any equipment attachments either; now the panther class Gundam is where it's at."

Roxas was going to rip this guy to shreds. He was dissing Roxas's beloved and awesome Gundam, Quanlier which Jack works her ass off constantly trying to improve its performance and systems but more importantly he threatened Cagalli and after their emotional parting Roxas was suddenly feeling a lot more protective of Cagalli and not just for sexual reasons. Roxas growls out "Let's see if you can say that after I RIP YOUR THROAT OUT!" With that Quanlier charges Black Panther.

#####

_Location: West Azize, inside the city._

The ball slams into the Haben military Gundam and explodes taking it out. Delena pulls back the ball while an allied Gundam holds its shield over Delena's head protecting it from enemy fire. Delena snaps its wrist and retracts the beam rope and begins to spin the ball and beam in tight circles looking for its next target. Serafina was feeling empowered with his Gundam Delena operating so well. _Perhaps losing to Shadow wasn't such a bad thing after all, _Serafina thought. Although Serafina knew better, the majority of his army blamed his loss on the mechanics.

It was true Delena hadn't been upgraded in a while but it was unfair to blame the loss on his Gundam. Nightwing was a Basic Original; true a Basic Original with some serious upgrades and tweaks to its original systems, but in essence it was a Basic Original. The speed Nightwing demonstrated was the result of Shadow using the thrusters to their fullest potential, like his old mentor once said never underestimate what a skilled pilot could make his Gundam do and Shadow had skill-still upgrades never hurt.

After recovering from his injuries Serafina had found out that the advising assembly had approved his mechanics of sharing some information regarding Gundams with the Shadow Knights's mechanic. Serafina looked at the report himself and was surprised; the information passed between the mechanics was nothing top secret it was just a bunch of mundane stuff, little details involving several systems that helped make them perform better. Serafina at first didn't understand any of it but his mechanic explained it to him, the information they traded wasn't rare or overly important yet it wasn't in the books nor would you be able to find it online unless you were looking, it was just a bunch of tricks they had learned from playing around with the Gundams. In a sense they were trading experiences.

At this point though Serafina didn't really care, Delena was now faster, physically stronger and the explosion from the ball and beam consumed half the amount of energy it once did. Whatever they had traded for these upgrades was worth it. Beam fire comes from above but Delena dodges it and ducks behind what used to be a factory or office building at one point, now only half of the building remained standing, the rest blown up from a battleship no doubt. The rest of Serafina's team of seven followed their commander's lead. The noise was a little hard to place with the roar of the ships firing their cannons and energy beam weapons not so far away towards Serafina's left and that's not even counting the rest of the sounds of battle coming from all over.

Still Serafina was confident that it was once again only a single soldier; he took a moment to reflect on this. Serafina was currently leading a team of seven to secure an assigned area in the factory district from enemy Gundams. Normally Gundam fighting was something Serafina loved doing, he was good at after all, and he had hoped that being in his upgraded Delena would help ease his troubled mind and irritated mood. It did not; the royal's forces had already lost a lot of people and therefore his men out numbered them heavily but still none gave up. All of the soldiers like the one Serafina was currently fighting stood their ground to the bitter end and Serafina somehow knew that it would be the same all over Azize.

At first it had been pretty even in terms of numbers, seven on seven and being the more skilled pilots Serafina and his team had been able to defeat most opposition with little damage but as the fighting dragged on and the royal's soldiers became more separated and spread out the fight became, five on seven then three on seven and now finally it was one on seven. Serafina did not enjoy ganging up on one lone scared soldier with seven people; it left a bitter taste in his mouth but he had no choice. No mattered how often he ordered the enemy combatant to surrender they refused and fought on.

Serafina finally spotted the enemy, a lone Gundam on top of one of the few whole buildings. Jumping out from cover and dodging beam fire Delena let its ball fly, crashing right into the building the enemy Gundam was standing on and setting off an explosion. The building rumbled and cracked under the pressure collapsing with the enemy Gundam coming right on down with it. Serafina's team quickly took him out with their beam rifles while Serafina watched. Kabira's bodyguard Raheem had been right when he said this was going to be a long bloody battle but as much as Serafina hated it there was nothing he could do about it but continue on fighting.

Serafina never saw the missiles until they hit two of his men blowing them to bits. The rest of the Gundams including Delena scattered and looked up to the sky to see an eagle Gundam coming straight towards them. _A Royal Gundam, _Serafina thought rapidly as the eagle Gundam barrel rolled and dived left, dodging return fire from the remaining five soldiers under Serafina's command. The eagle Gundam breaks from its barrel dive upside down and fires missiles at the buildings on Serafina's team's left and right sides sending chunks of shrapnel flying right at them. Serafina's team dodges the debris and quickly retreat as the opposing Gundam flies high into the air and fires more missiles at them.

_This guy is good, _Serafina thinks as Delena ducks behind a pile of rubble from the battle. Delena didn't have flight capabilities and for a moment Serafina thought about calling headquarters for flying Gundams for backup but dismissed it. The flying Gundams would be too far away to get here in time assuming they could leave whatever position they were at. Serafina took a moment to observe the royal Gundam as his team desperately struggled to dodge the missiles it fired and returned fire. The pilot was doing very well against five people; in fact even against the number difference he was the one pushing them into a corner. The royal elite soldiers had been giving them trouble since the battle began but none of them were this skilled.

Suddenly Serafina recognized the flying patterns; he had memorized the fighting styles of all of the royal's top pilots thanks to the liberators information network. He opens a link with the pilot, it was a risky move since it would reveal his own identity but Serafina had to be sure.

"Hirsi Semper Fidelis!"

The Eagle Gundam stops for a split-second as Hirsi recognizes the so call leader of the rebels and spots his Gundam a few meters behind the other five Gundams. "Serafina Milena!"

It takes a moment for both leaders to fully understand the situation then there thoughts begin to race as their blood boils with anger and rage. _He's the one responsible for this all_, Hirsi thinks while still dodging beam bullets.

_This battle and all the bloodshed in Haben is his fault, Serafina_ thinks as his rages consumes his reason.

_HE'S THE REASON WE'RE FIGHTING!, _they both think at the same time as the eagle Gundam transforms in midair to its human form and lets its ball and beam fly while Delena sends its own ball and beam flying at the eagle Gundam.

#####

_Location: East Azize, inside the city._

Jubal's Gundam rushes one of the rebel Gundams and slashes it cleanly and vertically in half and quickly raises its shield to block against enemy beam fire. Jubal grits his teeth as he quickly surveys the area, he had never been stationed in Azize before but he had heard a lot about it from others in his unit. They were in a warehouse district with buildings towering over them nearly six or seven times the height of their Gundams, luckily though there was plenty of space in-between the warehouses giving them plenty of room even for a Gundam. Unluckily Jubal and Nick had run smack dab into the middle of a rebel advance team of twenty Gundams which was who they were currently fighting.

Jubal saw the flash and felt the heat of three beam bullets fly over his Gundam's shoulder from behind and take out three rebel Gundams with headshots each. If Jubal wasn't still getting shot at he would whistle in an impressed fashion. Cowboy was behind Jubal's Gundam watching the rear while helping Jubal when it could. Jubal had already heard stories about how good a gunman Nick was from Shadow but until now he had just passed it off as a tall tale, Shadow did like to boast after all. Nick though had proven Jubal wrong.

Jubal's Gundam pushes forward while holding its shield up blocking beam bullets. A rebel Gundam charges Jubal's Gundam beam saber drawn but Jubal's Gundam spins at the last second, dodging a vertical slash while slicing off the rebel Gundam's legs causing the legless Gundam to fall backwards straight into the ground. Jubal's Gundam quickly finishes it with a stab to the chest and then raises its shield just in time to block more beam bullets. Three more beam bullets come flying from behind and three more enemy Gundams fell to the ground.

Nick's shots were uncannily accurate, Jubal could still count the number of times Nick missed on his hands. Nick was also impressively fast, only needing a split second to line up his shot before pulling the trigger and unlike most armature gunmen such as Jubal himself, Nick didn't just aim for the head or chest, easy areas to protect with a shield. Nick aimed for the legs, arms or any exposed limbs; putting the pilot off balances forcing them to reveal a more valuable body part. If Nick's Gundam was equipped with a better beam gun, it was scary to think of what he could do.

With two more rapid fire shots Cowboy takes down another enemy Gundam while Jubal's Gundam quickly defeats the last opponent in sword combat. Nick liked Jubal, he was more mature then Shadow and Roxas but relaxed with silent confidence unlike Cagalli. Nick worked well with Jubal because they were the same kind of person.

"Hey mate you doing alright?" Nick asks, Jubal pops up on his helmet screen a second later and replies.

"You bet. Your mechanic is incredible; these upgrades she made to my Gundam are just amazing. It feels like a completely new-"

Whatever Jubal was about to say was lost as a high intensity beam bullets comes out of nowhere and blows Jubal's Gundam's head clean off. Jubal's headless Gundam drops to the ground as Cowboy begins to franticly swing its head around trying to find the source of the beam bullet it never saw coming. Nick was momentarily worried about Jubal but pushed the thought down, the mate's safety pod should have protected him and it did Nick no good to be fretting about him. Jubal was out of the game now and if Nick didn't move quickly and find the sniper he would be next.

Nick traced the path of the bullet and gulped as he spotted a hole in the building just ahead of him leading straight through the other side. Whatever beam sniper rifle his opponent had was apparently strong enough to shoot clean through buildings, and from what Nick's gut told him he was far away too. Meaning Nick couldn't see his enemy nor could he hope to find any cover.

Just outside the city a lone Gundam lay with a massive beam sniper rifle. The barrel of the sniper rifle looked large enough for a Gundam sized cannon ball to fit while its length was three times bigger than the Gundam itself. The massive gun was held in place by large thick pillars that were attached to the guns side and braced against the desert sand for support. The Gundam lay motionless with its eyes literary attached to the sniper scope which had night vision, heat vision and electromagnetic vision that could see prey five miles away even through buildings.

Brogan lay as motionless as his Gundam, his heart rate steady and even. He knew the green Gundam belonged to the enemy and judging from the way the other Gundam had acted it had probably been an ally of the green Gundam so Brogan had classified them both as enemies. He had taken down the ally Gundam first and now slowly and carefully lined up his shot at the green Gundam.

_####_

_Location: North Azize, inside the city._

La Rouge was running down an area of the city where the buildings were closely packed together. The buildings were easily five times La Rouge's own height and there was not enough space in-between the buildings for a Gundam to pass through. Even the street La Rouge was running on was only La Rouge's width and a half, meaning Cagalli was starting to feel cramped. This was a new experience for the blond; she had never fought in a city before. Well there had been the battle in Berlin but that didn't count because the city was pretty much leveled by the time she had gotten there and Cagalli didn't count the invasion of Orb because other then maybe thirty seconds she had spent the entire battle outside the city itself.

So fighting inside an area of a city that was still intact was a new experience for her. Cagalli was doing her best to avoid hitting any buildings, in case there were still people who hadn't yet evacuated inside. She was no fool though; she knew civilian casualties were going to be high; she had done the math herself on both Orb's civilian and soldier casualties; still that didn't mean she had to contribute to it and carelessly go knocking into buildings. Plus Cagalli knew that damages to buildings could be just as devastating to business, Yuna for the scum he was did make one brilliant policy of allowing Orb's businesses to take out massive loans back by the government so that they could repair their offices. It had saved millions of jobs and encouraged businesses to stay in Orb rather then pick up and move to some other country, it was one of the reasons Orb had been able to recover its economic stability so quickly after the first war. If Cagalli had more time she would have also been more careful to avoid stepping on cars and constantly checking the streets for any civilians still in the area but if she didn't stop Fachtna soon they all would be dead anyway so Cagalli plowed right on through the cars and only occasionally glanced down to make sure she wasn't running smack dab in the middle of a crowd of people.

La Rouge glanced right and left but the street was quiet…too quiet in Cagalli's opinion. Something was wrong, the majority of the fighting may be happening west of the city but there should still be someone here, a scouting party or something. It wasn't nature for this area to be this quiet. Cagalli's questions are soon answered when two Gundams burst through one of the buildings in front of La Rouge sending rumble everywhere. La Rouge jumps back, in surprise raises its shield and lifts its beam rifle up. The two Gundams have been devastated; large chunks are messing in some sections including limbs while other sections look to have been pounded flat by a hammer.

It's clear they won't be getting up again and their opponent slowly walks out from the broken building. A red and yellow Gundam with two solid swords, Shadowkun, turns and spots La Rouge, Cagalli's eyes open up wide in realization. _Wait a minute that Gundam! _Her thoughts are confirm when Zain opens up a link on her helmet screen, his orange's eyes glow with an intense gaze and the episode ends with him saying.

"You, you're a member of the Shadow Knights. Where is your team leader, where is SHADOW ZOOMAREY?"


	64. Episode 63 Missiles Exploding

Episode 63 Missiles exploding

_Location: South Azize, inside the city._

Raheem was meditating or trying to meditate. Shadow had only ran into about three or four other Gundams on his way to Fachtna's base and had made short work of them. Raheem could offer little advice that Shadow didn't already know, at this stage in his training Shadow needed practical experience. What Raheem was worrying about is what he would do when he and Shadow faced Fachtna. Raheem of course knew that Fachtna used to be a D-1 ranked Gundam fighter in the GFC; he had even seen a couple of Fachtna's fights that existed on record.

Raheem was an honest person and he could clearly see that Fachtna was a far superior Gundam pilot then he himself was. When Raheem had first found out that he was up against Fachtna he had been worried, Raheem knew that if it came down to a one on one he would never be able to defeat Fachtna but he had quickly pushed such worries aside. This wasn't some corny anime where the fate of Haben came down to a final battle between Raheem and Fachtna. Fachtna would be arrested by a team of military police, no Gundams involved at all and if by some chance a Gundam fight did break out, Fachtna would surely be rusty, after all it had been a couple of years since Fachtna had piloted a Gundam. If life was a pie it would have been smashed into Raheem's face. Not only had he been dead wrong about it coming down to a final battle between himself and Fachtna from what Shadow had told him Fachtna had apparently been keeping up with his piloting. Shadow was still confident he could defeat Fachtna in a Gundam fight, he was too inexperienced to realize the difference in their abilities. Raheem didn't know what he would do when he and Shadow confronted Fachtna, hopefully the others will be there as well and as skilled as Fachtna was even he couldn't beat six trained Gundam fighters by himself.

"Man this place is like a ghost town and what's up with that tower staircase thing with those four statues?"

Raheem blinks, having been completely lost in his own worries that he stopped paying attention to Shadow but once he realizes where Shadow is panic quickly explodes. "Shadow STOP!"

Nightwing stops moving and stands still in an open plaza with the staircase tower in the center. Shadow turns to Raheem and lifts up his helmet screen as Raheem starts screaming at him.

"What the hell do you think you're doing? Why did you divert from the route we picked out for you?"

"Because this way is shorter, you and Kenny had me going in some big circle around here and I figured I could save some time by just cutting across."

"You IDIOT there was a reason we had you go around here, weren't you listening when I explain about the Sanctus Turris?"

Shadow blinks uncomprehendingly. Raheem suddenly realizes that Shadow had been in the medical bay harassing the doctors to let him pilot a Gundam. Raheem mentally slaps himself for having forgotten to inform Shadow of something of this importance while Shadow remembers something. "Hold on a second, the Sanctus Turris I think Kabira mention it once. She said something about releasing the ashes of the deceased on top of it so that their spirit can climb to heaven or something like that."

Raheem takes a deep breath in order to resist the urge to correct Shadow, the basic idea he had about the Sanctus Turris was correct and Raheem didn't have time to go into detail about it.

"That's the general idea, but the important part is that it is a holy building so walk very carefully and quickly away from this area as fast as possible and DO NOT I repeat DO NOT touch the building!"

Shadow raises his hands in a gesture of peace to calm Raheem, religious people got all jumpy and serious when they thought you were about to insult their God which Shadow was not; even he wasn't that insensitive to make fun of faith.

"Fine, don't touch the building, move quickly out of here got it? Geez."

Shadow lowered his helmet screen down while Raheem puffs in silence at the whole situation they were in. Before Shadow left he took one more look at the statues which were the Sanctus Turris's legs, they were really good, very human like and they looked to be made out of old stone. Not that surprising since most of Haben's buildings were made out of a type of stone rather than steel. Shadow shrugged which in turn made Nightwing shrug; he had seen enough now it was time to head out.

####

_Location: North Azize, inside the city._

Zain had never been more humiliated in his life. Getting his ass handed to him by an E-10, by Shadow Zoomarey, it hadn't even been close! Once Shadow had switched his entire focus back to Zain his skill increased dramatically completely throwing off Zain's rhythm and resulting with him getting his ass kicked badly. It was his own fault, if he had been calmer and using his two swords fighting stance instead of one sword the fight would have turned out differently, but Zain rarely went into battle using two swords.

His swords were specially designed blades for his fighting style allowing for easy switching and gripping for punches, plus it was sharpened using lasers and coated with Neoxic anti-beam coating, in short they were very expensive and took a while to make and deliver. Zain liked to keep one in reserve in case something were to happen to the one he was using, that way he would at least have one blade while he waited for the new one to be manufactured and shipped out, plus Zain considered fighting with one sword additional training, a handicap he gave to his opponents.

Now however the time had come for him to use two swords. Zain had greatly underestimated how much Shadow had grown, the bodyguard Raheem appears to have been teaching him the basic Haben sword style which has greatly added to Shadow's skills but Zain would not be unprepared this time. The battle would be close but Zain was confident that he could win; all he had to do was find Shadow. That was proving to be a little more difficult then he originally thought it would, he knew that Shadow was coming to face Fachtna but he didn't know what direction so he had guess North and set out, quickly clearing the area of all soldiers, rebels and royals alike mostly just for a little bit of a warm-up.

As luck would have it though Zain ran across another Gundam fighter for the Shadow Knights. He had never fought this person before which was why it took him a moment to remember the intel gathered on them. Medium to close range fighter, Gundam was a Basic Original pretty much identical to Nightwing other than the paint job. Weapons included standard beam rifle and solid shield, its melee weapon was a spear type weapon called a guan dao. E rank performance in both melee combat and marksmanship. Zain opened a link between the two Gundams to reveal a girl maybe 18 years old with blond hair and made his intentions known.

Zain, Cagalli had heard a lot about him from Shadow. Fachtna must have recovered his safety pod and it looks like his Gundam…Shadowkun had been fully repaired and it was carrying and additional sword. This wasn't good, Zain was a good pilot and Cagalli wasn't sure she could beat him plus there was no way she could contact anyone for help.

"I'll ask you again, where is Shadow Zoomarey?"

Shadowkun took a step forward and La Rouge took a step back. Zain smiled, the girl was obviously intimidated by him, he could see the nervousness on her face. As a teammate she would know where her superior was and if necessary Zain would beat Shadow's location out of her.

"If we're going to fight we should fight outside the city, so we don't endanger any people or damage any property."

_Is she serious? _She didn't look like she was trying to pull anything on him. Zain breaks out laughing

"HAHAHHAHHAHA are you for real? All of the civilians have already been evacuated to the Gundam shelters and anyone who didn't is an idiot that didn't leave when the Gundam alarm went off, geez don't you remember practicing Gundam Alarms in your home city?"

_Gundam alarm? _Cagalli had a momentary flash of a fire alarm metaphor. _Oh so on Sora they have Gundam alarms that work like fire alarms only bigger and city wide. _It made sense since Gundams were more common and easy to get a hold of on Sora than Earth. In fact it was a great idea and for a moment Cagalli tried to figure out how she could incorporate something similar in Orb.

"As for not damaging property, do you really think I give a damn? Where did you even get the idea I want to fight you anyway?"

"What?"

"Look I don't care about you, just tell me where Shadow is and I'll let you pass."

Suddenly Cagalli felt annoyed, it was such an old thing to feel in the middle of battle but Cagalli couldn't help it, something Zain was saying was annoying her. It took Cagalli a moment more to figure out what that something was but then it just hit her; Zain was saying that Shadow was a better Gundam pilot then she was. Ok that just annoyed her no it didn't just annoy her it pissed her off, now she could understand if it was someone like Kira or Athrun that Zain wanted to fight obviously Cagalli was nowhere near as good as them but SHADOW!

Cagalli didn't know why it bothered her, from an objective point of view Shadow had to be a better pilot then her. She had lost all of her matches in comparison Shadow had won all of his matches so logically speaking Shadow was a better pilot then she way but NO something inside was screaming. There was just no way that Shadow was a better pilot then her, Cagalli had no idea what had come over her but this burning sensation inside of her wouldn't go away. Cagalli could not nor would she ever accept that Shadow was a better pilot then her! Kira, Athrun, hell Cagalli could accept anyone but Shadow as a better pilot then her!

It was weird but her anger seemed to feed her confidence, make it bigger. Cagalli would not lose to Zain because she had to get to Fachtna in order to stop him, for Kabira and besides if Shadow could beat Zain then so could she. _Shadowkun doesn't have a shield, _her thoughts began to race. Shadowkun didn't carry around any long range weapons from what she heard from Shadow. The streets were narrow so there would be no room to move left or right. Yes, the plan was forming in her mind, Cagalli had a lot better of a chance of winning then she originally thought. Her beam rifle gave her the edge.

"Like hell I'll tell you anything!" La Rouge opens fires with its beam rifle, if Cagalli could take Zain out quickly, damage to the surroundings would be minimal. Zain however is completely calm, in fact he was smiling. Shadowkun jumps left onto the side of one of the buildings then jumps right onto the side of another building and in 5 quick jumps Shadowkun wall jumps to the top of one of the buildings leaving a completely shocked Cagalli on the ground.

Cagalli isn't shocked by Shadowkun having gotten on top of a building, Cagalli had seen mobile suits that could jump very high, no what shocked her was the fact that Zain was able to wall jump to the top of the buildings without so much as leaving a scratch on any of the other buildings except for broken windows it used as a jumping post. _That's impossible; unless it's a solid steel building it should have buckled or cracked under the weight of a Gundam._

Zain's smile widens as he sees Cagalli's shocked expression. "Oh little girl, you have no idea what Gundams can do."

####

_Location: Center Azize, Fachtna's controlled building._

It was time. Fachtna already dressed in his pilot suit was walking over to his Gundam Azazel, he had just received word that Vent de la mort was ready and Fachtna was heading out to personally watch it at work. Byron and Zagat stood in front of Azazel, a tall Gundam admitting strength and power. In-between them standing on a podium was a Neon Gauntlet, oh how long it had been since he wore one or had piloted a Gundam. Without saying a word Zagat and Byron step back as Fachtna slides his Neon Gauntlet on, a full smile of satisfaction forms on Fachtna's face as his Neon Gauntlet burst with light, turning a yellowish brown.

"Zagat you are in charge while I am gone, you and Byron will protect the control system while I'm away."

Byron cuts in and asks, "Might I ask sir what your plan is, if you activate Vent de la mort and destroy the city you'll be destroying us and your control system."

Fachtna gives Byron a serpent's smile. "Do not worry Byron, this buildings is reinforced with steel so it wouldn't be blown away by the winds and sands. Given enough time though and even this building would succumb to the elements but don't fear the sand will bury it first protecting it and I will come to dig you guys out when all is said and done."

Byron understandably looks unhappy with this idea to which Fachtna laughs

"HAHAHAH what's the matter Byron don't you trust me to come back for you guys."

Zagat finally speaks although he's been silently enjoying this entire situation with his twisted humor. "Maybe you're not as loyal as you act Byron"

Byron turns to glare at Zagat angrily. "I am loyal to Fachtna so long as he doesn't try to kill me, only idiots die for a cause."

"HAHAHA a well said response Byron but rest assured I will come back for you guys."

"Oh course you will my lord." Zagat says with a bow as Fachtna turns and hops onto the lift. Fachtna puts on his helmet as he steps into the cockpit and activates the Gundam sequence. He heard and felt the familiar sounds of the NS system encircling him and attaching to his nervous system allowing him to feel what his Gundam felt. The zero gravity bubble lifted him up into the air as both his Gundam and tech support gave the ok to launch. Fachtna smiled one more time, as he proclaimed in a loud fierce voice.

"Fachtna Hola piloting Azazel launching!"

Azazel's eyes flash as the bay doors open allowing it to rush out.

####

Nightwing was running through the streets its speed proving to be very great despite its inability to fly. They had ran into little trouble and were quickly closing in on Fachtna's base when it happened, Nightwing happened to be looking left when a yellow black object zips by on a parallel street in the opposite direction. Nightwing only caught a glimpse of it before the mysterious Gundam ran off having taken no notice of Nightwing. The black, green eyed Gundam comes to a complete stop by sliding on the ground mowing down a couple of cars while still staring off in the direction that other Gundam went.

Raheem gets pulled forward a little from the sudden stop but his seatbelt keeps him in place. He looks up at the young Gundam fighter but he couldn't understand what was going on in his head. It wasn't as if Shadow was hiding something it was just that sometimes his mind went off into directions that were so foreign to Raheem that he couldn't comprehend them.

"What's wrong?"

Shadow without moving his head answers in a flat voice. "Fachtna just passed us going in the opposite direction from where Alex said his base was." Shadow didn't know how he knew that Fachtna was the one piloting that Gundam but an instinct told him it was and Shadow believed it.

"What, you saw him?"

"He was in a Gundam."

"Then how can you be sure it was him."

"I'm sure."

Raheem blinked; there was no doubt in the Gundam fighter's voice, no uncertainty. He was absolutely positive that the person piloting that Gundam was Fachtna. Raheem wasn't convinced, however he couldn't rule out the possibility either, a mistake now would promise Fachtna victory.

"What could he be doing going out in a Gundam, especially now?"

"I don't know but I'm going after him." Shadow said taking a step forward.

"We can't, we have to take care of the control system for the weapon!"

Shadow stops for a moment strained between a rock and a hard place but finally a curtain of light descends as he realizes what has to be done. "We have to split up."

Raheem had reached the same conclusion, while it was true that the control system was to be their top priority Raheem wouldn't put it pass Fachtna to have something up his sleeve in case they came this far. This was a man who had tricked an entire nation into fighting each other.

"How far away is Fachtna's base?"

"It's just on the other side of this building."

"Then put me down here, I'll infiltrate the building and destroy the control system."

"We don't know what kind of defenses Fachtna set up, will you be alright?"

Raheem unbuckles his seatbelt and then eyes Shadow. Raheem was feeling a cross between amused and annoyed by the question. "I am the captain of the Haben Royal Guard, I will be fine. Whatever you do though, don't engage Fachtna just follow him. Fachtna is too strong a Gundam fighter for you to take by yourself so wait until I redirect the others to you."

Shadow is about to say something in response to this but decides not to waste any more time arguing. "Fine, just hurry before he gets away."

Raheem sighs knowing that Shadow probably won't listen to him and sent a silent prayer to his ancestors to watch over the impulsive young man and then exits Nightwing.

####

_Location: East Azize, inside the city._

Nick was in trouble, Jubal was down and the sniper was a good distance away. From the angle of the hole in the building and Jubal's position Nick guessed the sniper was firing from somewhere outside the city. To make matters worse Nick didn't recognize the beam sniper rifle the sniper was using. The cowboy didn't consider himself one of those gun fanatics that own over a dozen or so rifles but he did like guns and he was a professional gunman so he had looked up and studied hundreds of different models and types of guns.

Beam guns though were a completely different monster and Nick knew little about them other than his own standard GMY-832 beam rifle. Nick was definitely starting to wish Kenny or Jack were still in communications range, those mates would be able to tell what kind of weapon he was up against. It was only luck that saved Nick from the second shot. Another enemy scout had spotted Cowboy while it was distracted and fired a missile from its rapid fire missile launcher. Cowboy heard it at the last second and dived forward rolling on the ground, the missile hits a wall creating a small explosion at the same time another high power beam bullet rips through the building across the street and shoots pass the spot Cowboy was standing milliseconds ago and then disappears into the building behind Cowboy leaving another perfect hole. Cowboy still on the ground spins around and quickly returns fire at the missile launching enemy.

Brogan released his breath and began to line up his shot again; the green Gundam had dodged the shot thanks to the intervention of that official Haben soldier. It did not matter, Brogan had at least twenty shots left before his Gundam ran out of energy and Brogan was certain that another intervention would not happen another twenty times.

Cowboy managed to take out the enemy scout with a head shot on the first shot but that was the least of Nick's worries. The sniper had taken a shot at him this time and it was only lady luck's will that Nick was still standing. The second shot had given Nick something, a second angle of which to judge the sniper's position. Nick could now take a guess at where the sniper was and fire but he had a new problem, beam bullets dissolve and degenerate over long distances unlike real bullets. How far they could travel before degenerating depended on the type of beam rifle and unfortunately Nick's beam rifle didn't have a long range at all. It would never be able to reach the sniper from this distance.

He had to think of something, the gunman instincts inside of Nick told him the sniper was already lining up his third shot and would pull the trigger soon. Even if Nick just started running forward he doubted he could bring the sniper in range of his beam rifle, he needed something solid to shoot at the sniper. Nick didn't know what compelled him to lift up his shield over his head, perhaps on some subconscious level he knew now would be the time for the sniper to pull the trigger based on his own experience as a gunman plus from what happen to Jubal, Nick guessed the sniper liked headshots.

Like all the ones before it the beam bullet tore through one of the buildings across the street only this time its aim was true, there was no time to react as the beam bullet hits Cowboy's shield right where the head should be. The shield buckles and slams right into Cowboy's head knocking Cowboy clean off its feet and sending it flying a couple of feet away. Cowboy's shield snaps in two from the force of the blast but it held enough for Cowboy to escape any serious damage.

Nick was dazed but he had to get up, the sniper would be lining up for the fourth shot and Nick literary had nothing left to stop it. He shook his head in an attempt to clear his mind and that's when he saw it, the rapid fire missile launcher the enemy Gundam had been using on him. In a blur Cowboy reached over and grabbed it dropping its beam rifle, Cowboy jumped to its feet. Nick was fighting panic, he hadn't been moving much so the enemy sniper won't need very long to line up its shot this time plus he was still feeling a little light headed from the blow by his shield.

Still he fought the panic, the first thing his pa had taught him about guns was never to panic. Guns were the most dangerous weapons on the planet and one mistake could cost someone including yourself and a loved one their life so it was important to never panic because panicking only leads to mistakes. Nick closed his eyes and imagined his happy place, a trick he had learn when he needed to steady his nerves for a long shot. He was back in New Australia on the cattle ranch, he was working with his brothers in the fields with their pa directing them, he could smell ma's homemade pies baking and then he saw her, the most beautiful woman in the whole wide world…Valencia.

Nick opens his eyes, his piercing blue eyes were clear, his breath was steady, his muscles relaxed. He guessed the sniper's position based off of the three shots fired at him, and began to angle the missile launcher. The distance was great and he would have to clear all of the buildings to his target, Nick would have to arch the missile and hope it makes it. The time it took Nick to clear his mind, guess the position of the sniper, angle his gun and pull the trigger felt like an eternity considering he knew at any moment the sniper could fire one of its unstoppable bullets at him but in reality it only took a minute. After the first shot Nick quickly readjusted his aim and took a second shot, then a third shot from a different angle in case the first two failed; he would have continued if Cowboy's computer hadn't spoken after the third shot.

"Missile launcher out of missiles, please reload before firing again."

Cowboy dropped the gun and stood waiting, Nick would know soon enough if he had hit the sniper. The missiles flew high into the air propelled forward by their engines, clearing the rooftops and gaining a bird's eye view of Azize. The engines on the missiles switch off as they run out of fuel and very slowly at first but quickly gaining speed the missiles begin to descend in an arch leading outside the city.

Brogan watched the green Gundam fire a rapid fire missile launcher up into the air but thought little of it. Some people went a little crazy with fear when up against him, not that Brogan blamed them. The idea of fighting an enemy you could not see, that was nowhere near you yet could attack you no matter where you ran was very frightening. The green Gundam stopped moving, apparently the pilot had resigned to his fate. Brogan steadied his breath and was about to pull the trigger when everything went to hell.

The three missiles reach Brogan within seconds of each other, the first one just as Brogan was pulling the trigger hit the ground to the right of the end of the megaton beam sniper rifle's barrel and despite Brogan's monk training to go from no noise to a huge an explosion caused Brogan to jump. The movement caused the barrel of the gun to move and Brogan instantly recognized that his shot would be off not that he had much time to worry about this. The second missile hit one of legs of the megaton beam sniper rifle causing the whole beam sniper rifle to fall over and smash into the ground. The third missile hit just behind Brogan's sniper Gundam blowing a cloud of sand into its back.

For a moment Brogan sat there stunned, trying to figure out how his extremely expensive megaton beam sniper rifle lay on its side on the ground and then it hit him. That green Gundam had fired the missiles! Although Brogan had inflicted it upon many people before for the first time since the early days of his mercenary career Brogan felt the cold hard talons of fear grip his heart. It was unthinkable that the green Gundam had such skill that he could hit a target from this distance away with just a missile launcher and assuming that was even possible, how had he even know where Brogan was to begin with?

Just when the panic was about to win, Brogan calmed his mind with the training he had received as a boy to be a monk, Fachtna had been a little too generous with his money now though that made sense. His opponent was not a normal E-rank Gundam fighter, he had skill. Still that skill would amount to little in his condition, he no longer held the missile launcher and beam bullets from a standard beam rifle would dissolve if he tried to fire them at this distance. For a moment Brogan considered leaving, his opponent was stronger than he originally thought but Fachtna had offered him a great deal of money for every kill so Brogan chose to stay and continue fighting.

He quickly went about repairing his megaton beam sniper rifle, he always kept backup parts with him when he went out, not that he had much of a choice since he lacked a crew and ship to call to carry parts to him. Still damage to the gun itself had been little and Brogan knew that he would be able to get it back up and running soon.

Nick breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the high powered beam bullet slam into the building to his left, the only way such a skilled sniper would miss so widely was if something had happened. One of Nick's shots had gotten through! Still he couldn't be sure it was a kill shot. Nick thought for a moment then Cowboy bent down and picked up its beam rifle and took off in the direction of the sniper. He would have to delay meeting the other mates, he couldn't leave such a powerful sniper out there, the other mates wouldn't know how to handle such an opponent if he locked on to them. Besides it was against his code to let someone get away with beating up his mates without getting a thorough beat down in return, so Nick would either confirm a kill or finish the job.

####

_Location: Center Azize, inside Fachtna's control building._

Byron walked with confidence down the hallway, his strides were even and his pace was steady. He paused at a solid metal door with a DNA lock. He looked left then looked right and then he quickly walks in and shuts the door. Inside was a large room filled with rows of computer terminals, this used to be Fachtna's command center where he controlled and coordinated all of his shadowy plans, now however the once crowded room had been deserted. Fachtna had set up the external control system for Vent de la mort in here and due to his extreme cautious nature had ordered all personnel out of the room and changed the lock code.

As of now only two people had access to this area besides of course Fachtna, Zagat and more recently himself. Byron walked over to one of the computer terminals and began typing, this was a trap but there was no time for Byron to do it any other way. Marco Styan, a great Haben general during the Great War, once wrote that sometimes in order to achieve great victory you needed to be willing to risk it all and now at the end Byron felt a deep understanding with the long dead general.

"So you finally revealed your true colors."

Byron had heard the door open and saw Zagat come in but he didn't bother to move or hide. Byron had been aware of Zagat tailing him for a long time now but he didn't have time to waste on witty remarks.

"You know you should feel a little bit proud, no one was ever fully sure what side you were on, except for me of course. That whole only idiots die for a cause thing was beautiful, it almost convinced Fachtna you were loyal to him but I knew better."

Something was wrong; no matter where Byron looked he couldn't fine the control program for Vent de la mort on the system.

"Still looking for the external control system? Well you can stop it's not here."

Finally Byron stops typing, and slowly he looks up at Zagat. "What do you mean it's not here?"

Zagat's demon smile slips across his face. "Talking now huh, well Fachtna wasn't entirely sure who was loyal to him other than me so he told everyone the external control system was here when in fact he had it put into his Gundam."

Byron silently cursed, of course Fachtna wouldn't put the external control system in such a poorly defended place, plus his controlling nature would mean he wouldn't trust anyone with its protection but himself. _I should have seen this._

"Tell me Byron why did you do it, you didn't tell anyone you were going undercover, I personally checked that so if we did get caught you would go down in flames too. After all no one would believe that you were trying to undermine Fachtna by yourself."

Byron did one last thing on the computer, he wasn't sure how it would help but it was his last gamble. If he could not win then he would throw his support to whoever still opposed Fachtna. Byron cared little for fame, he loved his country and would protect it from anyone or anything and Fachtna was most certainly a threat. For almost two years now Byron had been doing his own private investigation into the unfortunate events happening in Haben and through careful movements that had led him to Fachtna. Yet Byron didn't have enough proof to bring Fachtna down nor at the time was he aware of what Fachtna was planning so he had only one choice, to gain Fachtna's trust and destroy him himself if need be. If Raheem and Kabira acted in the light to destroy Fachtna then Byron would act in the dark, silently and slowly poisoning the demon from within. "You wouldn't understand even if I told you."

Zagat smiles in response as he pulls his gun out of its holster and points it at Byron. "Not that it matters anyway since you're about to be dead."

Byron allowed himself to be surprised for a second that Zagat was actually going to do the deed himself, up front and personal then Byron acted. His throwing knives were located in a secret patch within his pants in a specially designed sheath that blocks against metal detectors and he grabbed one and threw it in a split second before jumping back behind one of the computer terminals for cover. Luckily for Zagat, Byron was not normally an active fighter and although he had some training he simply lacked practical experience which was why his knife went flying a good foot away from Zagat's head.

Unluckily for Zagat he himself was not normally an active fighter, at least not a fair up front and personal fighter, the sudden knife throw startled him and he fired his shot prematurely completely missing Byron. Zagat dives behind one of the computer terminals not wishing to find out if Byron had more knives.

"What's the matter Zagat? Is the game not fun when the odds aren't overwhelmingly in your favor?"

Zagat gritted his teeth in annoyance as he inched his head out trying to get a better idea of where Byron was it was true he hadn't expected Byron to be armed. Guns weren't normally something anyone outside of the police, military and criminal organizations could get a hold of in Haben and as far as Byron's history went he had never traveled outside Haben's boarders so there had been no reason to suspect Byron of having a gun.

Fachtna had told Zagat that Byron carried knives as a means to defend himself with but Zagat had simply assumed it was a meaningless weapon to only be used in a desperate battle with no way out however just because Zagat was wrong about how trained Byron was didn't mean he couldn't guess at the style he was using. After all there was only one style involving hidden knives that politicians used.

"You didn't tell me you knew Negocierile Agresiva!" Negocierile Agresiva was a popular fighting style among politicians, doctors and scientist who felt they needed to know some kind of self-defense. It involved the use of several hidden throwing knives, the exact amount of hidden knives varied by how skilled the user was and how many they could concealed, in Byron's case that meant seven or six now that he had thrown one at Zagat.

"That's strange considering Fachtna knew; maybe you're not as important to him as you thought."

Zagat grits his teeth in annoyances as he jumps up and shoots at the spot where Byron's voice had come from. The bullets sound with a boom as they slam into the computer terminal shattering the glass monitor. Byron ran keeping low to the ground while Zagat followed him with his gun still continuing to fire. Byron dived behind another computer terminal while Zagat ducked down and reloaded his gun. Byron maybe armed but there was no denying he rather have had a gun at this moment than his knives.

Byron took a moment to consider his options and came to one logical conclusion, he was dead. Even assuming he could defeat Zagat and that was a big "if" considering Zagat had a gun with an unknown quantity of bullets, Byron would still have to get out of the building and no doubt Zagat would have alerted the guards of his betrayal even if he wished to do the deed himself. Unarmed with only his knives there was no way Byron would get past the guards.

It was a strange feeling knowing beyond a doubt you were going to die, Byron's parents had long since been dead and he had no other family. By nature he was a quiet person unless someone engaged him first, so he had no friends and in all honesty his presence within the assembly was hardly noticeable so he doubted anyone would notice the difference without him there, in the end all he had was Haben. Yet strangely he was fine with that, some might have been disappointed but Byron was proud to have served Haben to the bitter end, he was proud that he had fought against Haben's true enemy even if he did not win.

Having made his peace with death Byron drew two of his hidden knives and carried one in each hand as he braced himself. If he was going to die today then the least he could do was take that bastard Zagat with him. With that thought in mind Byron sent a silent prayer to his ancestors then jumped out from behind his cover and rushed the demon's helper.

####

_Location: North Azize, outside the city._

Quanlier smashes into the ground on its side. Black Panther rushes Quanlier and pounces, its beam claws extended but Quanlier rolls over onto its back and kicks out with its hind legs nailing the Black Panther in the chest. Black Panther is now the one sent flying by the attack but only a short distance away. Roxas wished her hind legs had beam claws too; she really wanted to rip this guy to shreds. He had insulted her, her Gundam and her Cagalli and no one gets away with all that without feeling her claws. The damn punk was just annoyingly strong, no he wasn't strong it was his Gundam….a panther class Gundam.

Roxas resisted the urge to roll her eyes, please the tiger class was so much better and her Quanlier was a hundred million billion times better looking than that ugly panther. Quanlier and Black Panther got up at the same time and charged each other. Although the two animal Gundams are moving at an even pace Black Panther has longer legs then Quanlier, which means it has a reach advantage over Quanlier. Black Panther attacks first swing its right front leg at Quanlier.

Quanlier stops right on a dime and leans back dodging the beam claws by inches then responds by swinging its whole body in a 360, sticking out its tail so it can club Black Panther in the head but Black Panther drops to the ground and rolls to the right then leaps to its feet and jumps onto Quanlier's back.

"HA got you now bitch!" Daly finally had the red headed bitch in his grasp, despite her Gundam the girl was annoyingly agile making trying to grab her like grabbing a fish with your bare hands. Still Daly knew he had the stronger Gundam plus he would win in a straight away in terms of speed, the bitch was as good as dead.

"You wish asshole!" Roxas could feel his claws digging into her shoulders and a small window popped up on her helmet screen asking her if she wanted to disconnect her sense of touch in her Gundam's front legs. Roxas using her mind quickly clicked no, she needed to be able to feel what her shoulders were doing; besides she wanted to feel this asshole's disbelief when she beat him. Black Panther was heavier than Quanlier and would have pin it to the ground had Quanlier not chosen to roll over unhooking Black Panther's claws from its shoulders.

Roxas's shoulders didn't feel too badly damage not that she cared at this point. She could feel her animalistic impulses kick in as she jumped up and rushed towards Daly's neck, _kill shot neck, rip it out, bite into it! _Quanlier was standing over Black Panther in seconds barely giving Daly any time to react. Quanlier wiped its right leg's beam claw out at Black Panther's neck but Black Panther twisted its body out of the way and wildly swung its own beam claw getting a lucky shot in. The beam claw scratches Quanlier's face and Roxas howls in pain as tears form but luckily the claw didn't take out one of her eyes.

Fueled with intense rage Roxas ignored the pain and took the opportunity to bite into Daly's extended arm. Using its beam teeth Quanlier bites into Black Panther's extend leg and begins to violently thrash around its head and grinds its teeth as it tries to rip the hand off. This time it was Daly's turn to scream in pain and he quickly took the option of turning off his sense of touch to his right arm. It took Daly several moments and deep breathes to calm down then his eyes burned with their own intense rage as he screamed. "BITCH!"

Black Panther swings its left front beam claws at Quanlier forcing the tiger class Gundam to give up on its catch and jump back dodging the strike. Black Panther comes to its feet but due to Daly turning off his sense of touch on his right arm Black Panther stumbles, something Quanlier doesn't let slip by as it closes the gap between itself and Black Panther in a second and delivering its own nasty scratch to Black Panther's face. It was only because Black Panther stumbled backwards that it avoided a more serious blow however Black Panther is still unsteady on its feet. Quanlier spins around and delivers a devastating tail bash to Black Panther's head knocking Black Panther to the ground.

Before Quanlier can attack again Black Panther using its powerful legs jumps back gaining a great distance away from Quanlier. Sparks are flying from the savage bite wounds on Black Panther's right front leg. Black Panther is still unstable on its legs but it's at least standing now, like Quanlier the scratch on Black Panther's face hasn't damaged either of its eyes but it still looks like it hurts.

Daly was pissed, turning off his sense of touch in his right arm had been a mistake, now he couldn't feel where the ground was except when couldn't push down any further. He couldn't even turn his sense of touch back on without a programmer or manual override, both of which required an outsider. His footwork would be off for the rest of the fight and his faced stung!

"Awww did the little bitty panthy get a booboo?" Roxas sneers with her fang like smile further infuriating Daly. That was it! It was time to show this stupid tiger who was boss. Black Panther shakes its shoulders a little as its back opens up and a medium sized cannon slowly rises out from inside the compartment. Roxas blinks in surprise, this was new.

"What the hell is that?"

"Surprised?" Daly asked grinning his own dagger toothed smile as he pointed the cannon at Roxas using the NS system.

"This is what we call an attachment!" Daly shouts as Black Panther fires its first cannonballs at Quanlier.

####

_Location: North East Azize, outside the city._

It had been close but Shadow had done it, he had tracked Fachtna. Once Shadow had let Raheem down he had taken off in the direction he had seen Fachtna's Gundam take. It was touch and go for a while with Shadow just guessing where Fachtna went and he had been trying to figure out what to do next when he finally spotted Fachtna's Gundam when Nightwing ran outside the city. Best part about being in a desert was that you could see people and more importantly Gundams miles away. Still even in a Gundam Fachtna was a fast SOB and it was all Shadow could do to keep Fachtna in sight, and by sight he meant a dot on the edge of the horizon.

Eventually though Shadow had caught up to Fachtna, although he had to admit that it was because Fachtna had stopped moving. It wasn't until Shadow had gotten closer that he discovered the reason why, standing before Fachtna's Gundam was Vent de la mort. Shadow could never forget the strange flower like skeleton machine, this time though in his Gundam Shadow was almost as tall as the machine. It wasn't moving yet and a new thought occurred to Shadow, he could destroy Vent de la mort now. Raheem had told Shadow repeatedly not to engage Fachtna, the guy had no faith in Shadow to win, but Raheem had no idea that Fachtna would lead him to Vent de la mort and to be honest there was no way he could hide from Fachtna in a desert. Looks like Shadow would have to fight Fachtna. _Oh shame, _Shadow thought with a smile as he walked out to confront Fachtna.

Fachtna for his part had been admiring Vent de la mort's beauty; he had been in such a good mood that he even let the repair teams who revived Vent de la mort live. He had sent them away though, after all this was a private moment he wished to share with no one.

"FACHTNA!"

It couldn't be, damn it this couldn't be happening now! Fachtna with growing rage at the one who dared to interrupt him turned to face the one who challenged him, not that he needed to, Fachtna already knew who the challenger was. The black Basic Original Gundam stood before him, its beam saber already drawn pointing at him, it was the same Gundam Fachtna had dismissed as not even being worth the missiles to destroy. Fachtna still held that opinion despite the annoyance its pilot brought. As if on cue Shadow pops up on Fachtna's helmet screen.

"I've come for a rematch, only this time in Gundams!"

Fachtna was unmoved by Shadow's threatening stance, the child had no idea that Fachtna was even deadlier in his Gundam.

"Don't you have any decency; I was in the middle of having a private moment with my weapon though I suppose this is just as much my fault. I was in such a rush to get started on reviving Vent de la mort that I carelessly allowed you and Alex to live. I was not expecting you to be able to pilot a Gundam in that condition."

Fachtna said sizing Shadow up once more, just in case he had missed something the first time. Nope, the only thing new was that Fachtna now knew that Shadow had a high pain tolerance and could take a hit. He was absolutely and completely unremarkable….not that it was his fault, he was after all just a plain regular natural….like Fachtna himself.

"Guess I'm better then you thought I was. I've come here to stop you Fachtna, I won't let you destroy Azize- no Haben and I'm going to prove to you that my dream isn't worthless. That one day I'm going to become the greatest Gundam Fighter ever! Today's the day you finally get what's coming to you Fachtna!"

He was a child; he didn't understand how the real world works which was why he was able to make such bold dreams. He didn't understand that Fachtna was not a D-1 by choice, he didn't know about the C rank barrier and what lies beyond it. A normal natural such as Fachtna and Shadow could never hope to be number one in this world full of Coordinators, BCPUs, Neon Coordinators, SA users, those with a Seed Factor and those who had other drug enhancements. But Fachtna doubted Shadow knew about any of these monsters that could easily crush him so he could dream big dreams at night but Fachtna knew. He could see the world for what it was…Shadow had the potential to be a good Gundam Fighter but in the end no matter how hard he worked his limit would always be D-1 because he was just a regular natural…just like Fachtna.

"I see, well since you didn't learn your lesson last time LET ME RETEACH YOU!"

Shadow had assumed the large tail behind Fachtna's Gundam was just for show, like a decoration that could be used as a weapon only when the Gundam swings around and sticks it out which is why when the tail shot out from behind Fachtna's unmoving Gundam and slams into Nightwing's chest Shadow was taken completely off guard. Nightwing was sent flying a good distance away crashing into the ground. Shadow lays on the ground coughing and gasping for breath.

"Kenny what the hell was that!" He managed to spit out…there was no reply. _Oh right Kenny's outside communications range. _It suddenly hit Shadow how much he relied on his friend for information during a fight, if Kenny was here he would have already told Shadow what type and class Gundam Fachtna had, how strong and fast it was and what kind of weapons he was up against. Oh well, Shadow would just have to think like Kenny. Thinking better late than never, Shadow begins to actually look over Fachtna's Gundam as he gets back up on his feet.

Since the tail did go all snake on him a few minutes ago it naturally caught his attention first. It came from Fachtna's behind, no surprise there, but what was interesting was the tail got wider the further out it came with the end being as thick as Nightwing's chest. It was also definitely longer now than when he first saw it, but since Shadow wasn't a mechanic he wasn't sure how this was possible without beam technology. All he knew was that the tail was fast, strong and could extend outward. Looking at Fachtna's Gundam itself Shadow noted the beam rifle that hung by Fachtna's Gundam's left hand, no shield, and it looked more maneuver compared to Zain's Shadowkun which was clearly design with muscle strength in mind.

Azazel stood unmoving with its hands folded while its tail hovered in front of it pointing at Nightwing. "I am a busy man, if we're going to fight then let's us be done with it already."

Shadow grits his teeth in annoyances as he shouts back and charges. "FINE!"

Nightwing managed to get halfway back to Azazel before Azazel's tail attacked; seeming to be able to stretch an endless distance the tail flew right at Nightwing. Nightwing stumbles to a stop midstride in order to bring its beam saber up to counterattack but Nightwing is too slow and Azazel's tail hits it once more square in the chest only this time it doesn't stop there. The tail flies around behind Nightwing and hits its back pushing Nightwing back on its feet. Nightwing spins around and tries to slash the tail with its beam saber but the tail easily twists out of the way and performs an uppercut into Nightwing's chest.

The tail continues to circle around Nightwing punching it from all directions. Nightwing desperately spins around trying to land a hit on the tail but the tail is not only fast but agile too, and it isn't long before Nightwing is covered in dents and Shadow is completely out of breath. All the while Azazel's main body looks down upon the battle as if looking down upon Nightwing. Finally Fachtna has had enough.

"I'm ending this."

The tail responds by circling Nightwing again only this time like a boa constrictor and in a split second wraps around Nightwing and squeezes tight. Nightwing's arms are pinned to its side as pain shoots all throughout Shadow's body, if felt like his bones were breaking. Nightwing drops its beam saber and the tail slowly lifts Nightwing high off the ground. Shadow was humiliated, this wasn't a Gundam fight it was a massacre and he couldn't do a damn thing about it. He felt black and blue all over and he wouldn't be surprised to hear he fractured one of his ribs. He could hear the sounds of Nightwing's metal chest section groaning as the stupid tail crushed it.

Shadow couldn't get over how well that tail was moving, it went beyond an animal tail, it was more like a living being thinking and acting on its own. Wait, back in school Shadow had read about people like that in science class, there had even been a guest, he could control a toy helicopter with his mind, what where they called again? Then Shadow remembers and he spits out accusingly at Fachtna.

"You're a spatial awareness user!"

Fachtna laughed, he wished he was a SA user. "HAHAHAHAHA, no not even close, where did you even get such a stupid idea from?"

"How else can you get the stupid tail to move that well!"

Fachtna smiled _what an amateur. _"You're still just an amateur, fine as a sign of respect for your determination I'll teach you something useful. The NS system does more than connect your nervous system to your Gundam and make your Gundam mimic your actions, it literary connects your very brain to your Gundam. You think you've mastered the NS system kid you've haven't even scratched the surface of what it can truly do. With the NS system you can use your mind to control things you normally couldn't control outside a Gundam like extensions of your own body. My tail for example, obviously I don't have a tail in real life but as a Gundam I do have tail and thanks to the NS system I can control it as if it were my arm because it is one of the limbs my Gundam has.

The NS system fools my brain into accepting the tail as another limb and therefore I can control it as such. The NS system in a way allows us normal people to keep up with SA users to an extent but sadly the NS system also helps them as well boosting their powers of control to unbelievable levels. No in the end I'm just a regular natural like you."

With that Fachtna crushed him. Azazel slammed Nightwing into the ground with all the force it could muster out of its tail then raised Nightwing up again and slammed it into the ground again. Sparks flew as metal armor dented and metal twisted out of place, by the fourth slam Fachtna felt the body go slack in his tail. Azazel releases Nightwing, allowing it to fall to the ground and roll a little bit away unmoving. Fachtna walked over to Shadow's Gundam and began to poke it a little but he was confident in what he would find. The boy had lost consciousness due to the intense pain and sudden force; it was common in Gundam fights.

For a moment Fachtna considered finishing the job but he decided against it, it was unlikely Shadow would wake up any time soon and even if he did Fachtna would just defeat him again. Besides looking at this broken dreamer depressed him and Fachtna did not want to feel depressed today which was to be his most triumphed of days. The episode ends with Azazel turning around and leaving Nightwing in the sand as Fachtna activates Vent de la mort.


	65. Episode 64 Ground Rumbling

Episode 64 – Ground rumbling.

_Location: Center Azize, inside Fachtna's control building._

Byron flew over the computer terminals with a throwing knife in both hands, straight towards a very bewildered Zagat. Zagat had just finished reloading his gun and looked up when Byron jumped towards him. Eyes open wide Zagat stumbles left and fires while Byron wildly swings his left arm nicking Zagat's cheek. Zagat's bullet grazes Byron's right shoulder but the spy manages to hold onto his knives and throws one at the snake. Zagat ducks down at the last second behind one of the computer terminals dodging the knife but Byron quickly draws another and rushes again.

Sweat starts to form on his brow; Zagat was not used to feeling pressure of any sort in battle. He fought by stabbing people from behind, with little to no risk to his own life. The only reason he had come to face Byron head on was because the outlandish man had a habit of getting on Zagat's nerves and Zagat had wanted to see his face as he suffered his demise, plus Zagat hadn't thought knives could actually pose a threat to someone with a gun.

Waving his gun the snake opens fire on Byron and finally manages to hit him in the leg. With a thud Byron's leg gives out on him and causes him to crash to the ground but Byron still holding onto his knives rolls left and throws two more at Zagat. The coward however is already long gone having stayed low and moved over to a different computer terminal. Byron bleeding and in pain drags himself up against a computer terminal as he draws two more throwing knives. He was doing better than he expected, the cowardly snake was too afraid of getting hurt and so was playing defensively.

If Zagat had just ignored Byron and taken the hit he would have had the knife thrower within point blank range and Byron would be seeing his deceased ancestors sooner than expected. Still getting shot HURT, it was taking all of Byron's will power to not cry out in pain. With cold sweat breaking out on his paling face Byron stands on one leg and limps around a corner right into Zagat's line of sight. Zagat had been waiting around the corner for Byron with gun raised and aimed.

Byron's eyes open wide as he realizes what's going on but he has no time to react when Zagat pulls the trigger. Zagat not being the best shot in the world hits Byron's right shoulder causing the knifeman to drop the knife in his right hand; Byron staggers backwards and wildly throws his left hand knife but completely misses Zagat. The cowardly snake smiles even wider and pounces on his wounded target, opening fire on Byron. Bullets graze Byron's side; they hit his right arm and both legs. Collapsing to the ground and losing blood fast, only desperation, pride and stubbornness keep Byron from passing out. Regrettably none of those traits could prevent Zagat from gloating.

"HAHAHAHA this is the end Byron you arrogant, condescending bastard."

Byron was done; his body was beyond pain at this point with the struggle shifted to merely staying conscious. There was one last thing he could do had to do before he left this plane of existence, now while his opponent was on his victory high. Byron draw his last knife with his left hand and concentrated the likes of which he never concentrated before, he only had one shot, one chance his aim had to be true. Summing up the last strength in his body Byron threw his knife. Zagat yelps in surprise and jump right and open fire shooting Byron in his left arm this time. Not that there had been any need since Byron's knife had missed him by a good meter.

"Crafty bastard hiding a knife to try and get me one last time but it didn't work now did it? You've been shot in both arms and legs, you're done and I'm going to enjoy ending you personally." Zagat smirked at his bloody and beaten foe; in the end the gun would always beat the knife. Byron was wheezing now and struggling to remain conscious and Zagat hoped he would suffer as much as possible before dying.

"You're the one who started this battle," Byron said wheezing "you Zagat and Fachtna caused all the problems in Haben" he continued while coughing "and played the rebels and royals against each other. Zagat by Fachtna's orders you were responsible for the attack on the Liberator's of Haben and made it look like it was the king's fault, then you kidnapped him." Byron stopped their as he entered a coughing fit. Something tickled at the back of Zagat's mind, the way Byron was speaking was weird and Zagat had assumed that Byron already knew all of this so why would he be confirming it now. Still Zagat's ego was massive and he couldn't resist gloating a little bit, after all it wasn't often he could take credit for his own work especially with Fachtna around.

"Of course it was all me and Fachtna! Together we strengthen what should have been just a simple recession into a full blown depression; Fachtna hired the raiders to attack the Haben companies while I worked diligently to undermine the king's efforts to restore Haben. It wasn't long before two factions were created and all they needed was a reason to kill each other which I was more than eager to supply. Taking the king had been child's play after all no one expected the security within the Royal Palace to be compromised; I gave Fachtna the routes and times for all the patrols that night I also took out the cameras.

The rebels were a little bit trickier but Kabira's bodyguards help me out there. I tricked the military into thinking they were a rebel ship but they only sent out one team to deal with them lead by an up and coming soldier Salim. There was a slight misstep when Salim discovered the truth and rushed back to HQ to inform them about us but I took care of it by blowing Salim to hell and that laid the groundwork to get the Elite Royal Soldiers involved. With Salim dead and the rebels taking all the blame it had been simple to talk those buffoons in military command to request the Elite Royal Soldiers assistance.

After that it had been easy, I had long since broken into Shadi's private chambers and safe so I have access to his mission command terminal. I carefully selected the Elite Soldiers I wanted on this mission, their psychological profiles stated high aggression, arrogance and weakness to any kind of interrogation by an enemy faction."

"That's impossible, aggression and arrogance maybe but it's required by all Elite Soldiers to go through rigorous anti-interrogation and anti-torture training."

"You would be right Byron but let me ask you this, if Fachtna can alter bills and official legal documents to filter money to overseas companies right under the entire assemblies noses what makes you think we couldn't plant soldiers we knew would break under enemy interrogation? Hehehehe I knew having such people in the Elite Soldiers would come in handy. I had hoped they'd take out the princess and her bodyguards but you can't win them all. Still they lost and talked just as I predicated and sold me out or the person I was pretending to be, the king. Just like that both sides now had a reason to kill each other and in the blink of an eye they were at each other's throats!"

Zagat hadn't meant to talk as much as he did; it just sort of rushed out of him. It's not like it matter anyway Byron was going to be dead in a minute so he might as well see the glory and magnificence in which Zagat conducted his plans.

"Hehhehehahahahah, your ego has always been your greatest weakness Zagat." A deep chilling feeling went down the coward's weak spine, something was wrong; this was a trap but how was that possible, what was going on! Byron was looking at him with eyes that could already see the grim reaper with a sideways smile, suddenly it dawned on Zagat that Byron wasn't looking at him. Turning slowly and following his gaze with a cold fright Zagat finally spots what Byron was looking at, it was the last knife he had thrown. Its blade rested in one of the few computer terminals that had remained bullet free only it didn't look to have been stabbed in there by chance.

The way it only pierced a single key on the keyboard screamed to Zagat of deliberate aim, Byron hadn't been aiming for him. Cold fear fueled sweat forms on Zagat's brow as he asked in barely more than a whisper.

"What did you do?"

"Before you started shooting at me I set up an emergency broadcast program on all the terminals, all I had to do was hit enter on one of them to begin broadcasting a live audio feed." _But its short ranged, and during the confusion of battle and the dozen different jammers and counter-jammers out there it will be impossible to say if anyone gets it, _Byron thought grimly_._

"Hehehe congratulations Zagat your voice just became living proof of Fachtna's treason."

The full horror sets in as Zagat takes a step back, how could this have happened! How could he have been so stupid as to allow his ego to get the best of him and go on that rant! Fachtna was going to kill him! But it wasn't over yet for Byron, finding new strength in seeing the normally smug lap dog look petrified, shouts out as loud as he can

"ANYONE WHO'S LISTENING FACHTNA IS NORTH EAST OF AZIZE OUTSIDE THE CITY AND HE'S ABOUT TO USE A WEAPONE OF MASS DESTRUCTION TO DESTROY THE CITY, HE MUST BE STOPPED!

Full grade panic grips Zagat as he heard Byron's pleads. _SHIT! _Zagat flips around as he opens fire on the computer terminal ending the broadcast. Still not satisfied Zagat rushed the terminal and checked to make sure it wasn't still sending out a signal. The red light blinking meant that the broadcast had indeed been ended but it also meant there HAD been a broadcast in the first place. Byron had not been bluffing.

It was done; Byron had played his last card now there was nothing left. His vision was getting blurry and was fading in and out; still Byron could see the wild unbelieving look in Zagat's eyes. It was best present Byron could ask for, even as that deranged coward raised his gun and pointed it at him.

"Bastard, Bastard, BASTAROEWW!"

A gunshot rings out in the room but it did not come from Zagat's gun in fact the bullet hits the hand that Zagat was using to hold his gun causing the cowardly snake to drop his gun as he fell to his knees and gripped his bloody hand in his uninjured hand while crying out in pain. Both Byron and Zagat turn in surprise to see who this third party was.

"ZAGAT you're going to pay for killing Salim!"

Raheem screamed as he charged that slimly weasel that could do nothing more than stab people in the back. Despite Shadow's concern Raheem was the Captain of the Elite Royal Guard, he had personally lead over a dozen black op missions so getting into Fachtna's base which consist of little more than a building with security cameras and motion sensors and slipping past Fachtna's hired thugs had not been hard although it was still time consuming. Raheem had "spoken" with one of the thugs and after some "encouragement" the thug told Raheem where the external control system for the weapon was.

As Raheem had been moving to the room he had heard over the buildings comm. system the entire exchange between Zagat and Byron. Raheem knew Zagat was Fachtna's assistant although he had never personally worked with the man as for Byron, other than knowing that he worked as an assembly member Raheem knew nothing else about him. Still Raheem had no doubt that this man was an ally also fighting to oppose Fachtna in his own way.

When Zagat saw the bulking figure of the very angry Captain of the Royal Guard his fight or flight responses kicked in, adrenalin filled fear rushed through his blood stream temporary shutting off his pain sensors. Zagat ducked down behind another computer terminal as Raheem emptied and an entire clip in what felt like seconds at the spot where Zagat's head had been moments before. The odds were no longer in his favor, no they were quite against him now; it was time for Zagat to leave. The moment Raheem moves to reload his gun Zagat takes off like a bullet towards the exit.

Growling Raheem reloads his gun as his brown eyes lock onto the coward and he opens fire again. Like all cowards though Zagat is nothing if not fast at running from danger and he's out the door as Raheem gets the first shot off.

"ZAGAT get back here you coward!" Raheem screams as he turns to give chase but a small raspy voice calls to him.

"Wait."

It was so quiet that Raheem was surprised to have heard it in the first place. Raheem glance over his shoulder and spotted the man who he believed to be Byron, he was covered in blood and had multiple gunshot wounds over his body. Time seemed to freeze for Raheem, he was faced with a choice, he could chase after Salim's true murderer and avenge him but Byron would most certainly die if he didn't receive some kind of medical attention immediately but if Raheem took the time to heal the injured man then the murderer would get away. For a moment he seriously considered leaving Byron and chasing after Zagat and perhaps if he had never had that fight with Shadow he would have.

Raheem had seen what he was like when he gave into rage and Raheem did not like that person, Salim, Shadi, Kabira, and Hirsi would not like that person. The noble Habenion took a deep breath and forcibly calmed his anger then once he was satisfied that the red haze of rage had cleared Raheem rushed over to help Byron. Taking a knee next to his ally Raheem immediately injected Assiel, Haniel, and Raphael into Byron and began taking a closer look at the gunshot wounds while pulling out bandaging from his pack.

"Zagat is just small a fish, a coward who feeds off others. Fachtna is the true threat to Haben, he must be stopped," Byron croaked.

"Stop talking you need to rest." Raheem instructed as he began to put the bandages on, the bullets would have to stay in until Raheem could get Byron to a proper medical facility. He had seen a medical bay about a floor down, perhaps he could "persuade" the doctors to treat Byron.

"No, you don't understand the external control system for Vent de la mort was never here."

Raheem stops in mid-bandage. "What?"

Gritting his teeth in pain Byron goes on. "It was all a trap for me; Fachtna installed the external control system directly into his Gundam."

Raheem wanted to scream in frustration, this entire operation was doomed to fail from the beginning. No, there was still hope. Shadow was in pursuit of Fachtna but the chances of him winning in a Gundam battle was even less than him winning in a human battle and there was nothing Raheem could do to help. The others weren't here yet and there was no telling if anyone had heard Byron's broadcast.

"There's a Gundam in the Gundam bay."

Hardly believing his ears the loyal soldier listens on. "Fachtna got a hold of a bunch of Haben military Gundams in case he ever needed them for undercover work or spying. I can give you the launch and security code, please Captain of the Royal Guard go and stop him."

It was a miracle, no it was better than that, the ancestors had led Raheem to this. Stepping in to help Shadow at that time had been for this moment, Raheem had to give up on revenge in order to save Haben and he was. Looking Byron directly in the eye Raheem vowed

"I will."

####

_Location: West Azize, inside the City. Time: Moment's before Byron starts the broadcast._

The ball came flying with tremendous force generated by the motion of the eagle Gundam soaring in the sky close to mach speed. The ball slammed into the last member of Serafina's team still standing taking its head clean off. _The Captain of the Royal Attack is indeed fierce; _Serafina thought as Delena rolled left dodging missile fire and released its ball at the eagle Gundam. The eagle Gundam climbs high into the air dodging the attack and retracts its ball and begins to spin it in circles while Delena does the same. The two Gundams face off with the eagle Gundam hovering in the air and Delena looking up at it.

Hirsi had to give the rebel credit; he was a pretty decent Gundam fighter. He wasn't as skilled as Hirsi but he was resourceful and had proven himself superior to the rest of his squadron. It hadn't been easy even for the captain of the Royal Attack to take them out given the fact they were decent Gundam fighters and they outnumbered him but he eventually overcame them all and now only the leader was left. Hirsi still wasn't convinced this was the real leader of the rebels but he did seem skilled at leading the squadron and had they been his equals in Gundam fighting skill, Hirsi would have definitely suffered more damage than he did.

As the two Gundams continue to stare at each other waiting for one to make a move neither pilot had realized yet how far their battle had drifted them from their original position. The Gundams were now much closer to central Azize and Fachtna's base then they were originally, having slipped through both sides' lines without even realizing it which was why they heard the broadcast. It came through as an emergency broadcast so both Gundams immediately started playing it. At first the two enemies ignored it completely thinking it was little more than a trick set up by the other yet as the context of Zagat's rant got more detailed it started looking less and less like a trick and more like a nightmare.

By the end of broadcast neither Serafina nor Hirsi were able to just dismiss it as a trap. Hirsi knew there was a saboteur in parliament and suddenly he began to see Fachtna's actions in a whole new light. It was as if a veil had been pulled back and all of the little smirks and careful double speak Fachtna had used appeared before the captain of the Royal Attack like an ugly mole that he had never noticed before. Still Hirsi was a cautious man and although the broadcast did succeed in making Fachtna look more like the saboteur, Hirsi still didn't trust the source of information.

A cold dread grabs Serafina's beating heart. He had dismissed Kabira's accusations about Fachtna as nothing more than wishful thinking at best and a cruel setup by the king at worst. Yes that had to be it, this was nothing more than a trap by the king to spread doubt and confusion among Serafina's troops….but what if it wasn't? A terror the likes of which Serafina had never experienced passed through him for if on the remote possibly it was true then that would mean that all of this destruction, all of the deaths occurring throughout this battle was Serafina's fault. No it was worse than that, if it was true that meant this entire battle, everyone's sacrifice had all been pointless.

_It's not true, it's a trap by the king,_ Serafina told himself over and over again but he couldn't shake this feeling of doubt. It was the way this ally of Fachtna had ranted on about how he set everything up, a sick pride with cruelness in his voice and then there was the other person. The way that person's voice shook with effort and pain each time he spoke, yet he was trying to hide it. If this was all an act then why try to hide the pain and how much effort you had to put into speaking? There was too much at stake for there to be any doubt, even if this was a trap Serafina had to be one hundred percent sure.

Delena turns around abandoning its battle with the eagle Gundam and begins to run North East. The movement caught Hirsi completely unaware. Was this part of an act to catch him in a trap? Regardless it made Hirsi feel uneasy, trap or not he would follow the rebel if for nothing else but to destroy the president of this militia. With that excuse in mind the eagle Gundam transforms into its animal form and purses Delena.

####

_Location: East Azize, outside the city._

Brogan had just finished repairing the megaton beam sniper rifle when Cowboy came in sight. Nick always had excellent eyesight and had spotted the sniper within seconds of exiting the city. For a moment the sniper Gundam and Cowboy stared off at each other like an old western draw off, the sun still shines high in the sky as the wind picks up a little blowing sand everywhere. Cowboy is the first to move, thrusters on full power. The sniper was still too far away for his beam rifle; Nick had to get in range fast.

The sniper Gundam began to move seconds after Cowboy, back to the trigger of its beam sniper rifle. Brogan hadn't expected the green Gundam to find him. Still the battle monk had the advantage with his megaton beam sniper rifle. Evening his breathing and taking aim Brogan switched the mode of his beam sniper rifle to power conservation. In this mode his beam bullets were about ninety percent less powerful but it also required less energy to use. His S-generator still had seventy-five percent power left, plenty to take out this guy.

Nick saw the extremely large barrel of what he assumed to be the beam sniper rifle get pointed at him. Cowboy still running at full pace lifts up its standard beam rifle and opens fire at the sand in front of itself. Brogan grins as he thinks, _trying to use the sand as a barrier to block my field of vision, clever but my sniper scope has thermal, and electromagnet vision so such petty tricks won't faze me! _Brogan pulls the trigger and a smaller beam bullet fires from the barrel cutting right through the sand, but at the last minute Cowboy sidesteps right taking a light graze instead of a kill shot.

Cowboy gives up on using the sand and switches to running in a zigzag pattern while the sniper continues to shoot at it. The beam bullets fly all-around Cowboy heating up the air and blowing up huge gust of sand right in Cowboy's face but something is different. It doesn't look like the sniper Gundam is missing rather Cowboy is moving out of the way of the beam bullets at the last second receiving only a light graze or nothing at all.

As the distance between the two Gundams grew less, and less doubt slowly crept into the monk despite his training. _What the hell is going on, I can't be missing all of these shots….no its more like he's dodging them but that's impossible, no E rank can dodge bullets, _Brogan thought as he pulled the trigger again sending another beam bullet flying straight towards Cowboy's head but just like others at the last second Cowboy leans back and spins right dodging the bullet along with three others and continues its path forward.

It had always bothered Nick how Drake dodged his bullets during their first fight. No matter how he looked at it, it should have been impossible; dodging bullets is only something superheroes on TV could do so one day he asked the mate. Drake had openly laugh at him, and said "You make it sound like I was doing something superhuman. People dodge bullets all the time like when a cop ducks down when a criminal shoots at him, he's dodging bullets. What I was doing was simply the next step in that process. Dodging bullets using minimal movement required, it's a pretty standard skill for all C rank Gundam fighters and above you know."

"Can you teach me mate?"

"Ummm, it's still too early for the others to learn but you might be able to get the hang of it because of your advance level marksmanship. Ok here's the basic idea, you can judge and estimate the trajectory of the bullet from the angle of the gun. The speed of the bullet is irrelevant since the chances of you dodging even the slowest traveling bullet in motion are less than one percent so just assume that if the bullet is out of the barrel and you're in its trajectory you're getting hit."

Nick frowns "I've never been one to be that great in math mate."

"It's technically physics but that's not the point; you don't have to do a bunch of calculations in your head, most people can't anyway. Look if I randomly position your arm could you tell me where your bullet is going to hit?"

"Of course."

"Then it's just the same as that, you're already doing the calculations on a subconscious level thanks to experience and instincts. All you have to do now is put yourself in your enemy's shoes and see the path the bullet is going to take."

Nick nods his head in somewhat understanding.

"Now comes the tricky part, once you can see the path the bullet will take you have to know when to move out of the way, if you're in motion the enemy is going to be changing the angle of his gun in order to counteract your movements so the path is always changing. So you watch your opponent's trigger finger as well as the barrel of the gun, the moment you see the trigger finger begin to move you get the hell out of way."

Nick takes this all in in silence then says "This is a lot to keep in mind mate during a battle."

Drake shrugs "It takes a lot, and I mean a lot of practice to get it done but you get used to it. It's easier to do in Gundams because of the thrusters, it'll give you leeway because you'll be a lot faster and have a quicker reaction time then your regular body would but in the end training is the only way you'll get it."

So Nick had trained, and practiced and then trained some more. It had definitely taken some getting used to, while Nick could tell where his own bullets would go, to turn around and tell where someone else's was going felt like backwards thinking. Jack's laser tag cube thing had helped but even when he could trace the path of the bullet from his opponent's gun he could never react fast enough to get out of the way. The amount of time a person needed when they first start to pull a trigger to finish pulling it was less than a second and there was just no way he could react that fast, but things were different right now.

The beam sniper rifle's barrel heated up when a beam was about to be fired, changing the color of the barrel from a dull grey to a light red. It was a subtle difference but Nick was able to see it and this tell gave him at least five seconds to react, plus there was no doubt that Cowboy moved much faster than his own body and there was something else. Nick's reaction time increased when he was piloting a Gundam, he hadn't noticed it at first and even when he did he simply passed it off as his own imagination until he noticed it in the others too. Shadow, Cagalli, and Roxas all reacted faster when they piloted their Gundams.

Nick wasn't sure how he knew this but his instincts told him this was true. It had to be connected to the NS system but from what Kenny had told him he wasn't sure how but one thing was clear to him, Drake was holding back information about Gundams from them. This wasn't the time for that though. A beam bullet grazes his cheek while Cowboy lifts up its right hand barely avoiding it getting blown off. The cut to his cheek hurt like an SOB but Nick never allowed himself to look away from the sniper or close his eyes for a moment, such an action would almost certainly result in death. Nick was getting closer to the enemy sniper Gundam; soon he would be in range of the standard beam rifle.

Nick was not aware that his Neon Gauntlet had started to glow its green color. All he was aware of was the blood rushing to his ears as his heart pounded in his ribcage and his throat burned like acid was poured down it as he ran with all his might. Sweat poured from his body and stings his eyes but he kept them wide open to his target. All sound was muffled to the New Australian and its possible he might have gone deaf from the constant booming sound of the beam bullets hitting the sand all around him. His mind though had never been sharper.

His focus was like the tip of a blade completely fixed on the barrel of the beam sniper rifle. He could see the trajectory of the beam bullets with ease now because his mind wasn't processing anything else. He moved left, right and leaned backwards as he dodged all of the beam bullets receiving only the occasional graze yet no matter how awkward he turned or moved his eyes never shifted from their target.

Brogan was beginning to sweat now despite his training; the green Gundam was dodging his shots. Brogan knew of bullet dodging, he had seen many Gundam fights on television where the C rank fighters had used the skill and he had once seen a man in real life dodge a bullet but for an E rank Gundam to be using this high a leveled skill was unheard of. Fachtna had lied to him was the only conclusion he could come to. It was absurd for the monk to believe he was fighting against an E rank; the skill this pilot displayed was definitely middle and maybe even upper D rank level. Still even if that was the case there was nothing Brogan could do at this point but grit his teeth and win.

The NS system made Nick feel the hot sand scorch his skin violently rubbing it like sand paper. Beam bullets flew around him but the gentleman felt no fear, some came with inches of hitting Cowboy's face but Nick held steady once he could see the path of the beam bullets and could tell if they would hit him or not. Suddenly without knowing why or how Cowboy twirled left dodging a beam while at the same time grabbing its holstered beam rifle and pointing it straight at the sniper Gundam after a full revolution and firing.

Cowboy's one lone bullet soared forward against the current of the sniper Gundam's beam bullets and for a moment it looked just about to dissolve when it hit one of the beam sniper rifle's legs. Once more the size of the massive beam sniper rifle becomes a serious disadvantage for the moment its leg collapses the weight of the gun tips it over crashing into the sand once more. At that moment Brogan knew that he was done, his opponent was the better marksmen and had defeated him.

Three more beam bullets came within seconds of the collapse only this time they hit the rifle itself making it irreparable with each bullet getting closer to its real target. The fourth beam bullet hit the sniper Gundam itself blowing its head clear off. As the headless sniper Gundam collapses to the ground Cowboy finally comes to a stop. It took Nick several minutes to regain his breath and his frame of mind all the while his Neon Gauntlet continues to glow. A lopsided grin crosses his face as he says with pride to his defeated foe.

"Bull's eye"

####

_Location: Zagat's battleship, inside the bridge._

Zagat took another shot of painkillers and breathed deeply. He had escaped the rage of the bodyguard and exited the building in his battleship. His only regret was that in the confusion of his retreat he had failed to inform the few remaining guards that there were intruders in the building, he hadn't even told them that Byron had betrayed them. It was another one of his blunders caused by his ego, Zagat had wanted to appear as the hero who had slayed the betrayer and didn't want anyone stealing the kill from him. Now not only was Byron still alive but the spy had tricked him into revealing his and Fachtna's plan to God knows who.

Zagat knew Fachtna well enough to know that once he learned of these acts he would kill the snake. This was a very unpleasant thought for him, but it was not something he had never planned for after all, Fachtna made no move to hide his character from him. The only way Zagat could save himself now was to redeem himself by destroying one of the annoying flies buzzing around Fachtna's ears.

"Sir, we've found it. We've found the Dark-Angel."

Licking his lips in anticipation Zagat responds, "Excellent, relay the order to all ships to converge on their location. It's time we sink that pesky insect once and for all!"

####

_Location: Dark-Angel, inside the bridge._

Jack was pacing around the bridge pissed off. "We had a plan, a simple plan. Split into three groups, enter the city from three directions and meet in the center, is that not a simple plan?"

The mechanic shouted to the group, Ciro ignoring Jack was occupied by some kind of trick coin, Rini was reading a book, Thomas was listing to music on headphones, Alan was playing a video game on his terminal, Zuke was in his usual spot in his usual pose and Kenny was the only one who was actually doing any work. Kenny knew Jack was worried and whenever Jack got worried she lashed out at everyone. Still Kenny could understand Jack's worry, Jubal had been shot down; Shadow, Nick and Roxas were all outside the city now nowhere near each other and Cagalli was being held up by something since she hadn't moved from the area she's in for a while.

"Not all plans are perfect, or as Shadow would say things change." Kabira said trying to help Jack calm down but Kenny could see the young princess nervously look at her nails. Kenny guessed that Kabira was trying to channel Shadow's easy going manner to relax which he completely understood. The frustration about not being able to help them, to even know what was going on was almost overwhelming. A piercing alarm cuts through the programmers thoughts as it does everyone's, in seconds the entire bridge crew is typing at each of their respective terminals focused and ready for anything.

"Four, no five battleships coming up behind us, fast!" Ciro shouts prompting a response from the others.

"Why the hell are there battleships this far away from the city?" Alan screams as he starts up the Dark-Angel's engines and yanks up on the steering wheel.

"To shoot us." Rini answers grimly.

"LA, FA, DOE activating energy shields." Thomas sings as his fingers dance upon the keyboard.

"They're locking missiles onto us!" Kenny shouts fighting rising panic. Jack snaps

"Alan get us the hell out of here!"

"You don't have to tell me twice."

####

_Location: North Azize, outside the city._

The ground exploded all around Quanlier sending mountains of sand into the air with the threat of one of the cannonballs hitting it at any moment. Quanlier was weaving in and out going in no one direction since all Roxas was focused on was not getting hit.

"HAHAHHAHAHA what do you think of panthers now you stupid tiger bitch?" Daly screams in ecstasy. The black Panther was moving better now as Daly got used to his injured leg but Quanlier still had the advantage in speed.

"Since when do panthers have cannons attached to their backs?"Roxas manages to get out as Quanlier jumps left lands on its side and begins to roll dodging even more cannonballs.

"It's called attachments baby, weapons designed to be added onto any Gundam to increase their performance or are you one of those animal purists who look down on attachments and refuse to give their animal Gundam weapons that their original counterpart in real life wouldn't have?"

Roxas wasn't an animal purist, whatever the hell that was, in fact she thought the cannon was kind of cool if it wasn't shooting at her though she rather cut out her own tongue then tell this creep that. Still this was getting old, Roxas had already figured out from her current distance the cannon's accuracy was slightly off which was why she was able to dodge the cannonballs so well in the first place. Sadly her Gundam had no long range weapons so attacking from this distance simply wasn't possible yet if she tried to get any closer the creep would blow her away.

Quanlier comes to a sudden stop and jumps back dodging a cannonball striking the earth directly in front of it. As Quanlier lightly lands on its feet that sensation hits her again, a tingling feeling that she feels from her bones and her brain felt like it had ran through an ice cold waterfall jolting a temporary heightened sense of awareness. It was an odd sensation when Roxas's animal instincts switch animals especially during the middle of combat since the change was more sudden. Her Neon Gauntlet begins to glow purple as Roxas/Quanlier on impulse taps the ground five times and then turning up the NS sensitivity in her paws and placing them flat on ground feels the subtle return vibrations.

_No good, rocks in the ground here, sand too hard here, no good, _her animal mind told her. This process took all of four seconds before Quanlier moved to the left dodging more cannonball fire, the cannonballs striking the ground made no difference to the animal for the vibrations it made were completely different and easy to distinguish from those of its own light taps. Once more Quanlier began to evade the attacks but this time its movements were drastically different. Instead of the long powerful strokes of its legs like a tiger, Quanlier's legs sat hunch up and moved in small but rapid steps. Quanlier's belly was stooped low to ground, almost touching the sand allowing its elbows to rise higher than the rest of its body while its tail which had previously remained fixed in one position now flicked back and forth like a motor.

"What's the matter kitty cat, scared?" Daly mocked her, letting lose another blast of maniacal laughter, like verbal nails scraping down a blackboard, his voice high pitched with a combination of rage and deranged satisfaction!

Daly also had animal like instincts but he was too simple minded, his one track mind couldn't understand or see what Roxas had done, what her change in movement meant. The thrill of the hunt consuming all his thoughts as it brought him the highest of pleasures. Quanlier's movements had gotten slower while his own had gotten faster, he was going to catch her soon. His deep throated laughter was drowned out by the booming of his electric based cannon as he begins to fire it more rapidly perhaps after Fachtna's payment came through he would finally be able to afford a Railgun cannon.

All the while as he drew closer Quanlier continues to go at the same pace and tap at the ground, _no good no good ground hard, no good lots of rocks, no good. _Abruptly Quanlier comes to a stop as it re-taps the ground. _Here good, here very good, _Roxas thinks with a small proud smile of satisfaction as she switches off her beam claws returning them to their metallic state. Advancing again Quanlier begins to slowly sink into the sand, like stepping into deeper water the current rises above Quanlier's chest bringing its movements to a sudden halt.

"HA awww is the kitty-cat stuck? Well here let me help you!" Daly shouted as his eyes almost bulged out of his head. Black panther opens fire on Quanlier with its cannon as it closes the distance. _This is what I live for; this is why I'm a mercenary why I pilot an animal type Gundam and not a human type Gundam. I am a predator and there's no feeling like the-huh? _Daly blinks and comes to an abrupt stop both in movement and thought.

Quanlier has disappeared, somewhere along Daly's insane rant Quanlier had disappeared but that was impossible! The black panther wildly swung its head left and right, but its prey was nowhere to be seen. They were in the middle of a desert for God's sake how was that even possible; tiger class Gundams didn't have cloaking devices so where on Sora was she?

Daly didn't have to wait long for an answer as the ground suddenly exploded under the black panther with Quanlier shooting out of the ground its beam saber jaws wide open as it latches onto black panther's neck and using its body weight slams the black panther into the ground. Roxas's Neon Gauntlet glows steady if not brightly.

Roxas was currently imitating the Harena Fossor, or the desert alligator as many referred to it. The desert alligator was only found on Sora in, as the name would suggest, desert climates. Its paws are extremely sensitive allowing it to pick up vibrations in the ground and using a type of echo location can detect where the sand is softest. Thanks to its shovel like claws, small yet blunt snout and sleek scales the desert alligator is able to swim through the sand as easily as a regular alligator can underwater.

Luckily Quanlier's claws, snout and armor were suitable replacements to get it semi buried, although the idiot helped by further displacing the sand with his cannonballs plus the sand thrown up had covered the hole and helped to bury her. As Roxas gripped that panther Daly's neck she couldn't resist trash talking a little.

"You can imitate a panther pretty God damn well but that's only one animal, I can imitate HUNDREDS of animals!" Roxas shouts out as Quanlier viciously rips the black panther's head off.

####

_Location: North East Azize, outside the city._

Fachtna stood back in Azazel and watched Vent de la mort spin. From the original blueprints Fachtna knew that it took Vent de la mort about an hour to fully warm up and begin to unleash its deadly winds over a distance. Still even now as it spun slowly Fachtna could see the wind faintly bend around the machine as if drawn into it, it was so beautiful to Fachtna that he almost didn't see the iron ball come flying towards him; almost. In a split second Fachtna draws his yellow beam saber and with a quick flick of the wrist deflects the ball into the air.

Once more Azazel turns to face its attacker, this time it's Delena. Delena pulls back its iron ball as the proud president begins to shake with a combination of anger and shame. He was here, just like the broadcast said he would be.

"Fachtna…Fachtna Hola!" It was a struggle for Serafina to keep his voice even, so much emotion was exploding within that he felt he could snap at any minute. Fachtna instantly recognized Delena, the president of the liberators of Haben's Gundam and eyed it bored; he was beyond the need to hide his true nature any more.

"Serafina Milena president of the liberator's of Haben, what do I owe the pleasure?" His bored eyes that seem to look down upon the world, his cold expression and manner but most of all the lack of surprise-no the lack of caring in his voice that confirmed what Serafina did not want to believe. Serafina may have hated the king and Hirsi and fought against them bitterly but they CARED about what was happening in Haben, yet here was this man sitting outside the city which was engaged in heavy fighting and he obviously could care less about its outcome, about the lives lost.

"You, you're responsible for all of the problems in Haben, you caused this battle!" Delena once more throws its iron ball at Azazel with all its might. Azazel though raises its beam saber and blocks the attack easily.

"Congratulations for figuring that out, God you're slow."

Serafina was feeling all of that old anger now, the bitterness from the suffering he had seen, had felt on those cold nights when there was no food to be found, seeing children who were no more than skin and bones; and he directed it all at Fachtna.

"Let's see how slow I am when I blow you to hell!" Delena's iron ball still touching Azazel's beam saber begins to glow signifying an explosion but Azazel's beam saber also begins to glow in response and as Azazel's beam saber gets brighter Delena's iron ball gets duller. _What! _Serafina's face gets whiter as Fachtna's grin gets bigger.

"Oh I'm sorry, your explosions wouldn't be electric plasma base would they? You see my Luonk beam saber absorbs beam and electrical energy and in turn transfers it to me."

Using its hulk like strength Azazel sends Delena's iron ball flying right back at it even faster than Delena had thrown it. Serafina has no time to react as the ball slams into Delena's chest like a wrecking ball knocking it clean off its feet. Delena soars into the air for a good couple of Gundam sized feet and then slams into the ground, the sand cushions the fall but Serafina is still in a pained daze and Fachtna ruthlessly with cold efficiency continues his assault.

Delena leans up and shakes its head but Azazel appears over top of it in the process of a jump stab attack. Serafina sees the attack coming but can't move in time, astonishment grips his face as he witnesses first hand Fachtna's overwhelming power and the gap between their skills, however at the last second Azazel still in mid-air brings up its tail to block five incoming missiles. The force of the explosion knocks Azazel back but once more showing its skill the yellowish Gundam lands on its feet. Sliding backwards Azazel looks up as its momentum comes to a stop to face its new attacker.

"TRAITOR, TRAITOR, Fachtna you damn bastard traitor!" Hirsi screamed as his eagle Gundam rocketed towards Azazel. He had hung back and watched Serafina's and Fachtna's exchange, to see if this was an act designed to lure him in but after overhearing their conversation Hirsi was convinced that this man was the true traitor, the darkness behind everything in Haben. He had kidnapped the beloved king, and Hirsi's close friend! Hirsi's blood was boiling as he tried to fire more missiles at his enemy but the battle against the rebels had cost him and he no longer had any missiles; S-generator was at eighty-seven percent power.

"Hirsi Semper Fidelis captain of the Haben Elite Royal Attack, your presence annoys me!"

Azazel sends its tail shooting up at the eagle Gundam. Gritting his teeth Hirsi/eagle Gundam pulls in its wings and barrel rolls right dodging the attack but like a sky serpent the tail turns and purses its prey. Hirsi like Raheem had watched several of Fachtna's battles when he was still with GFC and knew full well that Fachtna could control his tail as easily as he could his own hand, plus he was ambidextrous, _this battle isn't going to be easy, _Hirsi thinks as the eagle Gundam transforms back into its human mode.

The world is a blur as the wind whips past the eagle Gundam who is flying backwards with the tail in hot pursuit, drawing its own ball and beam the eagle Gundam flicks its wrist and begins to try and beat back the tail with its iron ball. Its arm become a haze as the eagle Gundam swings its iron ball at the tail attacking it from all angles, but Azazel's tail is made from thick armor and counters the attacks with its speed and bashing. The sound of the heavy metal objects colliding echo thunder for miles around.

"All this fighting, all of this bloodshed, this very battle people are dying for; it's all your FAULT!" Hirsi roars as his adrenaline skyrockets. While the whip battle continues in the sky Serafina recovers and Delena jumps to its feet. Spinning its ball and beam around its head once Delena throws it at Azazel as Serafina shouts, "You won't get away with this Fachtna, I'll make you pay!"

Azazel sidesteps the attack and moving its beam saber to its right hand draws its semiautomatic beam Glock with its left hand. Azazel opens fire on Delena forcing the Gundam to move back, Delena jumping back pulls in its iron ball and attempts to dodge the beam bullets but Azazel is a good shot and despite Delena's evasive maneuvers several of Azazel's beam bullets graze it. Up in the sky the tail breaks through the eagle Gundam's assault and closes the gap; in a desperate move the eagle Gundam transforms back into its eagle form and attempts to ascend right but the tail is fasters and hammers into the eagle Gundam before it can get away.

The force of the attack sends the eagle Gundam spinning to the ground, colors mesh together as the world spins. No, he wasn't going to allow himself to blackout now!

"If you guys need someone to blame for this civil war why don't you try looking in a mirror! I didn't make you guys turn against each other, I didn't make you guys rebel nor violently put down protests! I may have been the trigger for this civil war but you were already waiting for an excuse to kill each other!" Fachtna counter accuses on his perch of supremacy, his yellowish brown Neon Gauntlet shines brighter. The eagle Gundam still freefalling transforms into its human form as it tries to regain control. The thrusters burn hotly and the Gundam does manage to slow its decent significantly but it still crashes into the ground. Quickly rising back on its legs the eagle Gundam shakes off the sand over its body and enters into a three way stare off with Hirsi and Serafina vs. Fachtna.

"That's only because you tricked us, you deceived us into the thinking the king was behind everything that was wrong with Haben."

"And you took it as truth without question; you ate what I fed you because you wanted to blame the king! And you Hirsi and all of the Haben military were so quick to dismiss the cries of outrage from those worse off as echoes of treason, how hard did you really try to make peace with the liberators of Haben? You don't even refer to them as anything other than the rebels! This civil war is just as much my fault as it is your own!"

It hurt, each world Fachtna uttered was like in itself a physical dagger aimed at their soul. He was right, Serafina had never went looking for other things that could be the source of the problems in Haben, no Shadow had been right when he accused Serafina of only wanting to punch someone to let out all of his pent up anger. Hirsi also had to admit that he had never voted for an increase in effort for peace talks, perhaps if he had been willing to listen to their cries instead of just calling them traitors this war would have never started.

Fachtna watched with dry satisfaction the doubt ooze into his opponents faces, he was confident that he could crush them both but it was always best to weaken their morale first. Azazel tightens its grip on its beam Glock preparing to do a blitz attack when a third attack appears behind it. A jackal Gundam in its animal form pounces at Azazel but Fachtna reacts with lightning reflexes and whips Azazel's tail out blocking the attack and sending the jackal Gundam flying in the other direction. The jackal Gundam flips in the air and transforms into its human form landing lightly on its feet before rushing Azazel again.

The jackal Gundam raises its hand, its beam claws glowing intensely, as it tries to stab Azazel in the face but Azazel blocks the attack with its beam saber. Sparks fly as the two beams collide and light flickers between them but before the beam saber begins to absorb the beam claws' energy the jackal Gundam pulls back and jumps in front of its two allies.

"You're right Fachtna this war is not just your fault it's everyone's fault but at the end of the day we're all just human. We all make mistakes, some worse than others but as humans we have the power to rise above our mistakes and fix what we made wrong and that starts right here!"

Gasps of shock emerge from Serafina and Hirsi as they recognize the pilot of the jackal Gundam but Fachtna eyeing him coldly speaks first.

"Raheem Vandel captain of the Haben Elite Royal Guard."

Ignoring Fachtna Raheem continues to face both Hirsi and Serafina; the words flowed from his mouth as his ancestors guided him on what to say. "Hirsi my trusted comrade and friend, Serafina president of the liberators of Haben, I ask you today to fight with me. To help me mend these broken bridges for a better Haben, it's true that this war is all of our faults but that simply means we have a responsibly to clean it up and that starts with taking out scum and trash like Fachtna. He is without a doubt a menace to all of our countrymen and we must not allow him to move as he pleases any longer. So please I ask that you fight with me for Haben!"

Raheem's Neon Gauntlet changes colors and begins to glow amber. There was no doubt in his allies' minds, in this one moment against this one threat to all they loved and cared for they became brothers bonded by bonds stronger then Sora itself. Hirsi's Neon Gauntlet turned alloy orange while Serafina's turned daffodil and began to glow. They answered in unison, "FOR HABEN!" and the episode ends with all three charging Fachtna.


	66. Episode 65 Everlasting Pain

Episode 65 – Everlasting Pain

_Location: North Azize, inside the city._

Shadowkun ran on the sides of the buildings as if it was the most natural thing in the world. The red and yellow Gundam's footsteps were light considering its weight and left no damage to the buildings other than a few broken windows. Its speed was impressive and with the sun behind it on top of that made it very difficult for Cagalli to get a good lock on him with her beam rifle. Cagalli had never been that great at shooting fast moving targets although Nick's tips had helped her improve a lot but that damn sun was irritating her eyes, still Cagalli couldn't afford to wait and line up her shot so she fired as best she could.

La Rouge's beam bullets blazed through the air as it hit the buildings Shadowkun was running on, after the first ten seconds of the fight in which Shadowkun had rushed her and almost took La Rouge's head off, Cagalli forgot about trying not to damage any property and began firing like a mad women desperately trying to keep the mercenary at a distance. Cagalli half hoped that maybe even if she couldn't hit Zain directly she could disturb his footwork by punching a bunch of holes and cracks into the sides of the building. No, such luck; as long as the building remained stable and standing Zain could run on it.

Shadowkun was quickly closing the gap between itself and La Rouge, La Rouge raises its shield preparing for a sword swipe but Zain takes Cagalli by surprise when Shadowkun jumps to the buildings on the right side and swipes at La Rouge's unshielded side.

"NO-"

"Take this!"

La Rouge stumbling backwards, raises its beam rifle at the last second as a makeshift shield. The rifle lasts all of three seconds before Shadowkun's laser sharpened sword slices through it like butter. La Rouge backs right into one of the buildings causing several windows to break and a crack in the wall to appear. The amber eyed Gundam barely manages to raise its shield in time before Shadowkun begins its boxing attack, flipping both of its swords over Zain delivers a series of left handed and right handed jabs and hooks into Cagalli's shield. _Jack's going to be pissed at me for destroying another beam rifle, _Cagalli thinks in-between the flashes of light and intense pain in her head as La Rouge's head and entire body gets bashed into the building behind it with each punch.

More cracks appear on the building as some pieces of it finally break and fall off, La Rouge begins to slide along the building getting some distance from Shadowkun, Zain's punches weren't very strong compared to Sesen's but the hilts of his swords were inflicting massive damage to her shield. La Rouge stumbles and trips on a car and falls to the ground on its behind. Expecting an attack to come La Rouge raises its shield over itself but the attack never comes as Shadowkun just stands their looking down upon La Rouge.

Cagalli is breathing hard as Zain pops up on her helmet screen looking bored an annoyed. "Are you ready yet to stop wasting my time and tell me where your leader is?"

There it was again, a sharp pang as her pride shouts out in response "Go to hell!" La Rouge hops to its feet and pulls its beam guan dao from behind its back and turns it on in one fluid motion. La Rouge charges Shadowkun and performs a downward vertical slash but reading the attack with ease Shadowkun hops back onto the walls of the building and with three quick hops is high above La Rouge. "Damn it," Cagalli mumbles under her breath as Shadowkun dives down and attacks with a duel sword slash from above.

La Rouge raises its shield and blocks the two strikes but Shadowkun jumps over to the right side buildings and attacks again. La Rouge taking a step back spins around and blocks the attack again with its shield. Shadowkun continues to jump from building to building all around La Rouge forcing Cagalli on the defensive as she continues to spin all around trying to put her shield in front of his sword. La Rouge manages to block all the attacks with its shield but the wild movements and close quarters cause it too constantly bang and bump into the buildings.

This isn't good, Cagalli wasn't sure how Zain was moving on the buildings but whatever it was gave him a clear and distinct advantage in tight spaces especially within the city. Zain's maneuverability was just overwhelming and making any sort of counterattack was almost impossible, Cagalli could only think of one way to counterattack and that was using khiêu vũ, unfortunately Cagalli couldn't figure out HOW TO USE KHIÊU VŨ! Sure Cagalli knew the basics of khiêu vũ but she had never used it in conjunction with any other weapon or her shield before.

She had asked Ailill about it once, Ailill had replied that khiêu vũ was a fighting style that could be used with any weapon or shield even guns but such training was too high a level for Cagalli to do at the time so she had never practiced khiêu vũ with a weapon before. Even now the music that Cagalli had grown accustomed to hearing in her mind during fights was muffed, without the music to coordinate and line up her attacks Cagalli was stumbling. Well not actually stumbling but she could feel how mechanic and stiff her movements had become, God was this how she always fought before she studied with the khiêu vũ? No wonder Sesen kicked her ass.

Shadowkun jumped off the right wall and slashed at her with his right sword, La Rouge raises its shield and blocks the attacks but neither Cagalli nor La Rouge have the physical strength to hold their ground against Zain and Shadowkun's power. La Rouge's shield yanks to one side as the Gundam's stumbles, Shadowkun takes advantage of this opening and flipping its blade giving it room to move punches La Rouge in the face. Off balance La Rouge trips and falls head first into one of the buildings. Even dazed though La Rouge rolls over and using the building regains its footing and performs a wild stab attack which Shadowkun evades by jumping back onto another building.

Shadowkun continues its assault as Zain shouts out, "This is boring, I don't want to fight you I want to fight Shadow so talk already!" Ok this guy was seriously starting to get on her nerves. She had to think of a way to even this playing field, La Rouge glances right and looks at one of the buildings and on impulse Cagalli puts one foot on it and tries to wall jump off it. The moment La Rouge puts weight on its foot the wall cracks and shatters and La Rouge's foot sinks into the building like quicksand initiating a laughing fit from Zain as he easily jumps and lands lightly on a roof of one of the buildings. "Hahahaha nice wall climbing."

Having allowed himself to laugh a second more at the rookie now struggling to try and free her trapped leg Zain calms himself down. This battle was starting to become a big waste of his time, even if she did know where Shadow was the girl wasn't talking and Zain didn't have the time to waste on beating answers out of her when Shadow could have already caught up with Fachtna. _It's time to end this, _Zain thinks as Shadowkun dives downward for the finishing strike. Cagalli for her part was mentally slapping herself on the forehead. What the hell had she been thinking trying to wall jump off a building with a GUNDAM! Desperation had made her almost as stupid as Shadow, for a second Cagalli thought about disregarding all of her weapons and fighting Zain barehanded just so she could use khiêu vũ but almost as quickly dismissed it.

Cagalli wasn't very big on catching or deflecting extremely sharp swords with her bare hands. Anyway she had a bigger problem now; her foot was stuck in the building! If Cagalli wasn't facing impending doom she would be embarrassed out of her mind. La Rouge was pulling on its leg and stabbing down with its beam guan dao trying to free its leg when it spotted Shadowkun coming straight at it by running on the building. _Crap, _Cagalli thinks as she tries to twist around to block with her shield, she was at an awkward angle; this wasn't going to end well.

Shadowkun facing La Rouge horizontally swings its blade at an upward angle with all its might. La Rouge manages to catch the strike on its shield rather than its chest but because of its awkward angle La Rouge can't maintain a good grip and its shield is sent flying. The force of the attack knocks La Rouge's leg loose causing La Rouge to fall face first into the ground. Cagalli gets up quickly and wildly looks around for her shield. Spotting it in front of her La Rouge rushes to grab it but Shadowkun lands lightly in-between the two and turning to face La Rouge moves in for the kill.

"This is it!"

Time slows down for Cagalli as she sees the bright red and yellow Gundam come flying at her, both of its blades were raised high preparing for a downward vertical slash, there was no time to think when suddenly the music blasted in her mind. The strange wind sounding songs played in her mind and her body began to move in response to the music. La Rouge lifts up its beam guan dao above its head and grabs it with two hands spread far apart as Shadowkun swings its blades down. Shadowkun's swords hit La Rouge's guan dao but the moment they do La Rouge drops to the ground and begins to roll backwards. With no resistance Shadowkun's own momentum drags it forward much to the astonishment of Zain.

Shadowkun tips forward and La Rouge placing its legs on Shadowkun's chest flips its opponent over and sends it flying upside down into one of the buildings. The building rumbles and cracks as debris falls down but otherwise remains standing despite the huge hole Shadowkun's body punched through it. Cagalli stares at the hole in wonder and then glances at her own hands. _Did I do that? _Her thoughts suddenly began to go into hyper drive; she could hear the music now and just as she hoped khiêu vũ was able to hit Zain but why now? Why could she hear the music so crystal clear now, what was different? Her shield! Had her shield been muffing up the sound, no it was more than that.

On impulse Cagalli began to feel her guan dao, she adjusted her gripped as she felt the weight through the NS system; she tapped it on the ground and felt just how solid it was. How many times had she carried this weapon into battle yet never once had she truly felt it before. It dawned on Cagalli that the guan dao was a two handed weapon, true it could be held with one hand since it was light enough but given the size of the pole it decreased her accuracy and control significantly. No wonder her attacks were so simple and straight forward. Come to think of it why did she even carry a shield in the first place?

Khiêu vũ was a style that specialized in deflection and avoidance, while you could do that with a shield there was no need to have a shield for defense, after all the style was designed with unarmed fighters in mind. The shield was good during gun fights but when Cagalli switched over into melee combat she should have put it away somewhere; Cagalli never used a shield when using her guan dao outside of Gundams so why would she use one when piloting a Gundam. _Habit, _the answer shot into her mind. Yes it was out of habit that Cagalli carried a shield around in her Gundam form, Cagalli had never gone into a mobile suit battle before without a shield. _No, not mobile suits, Gundams, this isn't Earth this is Sora. These are two completely different types of battlefields and I have to stop trying to act like an Earth mobile suit pilot and start acting like a Sora Gundam fighter._

While Cagalli's thoughts went on their rampage Zain gets up, groans and shakes his head. _What the hell just happened? _Zain asks as Shadowkun pushes rumble and debris off itself. Zain immediately went back and replayed the last second in his mind, he had been charging the girl, and she had lost her shield so she was defenseless or so he had thought then the girl flipped him over. Zain suddenly felt annoyed with himself, he was over thinking things, the girl just tripped and threw him at a wall.

"A lucky shot," Zain shouts out to the girl through the still open communication link. Cagalli looks at Zain with her thoughts still racing, banter suddenly made sense to her now. Before Cagalli couldn't understand why so many Sora Gundam pilots spent time talking to each other in the middle of battle, the Sora communication system was something she didn't have to worry about on Earth and it constantly annoyed her but now that she choose to accept it the banter made sense to her. A Sora Gundam battle was more than just two machines pounding into each other, the very words themselves were weapons designed to agitate the enemy, throw off his concentration and make him attack recklessly.

Everything was part of the battle, from the words, to the training, to physical blows, to the image you set out, Cagalli was now thankful for Shadow stopping her from making her Gundam pink. She had done that because it was all she had known, her mobile suit on Earth the Strike Rouge was pink, Cagalli had never kidded herself, that the Akatsuki was hers. At best it was her dad's Gundam and at worst Commander La Flaga's. She had never question the stupidly of a pink Gundam before but now it shined out as a horrible idea, why didn't she just make a giant sign that said "screw me" on it. The best she could hope for was a slutty badass vibe with a pink Gundam. No the colors red, yellow and orange were infinitely superior, they screamed confidence. All it needed was the right posture and that was exactly what Cagalli intended to do.

"Is that what you say to comfort your wounded ego?"

Something was different with the blond. It wasn't just her new stance, holding just her guan dao and making no move to retrieve the shield, Zain observed, it was also the feel of the Gundam that was different. It seemed to stand straighter, taller and emitted a silent yet prideful power. Her voice was different too, hell the fact she answered with ease was different in itself since she mostly just ignored his baits. The most important difference Zain saw though was her eyes; it took him a moment to figure out what was different with those amber eyes but then it hit him. Her confidence had risen! There was nothing physically different about her, no special power she activated; she was just more confident then she had been. This was not the same timid girl who needed her anger in order to attack.

"You know I was going to let you go if you told me where your boss was but now I'm going to kick your ass."

"Big talk coming from a second rate mercenary,"

Zain grits his teeth in annoyance. "What did you say?"

Cagalli smirks, that was his weakness, his pride in his fighting abilities. "Oh I'm sorry I meant to say third rate mercenary or maybe even less considering you lost to Shadow."

Zain thought he felt one of his veins burst with his heart rate skyrocketing from anger. "Big words for a little girl," he screams as Shadowkun charges La Rouge.

####

_Location: A hall within the Dark-Angel._

"Umth," Alex grunted as a shockwave rocked the ship and sent her into a wall. She slowly got up and instantly checked her now very short hair, a new bad habit she had picked up from when her own hair had caught on fire. Alex had been in the kitchen in the middle of cooking lunch when all of the red lights went on; five seconds later what she assumed to be an explosion rocked the ship. Her guards had immediately left her which actually annoyed Alex, what kind of prison guards forget to lock up their prisoner? Honestly if she had wanted to escape Alex would have already gotten away several times over.

Still something inside of Alex kept her from leaving so here she was still on this ship, the Dark-Angel trying to figure out what was going on. Alex spots one of the crew members working on some wiring within the walls and calls out "What's going on?"

"We're under attack," the crew member, a female replied without looking up.

_Obviously_, Alex thought with annoyance but refrained from saying anything aloud, after all she was still a prisoner on board this ship but then again since no one was wearing any form of uniform nor was there a clear chain of command Alex doubted anyone would be able to tell if she was a prisoner. "Who is attacking us, how many ships are we up against, and what's our current status?" Alex asked after deciding to be more specific with her questions.

"Don't know," the woman replies still tinkering with the wires.

Alex stares at her in shock, "What do mean' don't know', how could you not know? Ok, ok who's your superior? I want to talk with your superior," Alex says while rubbing her temples.

"Don't have any."

Alex wanted to scream, was this really a battleship but before she could say anything the female crew member finally looks up and adds "Well I guess the Gundam pilots, the kid with the glasses, the short girl with blond hair are technically my boss but most of the pilots are out and everyone else is on the bridge."

Feeling unsatisfied and annoyed with the poor status of the crew set up on board this ship Alex nods to the woman and is about to walk away when a new thought strikes her. "Wait, then what are you doing?" Alex asks.

"There's a power error with the beta seventy sixth shield emitter, it's overheating so I have to rework the wire system to distribute the voltage and hopefully cool the system off to make it in line with the others."

Alex's green eyes open wide in awe, "And who told you to do that?"

"No one, the girl…Jack I think assigned me the beta fifty through eighty shield emitters to regulate and maintain so that's what I do. I'm not a soldier like some of the other people here, I worked as an engineer at a private mechanic repair shop for like the super-rich before they fired me instead of giving me a raise, heh worked twenty years for a company and then they fired me over some bogus claims when I finally started to make a decent salary."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be, it's not your fault. I never went out on an actual ship before and as you can tell the Shadow Knights aren't really big on the whole procedures thing so when a battle starts I don't really know what to do but I know I should be doing something so I come down to my section and do the best I can to keep the power flow even and steady throughout all the emitters."

Alex took this all in silence, then said "You're doing a great job, keep up the good work." The girl looks back up and smiles.

"Thanks."

Alex turns and begins to walk down the hallway, the energy shield was keeping the shockwaves from the enemy ship's attacks to a minimal but no one could cover up the noise each explosion created on the shield yet the ex-captain ignored it all and instead focused on the crew around her. Whenever Alex took command of a ship for the first time she always did a walkthrough, simply observing the people who were entrusting their lives to her, judging their skills and work ability.

Alex had observed the crew when they gave her the position of temporary master chef, a title Shadow had made up, and noted with distain their poor work ethic, how they were spread about all over the ship playing games, fornicating, gambling, drinking and just acting like teenagers. Their laziness was appalling and Alex found it hard to believe she was ever defeated by them but now was different. There was no one playing games, there was no one lounging about, the older people directed the younger and formed individual squads.

Most people though worked along, fixing something, improving something, making sure some function was operating at peak efficiency regardless of the circumstance. What struck Alex though was how fast and resourceful each person was, everywhere she looked someone was using a trick to make something operate better. Their only weakness lay in their lack of a chain of command, there was no herder to guild the sheep so each person acted as either an individual or a small team rather than as a whole ship yet they made up for this in their overwhelming power. Each person was not an amateur but rather a professional in their field, the young may lack experience but they made up for that by teaming up with the more experienced. Alex observed this all as she made her way up to the bridge.

Jack was in hell, five full scale battleships had shown up behind the Dark-Angel and opened fired on them. She had done her best but she just couldn't keep track of five battleships at once and then before she knew it they had drifted to inside the city and now everyone was shooting at them.

"Incoming missiles to our right!"

"High energy beam cannon to our left!"

"Another ship is coming straight at us!"

"Two ships are moving behind us!"

Everyone was talking at once and Jack just couldn't follow everything, too much was going on. "Alan Evade, Kenny, Ciro give us some cover fire!"

The Dark-Angel flew over Azize and was surrounded on all sides by various ships. Its linear cannons and missiles fired wildly, desperately struggling to keep its numerous enemies at bay but the enemy ships easily evade the attacks and responds with their own. The Dark-Angel tries to evade but the attacks are coming from too many directions and several missiles manage to hit the energy shield. Zagat observed this all from his own ship which flew a little further back from the battle.

He smiled as he saw that annoying fly squirm, now this was his kind of battle. Zagat had pulled out every single resource at his disposal for this operation, destroying the Shadow Knights main ship was his only chance at redemption, failure was not an option. Zagat smiled his cowardly serpent smile, not that he thought failure was possible at this point. He had gathered five fully armed battleships; sadly Fachtna in his rage fired all of their Gundam pilots for their poor performance in their previous battle against the Shadow Knights.

However Zagat was confident that the Dark-Angel also didn't have any Gundams on board, his intelligence network had spotted 3 of them in different parts of the city and the fourth was engaged with Daly outside the city. His plan had been perfect, he dare say it was better than Alex's, he had his five battleships attack the Dark-Angel from behind and then using careful movements and attacks he had ushered them straight into the city. The coded signals, frequency jammers and anti-jammers would have completely crippled some people but Zagat was an expert on communication warfare, which was one of the reasons why Fachtna had recruited him first.

It had been his job to see through the chaos of the communication network on the battlefield and then create an effective signal that would allow the generals to command the troops. Zagat of course excelled at this, he had even gone as far as hacking into the enemy signals and giving them false orders but those fools who had once been his bosses failed to see his brilliance and passed over him for a promotion, oh well it was their loss since Fachtna had seen his talent and offered him a far more profitable job. Zagat had taken several liberties when he left; including borrowing most of the equipment he needed for creating and hacking communication networks without ever intending on returning them.

That same equipment was currently on board his ship and using it he was able to communicate with his allied ships even in this chaotic battlefield, he was also able to hack into both the rebels and the royals weak communication networks and spread false intelligence, namely that the Dark-Angel was an extremely dangerous enemy ship that needed to be taken out. The response had been immediate; four battleships came to aid in the ships destruction, two from each side of this conflict. Zagat had to laugh inside a little, he was calling the shots and neither side was aware that they weren't actually attacking their sworn enemy but working alongside them to destroy a neutral party.

This was why he was superior to Alex, Byron, and Zain; Alex had been the planer, the stagiest; Zain was the muscle, a Gundam fighter; and Byron had tried to be an information expert like Zagat but failed. Zagat was more valuable than them all, for he who can control the communication network on the battlefield controlled the very flow of victory! All ten battleships fired missiles at the same time at the Dark-Angel, the beam CIWs on the midnight black and neon green ship glowed red as the beam bullets flew to hit the missiles before they hit the ship. The linear cannons and the Dark-Angel's own missiles shot out into the swarm as well causing many of the closely packed missiles to detonate but most of the enemy missiles get through and hit the shield sending a good size shockwave through the ship.

"LA, RA, FA, energy shields at thirty-seven percent," Thomas sings however despite his pleasant tone Jack could see drops of sweat on his face as his fingers became a blur on the keyboard. This was true for everyone, they were all working so hard but sometimes hard work wasn't enough.

"DAMN IT, Alan can't you get us the hell out of here?" Ciro screams at his getaway driver.

"If you can see a way through then let me know because they're not giving me enough room to pass, unless you want me to start ramming people," Alan screams back at Ciro.

"Once our energy shields go down we'll be screwed" Kenny speaks nervously.

"SCREW THIS, I say we abandon ship," Alan screams as another missile hits the shield despite his evasive maneuvers.

"IN THE MIDDLE OF A GUNDAM WARZONE, why don't you shoot me now it will be faster," Ciro snaps back annoyed.

"Plus I doubt our enemy will just let us leave." Rini adds being the calmest of the bunch. Kabira also feeling panicked turns to Zuke and shouts "You're a Gundam fighter right, why don't you go outside and help us?"

"As if I would waste my time aiding a natural," Zuke responds coldly not even looking up, "as far as I'm concerned, the mission came to end the moment we entered Azize so I feel no obligation or responsibility in further humoring these ridiculous ventures."

"You do realize that if the ship blows up you'll die too, despite being a coordinator?" Rini counters.

"Once the shields fail I'll go to my Gundam and simply leave the area," Zuke replies calmly leading to a very heated argument with Alan and Rini calling him a coward, Kabira pleading with him, and Ciro cursing and threatening him. Jack ignored them all; it wasn't Zuke fault they were in this situation, Zuke was just being Zuke and it wasn't the bridge crew's fault either. They were smart, and skilled; and Jack knew that her ship could win in this situation; she could feel the Dark-Angel's power through the hull. No Jack knew whose fault this really was, it was her own.

She just couldn't keep track of everything that was happening; she knew the weapons and defenses of the Dark-Angel inside out but Jack didn't know how to use them in a battle situation. She was a mechanic for God's sake, she didn't have the tactical edge to be a captain and that's what they needed now! A God damned freaking-

"What's the situation?" It was a voice that radiated authority and a strong sense of command, it cut through the mist of panic, anger and fear pulling all those present gazes' towards its source. Their prisoner in her long white chef's jacket that reached down to her knees stood before them, her emerald eyes gazed intently at all those before her.

"Um we're surrounded by ten battleships over Azize,." Kenny answers, not that he really knew why. Alex nods her head, as another explosion is heard outside. When she had walked in she was shocked to find a girl no more than sixteen maybe sitting in the captain's chair clearly overwhelmed. What the hell was going on?

"Ok what's your plan, and where is your captain?" Alex asks. Kenny once again answers,

"Don't have a plan, and we don't have an official captain. Jack's just our temporary captain."

"WHY the hell are you telling the prisoner this? And for that matter why the hell is she not in chains or handcuffs at least?" Ciro shouts at the top of his lungs to be heard over yet another explosion.

"No captain-wait you were the one giving the orders during the battles I fought against you guys?" Alex asks Jack with new eyes, she was so young and yet already leading an assault ship like the Dark-Angel. Those amateur moves Alex had noticed before made sense now.

"Um well yea but I didn't do much other then give like obvious orders, Shadow was the one who came up with crazy plans all the time that beat you," Jack replied with a shy shrug. "But I'm just a mechanic in the end and this isn't a small simple battle that we can just wing, we need a real captain we need you."

Jack wasn't sure what drove her to ask Alex, it was crazy, insane, an act of pure desperation but when you're faced with an unwinnable situation you might as well bet on the crazy. "ARE YOU INSANE? DID YOU FORGET SHE'S TRIED TO KILL US SEVERAL TIMES," Ciro screams.

"She was a former ally of the enemy, this could all be part of the plan," Rini cautions.

"Great so we're screwed if we do and screwed if we don't," Alan moans.

"LA, DE, DA, there's no way out," Thomas sings.

"Jack," Kenny begins slowly not sure what his friend's plans are while Kabira just observes with Zuke.

"If this ship goes down then I die too, just to let you know." Alex responds in her defense but Jack saw through her words. Jack could instantly tell that dying didn't seem so bad to Alex, unpleasant maybe but it wasn't something she was against. Jack wasn't sure if Alex would try her best to win because she wasn't sure if Alex really wanted to live. The mechanic could see all of this from the former captain because she had felt like that once too.

Another explosion took place, like a ticking clock marking their doom, Jack's red eyes met Alex's green emerald eyes and an understanding passed between them, time was always moving forward no matter how much we wanted it to stay still, no matter how much we wanted it to go back. Death of family and friends, disappointment in watching all of your hard work fail under the reality of the world, pain and suffering so overwhelming that your eyes bleed red for tears, and doubt in yourself so compelling that your very existence fades into the nothingness of despair; these feelings rush and drown you like ice water from the ninth circle of Dante's hell and in this way we freeze the clock of time to stop that constant ticking.

We stop our very heart and soul because there is only so much pain a human can take before it's too much and they just want it all to stop and go numb to the world but you have to let that clock tick. "My father, my mother both died in a raider attack a long time ago; I can't even remember them anymore but even though it made me sad sometimes I was ok because I had my brother." These were words that Jack had never spoken aloud; they did not come from the mind but from the heart. She clutched at her chest, they were painful to hear and even more to speak but she endured the pain, she had to let that clock tick because you had to keep going forward. "He raised me, he taught me wrong from right, he taught me how to read and do math, how to be a mechanic, he fed me when I was hungry, he clothed me when I was cold, he slept in my room when I was scared of the dark, he hugged me when I was sad, he was my everything and then he died. He died protecting the city he loved, a hero's death everyone said, something I should be proud of. I wasn't, I wanted to hate that city, all those people, I could care less about a hero's death, but I couldn't bring myself to hate them, all I could do was cry because my everything was gone."

She didn't want to cry, she didn't start speaking so she could cry but she couldn't help it, it hurt so God damn much. Jack thought she would be over it by now, that being with Shadow and the others would have curved the pain more than this but it still hurt worse than any physical trauma Jack could ever have received. Still she walked forward, every time the pain felt too much Jack could feel Shadow's presence shocking her into motion; he wouldn't let her stop and sulk in the darkness of self-pity. He pushed her forward, always forward. "All I have left of him now is this ship, the Dark-Angel. He designed her, and built its basic skeleton from scratch, he put all of his hopes and dreams into this ship. Please, PLEASE don't let them sink her, don't let them destroy the Dark-Angel!" Jack tried to stop her tears, to come out looking strong and dignified but she couldn't and ended up bowing her head begging as that stupid stubborn liquid dropped to the floor. Jack was sure she looked like a pathetic creature wishing for their pity but that was not so for a miracle had occur on the bridge. Not a single person was talking, everyone was silent in respect, they did not see a pathetic creature looking for pity they saw a brave young girl baring her soul to the world. From the dirtiest of criminals, to the noblest of soldiers, from the poorest of the poor to the richest of the rich, from the untalented to the gifted they all understood loss.

Death was the one feature that connected all of humanity; it was their one common trait. Every single person on the bridge understood loss, because no matter who you were it still always, always hurt when a person you cared about passed away. In that one moment every heart beat was the same. It hurt, Alex was so tired of pain she didn't want to hurt any more but no matter how hard she tried she couldn't go numb to this pain. She couldn't run from it, she had to embrace it and let it run its course. Alex's body stepped forward; she put both hands on Jack's shoulders and lifted the young girl up so that she was no longer bowing. She knelt down so that she was eye level with the mechanic.

"My mother was in the military, she was the brightest most caring person you could ever know. She was the best tactician in the force and everyone knew it. She was my hero, my best friend, my role model then one day a man came to my door and told me she was dead. Just like that with no explanation, apparently she was involved in some kind of big military secret thing so no one could tell me what happen. I still don't know what happen, I know that knowing what happen wouldn't bring her back but still…still I just want to know why she's dead damn it!" Alex had never told anyone this, she couldn't believe she was telling these strangers her inner most heartfelt feelings yet that young girl had shown Alex something so close to her heart that the strategist felt compelled to show her something in kind. Alex blinked her eyes several times, damn it they were getting all watery and hard to see through. Alex then reached insider her jacket and pulled out something she carried around with her all the time yet never showed anyone.

"This is the only thing they gave me, my mother's favorite pen. Heh she used to joke all the time that she had lost every single pen she had except this one, it was her lucky pen that she never lost. It was the only possession on her corpse that they let me have." Alex's voice shook with emotion, what the hell was she doing a small dark voice cried but something brighter was pushing her forward. "I swear that I will do everything within my power to protect your brother's ship if you swear to do everything in your power to protect my mother's pen."

Alex passed the pen over to Jack who held it in her hands like gold or the most fragile piece of glass on the planet. "I swear," Jack replied as she ever so carefully placed the pen in one of her jean jacket's pockets then rubbed the tears out of her eyes with her sleeve; the sound of explosions could still be heard as Alex stood up and also rubbed her eye.

"Then it's a deal." Without another word the head mechanic turned around and began to move towards the exit.

As Jack leaves Kenny turns to Ciro and whispers, "Well she can't be all bad after all she did save her last crew."

Alex turns to Kenny and raises an eyebrow, "I did?"

Kenny embarrassed shrugs "Well yea, I mean ten minutes after you left your ship with Fachtna and Kabira's dad everyone on board your ship abandoned ship. They left in jeeps, and small shuttles and I doubt Fachtna's the type of guy to let that happen."

Alex smiled at the memory, it was the only moment she had beaten Fachtna. Alex having known Fachtna's true nature had given expressive orders to her crew that if she ever left the bridge during the middle of battle for fifteen minutes without saying the safety word to abandon ship. "You would be right," Alex replied as she began to unbutton and take off her white Chef's jacket. She looked around the bridge, another bridge to command, another ship to lead, still things were different. Shadow had stopped her from jumping over the edge of darkness and sparked her back to life but it had been Jack who had created a bridge for her to travel upon to a new land.

As Alex flipped her chef's jacket inside out revealing its emerald green color she wore during her command as a captain she reflected that things although similar were different which was good. Alex put back on her emerald green chef's jacket as she buttoned it up and took a seat in the captain's chair. It was time for a change.

####

_Location: North Azize, inside the city._

Shadowkun charges straight at La Rouge and performs a downward vertical slash but La Rouge spins right and whacks the back of Shadowkun's head sending the Gundam into another building. Shadowkun crashing into the building doesn't stay down for long. Jumping to its feet Shadowkun starts running on the buildings again, but each time it attacks La Rouge nimbly moves out of the way, Shadowkun jumps from building to building attacking La Rouge from every angle but La Rouge simply leans out of the way avoiding the attack by inches each time.

_What the hell is going on, why can't I hit her? _Zain attacked viciously, each strike had more anger and power then the last and each time he missed his frustration grew fuelling his anger. His blood was boiling with an overwhelming need to crush his opponent-to crush this _girl!_

Cagalli could feel Zain's attack grow more and more aggressive, on a subconscious level she realized the risk this posed, his attacks were growing in power and one hit in the right spot would overwhelm her but for some reason Cagalli wasn't worried. The fear she always held was still there but it was quieter now like when she first boarded the Archangel and piloted the Sky Grasper and it no longer dominated her thoughts, the music occupied her thoughts. Cagalli followed its rhythm and beat and moved to its will. She wondered once more if it was her that was controlling the music or was the music controlling her?

Shadowkun dives off a building heading straight for La Rouge in a jump attack but La Rouge counterattacks this time instead of dodging. Swinging its beam guan dao upward to meet Shadowkun's right sword the two blades clash in a flash of light and sparks but La Rouge hits the top of Shadowkun's blade. In the middle of the air Shadowkun has nothing to control its direction and its momentum is once more turned against it as La Rouge's beam guan dao acts as a pivot point flipping Shadowkun upside down.

"SHIT!" Zain shouts as he wildly lashes out in anger with his left blade before his head hits the ground. La Rouge spins left and whacks Shadowkun with the pole end of its guan dao sending it crashing into another building like a baseball sized wrecking ball. Shadowkun though hops right back onto its feet shattering the bits and pieces of building that was falling on it and charges La Rouge using its boxing style in a mad frenzy.

Right punch, left punch, uppercut, right jab, right jab, left jab; Shadowkun tries to push La Rouge back with its speed boxing techniques and while La Rouge is backing up it's not because Cagalli's feeling pressured. La Rouge walks backwards and agilely dodges all of Shadowkun's punches with almost graceful movements. It brings up its guan dao several times but not in a direct block, La Rouge puts the pole against Shadowkun's arm and lightly pushes it throwing off Shadowkun's attack. If Zain were calmer he would have seen through such a block and rearranged his attack accordingly but in his anger Zain could only see his punch continue to miss its mark.

His opponent kept gliding on the ground titling her head out of the way and no matter how fast or strong he made his punches she KEPT DODGING THEM! It was humiliating! He was a mercenary, Zain was fully aware that he was just a small fish in this world but still he wasn't up against a coordinator or a SA user, he was fighting another natural, a rookie! This shouldn't be possible, he must of have had a decade more of experience than her and yet here he was losing AGAIN! This was even more humiliating then when he got his ass kicked by Shadow, at least then he could comfort himself by saying he wasn't at full strength at the time of their battle but now he didn't even have that excuse!

Shadowkun goes in for a right hook but La Rouge suddenly stops placing its foot solidly on the ground bracing itself and brings the pole side of its guan dao up causing Shadowkun to impale itself. The breath gets knocked out of Zain while Cagalli hasn't even moved an inch back. _This is it, _Cagalli thought to herself as she heard the tempo of the music change; it was time for her counterattack. Staggering backwards Shadowkun tries to regain its footing while Zain tries to recover his breath but Cagalli and La Rouge won't let that happen. La Rouge advances and begins to attack, swinging its guan dao in powerful and moderately fast strokes generated by its whole body.

A downward vertical slash an upward diagonal slash several stab attacks aimed at the head; Shadowkun still off balance desperately struggles to hold off the attacks with its own blades. The impact can be heard and felt each time both blades meet, each time Shadowkun is pushed back more and more. La Rouge performs a left horizontal beam slash to which Shadowkun blocks but the force of the attack twists Shadowkun more than expected leaving a very obvious opening. _I'm wide open, _Zain thinks while La Rouge slides forward to point blank range of its opponent while letting go of its guan dao with its left hand and bringing its right hand closer to the blade giving itself more thrusting room to stab Shadowkun with.

In a last ditch desperate play Zain turns on Shadowkun's thrusters to max and jumps back while still on one foot and at an awkward angle. Shadowkun successfully dodges La Rouge's stabbing attack but it's off balance and trips over a car once more crashing into another building, this time though Shadowkun doesn't get back up as debris from the building rained down on it. Zain supposed he should be thankful that in this section of the city the buildings weren't made of metal but that was the furthest thing from his mind. His anger had reached its climax, he had never felt angrier, never more humiliated and frustrated yet inside the burning forge of hell that was his soul there was but one single thought. _Why damn it, why did Shadow beat me, why is this girl beating me? _It made him sad and depressed, Zain did not have much he took pleasure in other then his skill as a mercenary. He took this job with Fachtna not because he cared about Haben or because of Fachtna's plan, hell not even for the money. Zain worked with Fachtna because Fachtna offered him something he could not get by himself, protection. Fachtna was a D-1 Gundam fighter with connections to the Haben government which basically meant that as long as he didn't cross the wrong people nobody was going to mess with him. Zain could not say the same; he was an E rank Gundam fighter at best with no connections anywhere.

If Zain was by himself he would have long ago been crushed by the real professional mercenaries, not Daly or Brogan who were like himself, just armatures but mercenaries with real power that fought against real well trained soldiers of superior nations. Zain had learned the hard way many times before the difference in their ability; he lost count of how many times Shadowkun had been destroyed by them before he met Fachtna. He blamed it all on him being a natural like he did for many things; the professionals were probably all coordinators and other people who could afford the expensive performance enhancing drugs.

Zain had gone to a co-gene school were both coordinators and naturals attended, that was probably were he picked up the habit of blaming all of his failures on being a natural. Got a bad test grade, it was because he was a natural, couldn't make any sports teams, it was because he was a natural, couldn't get a girlfriend, it was because he was a natural. It wasn't his fault that he couldn't do the things above it was just that he was a natural, those were the limit of his abilities. _Coordinators and the other people were always just better than naturals were_, Zain thought, _they were smarter, physically stronger and better looking._

Zain though wasn't bitter about it like Fachtna after all it was the parents that decided who would be a coordinator or not, and lady luck for the rest. The thought that naturals were on the bottom end of the human food chain was just a fundamental rule Zain just excepted as a child like humans can't fly and continued to believe it into adulthood. He became a mercenary because what real chance did he have of obtaining a good job with decent pay against a coordinator, still he found out that even as a mercenary coordinators and SA users were still above him. When Fachtna finally came calling he welcomed him with open arms, he was dirt broke and couldn't pay for repairs to his heavily damaged Gundam, still it was more than money that Fachtna gave Zain, it was protection.

No longer did the weak coordinators snipe his jobs, attack him to steal his money or simply because they were bored. Fachtna also told Zain which battlefields were safe so he no longer accidently stumbled onto high class mercenaries. Yes Zain had much to be thankful for to Fachtna and working under him had caused Zain to prosper. _Am I happy? _The thought was so random so out of place that Zain wasn't sure where it came from…no that was a lie, he knew exactly where it came from he just didn't want to acknowledge it. It was a question born from an image that was burned into his mind, the image was the moment just before Shadow's blade sliced Zain's Gundam in half.

It was the look on Shadow's face, a look of pure joy and overwhelming triumph. Zain remembered that feeling of accomplishment, the joy of working hard and achieving what you wanted; it had been a long time since Zain had felt it though but he could never forget it. At first it had been alright, the battles had been stimulating and relatively challenging but after a time it began to bore him. The mercenary thought winning would make him happy but what was the point of a goal that was spoon fed to you? He began to go around using only one sword as a handicap but still that wasn't enough, he needed a challenge, a fight that he had just as much chance of losing as he did of winning. That was why when Zain lost to Shadow in a sick and twisted way he was happy, for once victory wasn't just handed to him he actually had to work for it. It was exciting, exhilarating to fight someone of equal skill, to have to push himself in order to win.

He wanted to win right now; all thoughts of Shadow instantly vanished from his mind as his obsession with winning took over all conscious thought. He became consumed with beating this girl in front of him, his anger although still burning hotly no longer controlled him, he controlled it. Shadowkun rises to its feet slowly, pushing chunks of broken building off itself as it faces La Rouge. Zain began to fully analyze his opponent, he couldn't remember the last time he had done that, and compiled everything he knew about her and her fighting style khiêu vũ, it was a style that was strongest in defense but it could still be used offensively.

It turned a person's own power against him but it had its weaknesses, a khiêu vũ user hits its attack at the right angle deflecting the power of the opponent and then follows up with a counterattack but the area of the attack got smaller the physically weaker the khiêu vũ user was, after all a strong river could rip apart a weak wooden structure. The girl was physically weaker than he was plus his Gundam was also physically stronger than her Gundam which meant that her angle to deflect was very small, that was her weakness. Shadowkun charge straight at La Rouge, Shadowkun goes for a right jab which La Rouge easily leans back to avoid but it was a fake.

Shadowkun goes for a left jab instead catching Cagalli by surprise but La Rouge is able to bring up its guan dao in time for a block. La Rouge isn't able to deflect this attack and so has to take it straight on, the force of the attack knocks La Rouge into the building to the left. Shadowkun flips its blade around and goes to cut off La Rouge's head but La Rouge drops down and rolls right dodging the strike but Shadowkun won't let La Rouge have a moment's rest and pushes forward. This time though its strikes are well timed, precise and coordinated versus the wild frenzy he did before. Zain had more experience than the girl and he used that now, he read her movements, saw through all of her attempts at deflection and adjusted his attacks at the last moment forcing her to perform a solid block instead of deflecting it.

La Rouge was forced to take a step back step after step due to Shadowkun's focused power. Sweat rolled down the back of his neck as his breath grew more ragged but he ignored all of this and focused solely on defeating the pilot right before him, he would win, he would win, "I WILL WIN!" Zain's neon gauntlet changes colors to carmine and begins to glow slightly. Cagalli was in trouble, Zain was no longer acting wildly, and his attacks had gotten a lot more focused. Cagalli also couldn't deflect his attacks anymore; he kept twisting out of the way at the last second so she couldn't catch his blade at the right angle. She was forced to take each blow square on, her arms shook from the strain and violently vibrated from each hit.

Shadowkun went for another right hook but at the last second pulled back and instead kicked La Rouge square in the chest, Zain rarely ever used kick attacks so the move came as a complete shock to Cagalli and sent La Rouge sliding into a building. Luckily La Rouge didn't have enough momentum to go through the building but it still hit it hard causing cracks to appear around the point of impact and almost all the windows shattered. La Rouge is unsteady on its feet and is wall sitting when Shadowkun suddenly appears before it with both blades pulled back ready for the finishing strike. Cagalli's amber eyes open wide as she sees the attack coming but there was no time to dodge or think; Kabira flashes before Cagalli's eyes and on impulse she flicks her wrist up.

La Rouge's beam guan dao goes flying up in the air spinning like a wheel as Shadowkun slices the red, yellow and orange Gundam horizontally into three pieces with both of its blades. La Rouge falls apart and crumbles to the ground while Shadowkun puts its hands on its knees its shoulders rising up and down as an exhausted Zain tries to catch his breath. He had put everything he had into that one all outburst attack; his whole body began to tingle as he felt that joy he saw on Shadow's face. He felt real pride the likes of which he had long since thought left him, this had been a good battle and he felt proud to have won.

"You were a worthy opponent." he said aloud knowing full well that this girl, he would look up her name later, would be unable to hear him in her safety pod. Shadowkun stood straight up and turned around and began to walk away. The red and yellow Gundam took all of three steps before La Rouge's beam guan dao falls straight down into its head beam blade first. Zain never saw the attack coming, he was exhausted from his fight and without a tech support person to warn him of an attack coming Zain simply didn't see it until he felt the blade pierce his skull, always a weird sensation. When the head section of a Gundam is destroyed its safely pod automatically activates.

Time slowed down for Zain as his orange eyes open up wide in shock, he turned to look at his fallen opponent whose head still remained intact. He hadn't given any thought to her throwing her guan dao in the air, had it been the act of pure desperation guided by lady luck? No, Zain's battle sense told him otherwise. This had been a planned attack, maybe not on a conscious level but there was no doubt in Zain's mind that she had planned, and timed this to happen. Still to be able to time where he would be, to put just enough power into the blade so it would fall there with the beam blade pointing down, it was master level skill. Zain smiled as the walls of the safely pod began to surround him, she was gifted, not like Shadow but in her own way and Zain doubted if even a coordinator could have done that. _Maybe naturals are capable of more than I thought, _Zain thinks as time goes back to normal and his safety pod is ejected while Shadowkun with the beam guan dao still in its head falls to the ground. The episode ends with this match coming to a draw.


	67. Episode 66 The Last Shot

Episode 66 – The last shot.

_Location: Dark-Angel's bridge._

Alex scrolled down through a list of the Dark-Angel's weapons and defenses along with a brief description on the touch screen in the captain's seat armchair. She still remembered the data Zain had collected on the ship and its abilities but she always liked to read it directly from the ship she took charge of. It took Alex less than a second to go through the data; she had seen all of the weapons before so she just skims it. Satisfied with confirmation of what she already knew about the ship Alex began to visualize the chessboard; the Dark-Angel was the black pieces while the enemy was white.

"Incoming missiles from the left!" Alan screams

"Beam cannons are locked on us from behind!" Ciro shouts out.

"Linear cannons from above," Rini replies neutrally, while Thomas sings out

"FA-FA-FA-FAAAAA twenty-nine percent power left on shields."

"Descend thirty meters and," Alex begins but Alan cuts her off as he begins to pull and turn on the wheel.

"I don't need you telling me how to drive god damn it!" The Dark-Angel drops down and slides right dodging the attacks but the herd of enemy ships adjust their circle so that the Dark-Angel has no openings to escape. Alex blinks; it wasn't the helmsman disobeying her that surprised the captain. Ever since she left the military Alex had grown used to thugs who didn't take orders well, what surprise her was that helmsman did exactly what she was going to tell him to do, his evasion had been perfect.

"Enemy ship to our right is locking on to us with a positron cannon!" Kenny shouts

"Aim high energy beam cannons 30 meters starboard and 47 meters below the enemy's," Alex begins but once more is cut off by a slightly offended Rini.

"I can't, the right side's high energy beam cannon overheated and isn't working any more…and no backseat shooting, I can aim."

"Don't worry; Jack's working on fixing it now." Kenny says while rapidly typing on his computer.

Ciro pops in "Don't order us around like children; we know what we're doing so just stick with the strategy." Alex blinks again then smiles; this wasn't another cheap hired crew that she had to direct every single action they took which meant she could focus on more long term planning. This crew was competent. Jack raced around the hallways of the Dark-Angel directing and reorganizing the crew.

"Leo get Tini, Kuni and Rember and adjust the forzt converter in the engine room! Miko take your team to the left side's linear cannon and fix it, the aims' off by seven centimeters! Lulo do whatever it takes, use whoever you have to to keep those shield emitters working and from overheating! Nelsa you me and Jessica are going to switch the cooling rods for the right side's high energy beam cannon and get it operational again!'

Jack's orders are crisp and sharp, her knowledge of the inner workings of the Dark-Angel give her a clear understanding of what needs to be done to insure the Dark-Angel is working at top performance. There was no doubt in her voice, no hesitation, her brief time as Captain had given Jack a nice leadership bonus. Combining teams redirecting workers and switching positions the mechanic chains and connects this rag tag team of individuals into a single crew for a single ship. Jack hops and jumps around people as she runs straight to the high energy beam cannon which has been retracted down into the bay. Nelsa and a girl are right on Jack's tail carrying the cooling rods, Jack hits the energy cannon first and in a split second pulls out a drill and begins unscrewing one of the plates.

Nelsa and Jessica are right behind Jack and after placing down the cooling rods quickly get to work helping the head mechanic.

Alex had set up the pieces of her chess board, black was obviously losing, well being crushed was the better term to describe it. Still the chess player could see a path to victory, numbers may be important but how you use your pieces was even more important. "Ok first things first we're going to break out of this death trap, helmsman ascend and then when I say so kill the engines."

"Um helmsman?" Alan asks.

Kenny answers "It means driver."

"Oh, well why didn't she just say that?"

"It's a military term," Rini answers.

"Forget about that just ascend already! When he cuts the engines fire the missiles in the direction of descent, also fire the port side's high energy beam cannon to port and the starboard linear cannon starboard," Alex snaps growing agitated.

Ciro scratches his head and asks "Starboard that's left right?"

"No it's right," Rini corrects.

"So I was right?"

"No Rini meant left was wrong and that right was right," Kenny tries to explain to Ciro.

"Now I'm confused!" Alan shouts annoyed.

"RIGHT god damn it, fire the linear cannon to the right!" Alex screams now extremely agitated, she took back her comment about them being competent. The Dark-Angel rises upward seeming to aim to break out of its encirclement from the top but the enemy ships begin to rise as well to counter the movements. "Trying to crawl out of your hole of despair well I won't let you!" Zagat shouts with his sadistic joy "Order the ships above to open fire on the Dark-Angel, sink that worm back into its rightful hole!"

The enemy ships at the top part of the circle open fire on the Dark-Angel with a combination of missiles, linear cannons and beam cannons but Alex is ready for this. "NOW!" Alan, Ciro and Rini's eyes open wide simultaneously as they all understand what Alex is doing and begin to adjust their roles accordingly.

Alan smiles like a demon and shouts "Everyone hold on, it's going to be a wild ride," and flips a switch killing the Dark-Angel's engines. The Dark-Angel hovers in the air for a moment then drops like a bag of stones dodging the enemy swarm attack, the missiles, linear cannons and high energy beam blast zip right on by missing each other, causing the allied ships to dodge throwing them out of alignment.

As the Dark-Angel rapidly descends Ciro opens fire on all of the ships on the right side, he kept the charge on the linear cannonballs low sacrificing power for speed. "Eat this and this and this, die mother fucker die DIE, HAHAHAH!"

Rini on the other hand was perfectly silent and fired each shot with incredible accuracy nailing the enemy's shield with each trigger pulled. Kenny programmed some of the missiles to curve left and the rest to curve right, at the enemy ships. Kabira gripped Kenny's chair tightly to stop herself from getting thrown around. The Dark-Angel's attacks creates disorder and confusion among the enemy forces as the ships start backing up and bumping into each other in order to avoid the attacks, luckily for them everyone still has their energy shields up so no ship takes that much damage.

"What the hell? Tell the ships to tighten up formation, take the hits if they have to but don't let openings appear in the formation!" Zagat shouts but it's too late. The formation is out of order and Alan spots several openings in the bottom of the formation, grinning he flips the switch and turns the engines back on, Alan begins to spin and tilt the wheel. The Dark-Angel turns to face the ground and begins to corkscrew in the air aiming for a gap in-between the enemy ships, its engines roar to life as it rapidly rockets to the ground. The Dark-Angel shoots pass the enemy defense line and at the last second straightens out and shoots upward like a roller-coaster blowing off several rooftops.

"Urgh I think I'm going to be sick." Kenny moans as he silently thanks the seatbelts for keeping him in place.

"That was awesome," Alan shouts on an adrenaline high. Thomas had caught and held onto Kabira while Zuke with his own well-toned body remains motionless.

"Thank you," Kabira says while Thomas sings

"LA-DE-DA no problem." Alex breathes in deeply, the helmsman had done exceptionally well with that twist dive, the others had also adapted very well to her plan improving the results significantly.

"The river! The serpent's ravine snakes towards the east of Azize follow it and keep us well clear of the rooftops helmsman!"

"ALAN ok, don't call me helmsman it makes me feel like some kind of freaking Viking," Alan says highly annoyed.

"FA-RA-RA-DOE don't be mad my friend it's not like we have ever introduced ourselves to her before, I'm Thomas Ina that's Alan Mace, Ciro Deangelo is the one in the vest, Rini Ugo is the lovely raven headed woman over there, Kenny Cyes is the man behind that terminal, I believe you already know the lovely Kabira Tahsin and that dark skinned gentleman over there is Zuke Garth although he prefers to refrain from human interaction," Thomas sings to the bewilderment of Alex, ok this Thomas guy was definitely an odd ball.

Still Alex quickly memorized the names to the faces, a tip her mother had taught her when Alex had first join the military. "Always try to remember people's names and faces as fast as possible Alex, you never know when you might run across a report about them on your desk," was something her mother used to say all the time. Since this crew wasn't big on rank or formalities Alex would just call them by their first name, it was faster for her to change to match them then to force five other people to change to match her.

"Don't let them get away, follow them! Send three ships to cover the right side of that accursed ship and three to the left side, the rest will take the rear. We're going to box in that ship," Zagat orders his troops who immediately follow his plan.

"Three ships to our right and left, four behind us!" Kenny shouts to Alex who takes this in and formulates a counter move.

"Rini focused your attention on the three ships to our left with the high energy beam cannon, Ciro do the same with the right side and Kenny you get the rear. Alan get us to a pace that is as fast as possible for battle."

Kabira looks at Alex in awe, "How did you know what each one of them did?"

"It's in the Captain's log on what each terminal does," Alex explains without looking away from the main monitor, something was bothering her about the enemy's tactics…she had seen them somewhere before. Zuke continued to observer everyone and everything, he remained in his sleeping pose but his eyes were slightly open, not so that anyone would notice but enough for his superior coordinator vision to see what was going on. Observing these lesser beings had become almost second nature to Zuke, it helps pass the time like now when he was bored.

At first he had considered going out to fight, ten warships seemed like a worthy challenge to a coordinator of his status but after observing them for a little more he concluded that they were nothing more than roaches. If he truly wanted to he could have gone out in his Gundam and crushed them instantly but they simply weren't worth the effort. Zuke had nothing better to do though then to observe insects kill each other, the military woman with raven hair was a decent markswoman for a natural. She fired the high energy beam cannon with a calm experienced concentration of a soldier; almost every shot hit the shield of an enemy ship. Not that it was terribly hard considering the performance of the enemy ships themselves, the brown haired hazel eyed natural fired his linear cannons with a wild spree befitting of a savage criminal. His aim wasn't as good as the other raven haired natural but he made up for this by using tricks, such as firing on the surrounding buildings when the enemy ships drifted too low to the ground. The buildings would collapse sometimes falling on the enemy ships causing serious damage to the energy shields and every now and then an enemy ship would run straight into a building causing massive damage to their energy shields.

Petty little tricks as they were they appeared to be effective against such weak opponents. The programmer natural was the weakest out of the weak since he didn't even have experience to help boost his power; he was keeping the enemy ships in the rear at bay with his individual flight programs for the missiles. Alan and Thomas were unfortunately the only coordinators on board the bridge; Zuke could tell they were coordinators thanks to his superior training. Sadly they were defective, Thomas was insane which Zuke concluded happened during the genetic alteration process, it happens sometimes. As for Alan well the moment he became crippled he became a defective coordinator, an embarrassment for the whole race.

Zuke was aware that it probably wasn't Alan's fault, still if he had been the father he would have put Alan down, to put him out of his misery and save the race from any further embarrassment. Even with their gross defections Alan and Thomas proved they were the naturals equals, Alan kept the Dark-Angel moving at high speeds forcing the enemy to match their pace to his, his evasions under such speeds were impressive. Thomas kept reprogramming the beam CIWs to block any missiles that Alan was unable to avoid and as far as Zuke could tell the Dark-Angel's energy shield had yet to suffer any more damage since the change in captains.

As a superior being Zuke thought little of the chef natural, she like all naturals were no threat to him but it did bother him the freedom the idiot gave her. Zuke couldn't understand how that natural thought sometimes, even his weak intellect should have comprehended that when you have an enemy that can pose a threat to you, you kill them as quickly as possible and looking at the skill the chef natural possessed she was certainly a threat to that imbecile. Assessing the situation and adapting to the crew showed her experience as a captain, but her tactics proved her skill. Her orders were sharp and clear, she quickly figured out how to use each crew member effectively. She exposed weak points in the enemy's formation, evaded and countered the enemy's attempts at attacks and slowly began to whittle away at the enemy's energy shields while keeping damage to her own minimal.

Zuke as a coordinator had nothing to fear from a natural which was why he could allow her existence but the stupid natural should be worried for if she turned on him the odds were in her favor of victory.

"Jack's fixed the right side' shigh energy beam cannon!" Kenny shouts with a little pride of his friends' speed.

_That was fast_, Alex thought. Jack may be too young and inexperienced to be a captain but she was certainly an excellent mechanic. Alex could still count on her hand the number of mechanics who could do a repair job like that in that amount of time. "Ciro, Rini prepare to switch sides on my mark…now!"

Following Alex's command Ciro and Rini switch targets, the right side's high energy beam cannon pops up from the hatch, completely catching the enemy ships off guard. Rini is able to get five shots off before the enemy ships even know what hit them, shattering the energy shield in the first round, Rini shot out the engine of two out of the three enemy ships causing them to crash at full speeds into the ground. The third enemy ship finally evades Rini's attack but the damage is done and the lonely ship suddenly finds itself alone. Ciro turns the charge up on his linear cannons but continues to fire in his rampant shooting frenzy style, a style totally opposite to that of Rini's which throws the enemy ships off.

Ciro is able to break the already heavily weakened energy shields of two out of the three enemy ships on his side and causes a low riding ship to crash into a building, without an energy shield though that ship isn't moving.

"Sir we just lost three ships,"

"I can see the monitor thank you," Zagat snaps at his subordinate. Things were getting worse; the Dark-Angel was acting better now. For every trick Zagat came up with, that accursed black and neon green ship had a counter, he had lost three ships out of his ten and not a single one of the remaining seven ships had energy shields higher than forty percent power. _Damn it these tactics are almost like_…and then it hits Zagat. He wasn't sure how it was possible but there could be no doubt that Alex had taken command of that ship making it a very dangerous enemy.

"Alan hit the brakes, Rini prepare the positron cannons," Alex orders. Instantly Rini and Alan pick up on what Alex has in mind and follow her lead. "

Hang on," Alan calls and he yanks back on the steering wheel with that crazy joy in his red eyes.

Kabira moans "Not again," as she tries to cling to another seat, this time Kenny catches her as the Dark-Angel comes to a sudden stop dodging a barrage of high energy beam blasts from the enemy ships on its side. The enemy ships in the rear shoot forward past the Dark-Angel and straight into Rini's line of fire.

Alex didn't need to open up a communications window to tell her who was leading this fleet, Zagat. That little wormy snake probably wanted to shoot down the Dark-Angel to suck up to Fachtna, well that wasn't going to happen. He may have caught Alex off guard last time but as the old saying goes payback's a bitch. "FIRE!"

Rini opens fire on the four ships with both positron cannons and hits them all. The red pinkish light lights up the air as the enemy ships shake, their green tinted energy shields glow steady in the background but we can see cracks form on each of them due to the intense power of the weapon. Two enemy ship's energy shields shatter during the blast causing the ships to take massive damage to the hulls resulting in emergency landings or more like crash landings into the buildings below.

The remaining two ships managed to ride out the typhoon of the positron blast but both their energy shields shattered afterwards. Alex smiled as she surveyed the results of her plan, five enemy ships down, and out of the five remaining only one enemy ship had its energy shield still up and running whereas the Dark-Angel still had thirty-three percent power left on its energy shield. _Humph_, _white has lost control of the board, black checks white. Now what are you going to do Zagat?_

Zagat glared up at the monitor with disdain, that little positron move had destroyed his energy shield. There was no internal damage though but Zagat had lost another two ships, his fighting strength had been effectively cut in half. For a moment Zagat considered retreating, he could use the remaining four ships as cover while he escaped but facing Fachtna's fury was a million times more frightening then going up against this ship, besides he still had one ace up his sleeve. "Time to pull out all the stops, order all ships to spread out and fall back behind us, then prepare to fire the Sudarshana Chakra!"

The other ships do as they're told leaving Zagat's ship in front, facing the now hovering Dark-Angel. The entire front section of Zagat's ship begins to open up forming into a perfect circular disk.

"What the hell is that?" Alan asks nervously and he's not the only one. No one likes the appearance of a new unknown weapon especially Alex, it changed the game, like bringing in a new chess piece that Alex wasn't allowed to see beforehand. It definitely looked like an offensive weapon but without knowing what it was or what it can do Alex couldn't make an effective plan of attack or defense.

"That's a Sudarshana Chakra!" Kenny exclaims causing all eyes to turn to him.

"You know what that is?" Rini asks a little impressed.

Kenny a little embarrassed shrugs and says "I read a wiki entry on battleship weapons."

"Can you give me detailed information about it?" Alex asks getting straight to the point.

Kenny nods his head and does a mental recall of the article. "The Sudarshana Chakra was designed by the old Luigi cooperation before they went out of business, it releases Explostiate first then fires a high frequency wave that's set to vibrate at the same frequency as Explostiate causing the element to explode."

"Oh shit," Ciro says with the color draining from his face. That made Rini even more nervous, Ciro from what she knew was an expert on explosives and if this Sudarshana Chakra thing made him scared they should all be scared.

"What is Explostiate?" Alan asks not sure if he really wanted to know.

"Explostiate is an artificially created element that's known for its added explosive qualities, most high end bombs are laced with the stuff now a days to give it that little bit extra kick."

"Ok not the most promising news but it doesn't sound that bad."

"I wasn't finished, Explostiate is also known to bond really quickly with oxygen but due to Explostiate's unstable nature it retains its properties for a few minutes until if fully bonds with oxygen. Then it becomes e-smoke a harmless bright yellow smoke used in public stuns or performances."

It takes a few seconds for Alex to fully understand this but when she does her emerald eyes snap up in shock and fear. "Wait are you saying that before Explostiate bonds with oxygen it can still explode?"

Ciro quickly goes to address an obvious concern. "Not like an atomic explosion but yea if you get Explostiate to vibrate at the right speed it will combust and with oxygen…"Ciro lets the thought hang as Alan groans.

"Great so the very air around us explodes, can our energy shield take that?"

"Doe-FA-SO the shield will prevent the gas inside from exploding but given its power levels an outside explosion of that level will almost certainly break the shield and decimate the ship," Thomas sings leaving the crew with very unhappy images.

"Can we evade it?" Alex demands to know, it couldn't end like this.

"No way Explostiate spreads way too quickly, it's probably already in the air," Ciro says grimly watching the weapon shimmer as it released the element into the air, well they were screwed.

_This can't be it! _Alex goes over all the weapons on board the Dark-Angel, linear cannons, missiles, high energy beam cannons, positron cannons.

The positron cannon could work, it destroys atoms on a molecular level but would that be enough to disrupt the frequency wave?…No it needed more of a kick to it. A stronger vibration that would affect the frequency wave, feeling frustrated Alex runs her hand through her hair then boom, she has an epiphany when she recalls the image of a red and yellow comet coming flying at her.

"What was that attack you guys used to defeat me, a positron and linear cannon combination?"

It takes the crew a second to remember then Kenny says slowly, "You mean the Linear positron comet or LPC for short?"

"That's it; would the electrically charged positrons vibrate enough to disrupt the frequency wave?"

Kenny's eyes open wide as he realizes what Alex wants to do and then he quickly does a few calculations in his head. "I'm not sure, maybe." Is the best he can offer but that's all Ciro and Rini need to hear.

"That's good enough for me, charging the linear cannonball to max power and screw this nice guy crap, Rini aim for the bridge!"

"I agree, no more holding back."

Rini breaths in deeply as she calmed her nerves and focused on the target while Ciro charged the linear cannonball to max.

"Sir release of Explostiate completed, Sudarshana Chakra is ready to fire on your mark." Zagat leans back in his chair as he saw the most annoying pest he had ever come across draw its positron cannon and charge it's linear cannonball to max power. Trying to hit him first, too bad they were too late and Sudarshana Chakra would wipe out both attacks in its explosion. _Goodbye annoying ship, have fun in the afterlife. _"Fire!"

Ciro fired the max charged linear cannonball just as the round disk attached to Zagat's ship fired its high frequency wave, the very air began to shimmer and blur from the intensity of the vibration and in a moment ignites into a yellow blazing explosion that snakes a path in the sky straight towards the Dark-Angel. Just before Rini fires the positron blast Thomas lets lose one last song in a grand voice, "Dark-Angel signature move LPC!"

The positron blast squarely hits the linear cannonball again, just like before the two attacks remain motionless for a moment, a battle between the bright yellow and pink that spark and shine throughout the sky, but just like before the linear cannonball begins to absorb the positrons and swell in size gaining pink pulsing veins and a comet looking tail.

Starting slowly the bright yellow and pink ball begins to pick up speed until, like the name suggest, it starts moving like a comet straight at the blazing fiery snake like blast coming straight at it. The two attacks collide and the comet comes to a complete stop as the frequency wave acts like mud mucking up the road and preventing the yellow and pink comet from moving forward, but the already excited and now electronically charged positrons don't like being still. Shaking and vibrating violently the LPC lets lose a little of its pink lightning smashing and disrupting the frequency wave with its own vibrations. Like a racehorse released from the gate it shoots out close to mach speed straight into the burning blaze.

The explosive cylinder splits into four parts, going off in four different directions away from the Dark-Angel with the LPC acting as the cutting point. Defeating the Sudarshana Chakra blast though left its mark on the LPC as its tail gets used up before it reaches Zagat's ship. With no force pushing it forward the comet lazily drifts over Zagat's ship and luckily for Zagat stops before it reaches the bridge. Unluckily for Zagat the LPC explodes in its brilliant shower of pink positron lightning that blows huge chunks out of the unshielded ship, not that it matters since one of the pink lightning bolts hits the bridge sending Zagat with a look of pure disbelief to his maker.

The ship can't take the damage and breaks apart into a dozen different sized flaming parts falling straight to the city below while the remaining four ships back away in surprise and fear. Some parts of the air still glows red with heat while others have black smoke mixing with yellow smoke now. This carnage leads straight to the black and neon green ship. These soldiers and mercenaries had seen a lot but after having watched their command ship get blown up in such a grand way…it was intimidating.

"We're alive?" Kabira asked after she opened her eyes, it was starting to get annoying how often she came to the Grim Reaper's doorstep while on board the Dark-Angel.

"WE'RE ALIVE," Kenny shouts with joy.

"HELL YEA, YEEHAA! You can't kill us, OH-YEA!" Alan follows up.

"LA-DE-LA-DA celebrating victory" Thomas finishes with a song. Alan, Thomas and Kenny waste no time in celebrating their still breathing status while Ciro and Rini quietly grin proudly.

Zuke purses his lips and says underneath his breath "Looks like that stupid natural invented a useful attack."

Alex herself breaths a huge sigh of relief, it was probably unhealthy to come this close to death so many times within a week and even if it weren't it was never a good idea to mock the Grim Reaper still she was glad to have done the world a favor by getting rid of one scumbag. Well no time to celebrate, she still had four ships to deal with plus they were in the middle of a combat zone but Alex couldn't help saying one last thing to Zagat before she erased him from her thoughts. "Checkmate."

_Location: North East Azize, outside the city._

Azazel opens fire on the jackal Gundam and Delena with its beam glock. Up in the sky its tail continues to fight against the eagle Gundam. "Serafina go left, I'll attack from the right," Raheem orders. Serafina nods his head, Raheem's jackal Gundam in animal form was more agile then his Gundam and Raheem was better able to dodge Fachtna's beam bullets. As it was the young president was just barely avoiding getting shot, by running at full speeds, spinning and jumping and dashing all around. He couldn't keep that up though, it was only a matter of time before Fachtna hit him.

The jackal Gundam breaks right and charges straight at Azazel while Delena moves left and throws its iron ball at Azazel. Flipping its beam glock around in its left hand Azazel shoots down Delena's iron ball while simultaneously blocking a claw slash by the jackal Gundam with its yellow beam saber. Azazel pushes the jackal Gundam back with one hand but the animal Gundam jumps right back up and transforms into its human form and draws its own blade: the Haben rectangle beam sword and charges again.

The beam swords clash in a shower of sparks and rapid flashes of light followed by the hissing sound of light sabers. They're a blur as Raheem and Fachtna engage in a high level of sword play too fast for an untrained eye to follow. Raheem grits his teeth, just as he feared Fachtna was a highly skilled fighter, his sword play was incredible and if his full attention had been on Raheem the captain of the Royal Attack doubted he would have lasted long.

Delena circles the two Gundams and began to throw its iron ball at Azazel hoping to land a hit on a distracted Fachtna. No such luck, Azazel raises its beam glock and opens fire with amazing accuracy and shoots down the iron ball while at the same time holding off the jackal Gundam with one hand. _This is insane, _Serafina thinks. He knew that Fachtna was supposed to be good, but he didn't know anyone could be this good.

"What's the matter Mr. President suddenly feeling your own lack of Gundam Fighting skill? You're so naïve Serafina but I guess that's why the rebels flock to you in the first place, you were so passionate, so simple in nature, plus you're pretty smart military wise, but I guess that's expected since your father was in the Haben military and the fact he died in a simple training accident also would explain your natural dislike of the Haben government and military."

Delena freezes in place as a startled Serafina exclaims, "You knew my father?" Azazel taking full advantage of the situation raises its gun and opens fire on Delena intending on blowing its head off but the eagle Gundam dives down from the sky and tackles Delena evading the shot.

"Don't let him get to you!" Hirsi shouts as the eagle quickly transforms into its human form and throws its iron ball at Azazel's tail blocking a charging strike.

"Nice save Hirsi, I bet you wish you could have done that in Bermine, how old was that assembly man's son who died…eight talk about a bad end to a bodyguard mission," Fachtna mocks as Azazel shoots a beam bullet at eagle, the bird Gundam leans back dodging the bullet but Azazel's tail slams right into a slightly distracted Hirsi's chest sending the eagle Gundam flying. Delena rolls on the ground and flicks its iron ball up at the snake like tail, with no energy absorbing beam saber to block him Serafina makes his iron ball explode but the tail is covered in extremely thick armor and the explosion does nothing but make smoke.

Azazel opens fire on Delena again forcing the rebel Gundam to begin evasive maneuvers. The jackal Gundam slams its beam saber into Azazel's trying to force the Gundam back with power alone and it works to some extent since Azazel is forced to tense up a bit to hold its ground. "What about you Fachtna, it's easy to poke at others past failures but what about your own. The only reason you came back to Haben in the first place was because you couldn't pass the C rank exams, you were so obsessed with being number one that you couldn't handle failure so you disbanded your team and came back here!"

Jackal pushes Azazel back and quickly tries to strike its head off but Azazel ducks down and kicks the elite royal Gundam in the chest knocking it back. Standing straight back up, Azazel turns and blocks Delena's iron ball with its beam saber while shooting at the jackal Gundam with its beam glock. "I may have disbanded my team but at least I know why, what about you Raheem, care to explain why all the important women in your life keep leaving you? First your mother leaves your father and never returns, then the Queen who was like your sister dies, and finally you failed to convince Ailill, who we all can pretty much guess your relationship with ,to stay in the military-to stay with you! If we're talking about failures I suggest we start looking at you first!"

The jackal Gundam transforms into its animal form to better out maneuver Azazel's beam bullets, Delena whips its iron ball at Azazel's feet but the tailed Gundam just jumps up avoiding dodging the attack completely. "You're a monster! Can you only take pleasure in causing others pain!"

"Don't get me started on you again Serafina, after all you were the only person to freeze up at my taunts but I guess that's to be expected from a low class fighter like you, hehehehaha, your idea of the world is so small it's almost pathetic! That goes FOR ALL OF YOU! For so many years no country, or major criminal organization has paid Haben the slightest attention and you all have thrived on the peace. The military has grown soft and weak with this peace and confidence in Haben's worthlessness to everyone else, Serafina you have never even been outside Haben's boarders. You have no idea what lies beyond, the world outside of this is so big and full of wonders beyond belief and dangers, beyond imagination!"

Azazel's tail blocks the eagle Gundam's iron ball from hitting the main body and once more rushes its prey but the eagle quickly transforms into its animal form and flies high in the sky while Fachtna continues his rant. "It's the same for everyone though, being cut off on this desert island praying to dead people who long ago stopped really mattering, it was easy for all of Haben to disconnect themselves from the rest of the world to view it through the TV with mild interest but never really fully feeling the dangers or wonderment. Simply existing in this dull never changing wasteland! That's why a kid like you Serafina was able to become the best Gundam pilot for the rebels!"

The jackal Gundam charges Azazel and pounces going for a beam claw slash but without breaking stride Azazel flips its blade around and blocks the dog Gundam while switching to shooting at Delena. "It's because the skill level was so God damn low, years of this never ending dullness has worn away any real threat this country might pose to anyone, Hell the mafia could come and take over I bet if they wanted to, even you Raheem and Hirsi, the two strongest Gundam fighters within the Haben military are nothing more than average soldiers compared next to a world power's military.

The eagle Gundam dives, rises and swirls in the sky evading Azazel's ever pursing tail, in its animal form the soaring eagle can evade the tail, but unfortunately the only weapons it has in this form were the missiles and Hirsi used them all up against his battle with Serafina. Hirsi also saw a small tornado with that weapon at its center, not a very good sign. "Is there a point to your rambling Fachtna or are you being crazy for the sake of crazy?" Serafina challenge while trying to push an attack.

"My point is that I have seen the world, I have fought against monsters so terrible that they are outside your possible imagination and even though I may have failed I still walked away with that knowledge with that power so I ask you what chance do you have with your small limited understanding of the world against me, someone who managed to touch that all mighty sphere and walk away with a shard of its power?"

_He's lost it, _was the only conclusion Hirsi could come too as he continued to climb higher in the sky. It was true that Fachtna had more world experience then Hirsi but experience was only part of the equation of victory. Azazel's tail goes to slam into the eagle Gundam but comes to an abrupt stop when it finally reaches the end of its reach. _About time, _Hirsi thinks as he circles back and quickly calculates the length of Azazel's tail. "Looks like the range for your tail is three hundred and sixty yards Fachtna," Hirsi calls out with a small smile to a slightly annoyed Fachtna but then he grins. The jackal Gundam slashes downward with its beam sword but Azazel leaps back and performs a roundhouse kick right into the royal Gundam's face knocking it to the ground while at the same time avoiding Delena's iron ball.

Then taking a solid stance Azazel brings its fully extended and massive tail crashing down and launches itself into the air like Tigger from Whinny the freaking Pooh.

Azazel flies like a bullet straight at the eagle Gundam and finally comes to a stop due to gravity directly in front of its prey. "My range of attack isn't so limited Hirsi!" Fachtna shouts as he sends his tail flying straight into the eagle Gundam before it can evade. The eagle Gundam spirals in the sky as Azazel's tail mercilessly beats it down but Fachtna is far from done and turns to face Raheem and Serafina as Azazel begins to rapidly fall to the ground.

"Fachtna!"

"Tell me Serafina what exactly are you fighting for now? I already told you I was the reason for everything wrong in Haben, so your very existence as president is nothing more than a lie founded on bad intel! What is your purpose for fighting me now? To avenge your stupidity, to blame me for all of your dead friends even though we both know that was your mistake, come on tell me Mr. Noble Habenion! Admit it, you're still just lashing out because you're angry," Fachtna shouts down at Serafina right alongside Azazel shooting its beam glock at the targets on the ground while it falls.

It was crushing, the feeling of responsibly and guilt. It was easy being the president when everything was going right, when all the choices you made turned out great or so you thought. But knowing that you had made mistakes, mistakes that cost people their lives, he had made mistakes before but this was by far the biggest and worst of them all. In a way Fachtna was right, Serafina was no more a real president then a kid who was head of a club, he was a joke. "You're wrong." Delena and jackal continued to evade the beam bullets raining down on them from the sky. It hadn't rained in a long time in Haben, many of the water wells had dried up.

Serafina remembered seeing a mother beg strangers for water, kids crying because they were so thirsty but their parents didn't have any money to buy water from the store because they couldn't find jobs. "My purpose-" He remembered the shelters in Azize were overcrowded by the poor and unemployed, the smell had knocked him back on the street where those with no families sat baking in the sun with dead eyes waiting for the crows. He had talked with these people and most of them were good people, not lazy, drug addicts or criminals. They hadn't lost their jobs because of bad work they had been let go because of the economy.

"-what I wanted to protect-" Serafina wanted to do something, he wanted to help them somehow. Give the children money, give the mothers water, give the fathers jobs and this was all before he even joined the rebels, before he became president! "-has never changed!" He didn't become the president of the rebels to destroy something, he became the president to protect something. To protect the people of Haben, no matter what happened or how many mistakes he may have made Serafina wanted to protect them all, he wanted to protect Haben!

Serafina's neon gauntlet begins to glow as he quickly checks his Gundam's power levels, thirty percent, just enough for what he has in mind. Delena stops in its tracks and swings its iron ball down into the sand and sets off a huge explosion sending mountains of sand into the air creating a smokescreen for the jackal Gundam and Delena to hide behind. "My time as president may have all been based off a lie but there is one thing that was never a lie!"

Fachtna purses his lips in annoyance as he fires his thrusters to max just before impact with the ground, significantly lessening the force of the fall, much to his displeasure though Azazel landed smack dab in the middle of the sand screen and because of its thrusters the sand has been pushed away from Azazel making it visible while its enemies remained hidden. Azazel slowly turned around with both weapons in hand at the ready. "A president protects his people, even at THE COST OF HIS LIFE!" Fachtna saw Delena come at him from behind out of the corner of his eye and turned to face him, in a split second Fachtna saw Delena's iron ball fully retracted back on its stick and shining brightly with power.

Fachtna realized that this was a suicide strike, Serafina had obviously overloaded his iron ball beyond the safety limit and intended to hit Fachtna with a point blank explosion taking out both Gundams and possibly killing them depending on how powerful the explosion was. The shockwave could still kill a pilot through the safety pod if it was powerful enough. _Too bad he was too slow or else it might have-_Fachtna stops mid-thought, he was going to bring down his tail to crush Serafina once and for all but his tail wouldn't budge.

Looking up Fachtna saw that the eagle Gundam had entangled its iron ball and beam around Azazel's tail and was holding it in place. "GOT YOU!"

"SHIT!" Fachtna shouts as he struggles to raise his beam saber to block in time. Delena's iron ball collides with Azazel's beam saber and explodes; a bright light followed by smoke consumes both Gundams. Delena is sent flying out of the smoke, the rebel Gundam still maintains all of its limbs and fingers but the front side of its body has been completely scorched black. Delena crashes back first into the sand a couple of meters away from the explosion and remains motionless. The smoke clears revealing a still standing Azazel but unlike its opponent the arm that was holding its beam saber has been completely blown off.

The left side of Azazel has been scorched black as well ruining the paint job. Fachtna stumbles a little bit and lifts up his helmet screen in order to cough out blood. The shockwave had done some internal damage but thankfully his beam saber had absorbed enough of that exploding iron ball's energy to prevent the explosion from being Gundam lethal. Still it had cost him his left arm and beam saber. Fachtna looked up and spotted Delena lying unmoving on the ground, the Gundam didn't look too badly damaged; the shockwave probably knocked Serafina out.

It didn't matter though that little bastard damaged Fachtna's pride and joy, Azazel so he had to die. Azazel raised its beam glock preparing to fire on the fallen warrior when Fachtna finally heard the jackal Gundam in its animal form charging him from behind. With its tail still engaged in a tug-a-war battle with the eagle Gundam, Azazel moves left dodging the jackal's beam teeth but Raheem isn't letting this opportunity Serafina gave him go to waste and strikes at Azazel's shoulder joints with the jackal's beam claws and just like that Azazel loses its other arm. Armless and off balances the tailed Gundam begins to fall backwards while the elite royal Gundam transforms into its human form in midair and lands lightly on its feet. Turning around Raheem draws his beam saber and prepares to slice Fachtna in half. "You're finished Fachtna!"

_Is this it? _Fachtna asked himself as time seems to slow down? After spending seven years working, sacrificing, focusing on nothing but obtaining Vent de la mort and now that it was finally his he was going to be defeated! What would have been the point then of quitting the Gundam fights, of disbanding his Gundam team, of choosing to do whatever it took to get his hands on more power, even if it meant drowning his soul in eternal darkness as he consumed the blood of his enemies and allies alike! NO! He would not let it end like this, so what if he had cheated, stole and killed his way to the top?

He was just evening the playing field after all how fair was it to go up against someone who had their genes genetically enhanced, or a strong SA user who could read your mind? Where was the fairness in that? In fact Fachtna couldn't possibly see a way for a natural to be at the top of anything in this world without cheating, stealing or killing so he would keep doing those things and if anyone has a problem with it "I'LL CRUSH THEM!" Fachtna screams aloud as his neon gauntlet explodes a shining light. Time goes back to normal as Azazel regains its footing and back flips away from the jackal Gundam dodging the attack.

Having done that Fachtna focuses his entire mind on his tail. It had been a desperate battle for Hirsi to hold the tail from the beginning, the tail was covered in not only thick and heavy armor but it possessed an amazing force of pull and it had taken all of Hirsi's strength and his Gundam's thrusters on full power to hold the beast down. When Fachtna focused his mind solely on his tail the power of this air serpent increased to triple its original strength and yanks the eagle Gundam forward. Azazel spun its opponent around in circles at tremendous speeds and despite the anti-g-force device Hirsi could still feel the g-force pressing against his chest, not the best sign.

The eagle Gundam lets go of its ball and beam but Hirsi miscalculated the distance to the ground and the force his Gundam built up being spun around. As a result the eagle Gundam crashes into the ground hard before Hirsi could even attempt to break his fall. The sand acts like a cushion so the eagle Gundam doesn't receive major damage from the fall but Hirsi gets the breath knocked out of him for a second, a second that Fachtna uses to crush him. Azazel brings its tail down as fast and with as much power as he could generator on top of the eagle Gundam.

The tail hits the eagle Gundam square in the chest like a giant sledge hammer and would have cracked Hirsi's ribs if he had received the blow outside of his Gundam, as it were the safety protocols immediately turned off the NS system in his chest once it calculated the pain had passed Hirsi's tolerance threshold. Not that it matter since when the front side of the cockpit's hull buckled under the force of the blow the safety pod activated and ended Hirsi's part of the fight. The entire front side of the eagle had caved in while the wings had been brutally bent at an angle, sparks fly as several cooling liquids and oil spurt out and cover the destroyed Gundam like blood.

The jackal Gundam charged Azazel, Hirsi was down, Raheem had to act now before Fachtna could attack. The jackal Gundam begins to swing its blade down but Azazel's tail comes at the elite royal Gundam like a speeding train and hits it with just as much force knocking the jackal Gundam clean off its feet and well over a couple of dozen meters away. "You should have realized Raheem that my reaction time has gone up with the less distractions I have to deal with, like deciding between my weapons and concentrating on multiple enemies."

At the moment of contact Azazel's tail broke the jackal's right arm, and its beam saber. The saber broke with the beam deactivating and the metal end forming into a jagged point which the jackal Gundam lands on chest first when it crashes into the sand, triggering Raheem's safety pod. Azazel slowly walks over as Fachtna struggles to catch his breath; he exerted a lot of energy on that last blitz attack. "Is it over?" Azazel used its tail to flip the jackal Gundam over to make sure of the kill, the sword stuck out from its chest confirming Fachtna's theories. "HahahaHAHAHAHA, I did it, I defeated them all, HAHAHHAHAHA!" Fachtna shouted as he broke out into hysterical laughter.

Those three gave him more trouble than he thought they would but it didn't matter, in the end he still won. Fachtna turned to look back at Vent de la mort, already its machine parts other than the base had disappear from view, lost in the now very dense looking and thick tornado that had formed around the weapon and reached up to the sky. Very soon it would be ready to use and now there was no one left to get in his way.

"FACHTNA!"

No it couldn't be, _not now of all times, _Fachtna groaned inwardly as he turned to face the source. Standing in the distance, at the exact spot Fachtna had left it, stood the midnight black Basic Original Gundam covered in a little bit of a yellowish tan Fachtna suppose came from the sand. "Our fight isn't over!" Shadow screams as he once more charges that stupid politician. Shadow wasn't sure how long he had been out; he still felt bruise all over but none of that matter because Fachtna was still here which meant he had another shot at him.

"Tisk you NEVER LEARN!" That kid should have been knocked out for the rest of the day at most…come to think of it, it had been an hour since Fachtna had knocked the rookie out and given how high the kid's pain tolerance seemed Fachtna supposed it was reasonable of him to have woken up.

Nevertheless it was incredibly annoying for him to have to deal with these constant interruptions, this time Fachtna would not hold back. Azazel's tail shot at Nightwing once more aiming for the chest but in a surprising first Nightwing raises its beam saber and blocks the tail. Nightwing's feet start to slide back as the simple Gundam starts to get pushed back by the physical power of the tail but Shadow gritting his teeth and braces his legs against the sand and Nightwing stops sliding backwards and holds its ground. Bruised, tired, and feeling like a t-shirt that just got through the dryer, sweat pours down Shadow's face as his parched throat begins to bother him but his electrical green eyes intensify even more as he ignores all of those discomforts.

"Not this time!" Shadow roars as his neon gauntlet begins to glow just a little bit brighter. Nightwing pushing upward with its beam saber deflects Azazel's tail skyward and once more begins its charge towards the main body.

_What! He deflected my tail, how the hell is that possible !_Fachtna doesn't have time to think up an answer with Nightwing running straight at an armless Azazel, once more the tail tries to clobber Nightwing like before but something is different now. Nightwing jumps, slides under, leans back and deflects the tail off its beam saber evading all of its strikes while it moved closer to Azazel.

"Raheem, Kabira, and my team are all counting on me to stop you and your weapon Fachtna but most importantly of all I'm going to prove to you that my dream isn't worthless, that I can be the greatest Gundam Fighter in history! I WILL NOT LOSE TO YOU FACHTNA!" Shadow screams out his pain forgotten as his entire existence focused in on this one battle, this one moment. Fachtna couldn't figure it out, had the brat gotten stronger somehow? Was that even possible? It wasn't until Fachtna heard the sound of his own ragged breathing that he finally realized what had happen. He was tired.

Fighting three somewhat skilled opponents at once had left Fachtna physically exhausted, made even worse by now having to fight Shadow directly after. Suddenly annoyed with himself Fachtna checked his S-generator power levels, it showed how out of practice he had become, to forget to constantly check ones S-generator power levels was a rookie mistake. Fachtna silently cursed when he saw it, thirty percent. He had fired his beam glock too much plus that last burst with his tail had drained him. It wasn't that Shadow had gotten stronger; it was Fachtna who had gotten weaker. Beads of sweat started to roll down Fachtna's face as he tries to draw power from somewhere in his body, to make his tail go faster, hit harder, but he was just too tired.

As Nightwing advances Azazel feeling pressured starts to take step back after step back towards Vent de la mort, Fachtna's last remaining beacon of power. All he needed was just one hit, one blow to finish this kid off. Nightwing reaches Azazel and Shadow smelling weakness jumps up in the air preparing to do a jump attack, an impulsive move that gives Fachtna the opening he was looking for. Azazel hits Nightwing with its tail, the blow was nowhere near as powerful as when it hit the jackal or the eagle Gundam but with Nightwing in midair it was effective enough. The tail knocks Nightwing into the tornado over Vent de la mort, immediately the wind sucks Nightwing into its center as the many wind currents begin pulling on the massive Gundam trying to break it down.

Fachtna tried to smile; he finally got to use his beautiful weapon, its first kill. Fachtna wasn't happy; he knew that Shadow's Gundam's safety pod wouldn't be able to hold up against the storm, he was going to die. It hadn't been Fachtna's intention to kill the kid but he had left him no choice. Shadow lost all sense of direction the moment Nightwing got swallowed up into the tornado; he could have been a hundred miles above Haben or smack dab where he started. He could have been upside down, facing left; Shadow had to close his eyes in order to stop himself from getting too dizzy.

He was sure of one thing, that his Gundam was spread open eagle style with its beam saber still on and in his right hand. He could tell because he could feel his limbs literary being pulled from his body, he would have heard the groan of metal bending and bolts and wires snapping as sparks started flying had the wind not drowned that all out. The pain wasn't as bad as he thought it would be, currently it was a mild discomfort but Shadow suspected that as his limbs got pulled out more it would start hurting a hell of a lot more. Not that there was anything he could do to stop it since the multiple violent wind currents keeps him pin down.

This sucks, instead of stopping the stupid spinning top thing he was about to get brutally beaten by it, great just great. Shadow tried to remain positive, _well at least it's warm since the sun is still out and it's not raining so, _it suddenly hit Shadow like a bolt of lightning! The storm, back when he first fought against Alex and they escaped through the storm and he got thrown off and lost in it, that had been just like this…no it had been worst because of the weather. Shadow's thoughts began to race like electrons hoping from proton to proton in the air; he could do that again. Shadow could break his beam saber into shards and block the wind currents again creating a bubble of escape…no he could do more than that.

The more excited Shadow got the brighter his neon gauntlet began to glow its black light. If he angles the shards this time, instead of just doing a frontal block he could redirect the wind back at Fachtna, yea that could work! With renewed vigor Shadow opens his eyes and pushes the thrusters on Nightwing's back to its max. Nightwing doesn't have the thruster power to break free from the tornado's grip but it does succeed in straightening itself out and facing Azazel. It was a struggle for Shadow to keep Nightwing straight and he really doubted that he would be able to hold this for long.

"Nightwing remember that thing we did in the storm?"

"Retrieving previous inputted battle data…retrieval confirmed."

"Alright good job buddy, now we're going to do that again. Are you ready Nightwing!"

"Confirmed," the metallic computer voice replies. Shadow nods his head then closes his eyes, maybe because he had done it before Shadow found it easier to see the wind currents and visualize the beam shards only this time Shadow angles the shards so the current was redirected straight at Fachtna. Fachtna watched Nightwing straighten up and struggle to grip its beam saber with both hands.

_What is he doing_? Fachtna wondered. The tired villain never once thought to move back or to be on guard from an attack, he had seen Nightwing up close once before plus he had read Zagat's detailed summary of Nightwing's battle performance. In short Nightwing was a Basic Original with a few upgraded systems, nothing to brag about.

Fachtna was a hundred percent sure Nightwing lacked any kind of weapon to get it out of its current position much less attack. Nightwing grabs its beam saber with both hands and raises it above its head and then brings it down with as much force as it can muster. "TAKE THIS!" Shadow screams to be heard over the tornado as Nightwing's beam saber shatters into shards that block the wind. His Neon gauntlet was glowing even brighter. The result was immediate, to Fachtna it looked like the tornado had exploded and now some kind of wall of wind was rushing him. He might have been able to avoid it if he had been prepared, but shock could not even begin to describe what he was feeling.

Shadow had just somehow attacked him from inside Vent de la mort, something he had thought so completely impossible that lightning might has well of struck him now, and to make matters even worse Fachtna had never seen anything like this attack before so he couldn't even begin to think of the damage it could do or how it would do it. Caught by the paralyzing unknown it was only thanks to his well-developed Gundam fighting instincts that Fachtna raised his guard to block. Azazel brought its tail out in front of it in a spiral pattern to block. The wall of wind hits Azazel's tail full force, and despite Azazel bracing itself against the sand the Gundam still finds itself pushed back a little.

The sound was deafening to Fachtna and in seconds he found himself paralyzed this time by the attack instead of his own mind. _Shit I can't move! _Fachtna thought with growing panic and frustration as he fought to move, to do something but he couldn't. Not only had this wind stripped him of his sense of hearing his whole body felt numb and the sand in the wind made his sight horrible. It was as if he was in a void all by himself.

"_FACHTNA HOLA," _it was a multiple of voices Fachtna thought he heard directly in his mind. _What the-_

"_Fachtna Hola you have committed great and grievous crimes against your fellow Habenions against your home country." _Time slow down as within the sandy wind Fachtna could see multiple shapes forming, Gundams but they weren't either the Haben soldier class Gundams nor the rebels Gundams in fact they look to be older. The more Fachtna looked at them the more he realized that most of these model Gundams most have been at least fifty years old maybe even a hundred, back during the time of the Great War. _"You have savagely looted and profited from the poor, killed the innocent, and sowed misery in the land for your own ambitions!"_

There must have been over a dozen of them, they talked in unison forming a medley type of voice that seem to appear directly in Fachtna's head. It took him a minute to realize what he was looking at, who was confronting him. "The ancestors? That pointless Haben religion is what I'm supposed to be seeing now? DON'T SCREW WITH ME!" Fachtna screams at the top of his lungs as he tries to move but his body wouldn't listen to his commands.

_"Prepare yourself Fachtna Hola for today is the day you shall receive judgment for your SINS!" _the voices screamed in his head in response then one by one they attack.

Each Gundam only attacked once before disappearing into the wind, they struck with a single sword slash. Each Gundam attacked Azazel's tail since it was what was preventing them from hitting the main body. The ghost blades appear to go cleanly through the tail with no affect but each ghost Gundam attacked closer and closer to Azazel's main body. The final ghost Gundam to attack was by the far the newest model, Salim's Gundam. After Salim's Gundam disappears the wind just as suddenly as it hit abruptly stops and disperses as time goes back to normal. Azazel's tail shatters into multiple pieces that go flying in all directions as one final Gundam rushes the now defenseless Fachtna.

Nightwing slashes with its beam saber in a powerful downward right diagonal beam slash and stops behind Azazel with its back facing Azazel's back. Shadow is still sweating and breathing hard but slowly a smile spreads across his face. "I told you Fachtna, someday I'm going to be number one." The episode ends with Azazel breaking into two halves and crashing to the sand.


	68. Episode 67 As the Dust Settles

Episode 67 – As the dust settles

_Location: Unknown._

It was a bright and sunny day; he was lying in the warm lush green grass looking up at the clouds in the blue sky. He couldn't remember the last time he had a chance to lie down and relax like this. It was wonderful, he could lie here forever.

"Shadi, Shadi." Shadi? Who was Shadi? Was that his name? Funny why couldn't he remember that, oh well he was in too much peace to worry about it. "Shadi you must wake up, your people need you." People? What people? He couldn't remember nor did he really want to remember, in fact he kind of wanted the voice to go away so he could get back to relaxing in the summer breeze. "Shadi you must wake up, your daughter needs you." Something stirred within; daughter? He did have daughter! A desperation surged forth within him, what was her name? How could a father forget his own daughter's name?

Suddenly he became aware that he couldn't move his body, before he had been so relaxed that he hadn't even notice but now with his growing concern and panic it was all too clear. His body wouldn't listen to him but he had to move! He had to make sure his daughter was alright, his…daughter. His memory, it was like a bright butterfly that was buzzing around but he couldn't catch. Yet he was determine, with his mind he reached and chased after that butterfly while he fought and wrestled against the prison which had now become his body.

It was incredibly frustrating and shameful but the more Shadi focused on that butterfly the more the fog over his mind seemed to clear, the restraints that were holding him in place were beginning to bend and break. He was getting closer and closer and then he caught it. "Kabira." Shadi groaned softy as his eyes began to flicker open. Doctor Price was in the middle of resting on one of the medical bays trying not to further agitate his hangover. It had been stupid of him to drink the night before; he should have known the other doctors would have needed him to help during the battle. Luckily the other doctors had already adapted to Price's "condition" and worked around it.

The Dark-Angel crew could be surprisingly stubborn at times and most refused to leave their post unless they were seriously injured, thankfully that had not been the case but still small injuries could become serious if left untreated so the other doctors were busy going around making house calls. Since it was protocol for at least one doctor to be in the medical bay at all times the job fell to Price, allowing him time to get over his hangover. Price still wasn't sure what he would have done earlier if a patient came in but he didn't have to worry about that now.

When the doctor heard Shadi groaning and beginning to move around in his bed Price hopped up, he quickly did a mental check of himself. All of his symptoms except the massive migraine were gone, he once more cursed alcohol then deem himself to be well enough to practice standard procedures, if Shadi required more he would have to page another doctor for assistance. Price maybe an alcoholic but he never took chances with his patients.

####

_Location: North East Azize, outside the city._

Serafina groaned as he slowly opened his eyes, he felt like he just got hit by a truck…that was on fire. His helmet screen was cracked but it still worked, the moment he regained consciousness, Delena's primary systems turned back on. He could hear the creaking sound of motors and gears once more turning. Serafina could also feel dried blood on his head which made him briefly wonder how long he had been out. _The battle, _Serafina thought with alarm as his eyes pop wide open! The president tried to sit up but his limbs were still too weak and he fell back down, cursing Serafina snapped "Delena what is the S-generator's current power level and how damaged are you?"

Serafina was surprised by the raspy croaking sound that was now his voice, still Delena's voice command program was able to recognize and understand it.

"S-generator power levels are currently at five percent, several primary and secondary systems have received critical damage including the wrist rotators, and long range communications systems, and the right back thruster."

"Great." Serafina responded while rolling his eyes, well with all things considered it was a tiny miracle that his safety pod hadn't activated and his Gundam was still semi-operational. The president once more tried to stand back up and this time he succeeded, of course Serafina still felt like his entire body was covered in one big bruise but he ignored the pain and aches and forced himself to focus on the surroundings.

Most of the sand fell off Delena when it stood up, but a little bit stayed on giving some of the scotch black some tanned color, sparks flew from various places on Delena where the armor had bent inward and where the wires had been cut. Serafina look left and then right, _what the hell happened? _Before him on the ground he spotted the remains of the jackal and eagle Gundams, and most importantly of all Azazel; armless, tailless and cut in half. The weapon Serafina had seen Fachtna standing in front of and heard about over the emergency broadcast now lay in ruins; its skeleton like vines had been shattered and now rested in pieces on the sand which had already begun to claim it.

Serafina wasn't sure what to think let alone guess at what happened, one thing though was clear, Fachtna had been defeated and his weapon destroyed. Before the president could fully marvel at and enjoy this victory he heard an explosion in the distance. Delena jumps around to face the source of the sound and braces itself for combat but Serafina quickly realizes the sound came from the city limits. Even from this distance he could see and hear the battle, the battleships going at it as missile explosions lit up the sky. _Oh no! _Serafina hadn't told his forces to stop attacking the Haben military yet.

He had wanted to confirm first that Fachtna was in fact responsible for everything but when he got here between his own emotions and the battle against Fachtna he hadn't had time to contact the command ship yet and inform his troops.

"Come in command ship this is Serafina Milena, do you copy?" It took Serafina a moment to remember the damage report his Gundam had given him, his stupid long range communications system had been damaged in the explosion. Serafina couldn't contact anyone now outside a ten meter radius of his Gundam, which meant that in order to stop this battle he would have to first make contact with one of his Gundam squadrons and since Delena held no weapons or shields and only had five percent power left he would have to do it without getting caught by any hostile forces assuming his own troops didn't mistake him for the enemy.

Serafina sighed, his heart was heavy, there would be no rest for him today but that was fine. This battle was partially his fault and it was his responsibility to end it. With that in mind Delena turns and takes off towards the city.

####

_Location: South Azize, just inside the city limits._

Shadow felt like crap, beating Fachtna had been overwhelmingly awesome, in fact Shadow had taken several pictures of that asshole's broken Gundam using Nightwing's camera. That hurricane attack had been amazing, Shadow had just assumed it would blow a little breeze at Fachtna and maybe if he was luckily knock the guy down but no it freaking obliterated Fachtna's Gundam's tail which in Shadow's opinion was more solid than an armor car. Plus the violent change in the direction of the wind caused the weapon to shatter like a glass vase. With his tail destroyed Fachtna had been defenseless and Shadow had dealt the final blow.

No it wasn't the battle that was causing Shadow to feel like crap, it was the hangover. Like after getting super drunk, the drinking part had been awesome but it was dealing with the consequences that sucked. Shadow was exhausted, his arms and legs felt dead and numb, it didn't help that he had gotten lost on his way back to the Dark-Angel only to realize that he had forgotten Raheem back at Fachtna's base and therefore had to backtrack to the city only to find out that he had been going in the wrong direction to the Dark-Angel in the first place! _And why is it SO GOD DAMN HOT?_Shadow was sure that any minute now he was going to drown in his own sweat in his own pilot suit. Still the Gundam fighter sucked it up and started jogging in an attempt to keep his mind active and focus. Unfortunately it didn't help his focus that he was traveling on the exact same route he took to Fachtna's base the first time around. Shadow sighed; well at least he didn't have to worry about getting lost again. "Shadow!" Kenny shouts as he pops up on Shadow's helmet screen startling Shadow shitless. The tired Gundam fighter jumps back like a scared cat, trips on a parked bus and crashes into a nearby building behind first. Night's bottom sinks into the building causing the unbroken windows to break and large cracks to appear along the whole side of the building.

"Kenny what the hell man, I thought you were outside communications range?"

"We were, until one of Fachtna's henchmen sent like ten ships to try and kill us," upon seeing the worried look on Shadow's face Kenny quickly adds "but don't worry Alex took charge and we handled it."

"Alex?"

"Oh yea Jack basically said to hell with waiting for you to find a real captain and made Alex captain of the Dark-Angel."

"I totally planned that, I was just taking my time working her over. Ladies can't resist the Shadow charm after all." Shadow says with a smug smile as Nightwing stands back up and begins to brush off some of the rubble on it.

"Anyone ever tell you Shadow your full of it, and I'll have you know it was a major pain in the ass to establish a secure communications link with you- wait a minute what's that noise? You didn't damage any property did you?"

"Um, no." Shadow lies as he takes a step forward and accidently steps on a car.

"You better not have because it's part of official GFC rules that if we break anyone's property like buildings or cars while piloting a Gundam we have to pay for the cost of repair." Kenny says slowly not at all believing Shadow. Shadow eyes the broken car and the damaged building, they looked expensive.

"Nope, I mean a lot of stuff is damaged and all, probably from the battle so anyway have you contacted the others yet?" Shadow asks in a not too subtle attempt to change the conversation. Kenny doesn't fall for it but he decides to let Shadow slide since they were pretty much broke anyway. "You were the last person I made contact with, Cagalli and Jubal were shot down. Roxas made a point of stating she's getting Cagalli's safety pod and bringing it back to the Dark-Angel and I personally approve of that. Nick also went to get Jubal's safety pod now that the area was as safe as it was getting, they've both already recovered the safety pods and are on their way to the Dark-Angel. I say you do the same Shadow, that way the three of you can hit Fachtna's base together and take out the weapon and where the hell have you been Shadow?"

While Kenny was talking Shadow had started jogging again towards Fachtna's base, he still had to pick up Raheem anyway, at least the Dark-Angel was closer by so he wouldn't have to travel that far back. Smiling though Shadow took great pleasure in telling Kenny "No need, I already beat Fachtna and destroyed the weapon." The look on Kenny's face was priceless, bug eyed with pure shock and uncomprehending.

"Wh- What, how?"

"It's a long story involving lots of punching and beam slashing, I'll tell you guys later after I pick up Raheem."

"Raheem's not with you?"

"Another long story, just tell the others the missions been completed, we win, get back to the Dark-Angel for the victory party."

Jack suddenly pops up on Kenny's monitor as she joins the conversation. "Great, have Nick go back and pick up La Rouge and Shadow you better not have gotten a scratch on Nightwing." Shadow's "oh crap" look gives him away and Jack immediately starts chewing him out. Kenny smiled, he didn't know if Shadow had a sister, Shadow never talked about his past, but Kenny did so he was able to recognize the way Jack bickered at Shadow, the same way a concerned younger sister would.

Kenny relayed the information he got from his friend to the other Gundam pilots and the rest of the Dark-Angel bridge crew, Nick and Roxas took the news about the same as Kenny while the crew really didn't seem to care. Now that they were out of immediate combat Rini, Alan, Ciro and Thomas went back to their usual laziness although Kenny could see their eyes occasionally glace down at their terminals. Alex was still in the captain's seat looking over something on the captain's chair's monitor.

"Is it true, has Fachtna really been defeated and his weapon destroyed?" Kabira asks as she stands over Kenny's shoulder.

Kenny couldn't tell what Kabira was thinking; he doubted if even Kabira herself knew what she was thinking. "Yea, looks that way." he answered. Kabira looks back at the main monitor; Alex was having the Dark-Angel observe the battle in case any more ships came their way. The way the ships moved, fired their missiles and cannons, how desperately they fought to win. No one was retreating, no was backing down, a ship crashed into the ground; how many people had been on it? It was like they were determined to kill each other no matter what.

"Then why, why are they still fighting?" Kabira cried out with her hands clenched into fist shaking with emotion.

Kenny looked away, he didn't have an answer, nor did anyone else that is except Zuke. "What did you expect? That the moment that pathetic crazy natural was dead that all of the rebels and royals would drop their weapons and hug each other? Don't be so naïve little natural, most of those Neanderthals have probably never even heard of him, to them their enemy has always been the person standing right in front of them. Heh what a pointless death, ignorant all the way to the end."

"Zuke!" Kenny shouted infuriated, it wasn't his nature to go looking for a fight but Zuke had crossed a line even for himself. Kabira however cuts him off

"No he's right. I-I wasn't thinking about what would happen once we beat Fachtna, I guess I thought…no I didn't think I just assumed that everything would be alright after he was gone." Kabira cast her eyes down in shame. This was all her fault; she should have known that it wasn't going to be that simple. Still… "Kenny can you open an emergency broadcast, and can you make sure it reaches as many people as possible?" Kabira pleaded to him with those large sincere brown eyes. Kenny just couldn't say no to that.

"Um sure give me a minute."

"What are you thinking?" Alex asks cautious as she sits up in her captain's chair, while she could understand the girls feelings if they drew too much attention to themselves it could lead to another intense battle.

"I'm going to stop this battle." Kabira said with a resolve look in her eyes.

Zuke snorted "How? Are you planning to ask them nicely to put down their weapons?"

"Yes." Kabira answered without hesitation then steps forward closer to Kenny's terminal when the programmer signals he's ready. "Hello everyone, this message is to both the loyal Haben soldiers and the passionate liberators of Haben. My name is Kabira Tahsin, I am the daughter of Shadi Tahsin the current king of Haben. I ask that both sides stop fighting at once, we have undeniable evidence against Fachtna Hola for all that the Liberators of Haben accused my father of so please I ask that you stop fighting so that we can talk."

Kabira's voice was strong and steady in the face of the magnitude of the crowd she was addressing; she waited a moment but nothing happen. There was no reply; in fact there was no sign that anyone heard her at all. Confused and a little scared she turns to Kenny who answers "I setup the broadcast so that the transmission would piggyback off the receiver's communication system and then be sent out to everyone in that person's area and so on…so everyone should have heard you just now." Kabira looks uncomprehendingly at Kenny, if they could hear her then why-

"Did you honestly believe they would listen to you, when bullets and missiles and cannons are flying do you really expect them to take the time to give you the slightest attention? Tisk even the high command will only pass this off as some kind of trap and won't respond, your words maybe true but they fall on deaf ears during the middle of a battle."

"Please stop fighting, listen to me we have proof that Fachtna is responsible for this so please stop fighting, stop fighting!" ignoring Zuke Kabira continues to plead and beg both sides to stop fighting to no avail. They were in so much pain; they were all hurting so badly, she wanted to help them, she wanted to do something anything to help them but no one was listening. No matter how much she yelled, no mattered how much she cried and begged her words wouldn't reach them.

"Come in command ship this is Serafina Milena and I verified what the princess is saying and am issuing an executive order to cease combat with the royal forces at once!" Serafina shouted for what must have been the tenth time in a row only to receive the same response from his Gundam. "Error long range communications system is currently off line please move in closer to the person or people you are trying to contact to engage in short range communications." Serafina started screaming at his Gundam using some not to nice words.

He had chosen to approach the command ship from the south since the fighting was minimal in that area, the fighting was too heavy everywhere else for Serafina to have much hope of making it through. The president had been making good progress when Kabira's transmission started coming through, he still wasn't sure how the hell that was possible since his stupid Gundam kept telling him his long range communications system was down yet he was clearly picking up Kabira's transmission! Serafina wouldn't be able to tell what the problem was with his communications system until he had a mechanic look over it.

Still being able to listen to Kabira's voice trying so hard to stop the fighting and not being able to do anything to help was like throwing salt on an open wound. Serafina knew his commanding officers wouldn't listen to Kabira, hell if she hadn't told him about Fachtna beforehand he wouldn't have listen to that other broadcast. No, he couldn't allow himself to dwell on feelings of guilt, the best way to help Kabira was to get back to the command ship and retake control of his forces as fast as possible.

"You should listen when someone is talking to you!" Shadow shouts as Nightwing begins to throw pieces of rubble at a passing by Gundam. The Gundam was big and bulky which probably explain why it was flying low and slowly in the air. Lacking any long range weapons Nightwing grabs some rubble from the ground from a broken building nearby and begins to throw it at the Gundam. Kabira was Shadow's friend and that's all the reason he needed to want to help her and this was the only thing Shadow could think of.

One piece of rubble actually hits the flying Gundam and gets its attention. The Gundam turns around to reveal that its bulky size was due to the large missile launcher attached to its back. In hindsight it probably wasn't Shadow's smartest plan to randomly attack an unknown Gundam or at least that's what Shadow thought as the Gundam fires several missiles at Nightwing. Nightwing jumps back avoiding a direct hit but the missiles hit the ground and explode right in Nightwing's face. The explosion lights up the sky and flips over cars, shatters windows and sends Nightwing flying straight into and through a building.

Nightwing lands on its back hard a good distance away from where it started. Shadow groans but doesn't get up, he couldn't even open his eyes. He was tired, it had been a long day that never seemed to end, his whole body had gone beyond the point of pain, hell his body was beyond the ability of feeling at this stage; it was just a numb sore sensation. Shadow's legs felt heavy, his arms felt like bricks and he was _so_ tired. He could feel himself drifting off, maybe after he rested a bit he could figure out how to help Kabira…_**drip**__…__**drip**__…__**drip**__…huh?_

Shadow could feel water dripping on his head, heh looks like Nightwing was still functioning despite the explosion. It was annoying though, how was Shadow supposed to get any rest with that thing dripping on him. Shadow opens his eyes and looks at where the water is coming from, it's the Sanctus Turris. Nightwing is lying on the ground directly in front of one of the human statues that serve as pillars that hold the Sanctus Turris up. Water pours from the mouth of the statues and falls into a pond that offers a tranquil peace for the travelers that come here for their solemn occasion.

Or at least that's what it was supposed to do, the water dispenser from the mouth of the statue Nightwing is currently laying under seems to be broken, water is spraying back onto the statue's face and from there drips down onto Nightwing's forehead. The water makes an eerie path down the statues face, to its eyes then down from there to its chin. Shadow just lies their looking up at the statue; he was too tired to think so he watched for a minute then says "You're sad too aren't you." He asks; the statue makes no response. After a moment more Shadow sighs then climbs to his feet. Without pause or doubt Nightwing using its beam saber strikes down each of the statues holding the Sanctus Turris up, the Sanctus Turris is the tallest structure in Azize. The earth starts rumbling as the massive structure which has stood for almost as long as Haben has been a country falls, a loud ugly screech can be heard throughout the city as the metal gives way and the tower topples to the right, the Sanctus Turris falls on top of several buildings crushing them in an instant.

The fall of the Sanctus Turris is like a flare that has drawn the attention of every single person in the city. All fighting comes to an abrupt stop as all eyes turn in shock at the site of their fallen prayer site, the Sanctus Turris is an overwhelmingly important part in the average Habenion's life and it is considered a sacred place which was why there was little to no fighting in that area in the first place. Even the very small minority of people who aren't very religious turn to see what's going on, an eerie quiet settles on the city as all eyes fall center on Nightwing.

Even the bridge crew on the Dark-Angel looks baffled, Alex shakes her head and moans "Oh no." while Kenny almost suffers a panic induced heart attack. Kabira has to take a step back; no words can describe the shock coursing through her body at what has just happen. Nightwing takes a step back as Shadow looks on at the fallen tower when suddenly he hears something and turns around. Delena comes running up to and jumps Nightwing, if Shadow wasn't feeling like total and utter crap he might have been able to dodge it but in his current state Serafina easily pins Shadow down.

He had been passing by when the Sanctus Turris collapsed, the pain he felt when the Sanctus Turris fell was overwhelming, it was like losing all of his deceased family, friends and loved ones all over again. Serafina barely even registered it was Shadow he was facing, "Why, why Shadow, why did you destroy the Sanctus Turris? How are our ancestors, are loved ones who have passed on supposed to find their way to the other side now that the staircase has been destroyed and I swear if you don't have a good reason and you don't explain it to me in the next minute I will kill you!"

Shadow was tired, so tired that he didn't even care that he just ran into Serafina. All he wanted to do was lay down and sleep…then party to celebrate his victory over Fachtna. Unknowingly to either person, Kenny's communications link has connected them and is sending their entire conversation all across Azize to every single person who is now listening very closely. "Because they were crying." Shadow says simply. The answer confuses everyone listening but Serafina actually being in the area turns to look at the statue now lying on the ground.

The statue had stop flowing water when Nightwing cut it down but Serafina could still see the moist surface where the water traveled down, it was true that from the way the watered flowed down the face from the eyes to the chin it looked like tears but… Serafina let the thought hang as the possibilities hung over him but while he went silent having finally recovered Kabira recognizes and seizes the opportunity to finally be heard.

"My fellow Habenions hear me! I know the pain you are all feeling right now at the loss of the Sanctus Turris, I feel it too and I know that this must ignite even more anger in you but I ask that you don't act on it because what Shadow did he did not do out of malice. Shadow Zoomarey, a foreigner alone heard the cries of our ancestors while we have been too busy with our own worries. Yes he destroyed the Sanctus Turris but he only did so to allow our ancestors to be heard, they were crying because they know this battle is wrong and the only way they could be heard was by destroying the only connection their souls still had to this world: the Sanctus Turris."

Kabira could feel the eyes of everyone in Azize on her, _great no pressure_, she thought to herself then took a deep breath and continue. "I have undeniable evidence that Fachtna Hola is directly responsible for instigating and starting this battle."

"I Serafina Milena have seen the evidence first hand and can vouch for the princess," Serafina wasn't sure how he was connected, he knew though because he had heard himself through Kabira's communication link. At this point he was beyond trying to understand the why and was just rolling with it. Kabira was also surprised to not only see Serafina but to hear him vouching for her but now was not the time for that, she had to push it home. "So please, please I beg both sides to cease fighting and resume peace talks, you don't have to fight each other, I know we can reach a peaceful solution if we all work hard together and try; that's the Haben way!"

Kabira's heart stops, this was it the moment of truth, she would never have another chance to talk both sides down. For a moment both sides swayed but just when Kabira began to lose faith she heard the most wonderful sound in the world.

"Well said Kabira, well said," Shadi speaks in a voice radiating authority of a gentle giant, the sight of Kabira rejuvenates Shadi, Fachtna may have beaten him, stabbed him, framed him, but he had not broken the king in the end. "I for one have prided myself for advocating peace but forgive me for not introducing myself sooner, I am Shadi Tahsin the king of Haben and I am issuing an overload order for all Haben military personnel to cease fighting and fall back at once!"

There is no room for argument in his voice, no room for doubt; waves of power seem to roll off of Shadi. "To the leader of the Liberator's of Haben I am always open and willing to talk." Serafina felt a cold shiver go down his spine; this was the king of Haben, Serafina could feel the confidence and strength in the way Shadi held himself. He didn't back down though, he took strength in the position he held and in the same passionate voice he used to convince the different faction of the rebels to join together as one spoke. "As am I your majesty which is why I am issuing an executive order for all of the Liberator's of Haben to cease fighting at once and move back!"

####

_Location: In the Haben military's elite soldier's docking bay. Inside the Dark-Angel's medical bay. Time: five hours later._

"So then both sides stop fighting?" Cagalli asks while Doctor Price examines her using some kind of scanner. Kenny is sitting in a chair across from the bed Cagalli is sitting in.

"Well yes and no, both sides stopped fighting but within seconds we got every single commander calling us and demanding verification, ID, and a bunch of other stuff. Serafina probably had to go through the same thing once his men picked him up. After about an hour of that everyone finally backed off and actual peace talks began. Not that they lasted long with Fachtna having kidnapped and stabbed Shadi and Serafina's fight with him-"

"Wait, wait, wait you have to go back and tell Fachtna's fight from the beginning," Shadow interrupts as he sits up in his bed. Cagalli and Kenny look at Shadow cross eyed while Price shakes his head and moans,

"Oh god please don't, my head can't take another retelling of that fight."

"That's because of your hangover Price, by the way Shadi was thrilled to find out the doctor watching over him was drunk."

"I was not drunk nor have I ever been intoxicated while with a patient! I wasn't even scheduled to work today which is the only reason I…indulged myself in the first place last night."

"Will you two can it already; I'm trying to listen to the rest of the story from Kenny!" Cagalli snaps at them then turns back to Kenny who continues.

"Thank you Cagalli, I think you might be interested in this too Shadow since you did pass out somewhere in Kabira's speech."

"I was tired!"

"Anyway so Shadi and Serafina convinced the rest of their sides that Fachtna was the reason behind everything and peace has pretty much been achieved. They're negotiating terms for peace now."

"Correction they _were _negotiating terms for peace, they just finished," Raheem says as he walks in. The Captain of the Elite Royal Guard is dressed in a crisp clean military uniform with several obvious new badges of honor.

"Raheem!" Shadow, Cagalli, and Kenny say in unison while the doctor satisfied with Cagalli's state of health quietly walks away to perform a different task.

"Shadow, Cagalli, and Kenny I was relieved to find out that you had all made it out of the battle safe and sound and don't worry about Jubal, he's currently resting in a military hospital."

Shadow jumps in first before the others, "Man Raheem you have to tell me what happened in Fachtna's base, all Serafina said was that you appeared out of nowhere with a jackal Gundam."

"And you my friend have to tell me how you defeated that monster." Shadow beams with pride while Kenny and Cagalli groan; Raheem raises an eyebrow in a silent question at the others to which Cagalli answers "That's all Shadow's been talking about since he woke up." Shadow looks at Cagalli annoyed while Raheem flashes her a tiny smile.

"Well it is only natural for a Gundam fighter to be excited by winning against a strong opponent-"

"HA"

"But if I'm not mistaken Shadow is not the only one who should be celebrating, you did very well in your battle against Zain from what I have heard," Raheem says directing his comment at Cagalli who blushes in respond. "I wasn't that great I mean I didn't win."

"But you didn't lose either." Raheem says gently but firmly.

"Plus you lost with style so it's still awesome as I would expect from someone on my team." Shadow says boastfully much to Cagalli's embarrassment.

"If you guys are done talking I would like to hear what terms Serafina and Shadi agreed on." Kenny says slightly annoyed. Raheem smiled at them, ah how good it was to be young

"The king promised no punishment would come to any of the rebels since they believed that they were acting in Haben's best interest. Of course parliament was reluctant to back this but thankfully there were no lives lost in this battle so his majesty was better able to persuade parliament."

"So no one died in that battle?" Cagalli asks surprised. "Don't get me wrong, the hospitals are full of the injured and some are in critical care but Serafina had given Hirsi plenty of time to evacuate the civilians and better prepared his line, and don't forget the battle only lasted for a few hours, if it had drawn out any longer I'm sure we would have seen many dead soldiers. No, the only real issues was who was going to pay for the damages to the city itself, at first the king wanted it to be taken out of his personal bank account but Serafina wouldn't have it and insisted that the rebels work to repair the city free of charge.

After a while they reached an agreement, the rebels would work to repair the city but they will receive an hourly wage."

"How is Shadi planning to pay for that with the government being broke and all?"

"Shadow!"

"It's alright, that's actually the best part, Haben isn't, Fachtna is." Raheem says with a large smile on his face. Gasps of shock escape Shadow and Cagalli's mouth but Kenny catches on in a second.

"Ah cleaver."

"Mind filling us in Kenny?" Shadow asks annoyed to which Kenny smiles and explains,

"Haben law states that a terrorist's finances can be confiscated and used in government approved projects."

"Correct, and stabbing the king is instant grounds of terrorism. It's a shame he doesn't have enough money to pay for all of the damages to the city but it is enough for a large part of it. We already have Fachtna and several of his cohorts in custody including Zain…that's also the other reason why I'm here." Raheem begins slowly but Jack comes rushing in with a look of panic on her face.

"Shadow you have to stop them; you can't let them get away with this!" Shadow blinks confused and asks

"Get away with what?"

Alex was being lead down the hallway of the Dark-Angle in some very heavy duty speniz handcuffs by two very bulky Haben military police officers packing some serious fire power, knowledge of Fachtna's abilities seems to have spread very fast. She was lead to a waiting Raheem, Shadow, Jack, Kenny and Cagalli. Raheem looked grim even for him, while Shadow and Kenny looked annoyed and angry, Cagalli had a sad acceptance while Jack was just downright pissed off.

"It isn't right, she helped us beat Fachtna!" Jack shouted while Raheem calmly replied

"She also helped Fachtna get to that position in the first place." This answer is clearly not good enough for Jack but before she can go any further Cagalli rests a hand on her shoulder, Jack turns to look at Cagalli who just sadly shakes her head. "Jack don't." Tears well up in Jack's eyes as she says

"But-But we just became friends." Cagalli quickly hugs the emotional Jack while Raheem says in an attempt to comfort them.

"I'm sure the courts will take into account her help in defeating Fachtna when deliberating her sentence."

Shadow moves up to face Alex, there's an awkward silence between them then Shadow begins "Sorry,"

"Don't be, I made my bed now I have to stand trial for it." Jack having calmed down a little moves up to Alex and pulls out the pen. "Here, I kept it safe for you just like we promised."

Raheem nods to the police signaling its ok, Alex has Jack place the pen in its special pocket. "Yes just like we promise."

"It's time." one of the MPs tells Alex. She nods her head and begins to walk away but after taking several steps she calls out over her shoulder with a knowing smile

"Don't fret so much as the old saying goes every accused has his or her day in court."

####

_Location: The Royal Palace Time: two hours later_

"Shadow, Cagalli," Kabira cries as she rushes over to her friends. Like Raheem she's in new formal clothing, although not in a dress, Kabira hated dresses. Shadow, Cagalli, Roxas, Nick, Jack, Kenny and Zuke were being lead around the palace by Raheem. Everyone had been impressed except for Cagalli, Zuke and Roxas.

"Hey what are we chop liver?" Roxas asks while scratching an itch behind her ear with her foot. Kabira smiles at the rest of them

"I'm sorry Roxas, Kenny, Nick, Jack and Zuke and thank you all for coming." With a sly smile to Raheem Kabira takes over leading the group.

"It's cool, plus Raheem said we're getting paid." Shadow says with excitement, there was a new Star Wars [Would there really be Star Wars in Sora, do they even still make Star Wars games presently, if not I doubt they would in the future. I think people might even forget about it, like silent films, hardly anyone watches those nowadays] game coming out he wanted to buy.

"I can finally get some new clothes." Cagalli says equally excited as she looks over her punk rock style clothing, the tight blue jeans, red T-shirt, and black leather jacket with chains on it.

"But you look good in punk rock." Roxas moans. Kabira suppresses laughter watching them but then calms down and says

"You don't have to worry I had your money transferred to the account your manager specified. You guys worked hard for it, you deserve those ten thousand credits," Kabira says ten thousand credits in a very quiet voice.

"WHAT, ten thousands credits!" everyone starts talking at once.

"Are you kidding me?"

"That's barely enough to cover the parts I need to make the repairs to the other Gundams."

"We traveled over the Acoose ocean, fought tooth and nail to protect a princess, saved a country and all we get is a lousy 10 thousand credits." Ten thousand credits is a small amount of money when you're dealing with paying for maintenance, and repairs for an assault ship and five Gundams, salary for even a small crew and don't forget food supplies for everyone. "Ten thousand was the price we originally agreed to back when you guys first accepted the mission."

"That was before we knew that you were a princess, and would have to save a whole country." Kenny countered.

"True but you guys never renegotiated the price so what we originally agreed to stands." Kenny's mouth opens and closes as he tries to think of a counter argument but can't, Kabira was right, no one ever tried to ask for more money so she was under no obligation to give them any more than what they originally agree to, it was an error of stupidity on their part. Jack leans in close to Cagalli and asks

"Why isn't Shadow saying anything, this is total crap,"

"Shadow for once is showing he has some brains, Haben is in a depression and the government is in a lot of debt. They are going to need as many credits as they can get a hold of if they're going to have any chance to restart their economy. They don't have the money to give us the proper amount we deserve but Kabira can't just say that which is why she's pretending to just rip us off." Cagalli explains softly so only Jack can hear. Shadow sighs and scratches his head,

"Well I was looking forward to buying that new game but it's whatever, the important thing is that we had fun." Shadow says cheerfully to the others.

Cagalli rolls her eyes and replies "Shadow you're insane."

Ignoring Cagalli Shadow continues "Do you mind treating us to dinner though, you did arrest our cook." A wide smile spreads across Kabira's face as she leads the group to large fancy duel doors.

"I think that can be arranged." Kabira pushes open the doors to reveal a large banquet hall with marble floors, and rich architecture. There is a huge long table full of food, Hirsi, Raheem and Shadi are already sitting down when the Shadow Knights walk in.

"Surprise!" Shadi, Hirsi, Raheem and Kabira say in harmony then Kabira explains

"You didn't honestly expect us to not to throw a party for the heroes who saved Haben and don't worry we sent plenty of food to the rest of the crew of the Dark-Angel."

Shadi steps up next and walks over to Shadow, "It's nice to finally meet each one of you, Kabira has been talking nonstop about you guys; allow me to formally introduce myself, I am Shadi Tahsin, Kabira's father."

Shadow recovers from the surprise and then waves his arm in a grand manner and says in a grand voice "I am the great, the awesome and the undefeated Shadow Zoomarey!"

"FOOD!" A salivating Roxas shouts as she leads everyone except Shadow into the hall and straight towards the food. Shadow glares at Roxas for ruining his introduction.

"I say let's get this party started mate."

Everyone grabs food and starts eating, Kenny, Hirsi, and Jack start talking about different types of Gundams; Nick, Roxas and Raheem discuss Raheem's love life much to his displeasure; Shadi, Kabira, Cagalli and Shadow are talking about the battles that happen throughout the Dark-Angel's journey to Azize.

Zuke silent with a condescending attitude moves to get some food but the blue eyed sharp shooter spots him and quickly blocks him. "No you don't, this food is only for those who actually did work on the mission." Nick tells him with his slight Australian accent. Zuke looks at the cowboy annoyed then purses his lips and steps back deeming the natural not to be worth his time. Shadow much to Cagalli's annoyance starts drinking an alcoholic beverage.

"You know it's illegal for you to be drinking, right Shadi?"

Shadi wisely chooses to stay out of this, "I see nothing."

Cagalli glares at the king for his answer while Shadow responds "You are far too tense Cagalli, relax and live a little."

"He's right mate, life's too short."

"You only get to be young once." Raheem adds.

"Your beautiful well portioned bosoms will deflate if you don't ease up." Roxas says worried.

"Alcohol taken in small amounts has proven to extend one's lifespan." Kenny informs Cagalli who feeling ganged up on and surrounded snaps,"

That isn't the issue here; it's a matter of the law and breaking that law!"

Shadow rolls his eyes, "Making the drinking age twenty-three is a stupid law."

"Several hundreds of years ago back on Earth the drinking age used to be eighteen and in some countries before the universal limit was passed they didn't even have a drinking age limit." Kenny once again bringing up a fact he learned online.

"Cagalli just grow a pair and have a god damn drink." Jack says while grabbing her own beer and chugging it down. Shadi sensing the young ones might be laying it on heavy decides to intervene.

"I personally do not support the universal drinking age at twenty-three, here in Haben the drafting age for the military is eighteen and I feel that if in the eyes of the law you are old enough and responsible enough to serve in the military you should be old enough to drink. Sadly though many of my political associates throughout Sora disagree with me."

"Just have one drink princess, after all we are celebrating." Shadow says with a big smile on his face finally causing Cagalli to snap.

"FINE, ONE drink then you all can shut up, and don't call me a PRINCESS!" A small cheer goes around the room as Cagalli takes the beer from Shadow and slowly brings it up to her face; she sniffs it once as all eyes are now fully centered on her, then takes a massive gulp. Cagalli manages to swallow then slams the glass down on the table and wipes her mouth. "There happy now?" Cagalli say still quite annoyed by the whole event.

Shadow gives her one of his all-knowing smiles then says "Baby steps Cagalli, baby steps."

Kabira goes for a glass as she says "Well since we all agree the drinking age is stupid I'll-"

Shadi faster than a cobra snatches the beer and pulls it out of Kabira's reach "I never said the universal drinking age in itself was a stupid idea, I simply stated that I believe it should be lowered but not as low as sixteen." Kabira immediately goes to argue while Nick grabs the second beer out of Jack's hand,

"I agree mate and besides Jack we all know you have trouble handling your alcohol."

This leads to an hour long argument between Shadi and Kabira and Nick and Jack but other than that the rest of the celebration party went well into the night with everyone having a great time.

####

_Location: The Royal Palace's private medical wing._

Byron wasn't dead, he was wrapped head to toe in special medi-gel bandages and his doctors told him even with the best medical care in Haben it was going to take him a month before he was able to move again but he was not yet dead. Byron couldn't remember what had happen after he told Raheem where he could find the jackal class Gundam; his next memory was waking up in the royal palace's private medical wing.

Raheem had come in to check on him and kindly given Byron the rest of the details. After Byron had passed out Raheem had carried him down to the medical bay in Fachtna's base where he convinced the doctors to begin operating on him. Raheem had been surprised how easy it was to convince the doctors, apparently no alarm had been set off so no one was any wiser about Byron's true allegiance. After the battle Raheem had sent a team to retrieve a still unconscious Byron from Fachtna's base where he was then transferred to his current location.

"Hello Byron Lancastor." Byron turned to find the king of Haben standing beside his bed. "Your majesty, I assume I'm about to be charged with treason."

Shadi smiles gently down at the injured man, "No, Raheem has informed me of all that you have done and since you were always loyal to Haben I cannot charge you with treason." This catches Byron completely off guard, he had been expecting any minute for someone to come in and arrest him.

"I actually wanted to thank you for all that you have done for Haben, I can't imagine how difficult it must have been for you to work alone in the dark, trying to find the truth by yourself. I have also come to offer you a proposition."

"A proposition?"

"That's right, your intelligence, loyalty, and skill have impressed me and I wish for you to join my private counsel as well as begin a new type of organization in Haben."

Byron wasn't sure what to say, to be invited to join the king's private counsel was an honor above all others, overwhelmed Byron instead focused on the other subject. "A new type of organization in Haben?"

"That's right, Fachtna's betrayal has brutally highlighted a number of existing flaws in our beloved country, flaws that we have ignored up into now but no more! The first thing we need is an organization dedicated to finding the truth behind strange occurrences and circumstances in Haben, a watcher of the watchers who investigates both threats from the outside and inside of Haben."

"Isn't that what the Elite Royal Guards already do?"

"Yes but Fachtna proved that the Royal Guards are not enough, Raheem is already addressing problems in the guard and making the necessary corrections but Haben needs an organization that can operate in the dark. That can infiltrate our enemies and take them down from the inside and I want you to design and lead such an organization." The idea was enormous to Byron, to make and design a completely new organization in Haben, it seemed impossible and certainly beyond his abilities but he couldn't deny that he spent most of his time in the dark.

Easily slipping in with those who would do harm to Haben in order to achieve personal goals and then destroying them, perhaps it was time he built a base then. "Where do I sign?"

####

_Location: Shadi's private official in the royal palace Time: The next morning_

Cagalli moaned as she rubbed her head and sat waiting outside Shadi's private office. Shadow had laughed his ass off when he saw Cagalli get tipsy after one drink, the thought still aggravated her. It was a shame they couldn't stay longer, she would have liked to see the capital city where Kabira lived but the Dark-Angel didn't suffer any real damage during the battle and only her Gundam was out of commission. As Zuke "kindly" pointed out they had spent too long on this mission, it was time to move on.

Everyone agreed last night that today they would leave and head back to Arianna. "Shadi can speak to you now." an assistant told Cagalli. Cagalli nodded to the assistant and got up, Shadi had asked to speak to her in private before they left which made Cagalli curious and a little nervous, what could he have to say? Cagalli walked in on Shadi sitting in a desk with a mountain of papers on one side and several large computer monitors on the other, it reminded Cagalli of her own desk back in Orb.

"Ah Cagalli thank you so much for coming please sit down,"

"It was no trouble; you said you had something you wished to speak to me in private about?"

Shadi looks at Cagalli with his gentle brown eyes. "Yes, for starters I would like to thank you for all you've done for Kabira, you have helped and protected her in more ways than one."

Cagalli blushes at the compliment and looks to the floor, "It was nothing, Kabira is a smart kid, she'll make a great leader someday."

A light smile touches Shadi's face, "Like yourself miss Cagalli Yula Athha, chief representative of the Orb Union of Earth."

A pin could have fallen on the floor and been heard. Cagalli's amber eyes open wide in shock as she tries to process what just happen, for several minutes neither one speaks then "You-you know who I am?"

"To be perfectly honestly I don't know everything, like how you came to be on our world, but I think for both of our benefits we'll keep that unknown. Despite our poor status in the world governments even Haben has intelligence about Earth, sadly it isn't much but I do have a current list of all of Earth's world leaders and your name was on it. When Kabira first told me your name I immediately remembered it from the list but I just tried to pass it off as chance but the more she described you to me the more I became certain that you were in fact the Cagalli of Earth."

Cagalli getting over her shock could barely contain her excitement, this was it; finally she would be able to get back to Earth, to Orb. "Then can you help me get back home?"

Shadi looks at the girl with sad eyes, it had not been his intentions to raise her hopes but it would have been worse to say nothing when he knew something. "I'm sorry but I can't. You must understand it's not like I don't want to help, I do but I- no Haben doesn't have that kind of power right now.

The decision about who gets to go to Earth is made by the NSU, Nations of the Sora Universe which is similar to your own United Nations and Haben doesn't have much influence in the NSU, we're just not big or powerful enough for that. I will of course summit your application but without any other nation backing you it could take years if ever for the application to be processed."

"But-But can't you just tell them who I am?"

"I have no proof to confirm you are in fact the Cagalli of Earth; like I said earlier I only have a list of current political leaders on Earth and that doesn't even have pictures. Anything short of a DNA comparison will be thrown out on site and I don't have access to a sample of your DNA that was taken on Earth."

"A sample of my DNA was taken on Earth?"

"A thrown away tissue or toothbrush, do not worry we of Sora don't do alien probes." Cagalli slumps in her seat, she had been so close, so close. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to get your hopes up." Shadi says with genuine sincerity.

"It's ok, Drake pretty much said the same thing."

"Drake, your manager? I'm surprised he also could tell who you were but Gundam fighters do tend to make connections everywhere and with everyone."

"That's what he told me, that if I want to get home I would have to raise my rank to at least C and then I can start making connections to government officials."

Shadi ponders this for a moment then says "Well Drake isn't wrong, I have no doubt that once you hit C rank many government officials will start looking into you and all they need is to pay attention in order to realize you are who you say you are. The Gundam fights must seem so strange to you since you come from Earth but you have to understand that the Gundam fights is like a road that connects you to all corners of Sora, it leads to the doors of Heaven and Hell and everything in-between which is why you'll never meet a more diverse group of people then the GFC. The Gundam fights connect us, bind us together and do not fear my friend you are on the right road to getting home."

It was like a huge weight was lifted from Cagalli's shoulders, Drake had made it no secret that he didn't like her so Cagalli had never been sure if he was telling her the truth but now she was. Cagalli gets up from her chair and goes to shake Shadi's hand "Thank you for everything."

"It is I who should be saying that to you, and I hope you have a safe journey home."

Cagalli smiles at the irony of the words then leaves. As Cagalli exits Shadi's office she finds Raheem waiting for her. "Raheem!"

"Hello Ms. Cagalli." A light smile touches Cagalli's face. "You're not going to get all overly polite with me now that you know who I really am are you Raheem?" Cagalli and Raheem begin to walk towards the exit of the palace where she was supposed to meet up with everyone else to leave.

"I am simply giving you the proper respect a princess or I guess a queen now, like yourself deserves."

"Please don't ever address or refer to me as a princess or a queen, it's annoying enough when Shadow does it."

"You know there's nothing wrong with being called-"

Cagalli cuts him off. "I know, I know its seems childish, God knows how many times Yuna told me to just suck it up but I just can't; queen, princess the whole royalty thing I've always just hated it, as a child and even today. Royalty is just like drawing a circle around yourself and cutting off the rest of the people in your land, in my country it's not something that's earned, like in Haben it's given based on what…blood? Something so trivial in the grand scale of the world, that's just not something I can accept."

There it was again, faint, years of subconscious and conscious work have made her a master of suppressing that emotion but now Raheem was looking for it he could see it; bitterness of anger.

"I guess I can understand what you're saying…Cagalli, anyway I wanted to thank you in person again for all you have done for Kabira. I often worry about her, you see Kabira cares too much about others, so much that she often bottles up her own negative emotions because she thinks they're trivial in the grand scheme of things. In a way she's right but what she was doing wasn't healthy for her, feelings like anger, resentment, jealously, envy can't just be ignored and locked away in a bottle. You have to let it out, while it's small and deal with it, understand it so that it fully passes; simply ignoring it won't solve anything. You though helped Kabira open up, she now talks about those feelings and doubts with me."

Cagalli has an uneasy feeling where this conversation is going but replies "I'm glad."

Raheem comes to an abrupt stop as he comes right out and says it, "But Kabira isn't the only one who does that, you and Kabira are very similar Cagalli but the major difference is that your jar hasn't been opened, in fact its lock has only gotten stronger with your own guilt over those very feelings you lock away. I'm sorry that I'm overstepping my boundaries but I am concerned for you Cagalli, keeping those feelings bottled up isn't healthy for you and one day no matter how strong you try to make that jar it's going to break and all those negative feelings are just going to rush out at once making you do something you wouldn't normally dream of."

Cagalli stops as well, she unclenches and clenches her fist and takes several deep breathes then she says slowly "Thank you for your concern Raheem but I am fine."

Raheem wants to argue but before he can Shadow comes running up to them, "Cagalli there you are, Jack has been yelling at me to find you and Roxas, geez what do you think you're doing holding us up princess?"

"DON'T CALL ME A PRINCESS!" Cagalli screams more intensely then normal causing Shadow to jump back a little frightened. Cagalli realizing she took that a little too hard takes several more breathes to calm herself down then moves her thoughts on to other matters.

"Wait you said Roxas was missing too?"

"Oh I'm right here, and I must say Cagalli you're far too tense please allow me to give you a back message." Roxas exclaims seeming to come out of nowhere to grope Cagalli's breasts from behind, Cagalli is now the one who jumps like a startled cat as she shouts "Where did you come from and you have to rub the back for it to be called a back message!"

"I was mimicking a Xliue, one of the most stealthiest animals on Sora."

While Cagalli and Roxas go at it Shadow's sensors go off as he notices Roxas's and Raheem's behavior. "Wait a second why are you completely ignoring Raheem now, especially since we're about to leave and Raheem why do you smell of sweat and shame?"

Roxas starts self-grooming herself while an unbelieving Cagalli turns to look at Raheem who is increasing in redness. "Oh no Raheem tell me you didn't."

"Geez man, isn't she like half your age?" Shadow says with a huge smile on his face.

Raheem suddenly explodes "I'm not that old! And she was very persistent and well I was happy with how everything was going in Haben, and she was very persistent, and I was drinking and did I mention how persistent she was."

Cagalli closes her eyes and shakes her head as one of her allies against the animal falls. "I can't believe this." She moans.

Raheem also feels like crap, "What am I going to say to Ailill?"

"Oh don't worry about that, I slept with her too back when we were in their camp but man I had to get her really drunk." Roxas tells everyone while still continuing to "wash" herself like a cat. Everyone's mouth falls to the floor, for Raheem and Cagalli it was as if there whole world just vanished and they were now free falling. For Shadow it was because he was salivating at his own imagination of what must have happen between the two very attractive ladies.

"Hot damn." Shadow mumbles while Raheem turns to Cagalli and gets to eye level with her. "Cagalli you are now the last hope, you must be very careful around her and never drop your guard. She is a force of nature the likes of which men and women have never faced, may the ancestors watch over you."

The rest of trip to the docking bay where the Dark-Angel was at included Shadow trying to get more details about what happened out of Roxas while Cagalli with aggressive passion tried to burn the image of her master and Roxas sleeping together out of her mind. Shadow's group hooks up with the others and they all make their way to the dock in cars provided by the king.

On their way there Jack goes up to Shadow and asks, "Hey Shadow I've been getting some crew request to leave the ship, and some people have asked to board what should I tell everyone?"

"Sure, anyone who wants to leave can leave and anyone who wants to join us can join us." Shadow replies in an easy going manner. The Shadow Knights arrive at the dock to find a small crowd of people waiting for them, a roar of cheers greet the team as they make their way to the Dark-Angel. Everyone except for Zuke waves back at the crowd, at the end of the crowd is Kabira with Hirsi watching over her this time. Raheem goes over to join them as the Shadow Knights say their final goodbyes.

"Well see you around Raheem."

"You too Shadow, and remember to keep up with your swordsmanship." Everyone shakes Raheem's hand except for Zuke who like Hirsi remains a set distance away from the group. Hugs are given to Kabira as she struggles to not cry at their departure.

"If you ever need anything Kabira give us a call."

"The same goes for you Shadow." Eventually the Shadow Knights start to board the ship until Cagalli is the only one left. Cagalli has already said goodbye to Raheem all that was left was for her to say goodbye to Kabira.

"I guess this is it, thank you for everything Cagalli."

"It was my pleasure, I'm glad it all worked out in the end, see you later Kabira." With that Cagalli and Kabira hug, both get a little teary eye but eventually they let go and Cagalli begins to head towards the Dark-Angel when Kabira calls out "Is it true Cagalli, are you really a princess?" Cagalli stops and turns back to Kabira, "It's true that I was the ruler of my country so I know what I'm talking about when I say I have high expectations for you Kabira." With that a smiling Cagalli turns and boards the Dark-Angel leaving a stunned Kabira in awe and amazement.

As the Dark-Angel leaves the docking bay the crowd roars one last goodbye as does the Dark-Angel crew. When the Dark-Angel moves out of sight the crowd begins to disperse leaving Hirsi, Raheem and several other bodyguards for Kabira. Kabira continues to stare off in the direction of the Dark-Angel as one of the new bodyguards approaches her. "Excuse me princess but we must get going."

"Don't call me princess." The guards blinks in surprise not sure what to make of this request but Kabira turns around and explains, "It's Kabira but if you feel uncomfortable addressing me so informally then you may call me Ms. Kabira but as of this moment onward no one is to ever refer to me as princess, do I make myself understood?"

Bewildered the guards all answer in unison "Yes Ma'am." With a small smile on her face Kabira marches forward leading the guards out of the room. When they're a good distance away Raheem finally lets loose the laughter he had been holding in. "HAHAHAHAHHA."

Hirsi eyes his friend feeling a little left out. "Something I miss?"

"No, don't worry about it it's an inside joke anyway what's on your mind Hirsi you seem a little bit distracted?" Raheem asks Hirsi as they too begin to leave the docking bay.

"There's something I can't figure out, the Vent de la mort and the secret base was an extremely well-kept secret that not even the kings or leading military officers knew about."

"So?"

"So how did Fachtna know to go looking for it? Who told him it existed in the first place?" Hirsi asks but Raheem has no answer.

####

_Location: Unknown_

He walked down the length of the metal hallway his steps making no sound. He supposed some would have been annoyed by being summoned with no notice or warning and in such a demanding tone but he was not. He felt nothing by the summons, he rarely ever felt anything. He opened the door to the office of the person who had summoned him and was immediately greeted.

"Hello Mr. 4, thank you for coming."

End of episode.

_Note from the author: This concludes the Haben arc. Whoa that arc was just huge, I think it was like forty episodes, ok in my defense when I started it I had no idea it was going to be that big and I'm telling you straight up you're probably not going to see an arc that big for a while (hopefully). So much has happen during this arc that I like to take a moment to reflect. I met a new rival Maderfole, I changed my story style, I got an awesome editor, I like to believe I made a few more fans, I started a forum (that no one ever visits *sigh*)._

_So much has happen both inside the story and outside but I want to make a point of saying this story is nowhere near over. In fact we're still in the beginning, there's a lot more Gundam Seed Shadow coming to you and if you thought the battles during this arc were intense wait until the next arc when the Shadow Knights get into their first tournament. I hope you guys are prepared because this story is only going to get more intense. Till next time._


	69. Episode 68 Money Matters

Episode 68 Money Matters

_Location: Unknown_

Ms. 3 sat at her steel desk, her face like everyone's was covered by the hood of her cloak. She wore medals and bandages from multiple militaries and various organizations on both Earth and Sora, from what Mr. 4 knew Ms. 3 collected them off the bodies of strong opponents who had put up a fight against her. Trophies; not that he understood the concept of taking items from those he slayed in order to reminisce the killing, he felt nothing from killing. "You summoned me Ms. 3."

"Oh that's cold 4ry you're just going to ignore me?" Mr. 6 asks. Mr. 4 made no move to reply but stood facing Ms. 3, she hadn't expected bringing Mr. 6 in on the meeting to have any effect on him but it was worth a try. Mr. 4's lack of emotions was one of his strongest qualities in her eyes, you needed something and he would do it no questions asked, no whining about having other stuff to do, no demanding something in return and no hesitation to kill while at the same time no desire to paint streets red with blood unlike some of the other members of their organization.

Not having emotions was also a double edged sword, someone without emotions was unpredictable, they had no desires or at least desires that could be understood by normal people with emotions. Mr. 4 was not motivated by things such as greed, anger, or pleasure so the actions he took during a mission were often times completely random. He could spare the life of a guard as easily as he could kill a bus full of children who might have seen him and still he would feel nothing from either encounter.

Ms. 3 was still unsure of how he made his decisions without emotions, and that made him dangerous to both enemies and allies alike. "I've asked you here regarding the girl." Mr. 4 didn't have to ask who the girl was that Ms. 3 meant; at the mention of her Mr. 4 detected an increase in his heart rate…was he feeling anticipation? With no reply Ms. 3 with slight annoyance goes on "She has interfered with one of my side projects, some time ago my intelligence network reported to me that Haben and Falk officials were working on a defense system in secret from their own governments. The reports eventually concluded that the defense system was a failure; it ended up becoming an unstable weapon and those officials in disgust locked and hid away that weapon. For years it slipped my mind but let's just say another side project I'm working on called for its unique weapon structure so I decided to leak its existence to a power hungry Gundam fighter. Just as I hoped he pursed and chased after that weapon with all of his might. The plan was to kill him once he retrieved the weapon and take the weapon for myself but this unknowing pawn of mine was blocked and the weapon destroyed and your girl is partly to blame."

"I assume you have a detailed record of everything that Cagalli was involved in concerning this incident?" It concerned Ms. 3 that Mr. 4 was addressing the girl by her first name but nevertheless Ms. 3 nodded towards the tablet that contained the information, Mr. 4 grabbed it and began to scroll through its contents paying Ms. 3 no regard. Mr. 6 began to giggle when he saw how agitated Ms. 3 was getting, it was rare for anyone to be able to get that chick agitated and live to tell the tale.

"When I first found out that you did not kill the girl I was shocked, you have never failed before Mr. 4; you might have caused me a ton of additional work but you always got the bottom line of the assignment accomplished. Then to add further weight to the unimaginable you brought her to Sora and had her placed in the Slyer prison on the grounds that she MIGHT have potential to be one of us! I made my opinion on the matter clear at the time-"

"And Mr. 1 made his known as well." Mr. 4 without a slight change in his voice cuts her off. Ms. 3 is stunned by the sudden verbal counter while Mr. 6 finally openly laughs

"Ohhhhh he got you Ms. 3, would you like some ice for that burn?" Ms. 3 sends a death gaze at Mr. 6 but doesn't lose control.

"Yes, Mr. 1 sided with you in that instant and allowed you full control of your experiment to do as you see fit. Still I question how in control of this situation you are, first she breaks out of Slyer, then we lose track of her for a week before she reappears on a Gundam team and now this!

Enough is enough I demand you either declare she has the potential to become one of us and recapture her or kill her and be done with it already!" Mr.4 finishes reading the information in the tablet and looks up at Ms. 3, even with his face concealed we can feel the tension rising.

"No, the escape was not her idea nor did she contribute in any way, she simply stumbled onto the right people so the only thing that proves is that she is lucky. We have no information regarding the week she went missing so we have no idea what happened to her nor what she did however the fact she choose to enter the Gundam fights shows a resourcefulness since the Gundam fights is the fastest way she could hope to get home but considering she was the leader of her country, a bad leader but a leader nonetheless, it fits into the already define limits of her abilities. As for the Gundam fights she has been in…they are inconclusive."

"INCONCLUSIVE! She's lost every single Gundam fight she's been in, even the last one which was an unofficial fight by the way, she only came to a draw with her opponent; how much more proof do you need that she has no potential! If you can't bring yourself to kill her then I will." Mr. 4 drops his chain blades and grips them in both hands, the meaning clear behind his action. In the span of a heartbeat Ms. 3 draws her own weapon, a clearly custom designed gun.

"Mr. 1 gave me full control over this situation and therefore I have the right to act as I see fit until I am satisfied with the results."

"So you're protecting her now is that it Mr. 4."

"From you yes, it wouldn't be an accurate experiment if you sent one of your minions to kill her but if she dies at the hands of another person or event then it proves your assessment correct."

"So you're just going to let her run free from our organizations control even if she starts undermining our efforts!"

"If she had been undermining the organizations plans I would have stepped in and killed her myself, if the weapon had been of any real value to the organization you would have sent in your own team to investigate and retrieve it instead of relying on a failed Gundam fighter who wanted to make a comeback. This was a side job you were doing for your own sake which is why you are even bringing it up in the first place to me instead of trying to go over my head to Mr. 1."

She didn't show it but Mr. 4's emotionless unnerved her, his cold analysis of the situation was spot on while at the same time not giving her a single hint of what his own motives could be; it was like talking to a robot, no worse because you could count on a robot to always act in the most efficient manner to complete whatever task it was assigned. Mr. 4 was different, having no feelings meant he also had no incentive to rush, no sense of urgency; he could take years doing a single job and not feel anything, no frustration, no boredom, no impatience, time meant nothing to him because he held no fear of it slipping.

It made him dangerous to enemies because they could never know when he strikes; it also made him dangerous to be put in charge with full control over any task because he could take ten years before bringing in his results and not care about the inconvenience it caused his allies. "As of this moment I see no reason to change what I have already declared to be done, Cagalli Yula Athha is to be monitored and observed. She is not to be approached by any member of this organization nor should any information about this organization ever be hinted at her. If I should find that anyone within the organization acted outside these orders I will take action as I see fit."

With that being said Mr. 4 sheathed his blades back in his large sleeves and exited from the room. After a moment Ms. 3 put her gun away while Mr. 6 complains "Ah man I wanted to see you guys kill each other."

Ms. 3 sighs as she says "I wish I could say not even Mr. 4 would be foolish enough to start a fight with me but truth be told I have no idea what that man is thinking, but that's why you're here Mr. 6. Why do you think he's favoring her, what makes her so special and please don't say it's because she might have potential because I don't buy that for a second."

"HAHAHA, I have no idea that's why being around him is so much fun!" Mr. 6 continues with his jester laugh for several more minutes, Ms. 3 allows herself to indulge in fantasies of killing him but even she knew it was long shot for Mr. 6 to know anything more about Mr. 4 then herself.

"Still I wouldn't say that the girl doesn't have potential…you know about the Destiny program Durandal designed right, that read a humans genes and told them where they would have the most potential right?"

Ms. 3 eyes the jester of death carefully before replying, "Yes, the program was run by the supercomputer that was on Durandal's space fortress and was destroyed when the Freedom destroyed the base."

"Right, like you didn't make a copy of the program for yourself. I hope you don't mind, after Mr. 4 got all over the top with his new girl I became curious so I decided to run a test. I put her DNA through the Destiny program and guess what results I got back."

With intense annoyance Ms. 3 plays along with the game and asks "What?"

"Inconclusive."

Ms. 3 waits a minute to see if Mr. 6 is joking or not then asks "What does that mean?"

"Well Durandal as smart as he was, was still an idiot, when he programmed the Destiny he only had his perfect little world in mind, so any jobs that he thought poorly on like a stripper were never put in. In short there were holes in the program, it could read talent that was in the genes but it couldn't always find a job were such talent was used. I had to get a detail breakdown of her results but Cagalli shows high potential in several areas, the problem is that the program can't read what said potential is because it doesn't fall into any category or job that Durandal had thought of for his perfect world."

"So what you're telling me is that the girl might have potential to become one of else, THAT'S THE SAME THING MR. 4 HAS ALREADY SAID!" Ms. 3 shouts with extreme annoyance at Mr. 6 who takes great pleasure at her frustration. Seeing this Ms. 3 sighs again and begins to rub her head, she would have to go on a killing spree later to work out some of her frustration dealing with these lunatics could bring, she did have one last thing to say. "Let's just say for a moment that the girl does have the potential, even if that's true potential is just that. Potential, hundreds of people have had potential to do something but they never do, why because you need the right mindset to activate the potential. Potential by itself is useless unless you have the will and the mindset to awaken it from somber."

####

_Location: Dark-Angel, inside Cagalli's room. Time: 3:00 AM_

Cagalli wakes up with a start, sweat covered and dripped from her body as if she had taken a swim in the ocean, her eyes were wide open as she rapidly looked around her small empty room like a hunted animal, and her breathed was ragged like she just ran five miles without stopping. It took Cagalli several minutes to calm herself down, she had that nightmare again. It hadn't been enough for that hooded bastard to ruin her life he had to still haunt her dreams. Part of Cagalli wished Shadi had known how she got to Sora.

The last thing Cagalli could remember from that night was the feel of the cold steel as it pierced her chest and the fire she landed on, burning her flesh. She touched and looked down at the long scar that was over hear heart…no a centimeter to the left of her heart, at least that's what Price had told her; if it had been just a single centimeter more towards the left it would have punctured her heart killing her. Why wasn't she dead, who saved her, who brought her here to Sora, was it the hooded man? But that didn't make sense, why go through all that trouble to kill her only to spare her?

No, Cagalli couldn't let herself dwell on that incident; she would deal with it after she got back to Orb so for now the only thing she should focused on is getting back to Orb. Cagalli got up and looked at the clock, it was three in the morning, she could never get back to bed after having that nightmare so she normally started Drake's workout list but Drake had told them yesterday to not workout today. The Dark-Angel docked late last night in Arianna's East Dock. Drake gave them instructions to meet him the next day, which Cagalli guessed was today, and to not do anymore of the workout on the list.

After getting dressed the blond roamed the Dark-Angel. Ironically with no impending doom to occupy her thoughts the nightmare clung to Cagalli like smoke from cigarettes, she needed some fresh air. The night shift was even smaller than normal, because they were safe in the dock outside any combat zone and the repairs to the Dark-Angel had been fully completed. Cagalli stepped out onto the observation deck, the lights in the warehouse had been set on the lowest setting and all of the official employees had gone home except for a couple of security guards.

Crew personnel were allowed to stay on board their ships throughout the night but they had been told to be mindful of the other ships' crew members who might be trying to sleep. Each ship docking warehouse in Arianna could hold twenty battleships, currently there were twelve in this dock including the Dark-Angel. Cagalli began to look around at all the ships, thinking aloud she says "There are so many battleships here for such a small city."

"Traicioships."

Cagalli didn't have to turn around to know who had called out to her. "What's a traicioship and what are you doing still up Shadow?" Cagalli calls out; it had also become Cagalli's habit to watch the stars on top of the Dark-Angel with Shadow occasionally. Shadow had been right when he said watching stars was calming, it helped with the nightmares and when she started feeling homesick. Shadow just always seemed to be hogging the best viewing spot, Cagalli wondered if Shadow just slept outside in that exact same spot every night.

"You first, and a traicioship is a kind of ship that's used primarily by Gundam teams, but its official definition is a transportation vehicle that can carry multiple Gundams over large distances. Battleships can be a traicioship but a traicioship cannot be a battleship like squares can be rectangles but rectangles can't be squares."

"Will you stop shouting and get down here before the security guard shows up and starts yelling at us."

"No, you come up here princess after all the view's better." Shadow grinned slightly when he saw the irritation lines appear on Cagalli's face when he called her a princess, ah some things never cease to be funny. After a moment Cagalli climbed up and sat next to Shadow at the highest point on the Dark-Angel.

"Traicioship huh, I'm actually kind of glad they have their own name, it was starting to drive me a little nuts how different they look from the battleships back on Earth so what are you doing up and out here? You can't see the stars through a rooftop."

"The lights kind of look like stars and I was reading this really old book Kenny recommend to me, what about you, had trouble sleeping again?" Shadow saw Cagalli stiffen as she evaded the question,

"Something like that, what book are you reading?" She was such a horrible poker player still it was her business and if she didn't want to share Shadow wasn't going to force her.

"Naruto, a classic tale of the ultimate underdog." He handed her the book, Cagalli began to flip through it but frown once she saw pictures.

"A manga, aren't you a little old for that?"

"Graphic novel ok and no I'm not. Graphic novels are for all ages and just because they have pictures doesn't make them any less intense or meaningful then all word novels in fact I think it makes it more. Besides I'm getting great ideas about new Gundam moves I can use from it."

"Right because Gundams are all about ninja moves like the shadow clone thingy," Cagalli says heavily on the skepticism. She found it impossible that anybody could come up with a Gundam maneuver from a book about a demon fox ninja guy who looked like he could clone himself.

"Ok miss doubter I'll remember this when I use a move from that book in a real life Gundam battle; a true Gundam fighter draws inspiration from everything around him especially books. I've got to step my game up now that I beat Fachtna, got to defend my undefeated record."

"Didn't Fachtna knock you unconscious a bunch of times though before you finally beat him?"

"Those didn't count as a loss since there was no referee around at the time and my safety pod never went off."

Cagalli smiled at Shadow's stubborn pride and then decided to humor him a little. "You're doing well Shadow but you're still not as good as Kira yet."

Now it was Cagalli's turn to grin at Shadow's irritation lines, payback is a bitch. "I am so better than Kira…and you've been doing good lately too." Cagalli blinks in surprise then blushes and looks down, she wasn't used to being complimented.

"I haven't been doing that good."

"Yea right, you tied with Zain on your first match with him; and I heard he was even tougher to beat this time around plus you beat Roxas in a sparring match the other day and your bench max went up to one twenty." If it wasn't in Cagalli's nature to brag then Shadow would do it for her. Cagalli turns an additional shade of red with each accomplishment mentioned, it was true that she had been working hard lately with her training, the fact that she was the only one to lose during their battle in Haben only served to strengthen how far the others had gotten ahead of her.

Cagalli was determined to prove Sesen wrong, she would show that Fem-Nazi the next time she saw her that she wasn't some helpless cheerleader of the group, Cagalli could support her own weight. "Anything sounds better than what it really is when you say it like that," Cagalli replies.

"Don't sell yourself short, I bet you're better then Kira now."

Cagalli out right laugh at that thought, her better then Kira? "HAHAHHAHAH, yeah right! Me a better Gundam pilot then Kira, HA, not in a million years."

Her attitude bothered Shadow, he wasn't sure why but it bothered him on many levels. "And why is that so funny, or impossible?"

"Because Kira is like the ultimate coordinator!" Cagalli exclaims. Shadow raises an eyebrow in annoyance. "The ultimate coordinator, really?" Shadow asks skeptical. "Ok, maybe that's a little much but if you had seen him pilot a Gundam then you would be with me too, I mean when he's in a Gundam he just feels like the ultimate coordinator. And I'm just me, a natural, no one special; so there's just no way I could ever hope of being a better Gundam pilot then Kira." Shadow looks at Cagalli cross eyed and then stands up.

"I don't think you're giving hard work, and training their proper respect, so what if the guys got genetically superior genes, that just means he has an edge over us. No different from the rich kids who can afford to buy the latest Gundams, hard work and training will always surpass talent!" Shadow shouts out loud causing Cagalli to shhh him as she nervously looks around for security guards. "Besides," Shadow raises his hands and forms a box with his fingers, and looks through it at Cagalli pretending to have a camera.

Cagalli looks at Shadow like he's crazy and asks "Um Shadow what are you doing?"

"I can see it; the spark inside you is growing into a flame. You can beat Kira, I know you can I got a really good feeling about it." Shadow speaks so passionately and with such certainty that for a moment Cagalli believed him, could it be true, if she worked hard, trained her ass off, could she be a better pilot then Kira? Cagalli remembered what Shadow had told Drake back in the beginning, when he first started training them; that she had a spark inside. Cagalli couldn't see it, she never believed that she had any talent as a Gundam pilot, heh she didn't think she had any talents at all, still Shadow's intense electric green eyes held no doubt. Cagalli even notices his neon gauntlet was glowing slightly.

"Let's just focus on getting out of E rank first before we start dreaming crazy." Shadow backs off and shrugs his shoulders as he sits down and resumes looking up at the lights with Cagalli.

"Fine but mark my words Cagalli Yula Athha, you're going to be a better Gundam pilot then Kira one day and be the second greatest Gundam fighter in history."

Already suspecting the answer Cagalli can't resist asking "And who's going to be the greatest Gundam fighter in history then?"

"Me." Shadow and Cagalli break out into a raging fit of laughter and for the rest of the night Cagalli entertained the fantasy that she could be a better Gundam fighter then Kira, now that would be something.

####

_Location: GFC agency building in Arianna. Time: 11:00 AM_

"Would someone like to explain to me why a simple escort mission to Haben which by the way is a week's journey with a Traicioship TOOK TWO MONTHS TO COMPLETE?" Drake shouts at his team; Shadow, Cagalli, Roxas, Nick, Kenny and Jack were sitting down at a conference table while Drake paced back and forth in front of them. Zuke had refused to come stating that he had better things to do then waste his time listening to a natural.

"It wasn't our fault, once we found out Kabira was a princess one thing just kind of led to another and well we were held up." Kenny said weakly.

"Two months, two months, and all for a lousy ten thousand credits; I could have set you guys up with back to back Gundam Fights in that amount of time and made you twice as much money."

Getting tired of Drake's ranting Shadow points out "It will all work out; we stopped a civil war after all so we must have moved up a lot in the rankings."

Drake quickly burst this bubble "You did receive a large number of ranking points for the mission, you moved up all the way to E-4."

"WHAT!" They all shout out. "We stopped a freaking civil war mate."

"We protected a princess!"

"What about all those battles we fought in, didn't they count for anything?"

"What kind of BS is this?"

"What about my battle with Fachtna, he said he was a D-1 so we should have at least moved up into D rank!"

Drake raises his hand and calms down their complaints. "Calm down, don't bother asking me why this or why not that, ranking points are decided by a different department. I will say this though; the ranking department takes in all variables about a mission when deciding how many ranking points to award and moving up from an E-9 to an E-4 in one mission is mildly impressive so you should be grateful. How are repairs coming along with the Gundams?"

"Everyone is all fixed and ready to go except for La Rouge, she's going to take me another week and now that I've got some free time I've started working on some new weapons for Quanlier and Cowboy." Jack says with growing excitement as she pulls out her PDA and jolts down a new idea that came to mind, what she didn't tell Drake was that she was also doing some heavy duty upgrades for La Rouge as well as designing a completely new weapons system. She wanted it to be a surprise for Cagalli.

Drake nods his head, "I suppose that can't be helped, with Cagalli's Gundam still not operational and everyone else's in the middle of upgrades we'll refrain from participating in any Gundam fights this week. Tomorrow I'll personally go over a training session with you guys to see how much you learned from your little adventure. Remember no Gundam fighting now go, get."

"We need the keys to the apartment." Cagalli says not bothering to hide her dislike of Drake.

"HAHAHHA, you can't afford that place!"

"What do you mean we can't afford that place, we afforded before we went on that mission mate?" Nick asks not liking someone trying to pull a fast one on him.

"First of all, you never could have afforded that place. Second, I was covering the rent for you guys mainly because living on the streets is bad for new Gundam fighters; luckily for me you guys now have a ship that you proved you can live on."

Moans come from everyone as they start complaining about various things, like the food. Drake waves his hand in a dismissing gesture. "Yes, yes whine, complain, bitch but the fact is I'm not paying for a nice apartment for you guys anymore so you could either Gundam up and just live in your ship like real Gundam fighters or you could make some money and rent the place for yourselves, maybe if you're lucky Tim will bring you dinner every now and then. Now get out of my hair and do whatever you kids do these days."

"We're not kids Drake, we're young adults." Shadow complains highly annoyed, he was nineteen god damn it, he was considered an adult by the law so that's how people should address him! Drake rolls his eyes and replies uncaringly "Same thing, NOW OUT!"

Highly annoyed at their manager's rude behavior the Shadow Knights file out of the room. Shadow was unhappy to say the least and he made no attempt to hide it. "This is crap, we spent all of that time doing all of that work and we didn't get nothing for it, hardly any money, no credit and no recognition for all that work we did!"

Nick can't help but smile and remind Shadow of his own words. "What happen to Gundam fighting isn't about the money or rank mate?" Cagalli, Roxas, Jack and Kenny start giggling at Nick's play back of Shadow's own words.

Shadow looks back at Nick crossed eyed. "OK fine, so sue me if I want to be A rank right away and those idiots at the ranking department don't know what they're talking about, we fought a whole army and most of us survived."

"Geez thanks," Cagalli mumbles once more reminded that she was the only one to have their Gundam cut in half.

"Drake's attitude didn't help either, here we are risking life and limb and all Drake cares about is how much money we make. What an asshole." Jack says rather loudly. The Shadow Knights are drawing attention to themselves by complaining so loudly and several of the GFC office workers look up to see what's going on. One of those workers happens to be a person with long brown hair dressed in a wannabe rock star outfit.

Tim had wanted to spy on his old friend Drake's meeting but Joey had demanded that he finish the damage claim reports and turn them into the reimbursement department by the end of the day. Judging from the way the team was acting Drake had probably not been using his table manners. Tim sighed, his friend may have a good loyal heart but that didn't stop him from being an ass sometimes. "Oh I see how it is, I bring you guys food and encourage you when you were just starting out doing basic training and now after completing your first mission you don't even bother to say hi to me after you get back."

Everyone turns to look at Drake's good friend. "Tim!" They all say at once while Tim leans back at his disk and smiles at them.

Cagalli is the first to get a word in. "Sorry Tim that we didn't say hi sooner, heh we probably should have went to you first instead of Drake.'' Cagalli wasn't kidding, she didn't like Drake and Drake didn't like her, but Tim was a different story. He was kind, caring, understanding; he talk to them like they were people and listen to their opinions unlike a certain eye patched self-centered jerk who only spoke down to them in a condescending voice and dismissed any ideas they had to offer.

Cagalli would much have preferred Tim to be their manager, even if he did dress in the most unprofessional clothing possible. Sadly when Cagalli subtlety asked if Tim was also a manager he informed her that he worked in the damages claims department of the GFC, completely separate from the Gundam fight management department.

"So what are you up to that's so important that you couldn't even spy on our meeting?" Roxas asks with a sly smile. Tim grinned back in response; the girl had good instincts and was insightful, an interesting well balance combination.

"Unfortunately nothing of real interest, my boss has been on my ass about some of my backup papers so I guess you can say I'm cramming right now." Everyone gets a good chuckle out of this.

"You shouldn't procrastinate on your work Tim." Kenny says resisting the urge to laugh, too bad no one else does.

"HA, HA, very funny so I take it from the loud complaining that your meeting with Drake didn't go as well as you would of liked."

Everyone starts talking or more like complaining at the same time. "We're still in E rank-"

"Oh my god he was so rude-"

"All he wanted to talk about was the money-"

"It's all the mate seems to care about-"

"We save a country and this is how he treats us-"

"He didn't even give us back the apartment-"

Tim raises his hands to stop them from going on "Whoa, whoa slow down, one at a time."

When everyone quiets down Tim shakes his head then smiles. "Ok, from the babble I just heard most of you seem upset because Drake only seems to care about the money which is crazy right, I mean it's not like you need money for repairs, cost of living, to buy better equipment."

Jack stops Tim right there. "We understand that money is important for a Gundam team but it's not the only factor. We did save a country after all."

Tim counters. "True, and that was impressive that you saved a country but simply being impressive isn't enough. If I may I don't think you guys fully understand how reliant you are on Drake fronting you money. Jack you may have built those Gundams from scratch but Drake was the one who paid for all of the parts, he's also been paying for your food, the docking fees, the salary for the Dark-Angel's crew, as well as your arguably small entertainment cash all out of his own pocket."

"But what about all the money we've been winning in the Gundam fights up until the mission?" Nick asks with his Australian accent. It was against Nick's code to ask for someone else's money.

"HAHAHA that barely covered the repairs after each battle, in fact Drake lost money because he had to pay for the transportation fee, which isn't free by the way, to transport your Gundams to the arena. Even with your first mission you only broke even because of all the parts you had to order to repair your Gundams."

Tim could see them casting their eyes down thinking over what he said, he wished that his friend would have just explain his reasoning nicely instead of just expecting them to accept what he told them like trained monkeys. Still knowing the value of money was an important lesson with Gundam teams. "Look I'm not saying you guys did a bad job on that mission, in fact you did far better than what anyone expected but you just can't down play money."

With great distaste Cagalli asks "So are you saying we should have stopped and threatened to kick off a helpless girl and her loyal bodyguard, to leave them at the mercy of that lunatic, until they agreed to pay us every last dime they had?"

Tim counters quickly but not unkindly or unreasonably. "No, what I'm saying is that you guys can't always afford to be the nice guys. Look Cagalli in a perfect world good people who do good deeds wouldn't have to worry about money while selfish people who do bad things would always be in fear of going bankrupt but that's just not how the world works. If you're going to survive in the real world you have to be a little more self-centered, I'm not saying don't help people every now and then but you have to be smart about it. You could have renegotiated the price to twenty thousand credits, not that much more for a country but at least you would have made money from the mission instead of breaking even. You could have negotiated a payback plan, like a loan or a monthly payment plan, if you didn't want to drive Haben broke but still wanted the amount of credits you deserve. The point is there are lots of things you could have done that would have been nice and smart but instead you choose the nicest option and the dumbest. Real life is a balancing act between being a nice person and being a gullible idiot. You guys don't understand how lucky you are to have Drake as your manager."

Looks of disbelief cross Jack and Roxas's face but Cagalli has the most noticeable objection with her rolling her eyes and folding her hands. "It's true, most of the other managers are managing multiple Gundam teams which means they can't front the money for their team's expenses and even if they had only one team most of them wouldn't help pay for stuff out of their own pocket. Which is exactly what Drake is doing, Drake really doesn't care about the money, he wasn't using it anyway but the other managers have started complaining about it. They claim it's not fair for the other teams struggling to pay the bills if Drake keeps loaning you guys the money you need. It isn't serious right now but eventually it will be, that's why Drake is pushing you guys to stand financially on your own feet." Tim watched as they all took this in silence, Tim also knew Cagalli was the Cagalli of Orb on Earth, he had been the one to do the background check on them after all but as of right now he saw no reason to inform her he knew.

He and Drake had had an argument about whether they should help her or not to get home. Drake had eventually convinced Tim that just giving her the answer would only rob her of the valuable experience that comes with struggling to find the answer on her own; although Tim suspected that Drake was being unhelpful because he didn't like her Tim couldn't argue that Drake had made a solid point so as of now he would only guide Cagalli towards the route home. There were issues though that came with Cagalli, several underling bad habits she had developed because of her upbringing and life experiences and one of those things was how she handled money.

Nick and Roxas were indifferent to money, they rarely used it and preferred to let others handle the cash; Shadow, Kenny, and Jack were scrappers, they knew how to stretch a credit and make it last; Cagalli was the only problem. Thankfully Cagalli wasn't a spoiled brat who went around spending money as soon as it landed in her lap but that didn't change the fact that Cagalli CAME from money. She was extremely wealthy back on Earth and the Orb government had always been backing her so the young girl had never had to worry about making money before.

Money had always been there for her when she needed it, that give her the ability to act as a naive innocent kind hearted child would, always giving and never taking but things were different now. They all had to learn to negotiate the cost when the situation changed, even against nice people, they had to be willing to threaten to quit on the job if their price wasn't met. They could be nice but they had to be smarter than this. Tim smiled with satisfaction as he saw each person including Cagalli slowly come to this realization suddenly Shadow with a resolved look in his electric green eyes steps forward.

"This is my fault; I take full responsibility for it. It was my call not to jack the price up any higher, it was my mistake alone."

The rest of Shadow Knights are stunned by Shadow's almost noble statement. Tim expected this from Shadow and waved him off. "Don't worry about it, you guys are still a young new Gundam team, you're still learning. Heh it's why Haben was such a perfect fit for you, a small island nation long since isolated from the rest of Sora. I know you guys must feel pretty good about yourselves holding your own and sometimes kicking the butts of actual military soldiers but keep in mind that Haben hasn't sent in representatives for the GFC in a long time."

Shadow rolls his eyes having heard this before. "Yea, yea we get it Tim." Tim didn't think they did but there was no point in trying to force someone to understand.

"Alright then I just have one more thing to tell you. Drake for all of his tough guy approach to things does care about you." Seeing the eyes rolling Tim goes to reinforce this. "It's true, Drake may not always act like it but he is watching out for you. You may not have known it but Drake had eyes on you throughout that entire mission."

"Right and that's why we almost died a bunch of times." Cagalli replies sarcastically.

"To be alive is to be at risk but trust me when I say that if you were in a situation that Drake didn't think you could handle he would have been there, as for the how well let's just say Drake and I have a lot of contacts throughout Sora and some of them are stealth drones." Tim says with a sly smile and a twinkle in his eye but he quickly moves on before the young ones can ask any more questions. "Anyway look at today as a day off, a well-deserved day off after completing a hard job. Do something you enjoy, have fun." Slowly they all nod their head and then leave.

Shadow felt bummed out like crap, not only did he not advance as far up into ranks as he thought he was going too; he screwed up with the money thing. He sighed; regretting the past won't do him any good so he might as well accept what he learned and move on.

"So what do you guys want to do today?" Jack asks as they walk out of the front door of the GFC building. It was a bright and sunny day in Arianna with the cars and people filling the streets and moving on by.

"How about a movie, Clinger is supposed to be really good." Kenny suggests but Roxas makes a yucky face.

"Ick another war story, no thanks, I mean seriously that's like the fifth war movie this month, can't the movie producers come up with something new." Roxas stops moving and begins to scratch at an itch behind her ear with her right leg.

Nick smiles as he looks down on Roxas and says "Well I guess that means you hate the Diren Age Trilogy mate?"

"Oh my god don't even get me started on that, it's the same freaking plot over and over again. Two sides that hate each other and then try to kill each other, species vs. species and the lead characters always have to lead the fight to stop the fighting."

"Isn't this their like fourth war in twenty years?" Shadow asks prompting Roxas to continue on her rant.

"EXACTLY! Come on already, I'm surprised the whole human race hasn't killed itself off yet or better yet why haven't they gotten all sick and tired of war in general, seriously give the human race some credit after all we're all still here in a time of peace."

"History has proven that wars can not only last for centuries but occur in rapid secession." Cagalli says wisely. Roxas growls annoyed as she replies.

"Whatever, doesn't mean I have to like the same basic story over and over again. How about we go clubbing?"

"At noon? No thanks mate." Nick says as they all resume walking.

Suddenly Cagalli has an idea. "Hey why don't we head to the library?"

"The library!" everyone exclaims, Cagalli frowns with annoyance and snaps

"Yes a library, we only go out partying and to the movies besides I've been on Sora for a couple of months and I haven't been able to read any new books lately. If I'm going to be stuck on this planet for an extended period of time I want to be able to read and it will help me get a better understanding on Sora culture." Jack points at her head and begins to make circles with her finger causing Kenny to laugh until burning scary amber eyes shut him up. Cagalli expected a huge outburst of protest from everyone except Nick, after all other than Shadow reading comics she hadn't seen any of her immature friends reading an actual novel, not even an E-book. Shadow ponders this for a moment then nodded his head warming up to the idea.

"Yea the library, it's been forever since I've been in a library. Let's go." Slowly but surely the others nod their head and agree.

"Yea the library."

"It's something different."

"Let's go mates."

"The nearest library is only a couple of blocks away, we can walk there in like ten minutes." Having made up their mind everyone starts walking with Kenny taking the lead while Cagalli's mouth drops to the pavement in disbelief, she had a whole speech in mind on how reading was good for you.

"Wait, you guys are actually good with this?"

Shadow eyes his friend a little offended. "Of course we're ok with it, what do you think we were a bunch of illiterates who would stone you for suggesting we go to the library?"

"No, I knew you guys could read…I just didn't think you like to and comic books don't count." Cagalli finally receives the protest she had been expecting just not in the way she thought. "I read novels too, The Path to Truth series are all novels and there's also Luqid an awesome series with dragons in it oh and Forgotten City is a great thriller mystery book involving secret societies an ancient myths." Shadow says rather loudly.

"I like a good action book with a mix of romance as much as the next mate."

"I love animal books they're just my favorite, when I was little I use to spend hours reading informational books about all the different types of animals in the universe."

"They're a bunch of books in there on machinery; the library probably has the latest edition of Technology Plus and Gundam Smiths. I can do some research on several new ideas I have for Quanlier's upgrades."

"They also have books about codes too, and the latest on the new computer programs coming out not to mention the Consumer's report on the new laptops." Kenny taps his own laptop in the case he always carried around with him; he wanted to upgrade its processor and graphics card. "Besides the library is like my second school, it's where I learn all the stuff I didn't learn from my computer. I didn't really use the books much because most of the same information can be found online but still, it was a quiet place where I could get away from it all. Oh speaking of that here we are, the library." Kenny gestures to a large building across the street, the building had a dome structured ceiling and like all buildings on Sora, was very large with pavement steps leading up to its entrance. The library looks well-kept with a steady stream of people going both in and out.

"Let's go!" Shadow shouts leading the charge inward.

####

_Location: GFC building_

"You know it wouldn't have killed you to be a little bit nicer to them Drake." Drake sighs as he looks up from his computer screen to see Tim hovering around his desk.

"I will not be nice to someone for just the sake of niceness, that's what they have you for anyway Tim to be the mother hen." Drake replies with a completely straight face.

"HA, HA, very funny but like it or not the way you treat your team effects their morale which is why you should always open up with something positive and end with something positive. You should have seen the way Shadow look after I fully explained the value of the money part of the missions. Would it have been so hard to tell him nice job on beating a D-1; come on even if he had help that's still impressive for an E-9 to have beaten a D-1."

"No, that's actually the worse part of this entire affair."

Tim blinks now heavily confused. "I'm sorry come again?"

"Beating a D-1 is the worst thing that could have happened to Shadow."

"And how do you figure that?"

"Because Shadow is nowhere near D-1 ability, he only won because A. The Pilot had to fight two D ranks and one E rank right before and B. The pilot was still slightly out of shape in terms of Gundam fighting."

Tim can't resist saying "Like how you lost to Shadow, Nick and Cagalli."

"I DID NOT LOSE! I hadn't been keeping up with my training as well as I should have and when I felt pressured I accidently reverted back to my more violent battle instincts…Did you know that Fachtna was stationed at this GFC center when he was a Gundam fighter?"

Tim blinks in surprise "No, I mean I might have seen him before but I never met the guy personally." It was true, E and D rank fighters were constantly swarming in and out and it was simply impossible to know every single one you weren't looking after. Drake nods his head having already suspected the answer.

"The same for me, I didn't even know he was stationed at this GFC until I received the report." Drake leans back in his chair as he begins to fidget with his tie, for Tim he might has well put a giant sign over his head that said I'm worried.

"Well is it really a bad thing that this Fachtna guy used to be a Gundam fighter here?"

Drake looks up at Tim with a knowing eye. "It's a very bad thing, Fachtna disbanded his Gundam team before he left to return to Haben and word has already gotten around that Shadow beat him."

"Ok I still don't get it."

"Just because Fachtna chose to quit being a Gundam fighter doesn't mean the rest of his team did. Some of them stayed in the GFC and started new teams and unlike Fachtna they have been practicing and training in the Gundam fights so you can bet they're not only in shape but just as strong or stronger then Fachtna when he was in his prime. Now tell me Tim if you were a Gundam fighter and you just found out that your old boss, who in your mind had always been stronger then you was defeated by an E-9 what would you do?"

It took Tim a second to figure out what he would do, what any Gundam fighter would do. Go find this punk and see how strong he really is. Tim's brown eyes open wide with this realization "Oh shit."

####

_Location: The Library_

The library was nice, cozy and warm, with couches and tables everywhere. It wasn't pack but it definitely had business. Some people were lying on the couches reading E-books but mostly everyone had come for the actual physical books. Shadow was browsing the fiction section of the library, the shelves were almost double his height but at least there was plenty of room between them. He was looking for a new modern Robin Hood like book that had just come out called Green Hoodie. Surprisingly they had run into Zuke who to quote said "I'm surprise such insects as yourselves would be able to appreciate and fully comprehend the fine art which is reading."

Shadow wasn't sure what kind of books Zuke read but he was still here in a corner all by himself with a book in his hand, Cagalli had gone over to mysteries while Nick went into the historical fiction section. Roxas, Jack and Kenny were in the informational section of the library for their various interests.

"Shadow Zoomarey?" A voice calls out not sounding too impressed. Shadow looks right to see a guy slightly taller than himself, in his twenty's, with blue eyes and shoulder length blond hair. He wore a red sweater with brown jeans and a unity belt of some kind but what caught Shadow's attention was the green Neon gauntlet.

"That's me." Shadow answers turning to face this stranger. The new guy still didn't look impressed, in fact he look kind of annoyed.

"Shadow Zoomarey, as in the one who beat Fachtna Hola in Haben?" The way this guy was looking down on Shadow with his blue eyes was starting to piss him off.

"That's right, who's asking?" The red sweater guy reacted faster than Shadow thought possible; in a second he had pulled out a metal loop thing from his belt and hit a button on it causing the metal to expand outward till its diameter became the length of the average male adult's arm.

It was only once it became larger that Shadow was able to see that the outside edge wasn't rounded like a hoola-hoop but sharp like a blade. It had three large flat curved blades that fitted together to form a perfect circle with a smaller circle in the center where the guy had his hand. Overall it looked like a wheel blade. Shadow didn't have much time to take this in because in the next second the stranger shouts out as his Neon gauntlet starts to shine. "Shadow Zoomarey I challenge you to a Gundam Fight!" and throws his weapon frisbee like straight at Shadow.

Note from the Author: Hello everyone, ok I just want to make a quick note that the Cagalli I'm portraying doesn't know that Kira is actually an "Ultimate Coordinator." Kira never said anything about what he found in the space station in GS and I never saw anything in GSD to suggest he did tell her. So my conclusion is that Kira, probably due to his own fears about himself, has never told anyone except Lacus about being an Ultimate Coordinator or what happen to their biological parents. In the confusion of the end of GS it would have been easy for Cagalli to have forgotten the picture she saw Kira have, plus soon after she joined Orb's government so she always had something on her mind and never a moment to self-reflect. So to sum it up Cagalli is completely in the dark about that, the above reference she made to Kira being an Ultimate Coordinator was a joke or metaphor to describe how powerful Kira is in Cagalli's mind like calling someone a god. This is important because it will come up later in the story so peace for now.


	70. Episode 69 The End of the Undefeated

Episode 69 The End of the Undefeated

_Location: A public library in Arianna_

With no time to think Shadow grabs his sword and yanks upward, the blade flashes in the library lights as Shadow just manages to put it in front of his chest before the Frisbee of death cuts him in half. The wheel hits Shadow's sword with a surprising amount of power, pushing Shadow back and knocking him into one of the bookshelves. The bookshelf along with our hero falls backwards and crashes to the ground sending books flying everywhere and causing several cries of surprise from the general public. Shadow hops to his feet and quickly stumbles to find good footing amidst the fallen books while the disk of doom returns back to its owner who catches it like a boomerang.

"This must be a joke, how in the world is it possible for a short shrimp like you to have even hoped of laying a hand on Fachtna let alone beat him?" The stranger spouts with contempt in his voice which just pisses Shadow off.

"I'M NOT SHORT!" Shadow brings up his sword and prepares to charge while the unknown attacker brings up his own Frisbee like weapon and prepares to throw it when a third voice enters the fray.

"Stop right there!" The voice belongs to an elderly lady with a long nose and glasses on her face, she speaks with the energetic booming voice of a school teacher who just stepped into the middle of a fight. "This isn't some hoodlum riffraff bar where you can pull out those medieval weapons and start a fight! This is a library, a place of peace and quiet, where people come to gain knowledge and small quiet entertainment. Now stop this farce at once or I as the librarian will have no choice but to call the authorities and have you arrested, if you must continue fighting do it outside." Shadow blinks surprised; he was starting to have some serious flashbacks to some of his old teachers back when he was in school.

The two Gundam fighters look at each confused, then actual brains start to kick in as both parties realize they could actually be thrown in jail for fighting in a public place with weapons. Quickly they both put away their weapons and turn to the librarian. "Sorry, we didn't mean anything by it."

"It was my fault, I just attacked without thinking." They both begin to apologize to the librarian who just nods her head mostly satisfied with the fact that they learned their lesson.

"I accept your apology, now before you leave to continue your brawl outside I have to insist you help me pick up this shelf and put the books back in their proper place." The Gundam fighters share another glance then shrug and move to pick up the shelf. After a few minutes of helping the librarian put all of the books back in their proper places they turn towards the exit to finish the fight. Zuke sees all of this and having nothing better to do decides to follow and find out what was going on.

On the way to the exit Shadow spots Kenny checking out books at the checkout center. "Kenny get the team together, we've been challenge to a Gundam fight."

Kenny groans in annoyance. "Seriously Shadow, come on man we're in the library for crying out loud, how the hell did you find someone to fight in a library?"

"I didn't find him he found me!" Shadow nods towards the sweater guy waiting at the front of the library.

"Do you even know who he is?"

"Ummm…no."

"And why is Zuke following you?"

Zuke chooses to step forward to answer this question. "Because I'm bored."

"Look Kenny just get everyone outside."

"Fine, but I still think this is a bad idea." Kenny says while eyeing Shadow's would be challenger, it wasn't just the annoyance of having his quiet day ruined that was bothering him, there was just something about this guy that was giving Kenny a bad feeling. The way he held himself was just closer to a professional Gundam fighter then the way Shadow held himself. In a few minutes Kenny gathered the rest of the Shadow Knights and met Shadow outside. No surprise everyone was annoyed at their trip to the library being interrupted but curiosity won out and they all came outside to look at this new Gundam fighter.

Shadow stood in the front of the group facing his challenger while everyone else stood a little back waiting to see what was going on. The streets weren't very crowded so the two parties were able to face each other without a wave of people in the way.

"So you guys are the Shadow Knights, the ones that fought Fachtna in the Haben desert, and you're Shadow Zoomarey the guy who actually defeated Fachtna." The man with shoulder length blond hair says in a very obvious unimpressed voice which only heightens the renewed tension.

"That's right and just who the hell are you?" Shadow demands as his black Neon Gauntlet starts to glow.

"My name is Blake Grendal and I am the team leader of the Raptures and forgive me but I find it very hard to believe that a little guy like you beat Fachtna in a Gundam fight." Blake's crystal green Neon Gauntlet also begins to glow, his blue eyes look down on Shadow like Zuke but unlike Zuke deep inside Blake's eyes we can see a wrath of fury and anger.

"I AM NOT SHORT, I am average height! You're just freakishly tall!"

"You're the shortest member on your team!" Blake snaps.

"That's a lie!" Shadow screams back. "Cagalli's the shortest member on my team!"

"I am not and don't go dragging me into this!" Cagalli shouts at Shadow highly irritated. Kenny, Nick and Jack groan while Roxas watches on amused. Ever since it was first brought up Shadow and Cagalli have constantly argued about who was shorter.

"First off I'm taller then you and second he dragged you into this by mistakenly thinking you were taller than me."

"Guys can we please not fight about this in front of a challenging Gundam team?" Kenny pleads trying to keep the peace.

"It isn't me, Shadow's the one who just can't seem to accept the fact I'm taller than he is."

"Cagalli is the one who can't get over that I'm taller than her."

Somewhere in Cagalli's mind she realizes this was a stupid argument but Shadow just had a way to draw this kind of thing out of her and right now he was really pissing her off. She marches over to him and gets up into his face. "I'm taller!"

"No I'm taller!" They begin to go back and forth like that while standing on their tiptoes trying to show a clear height difference, it wasn't working, as far as Kenny could tell they were exactly the same height.

"QUIT SCREWING AROUND!" Blake exploded, these little shitheads, the very mention of them even scratching Fachtna was offensive. His Neon Gauntlet begins to glow even brighter something that doesn't slip Cagalli's notice.

_His Neon Gauntlet is glowing brighter than Shadow's now. _She once more feels her own dull metal colored Neon Gauntlet while Blake continues shouting.

"Fachtna was one of the strongest Gundam fighters I knew and I refused to accept that a punk E rank like you was able to defeat him!"

Shadow narrows his eyes and snaps back, "Well I guess you're going to have to deal with it since I did beat Fachtna!"

"Then prove it by beating me in a Gundam fight, Arianna's Gundam arena, one hour from now!"

"Fine just don't cry as much when I beat you there too!" Blake has to stop himself from openly attacking the brat right then and there; he didn't want to get arrested for public disturbance…again so instead Blake turns around and marches off.

Jack waits a minute to make sure the creepy guy in the red sweater was gone then turns around to the others and ask. "Ok now who was that guy again?" Nick, and Roxas shrug their shoulders while Zuke remains as silent as a statue in the background.

"Whoever he was he had horrible taste in sweaters, ugh a complete turn off."

"I might be an old fashioned mate but don't you think it's what's on the inside that counts?" Nick asks as he tips his hat up and looks down at Roxas who was stretching on the ground. "Not when someone has to look at that ugly thing all day, it's been burned into my mind now, if I was to sleep with him all I would be able to think about as we were having sex would be that horrendous thing."

"It doesn't matter who he is because I'm going to kick his ass!" Shadow shouts, he was still pissed off by the encounter.

"Shadow I don't think fighting that guy is a good idea." Cagalli cautions, Shadow even more annoyed turns to look at her.

"Why?"

"Well for starters we don't know anything about him, like what rank he is."

"Or how he knows we beat Fachtna, or for that matter how he knew Fachtna in the first place." Kenny adds casting his vote with Cagalli who nods her head with thanks.

"But you can look that stuff up Kenny."

"Well yea but I won't have enough time to look up any background information, like where he came from, how many fights he's been in, his win and lose record, information about what Gundam he uses. I think we should reschedule the fight to like tomorrow so we can do some research on him."

"Research? All throughout the Haben mission we didn't have any of that and we were just fine."

Cagalli answers this one. "We weren't fine at all, we got our asses kicked a bunch of times and just barely pulled through and other then Fachtna the rest of those guys weren't even professionals."

Jack now joins the conversation. "Don't forget that La Rouge, Cowboy and Quanlier are still out of commission; they're in the middle of repairs and upgrades."

"What about Nightwing?"

"I haven't touched Nightwing but that's it, well not counting his Gundam." Jacks says "his" while eyeing Zuke.

Zuke goes to speak but Nick cuts him off. "We know mate, fighting such an opponent is a waste of your time." Zuke glares at Nick but chooses to ignore him and remain silent. "Besides mate, didn't Drake say no Gundam fighting today?"

This was getting really annoying, what was with everyone telling him not to fight? "Fine, I'll call Drake up and see what he has to say." Shadow extremely irritated uses the phone function on his Neon Gauntlet to contact Drake. Drake picks up after the second ring.

"What on earth could you want now, I just saw you not even an hour ago so how could you possibly want something already?" Shadow in no mood to humor Drake's rudeness, cuts straight to the chase.

"Drake some dude name Blake Grendal just challenged me to a Gundam Fight and I'm going to accept."

"WHAT, NO DON'T!" It was just as Drake feared, he had been monitoring several of Fachtna's old team members and rivals in case of something like this and Blake was the worse of them.

"What do you mean don't?" Seriously what is going on, since when did no one have any confidence in him.

"Blake Grendal is a D-1 Gundam fighter." Drake informs Shadow, Shadow doesn't take this like Drake hopes, he starts salivating on the ranking points he could win by beating another D-1 in a Gundam battle.

"Awesome, I bet if I beat him we'll become D rank." Drake slams his fist down on his office table.

"You're not listening! Shadow you are not on an upper D rank level yet, if you fight Blake you will lose!" The shock Shadow receives from hearing this stuns him in place, he couldn't think, couldn't speak. Cagalli sees Shadow freeze up so she takes the lead.

"What do you recommend Drake; if I'm not mistake don't we lose ranking points from refusing to fight?"

"You don't have to worry that only applies for people in your letter rank, if someone above or below your letter rank challenges you then you have the right to decline the challenge without suffering any ranking point penalties."

"I WON'T DO IT!" Shadow booms startling everyone. "What's with you guys, I beat Fachtna and he was a D-1 so I can beat this guy!"

Drake has had it; Shadow's stubbornness has gotten under his skin. "YOU DIDN'T BEAT FACHTNA!" Shadow takes a step back as if he just got punched in the face. "Fachtna had a foot and a half inside the grave by the time you got to him; he had just fought Raheem and Hirsi who were better Gundam pilots then you plus Serafina who was pretty much your equal. If they hadn't weakened him to such an extent there would have been no way for you to have won and still you almost lost but fighting Blake will be completely different. He's going to be fresh and ready to fight."

Shadow's hands grip into tight fists, he had never felt as angry as he did now. "So what? Screw you all! I'll going to battle Blake and prove to you all that I'm on a D-1 level! Kenny make sure Nightwing gets transported to the city." Shadow shouts as he hangs up on Drake. Kenny also felt worried about the match but Shadow was his friend and he would always have his back.

"Ok Shadow." Shadow nods his head; finally he had at least one supporter. He could always count on Kenny, even if the poor guy did tend to worry himself to death.

Without looking back Shadow walks off toward Arianna's Gundam arena determined to win and to prove himself.

"What are we going to do?" Cagalli asks.

"There's nothing we can do but follow, the mate's determined to fight." Nick answers.

"We might as well go and cheer him on." Roxas adds. Everyone nods their head in agreement and follows Shadow.

####

_Location: Arianna's GFC building._

"You could have handled that better. You're the manager; it's your job to keep a leveled head when your team is being stupid besides you should have known that Shadow would never be able to accept he wasn't at an upper D rank level when he defeated an D rank opponent regardless of the circumstance." Tim says reprimanding Drake who was still at his desk.

"He's a god damn stubborn idiot."

"True, but shouting at him isn't going to make the situation better. What are you going to do?"

Drake gets up from the desk. "I'm going to watch the battle and refrain from telling him I told you so when he loses."

####

_Location: Arianna's Gundam arena_ _Time: 3 hours later_

Kenny sat on the floor typing on his computer while he watched Blake and Shadow pace in front of the elevators that lead to the Gundam fighter's team rooms. They had walked over to the arena a couple of hours ago only to find out that someone was already using it, neither Shadow nor Blake took that well and they have been pacing and complaining in that exact same spot ever since.

"This is why Arianna needs another Gundam stadium, most other cities this size have at least two." Shadow growls in aggravation.

Blake nods his head in agreement, "This is the third time this happened to me this month, seriously what's the point of challenging someone if you have to wait for the stadium?"

Kenny sighed; well on the positive side at least this Blake fellow wasn't a crazy killer like Fachtna, that was a nice change for once. While they were waiting Kenny had talked to Blake, he seemed like a nice guy, a little like a more aggressive version of Shadow other than the fact Blake hated their guts for apparently beating his idol. It was a little weird that anyone could consider Fachtna their idol but in Blake's defensive this was back when Fachtna was still in the GFC and before he went off the deep end. Cagalli, Nick, and Roxas had gone to get some food; Jack was down in the basement level with the Gundams doing some last minute adjustments to Nightwing.

Zuke was standing in the shadows of some corner; Kenny was beginning to wonder if he was a vampire. Drake and Tim knew someone that they wouldn't name and had free access to all Gundam fights, so they were watching the battle live. When Drake and Tim showed up Shadow had just glared at them and refused to talk to them, saying they could apologize to him after he won. Blake's team had been on their way when Shadow had told Blake that the rest of his Gundams were still out of commission. Mr. Red Sweater had been real nice about it and told Shadow he didn't mind fighting him in a one on one battle, for a second it looked like they could actually be friends until Blake told his team to not even bother showing up since it wasn't going to take him long to wipe the floor with this guy.

Yea Shadow didn't take that well, it took Nick and Cagalli to hold him back from attacking Blake right then and there. The lights from the elevator go on as it comes down. "FINALLY!" They both exclaim. For the next five or so minutes the two Gundam teams come down, some happy, some sad, a couple looked just tired. The last person down is the referee who walks up to the two impatient Gundam fighters.

"Ok that's the last of them; do you guys still want to fight?"

"Yes" Shadow answers highly annoyed with everything.

"Ok then it's all yours, we have the classic rock formation set up for you guys, take to your respective team rooms." The referee tells them before walking off. Blake more than ready to get this over with and put this smartass E rank in his place marches to his elevator. "Let's do this."

With a burning determination in his eyes Shadow nods his head; he'll show all those doubters. "Kenny get the others, it's time." Kenny nods his head and moves to get Cagalli, Nick and Roxas from the food vendors while Zuke silently follows Shadow to the elevator.

####

Drake and Tim sat in their usual spot in the stadium; Tim had his binoculars with him. "You know maybe Shadow will win, it's been a while since we've seen him fight in person so he might have grown a lot."

Drake eyes his optimistic friend with skepticism. "I've seen several of his fights through the stealth drones and was including his percent of growth and improvements when I calculated his odds for winning; in all honesty though do you really think Shadow jumped from a upper E rank to an upper D rank in two months?" Reality hits Tim like a ton of bricks; no one except the most gifted prodigies improved that much that quickly. Tim is saved though from having to answer by the referee who pops up on all the monitors.

"Greetings ladies and gentlemen, tonight we've got a special treat for you." For the most part the audience had been in the middle of leaving when the referee pops up. Upon seeing him they quickly move back to their seats anticipating what's to come. "That's right folks, when you bought your tickets you were only expecting to see one Gundam battle but guess what? YOU GET TO SEE ANOTHER!" The crowd roars in respond to the referee with frenzy cheering, tickets to Gundam fights weren't cheap so being able to see two battles was really lucky.

"We've got a challenge on our hands but you're not going to believe it. The Raptures, a D-1 team have challenged the Shadow Knights an E-4 ranked Gundam team." Mumbles of confusion go through and several boos start coming forward, such a large difference in skill would make for a quick boring fight. "Now, now I'll let you know rumor has it that the leader of the Shadow Knights beat Fachtna Hola, who was a D-1 Gundam Fighter several years ago before he quit so maybe these Shadow Knights are more skilled then they're given credit for or maybe they're just lucky. Either way it's a free Gundam fight so you might as well stick around for however long it last. Here's the setup it's going to be a one on one battle between the team leaders; betting booths are only going to be open for ten minutes so for the betters out there you better make a decision and bet fast." Hundreds of people get up from their seats and rush to the betting booths.

"How many of them would you say are going to bet on Shadow?" Tim asks Drake as he watched the crowd of people getting up from their seats, a lot more than usual.

"One or two, maybe, if he's lucky. The only thing going through the rest of the crowds mind is that this is easy money."

####

In the blink of the eye, Shadow was down in the Gundam bay, inside Nightwing getting ready to launch. Kenny sat at the computer section of the Gundam team room; everyone else had pulled up chairs to watch the monitors.

"So Kenny did you find anything while we were waiting?"

Kenny shakes his head. "Not much Shadow, that's the problem with Gundam teams below C rank, no one cares enough about them to report anything on them, I did find out what Gundam he uses. It's a warrior type Spartan class Gundam that's been heavily modified."

Jack pops up on the monitor and finishes explaining. "Spartan class Gundams aren't very powerful but they're agile and fast as crap, so watch out."

Kenny continues. "Also there's something funny about his win lose record, I got to do more research on it before I can tell you anything. His weapon of choice is two Chakrams."

"Chakram, what's a Chakram?"

"Think a Frisbee the size of your arm with a blade edge, actually his chakram has been customized as well. It looks like three really curved swords that connect together to make a perfect circle. Jack I sent you pictures, what do you make of it?"

"Not much more then you, the blades are set up sort of like Quanlier's front claws with beam coating."

"So watch out for the death wheels, got you."

The referee pops up on Kenny's monitor. "Are you guys ready to fight?"

"Oh yea." Shadow replies without hesitation. "Move to the Gundam catapult then."

####

Most of the crowd has returned to their seats while the few remaining stragglers are making their way slowly back to their seats muttering angrily about the short time the betting booths were open. "Alright ladies and gentleman it's time we get this thing started, representing the Shadow Knights, their currently undefeated team leader Shadow Zoomarey piloting Nightwing!"

On the referee's introduction Nightwing is shot into the rock formation arena. Nightwing as usual soars high in the air before coming down; Shadow has a look of utter and absolute concentration as he focuses on the ground then bang! Nightwing lands squarely on its feet, no slipping, sliding, or falling; a perfect landing. For a moment Shadow just stares at the ground not believing his eyes then he goes nuts. "YES, YES, HELL YEA! I DID IT, I FREAKING FINALLY DID IT! Did you see that Kenny, did you see it, I finally did a perfect landing!" Nightwing starting jumping up and down in the arena fist pumping the air in triumph, he might has well have already won the battle. Cagalli slaps her forehead embarrassed to know him while Nick and Roxas try really hard not to laugh, it doesn't work. Kenny smirks and says.

"Congratulations Shadow, you finally were able to do the most basic of all Gundam fighter skills; you should feel so proud."

"Screw you too Kenny." Shadow says far too happy to care. The referee also can't help but throw his own comments into the mix.

"Well hold the phones and stop the presses, the battle might as well already be over because Shadow Zoomarey has finally done a perfect landing. For those of you who don't know this has long been a running debate between me and several other referees over whether or not he's been faking being this bad at landing or was just stupid; judging from his reaction I think we know the answer now."

The crowd starts laughing a little at the referee's joke. "Ok enough fun and games; let's try to get serious again. Representing the Raptures their team leader Blake Grendal piloting his own Gundam Laconia! Gundam fighters ready and go!" Shadow obvious to the start of the fight continues dancing around excitedly. Laconia in no hurry comes out from behind one of rock pillars and stands directly in front of Nightwing. Laconia stands at the same height as Nightwing with different shades of blue for its color scheme; it also has a more roundish helmet as well as its limbs and joint guards.

"Shadow in front of you!" Kenny shouts warning his friend. In the drop of a dime Shadow switches his focus back to the battle and turns to face Blake while simultaneously drawing his beam saber. Nightwing gets into its classic two handed grip and points the tip of its blade at Laconia who still doesn't make any aggressive moves.

"What is this? From our readings Blake launched first into the arena before Shadow but instead of launching a surprise attack he comes out boldly to face his opponent! Is he demonstrating nobility here or is he openly mocking Shadow saying he doesn't need tricks to beat him?" The referee announces to the audience who are growing in excitement.

Nightwing and Laconia stare off as they automatically open up a communication link between the pilots. "Aren't you going to draw your weapon, that circle thing? I thought you wanted to take the first attack again like earlier." Shadow taunts with a smile but Blake smiles back unaffected.

"First of all my weapon is called a Chakram and I will admit to being a little emotional earlier but I'm better now, so come and attack me."

"Be careful what you ask for!" Nightwing charges Laconia, its thrusters flare up to full power in a second as it bridges the gap between itself and its blue opponent. Nightwing brings down its beam saber going for vertical beam slash, time slows down for a moment as Blake's eyes open wide in surprise but Blake is well trained and his battle instincts take over. He pivots on his left foot and dodges Nightwing's blade by a hair. Without missing a beat Nightwing slides on its right foot towards Laconia and brings its blade back up for an upward right diagonal beam slash.

Laconia is just as quick though and finally pulls out its beam Chakram and activates it within the same heartbeat. Laconia brings up its beam Chakram and blocks the attack but Nightwing doesn't back down and keeps up the attack with a series of rapid thrusts and slash attacks aimed at different exposed limbs. Using its beam Chakram Laconia blocks all the attacks and begins to walk backwards on the defensive. "Nightwing takes the first strike and the offensive, oh my god for those of you who bet on this fight only lasting a few minutes it seems like you just lost!"

A large number of moans and groans comes from the audience as the referee just smiles and goes on. "Nightwing is actually pushing Laconia back, and the accountants are telling me that because of the odds those of you who actually put money on Shadow to win, even the small bets, will walk out of here with a small fortune if he wins." One or two people start screaming their heads off for Shadow to win; they're jumping up and down and going wild.

Tim turns to Drake hopeful. "He didn't go down in the first ten seconds like we thought he would."

Drake however still has on a grim expression. "Shadow has improved much thanks to his training in Haben but it's not enough, he only caught Blake off guard because he's better than the average E rank but that doesn't mean he's at an upper D rank level." Laconia ducks down, sidesteps right and then brings up its beam Chakram dodging and blocking several of Nightwing's attacks. Blake had to admit that this Shadow fellow had some skill, he had originally been planning to beat him without even drawing his weapon but that wasn't happening.

This made Blake both happy and angry, happy that the opponent who beat Fachtna had at least some skill but angry that this punk was even putting up a fight against his wrath. Nightwing and Laconia continue to circle each other, Nightwing stabs at Laconia's chest, but Laconia blocks again with its beam Chakram, a downward vertical slash to the blue Gundam's right arm but it leans back dodging the blow, Nightwing spins down and goes for a right horizontal beam slash at Laconia's legs but Laconia jumps back and continues on its defensive against Nightwing's offensive.

Nightwing jumps into the air and does a jump attack which Laconia blocks by bringing up its beam Chakram. This time though Nightwing doesn't pull the pressure off and instead enters into a duel with Laconia, the two Gundams begin pushing their weapons forward with all of their might.

Shadow pops up smiling cockily on Blake's helmet screen. "So do you still find it hard to believe that I beat Fachtna?"

"Well you are fast considering your piloting a Basic Original. Obviously it's been modified but still it's the fastest I've ever seen a Basic Original move. Your sword play from what I can tell is pretty solid but I'm no expert on swords." Shadow grins at the compliments as his ego rose, good that was just what Blake wanted. "Too bad just being a good swordsman won't be enough for this level of Gundam fighting!" Blake shouts as Laconia pulls back on its blade and pivots on its right leg. Surprised Nightwing stumbles forward; Laconia takes advantage of the opening and smashes its knee into Nightwing's stomach.

The attack hits hard and Shadow gets the breath knocked out of him but Blake doesn't let up and Laconia whacks Nightwing in the face with the flat side of its blade.

"Oh, a knee kick and face slap; that's why a little dog shouldn't bite a big dog." The referee shouts as a stunned and dazed Nightwing retreats backwards so Shadow can regroup but its Laconia's turn to show off its speed.

"And your speed is only impressive for a Basic Original; let me show you how fast a real Gundam can move."

Nightwing can only see a blur of blue as its opponent starts getting serious. Shadow finds himself on a desperate defensive as Blake makes full use of Laconia's speed and agility, it's all Nightwing can do to block Laconia's beam Chakram from landing a lethal blow. Laconia is all over Nightwing, encircling it and delivering a serious of rapid slash attacks with its Chakram and strong kicks. It makes Nightwing's earlier speed look like kids' stuff, before Shadow can blink Nightwing gets hit in the chest from three different angles by Laconia and just barely blocks the beam chakram from cutting its head off.

"The faint of heart might want to turn away now because it's starting to look like a massacre. Even though we all knew this was probably going to happen it still looks brutal."

"Kenny isn't there anything you can do?" Cagalli asks, this was getting bad very bad.

"The mate's getting killed out there!" Nick shouts his eyes glued to the monitor.

"Come on Shadow! Don't just stand there try to get some distance between yourself and him!" Roxas starts screaming her head off cheering Shadow on.

"I'm rewriting the code for Nightwing's operating system to increase its reaction time a little but it's not the programming that's the problem, Laconia is just that much faster than Nightwing.

"But in Haben mate Nightwing fought against a Sparta fused Knight Class Gundam."

Cagalli cuts in and continues Nick's sentence. "Which is better than just a regular Spartan Class Gundam right?"

"I don't know OK!" Kenny shouts frustrated at not having answers. Down in the basement Jack was fidgeting with her wrench as she was forced to watch her friend and Gundam get pummeled. She could see clearly that Laconia had several modifications to increase performance. This was her fault, she had gotten so caught up in the upgrades with everyone else that Nightwing just slipped through the cracks. Laconia was just a better built Gundam then Nightwing and it burned Jack's pride to have to admit that.

Laconia finally lets up and jumps back away from Nightwing, the midnight black Gundam is heavily dented in several areas of its body causing many of its joints to creak loudly as it moves, nicks and cuts cover its arms and legs exposing wires but luckily for Shadow most of the wires themselves haven't been cut.

"Finally relief for the poor Gundam fighter after taking such a pounding but can he go on?" The referee asks the crowd.

With Blake's retreat Shadow drops to his knees, his body felt bruised all over and ached, his breath came out in ragged gasps as his body struggled to get oxygen back to the blood. _This is bad, he's faster than I am and he's freaking killing me with that jumping around style of fighting. I got to think of something or else, _Shadow is interrupted from his thoughts by Blake.

"I've seen all that I needed to; you're better than what I expected but in the end you're nothing special, just another amateur Gundam fighter. This battle only confirms my theory that you beat Fachtna through some kind of underhanded trick."

Shadow grits his teeth in humiliation, his attack at Fachtna hadn't been underhanded, a little unconventional but catching your opponent by surprise with something they've never seen before was part of Gundam fighting too. Nightwing stabs its beam saber into the ground and begins using it like a cane as Shadow makes an enormous effort to stand up.

"He's getting back up, he's getting back up!" The referee shouts getting the crowd hyped.

"I don't know what Fachtna did for you that turned you into his fan girl and frankly I don't really care but I did beat Fachtna so you might as well get over it because you're next!"

Blake snapped, this little shit had the nerve to speak down on Fachtna! Blake still found it hard to believe what people were saying he did in Haben, it was true that he hadn't seen or spoken to Fachtna since he retired five or so years ago but the Fachtna Blake remembered was strong, overwhelmingly strong and passionate. He was as fierce as a desert wind, and wore all of his loses proudly on his chest alongside his medals of victory.

Fachtna was Blake's hero, he was one of the greatest Gundam fighters Blake had ever known, a shining example of what a Gundam fighter should be and there was no way that Blake would EVER accept that he was defeated by someone as pathetic and weak as this! Blake trembled with rage but he channeled it into a cold fixed point. "You've wasted my time with gibberish delusions of grandeur long enough; I'm ending this battle now!" He shouts as Laconia throws its beam Chakram at Nightwing. The beam blades become a blur as it takes on a chainsaw type appearance although the sound is more of a sssing then a buzzing.

Nightwing side jumps right dodging the blade with ease. "That the best you got? I was waiting for you to throw that thing, you blew the whole element of surprise with that move when you attacked me earlier and now you're unarmed!" Shadow shouts excitedly as he prepares to charge.

Blake smirks. "You sure about that?" Laconia lefts up its left hand and moves its fingers up and down in the classic come at me gesture which Shadow thinks is for him. Nightwing takes a step forward when Kenny shouts.

"Shadow BEHIND YOU!" Confused Nightwing stops and turns around just in time to see the beam Chakram come straight at it. There was no time to think or dodge as the beam Chakram comes and hits Nightwing in the chest, cutting the Gundam in half. Shadow's eyes open wide in shocked as the safety pod activates, encasing him, and ejects from the Gundam. The force of the chakram sends the upper part of Nightwing's body to tilt forward as the lower part tilts backwards. They both hit the ground with a crash at roughly the same time while Laconia with little effort catches and deactivates its beam chakram.

"And that's the match folks. The winner is Blake Grendal of the Raptures. Talk about a blind side, Shadow never saw that second attack coming. Well I can't say that I'm surprised it turned out this way but hey he did last a lot longer than what most people suspected. Well that's all we have for you today folks so I would like to finish up by wishing you all a good day and I hope you come back again real soon to see another fight."

####

_Location: Dark-Angel hallway Time: One hour later_

Cagalli, Nick, Jack, Roxas, Kenny and Zuke walked down the hallway towards the medical bay where Shadow was getting his checkup. It was standard procedure for the losing Gundam fighter to have a checkup by the medical doctor to make sure he hadn't received any actual injuries during the fight.

"You should go easy on him mate." Nick directs at Cagalli.

"What, why are you looking at me?"

"Because you have that smug look on your face." Jack answers for Nick, Cagalli goes to defend herself.

"Of course I'm happy, aren't you guys; we all told Shadow it was a bad idea for him to fight that guy but instead of listening to us that stubborn idiot went ahead and fought him anyway. As far as I'm concerned he got what he deserved."

"Show some compassion Cagalli, sure Shadow was being a stubborn jerk but he did just lose his first fight." Kenny counters.

"As much as I love to see you with that smug perky look, it really highlights your eyes; I have to agree with the others my love. You know how proud Shadow was of his undefeated record." Roxas says while walking on all fours and swaying her hips in a seductive manner drawing Kenny's undivided attention, Cagalli knowing what Roxas is doing ignores the seductive part of her speech.

"Don't forget that Nightwing got trashed too." Jack adds finally causing Cagalli to bend as they approached the medical bay.

"Alright already, I promise I won't rub it in Shadow's nose. In my opinion though I think you guys are taking this way to seriously, it's not like Haben where lives were on the line, it's just a gam-" Cagalli stops talking as she enters the medical bay and stares in shock at Shadow. He sat on the bed and looked perfectly fine; Price was over by one of the computers typing his report. Shadow looking perfectly fine wasn't what took Cagalli by surprise, what surprised her was the mood Shadow emitted. His eyes were downcast to the floor as a sad depression oozed out of him tainting the air.

It was like someone had killed his puppy and it caused Cagalli to take several mental steps to process and understand what she was seeing. Shadow was the most optimistic person she had ever known; no matter what kind of situation they were in she could always count on him to have that stupid grin on his face. She had seen him look frustrated, angry, annoyed, and a little sad but she had never seen him look this sad or depressed before and it concerned her.

Cagalli wasn't the only one worried as Kenny steps forward first and asks. "Hey Shadow how are you doing?"

Shadow lifts his head up and upon seeing them puts on a mask of his usual happiness but no one buys that for a second. "Oh hey there guys, I didn't notice you. I'm fine, perfectly healthy right doc?"

Price nods his head and replies, "He's perfectly alright physically." Cagalli doesn't miss the "physically comment.

"You got your butt handed to you out there." Cagalli says in a casual manner as she sat down, she wasn't being mean she just wanted to get back to usual things but Shadow doesn't respond like normal.

"Oh yea, sorry for making you guys look like assholes out there." Shadow say in a timid apologetic sad tone of voice.

Every alarm was going off in Cagalli's head now, Shadow admitting he was wrong so quickly? And she just insulted him so he should have said something back like "Sorry we can't all be perfect like you princess" or brought up the fact that she still hadn't won a single match yet but just admitting he was wrong? That wasn't right that's not what they did, they always went back and forth against each other and where was the confidence? He sounded so timid, no matter how stupid his ideas were Shadow always emanated confidence to the point where Cagalli thought he was delusional. This was all wrong, something was seriously not right!

Cagalli glances at the others and saw the same look of worry and confusion. "Don't worry about it Shadow, maybe if you do my laundry I'll think about giving you pity sex."

"Yea mate cheer up, everyone loses once in a while."

Shadow stands up and brushes himself off, not even the prospect of having sex with Roxas could help his mood. "I'm fine guys really." While Shadow continues to lie to them Jack inches over near Price and asks.

"Has he been like this the whole time?"

"Worse actually, until you guys came in Shadow just sat there in a stunned daze like state. I couldn't get a word out of him other than a mumble or two." Damn, Jack knew that Shadow would take his first loss hard but she didn't think he'd take it this hard and it was all her fault too.

"Hey Jack do you mind if I see Nightwing?"

Jack blinks in surprise. "What, why? Nightwing has been transported to our Gundam bay and all but I haven't started working on it yet."

"That's alright; I just want to see him." Shadow says as he gets off the bed and walks out of the medical bay.

"Whoa mate are you sure you should be up and moving so soon?" Nick asks as he and everyone but Price follows Shadow to the Gundam bay.

"For the one thousandth time I'm fine, I didn't actually get hurt all the pain was psychological from the NS system." The others don't fully buy this but it was good to see that Shadow's stubbornness was still standing so they remained silent as he walked down to the Gundam bay. Shadow felt like crap, it started out as good day and then ended up as a horrible day.

Looking back on it now there had been so many mistakes, he should have listened to Kenny about waiting a day to get more information about the guy and why didn't he realize the disk would come back at him from behind? He hadn't thought about it but that was no excuse, he should have realized there was more to that attack then meets the eye, after all he was fighting a D-1. Shadow wasn't sure why he wanted to see Nightwing so badly, maybe a part of him wanted to burn into his mind what his stupidity had cost his partner.

No, it was more instinctual then that, it was something between a Gundam pilot and his Gundam. A bond they shared. Nightwing lies in the Gundam bay, its lower body and upper boy are still disconnected with the wires and gears spilling out like guts, the dents are very visible and stick out like food on a white T-shirt. One of Nightwing's eyes is cracked while the cuts in the armor have been stretched from the damage during the fights making entire circuits and gears exposed. Shadow stood before his fallen Gundam, feeling each and every scratch as if it was his own body that had suffered.

Jack couldn't take it anymore, she just felt so guilty. "I'm sorry Shadow, this is all my fault. I got all caught up in everyone else's upgrades, and Nightwing is so much harder to upgrade then everyone else because I just can't make some fancy new weapon for it; so I just kind of pushed it to the back of my to do list."

Shadow stops Jack from going any further, he might be a selfish stubborn asshole but when he screwed up he owned up to it. "It's not your fault Jack."

Cagalli steps up too and tries to comfort Jack as well. "Shadow's right, you've done everything you can with Nightwing, Cowboy and La Rouge; and Shadow is a decent pilot. Maybe we've just reached the point where we've done all we can with the Basic Original Gundams, it might be worth us taking out a loan to invest in buying a better type and class Gundams? Think about it, the Basic Originals were good for E rank but now that we're moving into D rank territory we're going to be facing a lot stronger Gundams, the Warrior type Spartan Class Gundam is just the tip of the iceberg."

"NO!" Shadow says not loudly but firmly, unyieldingly. "It's not Nightwing's fault either and we're not going to replace him just because we lost one match!" Now Cagalli was growing angry, her sympathy for Shadow was waning as her anger grew by how ridiculous the situation was. Yes he lost, and Cagalli did feel for him a little but come on already enough with the pity party. No one died, no one was hurt, no property was damaged, and they didn't lose much ranking points because the opponent was on such a higher level than they were. This was just a stupid game and in the end the only real consequence Shadow had to face from his loss was his injured pride and in Cagalli's opinion a much needed ego deflation.

Injured pride, Cagalli wanted to laugh at the thought, when Shadow needed his brother to rescue him from a wedding and make him realize that he was doing something completely stupid, when the love of his life chose the military over him because of the mistakes he made, when during his moment of redemption when he was finally going to take command and make it known to the world what side Orb was on only to be cut off and need Lacus to come in and save him THEN he can talk to her about injured PRIDE!

Pride, such a stupid thing; pride was what killed her father, it was what made Yuna and his father refuse to even accept she might be right, it's what made both leaders of the PLANTs and the EA refuse to come to peace terms in both wars regardless of how bad things got. If Shadow was smart he'd get rid of his pride like she had, the only thing her pride had ever done for her was almost get her nation destroyed and cost her the love of her life. It hadn't been hard, like cutting off a limb that had become so grotesque through years of injury that it was unrecognizable anymore.

Now Cagalli set objectives she wanted to complete and number one was getting back to Kira, Athrun and Orb and from what Shadi had told her, her best chance was through the Gundam fights. That meant winning and Cagalli honestly believed they couldn't continue winning with what everyone had told her was the lowest form of Gundam on the planet, the Basic Original. Yet here was Shadow blocking her, and she wasn't going to let him get away with it. "HIM! Shadow Nightwing is a machine not a person and as time moves forward it becomes necessary to replace old machines to get new ones."

"Nightwing's more than just a machine, he's my partner my friend! Jack can just keep giving him upgrades so that he can keep up with the times."

"God damn it Shadow Nightwing isn't ALIVE and that puts all the pressure on Jack which isn't fair. A Gundam is just a tool Shadow and when it becomes broken beyond repair or outdated then you get a new one rather than constantly trying to tweak it so it can keep up with the newer models!"

"A Gundam is more than just a tool for its Gundam pilot; it's his soul taken physical form! Nightwing is my soul and he's not going!" Shadow shouts in a loud voice catching Cagalli by surprise. That was the most insane thing she had ever heard, she couldn't even think of how to respond and before she could Shadow sighs and goes back to his depressed mood. "Look I don't want to argue with you, I just want to keep Nightwing now if you guys don't mind I like a little time alone with him." The others glance at each other still unsure of where Shadow's head was at but they slowly decided to respect his wishes.

"Alright mate."

"See you later Shadow."

"If you need to talk just let me know."

They say their goodbyes as they back off some distance and then hide behind something. They wanted to respect Shadow's wishes but they were still worried about him and what he might do so they still wanted to keep an eye on him. Shadow unaware that his friends were still watching him turns to look back at Nightwing, he takes a couple of steps closer to his Gundam, close enough that he can place a hand on Nightwing's chest section. So much emotion passed through Shadow like a tidal wave, his eyes started to moist up as the first tear falls from his face.

"I'm so sorry buddy, I'm sorry Nightwing, it's not your fault that we lost it's mine. If I had been a better pilot, a smarter stronger pilot this wouldn't have happened to you." Shadow says as tears flowed down his face creating rain on the floor.

"He's crying?" Cagalli says to herself surprised. They had all split up into groups of two when picking their hiding spots and "lucky" for Cagalli she was stuck with Zuke; at least he didn't talk unless spoken too. Frustration gripped at Cagalli as she tightens her fist. "I don't get it, why is he crying, why is he taking this so seriously? It's just a game. Is it because of his pride?"

"You stupid natural." Cagalli blinks in surprise at first not knowing where the voice came from then she slowly turns around to see its source, Zuke. "Pride, yes I suppose there is some of that involved but the truth is rather simple, he cries because these fights are important to him. To you they seem trivial and insignificant in the grand scheme of things, they're just a game, but to that stupid natural out there they're more than that. Every single fight matters, every single fight is important. Not because of some higher reason, the Gundam fighters are simply important to him and that is why to lose is so painful for him but I wouldn't expect you to understand."

Cagalli finally recovers her voice from the shock she received from Zuke actually talking to her without first being asked a direct question. Glaring at him she asks, "Why because I'm a natural?"

Zuke looks down at her. "No because your eyes tell me that you haven't cared about something that much in a long time." Cagalli felt like she just got bitch slapped, she wanted to argue, to say he was wrong but the truth was that it had been a long time since Cagalli had felt that passionate about anything of her own. Her protection of Orb wasn't done out of love so much as loyalty, and wanting to protect what her father had given his life for. So she protected it with an obsessive compulsion but in truth without that compulsion she would just feel numb about everything.

She turned to look back at Shadow, she suddenly found herself envying him; she wished she could feel that strongly about something.

"I promise you Nightwing we're going to be better from this battle, I'm going to get stronger, smarter, and faster and the next time we take Blake on we're going to crush him." Shadow says still crying.

"Well said." Shadow blinks in surprise and turns around to see Drake standing behind him. Embarrassed Shadow goes to rub the tears out of his eyes. "I'm not crying ok, I just got something stuck in my eye and what are you doing here Drake? Did you come here to rub it in my face that you were right?"

Drake doesn't move but stares evenly at Shadow with his one eye. "No, I came to see how you were doing. Did you think you would remain undefeated forever?"

Shadow shakes his head. "No, I knew I would lose someday."

"Then why are you so upset?" Drake asks as he steps closer to Shadow while looking up at Nightwing.

"Because it still hurts ok! Just because I know I wouldn't always win doesn't mean losing hurts any less!"

Drake nods his head, it was a good answer. "No A rank team in history has ever made it to A rank undefeated."

Shadow annoyed asks. "So what, do you have a point Drake?"

"Yes, this maybe your first loss but it won't be your last. Winning and losing is part of being a Gundam fighter and each loss I promise you will hurt just like this one so if you don't think you can take this pain let me know now."

Shadow wanted to answer right away but he stopped and thought about it. He knew losing would hurt but he didn't know it would hurt this much, could he really put up with this pain over and over again? Then again his life hadn't been the easiest, for five years in elementary school and middle school, he had to put up with harassment, verbal insults and physical abuse from bullies and that had hurt a lot too.

"A wise man once told me that often when pursing our dreams we experience pain greater than we ever thought possible but that's what made all the good dreams worth it. I'm not quitting, I won't ever quit." Drake smiles, to be a good Gundam fighter you had to be passionate enough about it that you would cry when you lost but you also had to be tough enough to take your dreams getting stomped on now and then. Satisfied that Shadow passed both of these marks Drake turns around and begins walking away. The episode ends with him calling out over his shoulder,

"Good, meet me at my office tomorrow then so that we can regroup, this battle against Blake is far from over, it's only beginning."


	71. Episode 70 Qualities of a Gundam Fighter

Episode 70 Qualities of a Gundam Fighter

_Location: Dark-Angel, living room_

Shadow was starting to feel better; his friends had taken his sorry ass out to the bars last night. At first he felt so depressed that he didn't even feel like drinking, which was ironic according to Kenny because people normally drink when they were depressed. After several failed attempts to cheer him up Roxas finally succeeded by finding a very attractive women, like model level good looking, for Shadow to sleep with. Roxas had finally been able to talk him into trying to pick her up and it had been so worth it; the flirting and charming part of picking up women was always fun but that girl had turned out to be a freak in bed.

It had been awesome, the things she did to Shadow had blown his mind away in pleasure; he had spent more than half the night "not sleeping". Shadow grinned to himself as he fondly remembers both Cagalli and Nick telling him that no woman would go with Shadow once they found out he lived on a Traicioship and then he proved them wrong. Right now Shadow was watching TV in living room A of the Dark-Angel with Nick and Kenny; the Dark-Angel had several living rooms where couches and lamps were screwed to the floor and the flat screen TVs were attached to the wall, living room A had been assigned for only his, Kenny, Roxas, Nick, Cagalli, Jack, and Zuke's use.

They were watching a debate on whether a psych attack by a MSA user should be classified as rape or assault under the law. "First of all let us define the term of rape; the legal definition of rape is the forcible sexual relations with a person against that person's will. The key word there is sexual and as we all know a mental or psych attack in itself is not a sexual act therefore the current ruling of a mental attack as mental assault is-"

"I'm going to stop you right there Mr. Wording, it is a known fact that sexual assaults almost always have a higher degree of punishment then just a mental assault which is why we are arguing for the law to be change to have a mental attack classified as a type of sexual assault. I will acknowledge that your definition of rape is correct but it is a proven fact that the physiological damage caused by rape is the most harmful to the victim and can take years if ever to recover from. And a mental attack is purely psychological which makes it even worse."

"But Mr. Shuneman psychological damage is received from any type of attack, why if I were to beat a man with a baseball bat he would most certainly be traumatized by the event and in essence that is what a psych attack is, beating a person's mind with a baseball bat."

"Mr. Wording I must disagree with you, a mental attack is so much more than just that. When a criminal MSA user attacks a person they can take control of that person's mind, see all of that person's most intimate memories including seeing the victim make love to his or her spouse, the birth of their children, the death of a loved one; their most private moments are exposed to a complete stranger. This kind of violation of their privacy is very similar to what most rape victims go through only it gets worse. A criminal MSA user can alter those very same memories, your most treasured moments in life changed for their sick pleasure. There was a court case just last year where a man was convicted of using his MSA abilities to alter a women's memory into thinking she was a hooker and he was her pimp, she has still not recovered from the experience."

"Memory alteration is a very serious crime that receives very strict punishment and I want to make a point to the public that it takes a very high level MSA user to be able to do it successfully otherwise either nothing will happen or the brain will revert back to its original programming which is what happen in that very same court case if I'm not mistaken."

"You are correct sir but what about the mind control? A skill that almost all MSA users can do, and I like to highlight the legal definition of mind control which is very different from mind viewing; mind viewing is the act of reading a person's mind and viewing the information against his or her will or knowledge; mind control is the act of forcing a person to do something without their consent or against his or her will using any form of mind manipulation. Now tell me does the definition of mind control sound familiar to you because to me it sounds and an awful lot like the legal definition of rape."

_Wow they're really going at it. _Shadow thinks to himself as he watches the two lawyers argue it out. Jack, Roxas and Cagalli walk in.

"You guys ready to go?" Cagalli asks; Kenny switches off the TV while Shadow jumps up and stretches.

"Yep, just waiting on you girls." The girls had taken longer than the guys to get ready which was why Shadow was even watching the news anyway, normally he hated the news. The only thing they ever talked about was depressing stuff.

"Then let's go meet Drake."

####

_Location: GFC building Time: 10 minutes later_

Drake sat across from the Shadow Knights in the conference room; he had even managed to get Zuke to show up for once. "I want a rematch!" Shadow starts right off the bat, the others groan and answer for Drake why that's a bad idea.

"Why, so you can get your ass kicked again?" Cagalli says gently but her worry is relieved when Shadow turns to glare at her.

"No Miss Smarty Pants Princess, I'm going to kick _his _ass this time!"

"It's out of the question Shadow; I haven't even started on the repairs to Nightwing." Jack tells him; Shadow already knew this but every instinct in him was telling him not to let it end like this, he was dying to get some payback.

"Even when Nightwing is repaired you'll find it a lot harder to get match with him this time around." Drake says calmly.

"What do you mean, he challenged me last time?"

Drake sighed, he had hoped it would be obvious but it was apparent that Shadow wasn't getting it. "That was different, last time you were an unknown variable to him plus there were the rumors floating around that you beat Fachtna so he wanted to find out firsthand how strong you really were and now that he has, he no longer has any interest in you. Knowing Shadow I already took the liberty of talking to the Raptures manager about the challenge and Blake is not interested."

"And since we're not in the same letter rank we can't force him to fight us." Kenny finishes for Drake. Their manager nods his head causing Shadow to grind his teeth in frustration.

Nick begins to think about their options out loud. "Well we can always go and challenge lower end D rank fighters, some of them must still be interest in fighting us?"

Drake shakes his head. "The situation is far worse than that; because of the overwhelming loss Shadow suffered from Blake all interest in the Shadow Knights has dried up. Before the battle I had at least a dozen requests for a challenge by D rank teams and now they've all been retracted."

"Well can't we get them back by taking on another mission?" Roxas asks.

"Possibly but I get the feeling that Blake still wouldn't be interest in accepting your challenge regardless of how many missions you complete, you could always do a couple of missions to get interest back from other D rank fighters and then defeat them to move your rank up to D rank; that way Blake would have no choice but to fight you."

"But that will take forever!" Shadow exclaims with the idea of how long that would take unacceptable in his mind.

Drake smiles having expected and waited for this moment. "I agree, my time is far too valuable to waste with such slow progress so it's a good thing I found another way where you guys can force Blake to face you in battle." Shadow is practically salivating at this point in time already thinking about the rematch.

"Well what is it already?" Drake smiles, Shadow was so easy.

"Arianna's D-rank tournament," Drake waits a moment to bath in the others surprise and awe then continues. "Arianna's D-rank tournament is held once every six months and our dear friend Mr. Grendal has been the champion for the past two years which means he will definitely be participating this time around to defend his title. If you can enter the tournament and fight your way through it you will come face to face with Blake in a fight that he won't be able to decline." As Drake stood there letting the others process what he just told them, Shadow's brain slowly came to halt, shocked.

A tournament, he knew that there were always tournaments for Gundam Fighters everywhere but most of them required a D-rank or higher to participate, tournaments were a Gundam team's treasure trove, it meant a chance at a lot of ranking points, money and to fight against strong opponents. The gears in Shadow's mind began to turn faster and faster as he grew more and more excited. This was it, this was a chance at the big time, if they could win people would start giving them respect and acknowledge that they're a real Gundam team. While Shadow's thoughts continue to spin faster and faster as his excitement became an electric storm Cagalli asks the obvious question.

"Um don't we have to be in D-rank to be able to enter it?"

"True, Arianna's D-rank tournament is only open to D-rank Gundam fighters."

"Then why even bring it up?" Jack asks annoyed but Drake just smiles at her and replies.

"Because the tournament is set up to allow one wildcard spot for an E-rank team." Everyone's ears perk up when they hear this, it sounded almost too good to be true. "Of course getting the wildcard spot is not going to be easy, there's always a large interest in it amongst E-rank teams. There's going to be a competition for it, well it's sort of more like a challenge or test if you will, a test where only one team can pass and enter the tournament but be warned not a single E-rank team has been able to pass the test to get into the tournament in the past ten years."

"Well that's cryptic, care to give us any more details?" Roxas asks as she stretches and yawns.

"Now where would the fun be in that? Lucky for us the tournament is a month from today but the wildcard spot will be decided tomorrow. Show up at Deniz plaza on Wika street at six AM sharp, don't worry you won't need your Gundams and only the actual pilots need to go so Kenny and Jack can stay behind and begin repairs to the rest of the Gundams. The rest of the details will be given to you when you get there."

"That's it, that's all you're going to tell us? How are we supposed to prepare if we don't even know the rules or even what the hell we're supposed to be doing in the first place and even assuming we pass this test thing you haven't told us how many people are going to be in this tournament in the first place, or how its setup and who we can expect to be in it!" Cagalli challenges Drake, she might have been more able to accept going on blind faith if she didn't disliked him so much.

Drake glares at Cagalli and replies "I will give you all that information when and if I think it's the right time."

Before Cagalli can say anything else Shadow stands up his electric green eyes shining with their intensity. "So let me get this straight, we're up against this unknown test to get into this unknown tournament, to fight unknown opponents and then get into a final showdown with Blake?"

"That's right."

"Awesome," Shadow says with absolute sincerity while Cagalli slaps herself on the forehead. "Come on guys let's go!" Shadow turns to lead the others out of the conference room, his excitement was at its climax and he felt so pumped and ready to take on the world. Since Drake was obviously not going to give them anymore information the others just shrugged their shoulders and got up to follow Shadow.

"I would like a word with you Zuke." Zuke stops as the others all leave the room and close the door behind them. He turns to look at Drake with his condescending eyes.

"I have no interest in the words of a natural." Zuke turns to leave but Drake smiles like a fox; he had expected this kind of response by Zuke and was fully prepared for it.

"Really, even if they're about a strong opponent you can fight against?" Zuke stops in misstep, his superior mind began processing information at a rapid pace. The way the natural spoke underlined a hidden meaning and information he possess. "That's right, you seem to forget that I'm the one that recruited you so I know all about the reasons why you joined the Gundam fights. I know you need to beat strong opponents in order to prove and redeem yourself so you can rejoin Spatium,"

"Speak another word and I will snap your neck like a twig natural!" Zuke booms, he was normally good at masking his feelings in an uncaring attitude but Drake could see clearly that he had agitated the proud coordinator…good. Drake had to be careful how he dealt with Zuke, although the coordinator normally looked down on naturals and considered them not worth fighting if pushed Drake had no doubt Zuke would attack him. It wasn't that Drake was afraid to fight Zuke, he had fought several Neon coordinators of high levels before and won and Zuke was not as well trained or as strong as they were so Drake was certain beyond doubt he could win.

It was actually beating the coordinator that concerned Drake; he wasn't sure how Zuke's psyche would handle losing to a natural. Worse case would be a full on mental breakdown, so that meant Drake had to balance pushing Zuke and not pissing him off to the extent he would attack. The time though when Zuke would no longer be able to sit on the bench during a Gundam fight was rapidly approaching.

Zuke stared at the one eyed natural as he considered killing him. He wasn't sure how that lesser being came to gain the knowledge he had but the natural knew too much, still Zuke wasn't stupid. He couldn't kill the natural in the middle of the GFC building, the place was packed full with dozens of people capable of fighting and many of them were also coordinators and besides as much as Zuke hated to admit it he needed the natural, he needed this pathetic weak Gundam team which was why he couldn't just quit now and walk away.

After taking a moment more to calm himself down Zuke speaks. "If that is all then I will be leaving."

Zuke moves to the door but Drake still gets the final word in. "I promise you Zuke if you go you will not be disappointed in the opponent you will face." Zuke pauses at the door for a moment then exits.

####

_Location: Building with the spiral staircase Time: 5AM the next day_

The spiral staircase that Drake had them run up during their first training regiment, Shadow's old enemy. He looks up, he could only just barely make out the top, it was so high up yet the memory of Drake jumping up there was forever engraved in his mind. Shadow had gotten up ridiculously early this morning, it was a good thing Cagalli had nagged him to go to bed early last night or else he would have never gotten up. He had left the others back at the Dark-Angel after they had all agreed to meet at a diner across from Deniz plaza at 5:30 AM.

Without hesitation Shadow jumps to the first cement railing and begins to jump upward, he found it much easier to do the technique this time around. Before he had to concentrate really hard in order to get the timing and the placing his weight and the jump right but this time it came naturally to him; probably thanks to Raheem's footwork training. Shadow blinked in surprised as he cleared the first four cement railings with ease. He was rising higher and higher now, each jump getting him closer to the stars. It wasn't just the footwork, Shadow's legs felt stronger; he didn't have to push as hard to get off and his endurance was better too, he wasn't getting as tired as fast as before.

Right, left, right, left Shadow jumped in a zigzag fashion to the top; he was getting closer but he was quickly reaching the limit of his endurance. His legs were beginning to burn as his muscles demanded a rest. At the back of Shadow's mind he knew he should stop, he was dangerously high now, he was about thirty flights of stairs up but still he kept going, kept pushing himself. This was the highest he ever gotten and yet he was still so far away from the top. Shadow jumped off the right side cement railing but as he put his foot on the left side cement railing his muscles finally gave out on him as he finally slipped.

The world suddenly turned upside down on Shadow as he began to fall backwards upside down. "Shit." Shadow says as panic begins to grip him as he sees how long a drop it is to the ground, this is going to hurt. The cement railings he had jumped on earlier now zips past him as the ground rushes up towards him but before Shadow hits his terminal velocity he notices a golden blur come out of nowhere and head straight for him. Suddenly Shadow feels himself stop falling as someone catches him bridal style, with one arm under his leg and another under his back.

Shadow looks up to see who his savoir is. "Dumb ass!" Cagalli snaps pissed, the momentum she gained from jumping from the lower cement railing was enough to stop Shadow's fall and carry them both over to the next cement railing only instead of jumping off this one and onto the next she climbs up and over it back onto the actual stairs. Cagalli drops Shadow as she collapses on the stairs next to him; they're both breathing hard. "Are you insane? That's a three hundred and sixty foot drop, if I hadn't caught you, you would of DIED!"

Shadow after catching his breath gets up and looks over the side of the rail to see where they were. He hadn't fallen that far and Cagalli had been in good stride, she would have definitely had gotten as far as him. "You've gotten really good at this."

"Don't change the subject!" Cagalli snaps despite the blush on her face from the compliment; she was so mad at Shadow now, if she had walked in a minute later she would have found a very flat human. "What were you thinking, if you were going to do this you should have had one of us come and spot you! If Jack hadn't asked me to look after you-"Cagalli abruptly stops herself but it's too late. Shadow turns to look at her and gives her a sad smile.

"Jack asked you to look after me? She's still worried about me?"

"Yeah well I mean we all are. You took your lost with Blake so hard and you've been off your game since, even today. What you just did was really reckless Shadow, even for you."

Shadow looks away from Cagalli and back up at the top of the spiral staircase. "Do you think it's pathetic that I'm taking it so hard?" Cagalli blinks startled, part of her did think Shadow was being a little stupid letting something as trivial as this get to him…but that wasn't the only part.

"A little but I also envy that you can care about something so much that even a single almost insignificant loss can affect you this much. I wish I had something as important."

"What about Orb?"

"Orb is important to me but…it's not the same as how the Gundam fights are important to you. It's hard to describe and anyway that's not what's important right now, where's your head at Shadow, why are you even here?" Shadow runs his hand through his hair. "I don't really know…I guess I was just nervous about the event today, more so than usual which is weird since I've never been this nervous before a fight so I was looking for something to do to take my mind off things and since it's been a while since I came and tried to hop to the top here I thought I give it a try. Heh as you can see I didn't get far, the top still looks so far away." Shadow speaks with such longing that Cagalli instinctively looks up to try and see what it is that Shadow is so entranced by. She didn't get it, why was being at the top so important to him? Well even if she didn't understand she needed to think of a way to cheer him up, if he went into whatever they were doing with that negative attitude it probably wasn't going to end well. Cagalli racked her brain to try to think of something to say to Shadow.

God why was this so hard, if it was Kira or Athrun then Cagalli would know exactly what to say but all of the lines that worked for them would be meaningless to Shadow. _God why do they have to be so different from each other, come on Cagalli THINK, I'm the leader of a nation for crying out loud so why can't I think of something to comfort one single person?_It hit Cagalli like a freight train, a memory of when she was younger. She had been having a hard time learning to ride a bike, she had fallen down a lot and was just about to start crying and quit when her dad told her to turn around. He then said something that made Cagalli feel warm.

"Shadow why don't you try looking down?"

Shadow turns back to look at Cagalli confused. "Um, ok." He looks down as Cagalli says

"Look how high up you are and how far you've come." Now that Cagalli mentions it they were up pretty high, had he really come this far? "The wisest man I have ever known once told me while it's important to always be looking up at your goal you need to glance down every now and then to remind yourself how far you've come, how much you've improved." Cagalli spoke warmly like a soft flame. It felt good reminiscing about her father, it lightened her spirits.

"Something your father said?"

Cagalli blinks in surprise. "How did you know?"

Shadow gives her a lopsided smile. "Because other than him how many wise men do you actually know?"

"A bunch! There's…KISAKA, my old bodyguard! He's another very smart and wise man I know." Cagalli shouts with triumph as she also hopes Shadow doesn't ask her to name another.

Shadow takes this in then smirks at her. "You have a bodyguard?"

"Yeah when I was younger, why?"

"You're such a princess." Shadow says slyly causing Cagalli to gently whack him on the back of the head. "Ow"

"Come on you moron, it's almost time to meet with the others."

####

_Location: Deniz plaza Time: 6:00 AM_

Roxas had never realized how many E-rank Gundam teams there were in the city until she went into the plaza. It was unbelievable; traffic had been shut down for a couple of blocks around the area. It was packed here; Roxas couldn't even walk on all fours because there was just no room.

"There must be hundreds of people here mates." Nick says with a whistle as he glances around. He, Roxas, Shadow, Cagalli and Zuke had shown up about a half an hour ago and the place was already this packed. A huge stage with several enormously large monitors had been set up in the middle of the plaza so that everyone can see what was going on.

Kenny and Jack were back at the Dark-Angel diving head first into the repairs and upgrades for their Gundams. "It's about to start, you guys ready?" Shadow asks, they were all armed and ready for whatever was coming and judging from the expressions and clothing of the crowd everyone else was too.

"Attention, can I please have everyone's attention?" A mildly tall black man with glasses walks onto the middle of the stage and looks out at the large crowd gathered before him. As always the wildcard spot for the D-rank tournament drew a crowd, hundreds of meaningless faces looked up at him lacking any heart, trauma or commitment.

Almost everyone here were probably posers who would soon grow bored of the fights and quit or run out of money to finance their teams and give up. As for the few diamonds out there, those with the right emotional backbone well they most likely lacked the actual skill and training that define D-rank which is why it was rare for anyone to actually win the wildcard spot despite the turnout.

"My name is Joey Caster and for those of you who don't me I run the GFC operations in Arianna. Today as I'm sure you are all aware of we are hosting the competition for the wildcard spot in our coming D-rank tournament; now I want to make a point of stating that the wildcard spot does NOT need to be fulfilled for the tournament in fact we haven't had it filled in several years so if no one can accomplish the task no one will get the spot. Now for the rules, standard Myrtus weapon laws are still in regulation and the police have been informed of the event today and will be out in full force so please don't do anything stupid. For today only public disturbances will be ignored so you can engaged fellow Gundam fighters in open combat but Gundams are still forbidden in non-designated areas in the city, also attacking civilians is strictly forbidden although I hope that you already knew that. Killing ANYONE is also strictly forbidden and you will be arrested and prosecuted by the law but once more I hope you already know that. Now onto the main event, somewhere in the city you will have to find our representative and retrieve a medal from him."

_Well that doesn't seem so hard, _Cagalli thinks. Joey goes on "But you will not be given a picture of our representative." This causes a commotion in the crowd especially among the people who weren't told what they would have to do including the Shadow Knights.

"How the hell are we supposed to find someone if we don't know what they look like?" Cagalli shouts. Joey waits for the outcries to die down but after a minute Joey does to take matters into his own hands.

"SILENCE!" Joey booms bringing the noise from the crowd to a complete halt. "Enough! Let me tell you something amateurs, professional Gundam teams don't whine about the missions they're given they deal with it so if anyone can't take it they might as well quit now!" Joey waits another moment for his words to sink in then he goes on. "Our Representative will remain inside the city limits. He will also not willingly give you the medal if you find him; you'll have to take it from him by force. The medal is of the Myrtus national symbol. You will have until twelve AM to find him and take the medal. He will be wearing a white scarf."

Joey begins to move off stage but then remembers something. "Oh one more thing, the theme for this test is the qualities of a Gundam fighter, that's all so good luck and begin!" The moment Joey says begin a large majority of the crowd shatters running at full force in multiple directions as everyone begins to search the city for this mysterious representative. Shadow could literally feel the force of the entire crowd rip apart as everyone begins their search to find the representative before everyone else.

"Oh no you assholes don't the Shadow Knights are going to be the one to take the wildcard spot!"

Shadow takes off at a full sprint left, smack dab in the middle of the mob that's moving left. He vaguely hears Cagalli call out "Shadow wait!" but between the volume of the crowd and the thunder of running feet she's quickly drowned out. It made Shadow feel slightly bad but he couldn't wait, look how many people there were, he had to get that medal first!

####

_Location: GFC building_

"It's begun." Tim told Drake as he sat down on his friend's desk. The E-rank managers were buzzing as people began to boast or speculate about the outcome of the test.

"This is a waste of time." One of the E-rank managers Shiua says.

"Come on Shiua lighten up, it's a good way for the kids to enjoy themselves a little." Another manager name Ted replies.

"It might be fun for them but it's a huge pain in the ass for us, right now the complaint department is getting bombarded by phone calls from the police, public and God knows who else, tomorrow we're going to have to shift through it all to find out how much our teams owe and then figured out how they're going to pay for it."

"Well anytime we have an open competition without Gundams it's like that right?" Risha one of the newer E-rank managers asks.

"True but at least for those we have a clear line of progress; here we just have a bunch of kids running around the city all day creating mischief all for nothing."

"Well how else do you want to give the wildcard spot away for the D-rank tournament?" Ted asks.

"I don't even see the need for the wildcard spot in the first place, even on the off chance an E-rank team occasionally pulls it off and gets the spot they're almost always constantly beaten in the first round." Shiua starts getting booed by the rest of the managers. "It's true and you all know it, the difference in ability between and E-rank and a D-rank is just too great. An E-rank turning around and winning the tournament has only happen twice in HISTORY! So I think they should just do away with the whole wildcard spot altogether."

"Just because it doesn't happen a lot you wouldn't give E-ranks the chance to try. You do know that there are no E-rank tournaments so this is their only chance to get into one." It's Tim who speaks out this time. Shiua turns and gives him the stink eye.

"Yes I know and it is sad but that will give them all the more reason to try and get to D-rank and by the way Tim shouldn't you be working in your own department, this floor is reserved for E-rank managers today."

Tim brushes Shiua's rudeness off. "I'm here assisting Drake with the Shadow Knights, I've already finished up all my work so I've been cleared by Joey to be here."

"Right because Drake needs help managing _one _team." Shiua replies with heavy sarcasm. Sensing a fight another manager tries to jump in and change the subject.

"Maybe it's the test itself that's flawed, you've got to admit it's really hard to find one person in an entire city plus the representative is always on an upper C-rank level."

"That's true and I hear that this year they got a KSA user to do it." Many others start nodding their head in agreement but this time Drake cuts in.

"The test itself is fine the way it is, the representative is always told to go easy on the amateurs and be mindful of their rank plus it's one of the most effective way to assess whether or not they have the qualities of a Gundam fighter."

####

_Location: Café on Deniz plaza Time: 8:00AM_

Shadow collapses onto the floor the moment he enters the café, he was exhausted. He had just spent the last two hours running all across the city looking for some guy in a white freaking scarf. Shadow thought it would be easy since it was a warm day out and no one would be wearing a scarf but for the first time ever Shadow realized just how many people there were in the city. It was hard to check everyone as he passed by not to mention they were all moving, plus the rules didn't say the guy couldn't be in a building so Shadow had stopped at several places and looked inside, in the end though he came up with nothing.

"Told you he'd be back mates." Shadow looks up from his face down position to see Nick, Roxas and Cagalli sitting down at a table having a glass of water or in Roxas's case milk. Zuke wasn't far off and in his usual corner position. Cagalli was in the middle of a card game with Nick while Roxas was showing off her legs; she was wearing short shorts today.

"Roxas for the millionth time I am a woman and am not attracted by legs!" Cagalli snaps at her annoying friend, it was hard enough to beat Nick in a game of cards without Roxas putting her legs in Cagalli's face every ten seconds.

"Not yet you aren't."

"NOT EVER!"

"What are you guys still doing here?" Shadow shouts as he tries to fight panic.

"Waiting for you." Roxas answers as she begins to lick milk out of a bowl.

"ME, why? We don't have time for this we have to find this guy before the other teams do!"

"Chill mate, it's not like you to get all panicky." Nick says as he picks up a card from the deck but otherwise maintains his blank face.

"Running around the city like a chicken with its head cut off is stupid. We need a plan but since you weren't listening we decided to wait until you tired yourself out." Cagalli adds as she picks up a card from the deck but unlike Nick she frowns slightly when she sees it, Nick smiles when he sees this. "All in." Cagalli says.

"Call." Nick answers and puts his cards down on the table.

"Damn!" Cagalli says annoyed with how easy Nick saw through her bluff.

Nick smiles at Cagalli gently. "You got to work on your poker face mate, you're too readable."

"Um I hate to interrupt your card game but do you have a plan princess?"

Cagalli glares at Shadow then answers. "As a matter of fact I do, now that you're back we can do an area by area grid search of the city, I suggest we start at the west end since I don't think anyone's there yet."

Shadow had to admit that sounded a lot better than anything he had to offer. "Ok let's go!"

"Wait, there's just one thing I don't get, what did that guy mean when he said the theme for this competition was qualities of a Gundam Fighter?"

"Didn't you read the poster mate?" Nick asks surprised that Cagalli doesn't know.

"Poster? What poster?"

"The one in the GFC office sweetie, the one with that big Gundam on it with the guy in the middle, we pass it every time we go to visit Drake." Roxas informs Cagalli. Cagalli vaguely remembers the poster but she never actually took the time to sit there and read it. "About fifty years after the start of the GFC during an interview A-rank Gundam Fighter Leondar Augustus was asked what it takes to be a Gundam fighter. He listed off five points or qualities that mark a true professional Gundam fighter. The GFC took those points and ran with it, it became sort of like their motto." Shadow having seen the look on Cagalli's face answered her unspoken question.

"Gundam Junkie." Roxas teases Shadow who glares at her in return.

"Well what are they then?" Cagalli asks, maybe there was a clue in these qualities that could help them find this guy.

"Smart and intuitive is the first one." Roxas answers cheerfully. "Isn't that two?" Cagalli asks. "Nope, I asked Drake and he said it's counted as one because the two are entwined."

"Resourceful is the second and quick thinking is the third." Nick continues but gets interrupted by Zuke.

"Power is the fourth." Everyone turns around to look at Zuke for a moment surprised by his joining in the conversation but with his arms crossed and his glare of annoyance it quickly becomes apparent he's not going to say anything else.

"Smart and intuitive, resourceful, quick thinking, and power; what a weird list of qualities wait I thought you said there were five? If smart and intuitive are counted as one that only makes four, what's the fifth quality?"

"Guts." Shadow answers in a resonating voice, "A Gundam fighter needs to have a lot of guts. Now let's go."

####

_Location: GFC building Time: 7:00 PM_

The commotion in the office has gradually died down as managers started getting word of their teams quitting. Tim glances at the clock and then at the phone, thirteen hours have passed since the start of the test, by this point in time almost every team had quit. He hadn't heard from the Shadow Knights yet and knowing Shadow they must still be in it. "Does anyone know yet if someone's found the representative?" Ted asks.

"No one has, huh, what did I tell you." Shiua says with a smug grin. Ok that was enough, "You're just sour Shiua because your team refused to even try once you told them what they would have to do." Shiua turns to glare at Tim.

"Any sane team would, I'm sure your team would have if you told them what they were in for. Seriously though I don't understand why some of you managers keep your team in the dark about everything. It does help them to know what they're doing and what's going on beforehand."

"How short sighted," Drake says, although he has remained seated his eye burns with the intensity of a master, "Those of us who refrain from telling our teams everything are not doing so because we're evil or enjoy making our team's life harder, we do it because we're trying to teach them how to survive and adapt in times when they don't always have the correct answer. Giving them the answers does give them a temporary edge but that fades quickly, teaching them to find and use the answers themselves is a skill," Drake repeats that last part with a slow emphasis "a _skill _that is eternal."

Shiua tries to glare at Drake but he can't maintain eye contact with the seasoned warrior. Shiua though takes comfort in the fact that he's in the GFC building and that although not disliked Drake is not very popular. "Well, well, well the big time retired A-rank Gundam fighter finally decides to grace us with his opinion on this conversation. You must think you're pretty hot stuff Mr. Know It All A-rank and I guess you are. It's a shame though your team isn't quite so hot."

Drake glares at the little man before him; Shiua was one of the few managers that had no real Gundam fighting experience. He had joined the GFC straight out of college and had worked his way up to manager. A petty little man who became quickly jealous of the other retired Gundam fighters who immediately got manager positions; he failed to recognize that it wasn't favoritism that got them the position, it was the actual experience and close workings with the GFC that enable them to start out as managers. "What do you mean?"

"Oh please don't try to play dumb. For a while there you got everyone talking how you were a master trainer after your team's success during the Haben incident but that was quickly proven wrong with that kid's humiliating defeat at the hands of Blake hehehe and now in order to save face you're trying to get them into the D-rank tournament-"

"Enough!" Drake cuts in as he gets up from his seat and walks over. He walks over to Shiua's desk and looks down on Shiua who was still sitting down. It was rare for Drake to get angry but he was and he made it known. Shiua despite knowing better looked up at Drake's one reddish brown eye; he began to tremble uncontrollably as his flight instincts kick in. Shiua knew what was going on, he had talked with enough actual professional Gundam fighters to understand that Drake was using Ki, the warrior's feelings or inner energy admitted outward. Shiua though had never experienced it firsthand like this before, it felt similar to a psych attack from an MSA user only more primal and less define although that's not to say it's any less dangerous.

Shiua instinctively knew that if Drake wanted to he could knock him out with just his Ki alone, he was that weak to it and Drake had that strong of a Ki. As of now though Drake was just sending a warning. "This is why you fail as a manager Shiua, my time is over and done with. This isn't about me it's all about them." Drake stops admitting Ki, he hadn't been hurting Shiua, just making him uncomfortable. He turns around to go back to his seat but he says these final words to Shiua. "And when they win the wildcard spot it won't be because of my training it will be because of their hard work and determination. It will be because they have the qualities of a true Gundam fighter."

####

_Location: Somewhere in Arianna, a park_

_This is impossible_, Cagalli thought to herself as she sat on a bench in the park to rest. Ok this one had been her bad, her grid search idea wasn't necessarily a bad idea it just needed a lot more people to work. Because there was only four of them, Zuke had gone off somewhere by himself after they left the café, the grids had to be really small which meant that searching any large part of the city was extremely time consuming. About an hour ago they had given up on that strategy after they realize they had only searched less than a quarter of the city.

Plus with all of the foot traffic it was entirely possible that this representative had walked into one of the areas they had already searched without them noticing. They split up after that. Cagalli was aware of the thinning of the crowd so to speak, from what she had heard from passing by conversations a lot of teams had given up. Luckily stubbornness was a trait both she and Shadow shared, one of the reasons Cagalli felt so stubborn trying to solve this was because if felt like one of the riddles in the detective books she reads.

She went over the qualities of a Gundam fighter in her head again but once more she found no clue about where this representative was hiding but that didn't make sense. Why bother to tell them about the qualities if there was no clue involved. Smart and intuitive, smart like Eras Shady, the lead character in the mystery books she read back on Earth. What would he do now? _Well for starters he would make a list of everything he knew_. Ok, she knew she was looking for a male from the way the rule keeper addressed the representative as a him, she also knew that he was wearing a white scarf which was weird considering the temperature outside.

She also knew that no one had found him yet…come to think of it that was also weird. There might not be now but earlier in the day there were literary hundreds of people looking for this guy all across the city and no one had spotted one person walking around with a scarf on, even by accident? _What does that tell you? _She imagined the voice of Eras asking her. It told her that the representative wasn't walking around, he was making a conscious effort of hiding himself otherwise someone would have noticed him by now on the streets. That also means he must be staying in roughly the same area and not moving around much.

Ok so where was he hiding? Cagalli immediately ruled out the inside of buildings, while there was no rule stating he couldn't be inside of a building Cagalli found it unlikely that he would. It was just too unfair if he did, there were thousands of buildings in the city it would be impossible to go and search each one. No she felt sure that he would be outside in the open but where would-

The answer came to Cagalli as rapid as an explosion, _THE ICE SKATING PARK! _Of course, at an ice skating park it was cold all year round so that meant that there would be a lot of people there with scarves, if he was hiding there it would explain why he hasn't been found yet. With that new goal in mind Cagalli took off from the bench with renewed energy as she called the others through her Neon gauntlet. "Guys I think I have a lead on where the representative is!"

"Where?" Shadow asks with excitement.

"The ice skating park, look I don't have time to explain just meet me there!"

####

_Location: Arianna's ice skate park_

Cagalli was the first one to reach the entrance of the park out of breath. Cagalli wasn't very big on ice skating so this was the first time she had been to the park, although she had seen it a couple of times when they pass by to go to the movies and Kenny had talked about it. Cagalli took a moment to regain her breath then went inside; they didn't have a moment to waste someone else was bound to figure this out too. The moment Cagalli enters the park she felt the temperature drop at least twenty degrees, it was as if she had walked into a time shift zone stuck in the middle of winter.

Kenny had told her that they controlled the temperature in the park by some kind of giant air conditioning unit in order to keep the area in a constant winter state all year long but they didn't just leave it at that. Pine trees or at least what looked like Pine trees to Cagalli had been brought in and lined up next to the walkways. As Cagalli began walking towards the open area of the park where the ice skate rink was she noticed that artificial snow covered the trees and ground adding to the winter effect. The people she passed by were all wearing winter clothing, it was a good thing that temperature rarely ever bothered her.

Cagalli's mouth drops open as she rounds a corner to the open area of the park where the ice skate rink is, she had finally found someone wearing a white scarf the only problem was that ONE THIRD of the park was wearing white scarves! Men, women and children; there must have been a few dozen people all wearing white scarves. What was going on, why were so many people wearing white scarves? "Get your free white scarf, come one come all, a perfectly decent free white scarf to keep you warm if you're feeling a little chilly."

Cagalli turns to the source of the voice, a vendor right next to the path that led to the entrance and exit. The vendor was also wearing a white scarf. It took Cagalli all of two seconds to realize what was going on. "Oh that bastard." Ok, so good news is that at least he's definitely in the park otherwise there would have been no point in going through the trouble of getting a vendor and giving away free white scarves, bad news was that Cagalli had no way of knowing which one of the men wearing a white scarf was the representative!

"Hey you there, Gundam fighter!"

While she had been pondering her situation a security guard has walked up to her and he seemed highly annoyed if not angry. _Great, just great, _Cagalli thinks as she replies as politely as she can "Yes sir?"

The security guard stops for a moment surprised by her politeness but he steeled his resolved and continued "I'm giving you a fair warning right now, I don't care what the reason is and a "I'm sorry" doesn't cut it, if you attack a civilian you're getting arrested and spending the night in jail with the rest of your buddies."

Cagalli blinks in surprise wondering if Shadow had already done something stupid. "Buddies?"

"That's right, all day today you Gundam fighters have come in here and gone all nuts attacking innocent civilians. A bunch of them tried apologizing saying some crap about how they had the wrong person and I even had one guy try to resist arrest but he soon found out I'm no pushover. It really sucks for them because the judge is out for the day so they'll have to wait until tomorrow to make bail."

_So other people have figured this out but they couldn't tell the representative apart from the civilians. _Another thought enters Cagalli's mind. "Are you formal military?"

"Yes, how did you know?"

Cagalli answers quickly but vaguely. "I used to do work with the military, do you normally work as a security guard here?"

The security guard blinks in surprise again. "Actually no, I work in the EDS task force but I was asked to act as the security guard for the ice skating rink today."

"EDS?"

"Extremely Dangerous Suspects task force, we're called in to handle suspects that have a large amount of firepower, have been well trained in combat or any other ability that would make them extremely dangerous for regular police officers."

"I see, thank you for your time." Cagalli says as she walks away thinking over what she had learned, so not only did the representative find a way to hide his only tell in a crowd but he also arranged for any Gundam fighter who does come this far to only get one chance to try and pick him out. _So failure to pick the right person means getting arrested, just great. _Cagalli sighed then begins to move through the crowd of white scarves, she couldn't just give up. He was here, she knew he was here she just had to figure out who he was.

Cagalli tried to channel her inner detective as she observed the crowd, _what kind of person would the GFC have be the representative, is he the tall guy, maybe the muscular man, or the large person, are you the skinny quick guy? It can't be children or young teens…unless that's what the GFC wants me to think. _As people walked by Cagalli she took in every last detail about them, every male wearing a white scarf was not above suspicion. She had to be careful, she would only get one shot and if she made the wrong choice it would all be over so where was-

Cagalli wasn't sure why he drew her attention, maybe it was the way his white scarf flickered in front of her face. There was nothing special about him, he had brown hair, and he was a little taller than Zuke but still something told Cagalli that this was the one. On impulse Cagalli shouts out "Mr. Representative!" The man stops and turns around, he had blue eyes that looked surprised at being called out by Cagalli. Cagalli was also surprised but not by the man's face, she was surprised by what she saw on the end of his scarf, a medal with the Myrtus symbol on it. The man saw that Cagalli saw the medal then smiled. The episode ends with him saying

"And here I was thinking it was going to be a boring day."

_Word from the Author:_ Hello again everyone, well I guess for starters I like to apologize to my editor for adding this word from the author at the last minute it was kind of spur of the moment. I have something important to ask you guys but first I want to share something with you, don't worry it will all tie together at the end…I hope. When I first started this story I was selfish, I didn't care what anyone else thought I wanted to write a story that I would enjoy and I did. Ironically I didn't have the courage or the self-esteem to share my work with others.

It's lucky for me and for you guys that a friend of mine kept pestering me to post my stuff online, it's funny because he rarely ever read my story and he didn't like Gundam Seed but he kept telling me to put it on fanfiction so I eventually caved and did. For those of you who were around in the beginning when I first started, that explains why I started with like fifteen episodes on my first release. Then I got my first reviews, words can't describe it, if you're a fellow author then you probably understand what I'm talking about but it just made me feel so alive. Getting reviews from you guys are the happiest moments in my life (I'm not married nor have children so don't worry I'm not that crazy).

I'll admit my ego swelled with pride and for a time that was enough but as I got more comfortable on fanfic I decided to search around and see what my competition had to offer. That's when I met Maderfole, I had been moderating other stories reviews as a standard for how good or popular they are and I believe at the time he had eight hundred something reviews and they just kept growing and growing so I finally decided to check out what all the big deal was and read the first chapter.

It was good, real good. I had been running free at that point in my self-induce delusion of number one until the moment I read that chapter and ran smack dab into a wall, that was the beginning of my wake up call. Of course I couldn't tell anything about the plot but what I could tell was that it was extremely well written, I instinctively knew that it was better than anything I had ever done and that scared me. Like a wild and frighten kitty cat that had stumbled upon a giant I struck out in an attempt to bolster my failing confidence. I challenged Maderfole and claimed while he might be better than me now I would catch up to him (I start to wonder at this point how much of myself I put into Shadow or maybe how much Shadow influence the real me).

To be honest though I never actually expected a reply, I mean he was a giant and I was a kitty cat but I got a reply that basically said "bring it" and more. He reviewed my work and told his fan base about me prompting more reviews only of a different kind, negative reviews. He and his fan base systematically pointed out all of the flaws and gaps in logic in my first couple of chapters. Don't misunderstand they weren't just hating on my story these were real flaws that after I relooked at it I realized they were right. It was tough though, I have to thank my bullies growing up for toughening me up for this kind of assault.

Still when you put so much time, effort, and hard work into something only to realize it's nowhere near as good as you though it was well it kind of sucks bad. I won't lie it was crushing, but looking back on it now I realized it was something I needed. Just like Cagalli needed to get her ass kicked by Sesen to realize just how bad she really was, to hate how powerless she really was I needed to get my ass kick to realize how bad a writer I really was and how much I care about my story. Unlike Cagalli though there came a point where I seriously considered quitting, two things stopped me. Byron you might not even remember this but at the time you were my only reviewer, the only fan I could see.

You have no idea what your reviews mean to me and they're one of the reasons I didn't quit, I thought to myself that as long as I have one person this one person in the whole world who liked my story then I would continue to post it on the site for him because I hate it when writers stop there story halfway through, I hate it when I can't find out the ending and I hate it when they don't update somewhat consistently. So I continued to post this story for you but why did I even bother to continue writing it in the first place? It was because I went back and reread some of my earlier episodes; it was the last episode in the Junk City arc.

I was expecting the worse, I expected it to be horrible complete nonsense and just crap but it wasn't. It made me laugh, it made me teary eyed, it moved me and filled me with hope and that's when I saw it. My story, the basic plot had potential, I've read many books, manga, and watched TV shows an anime and every instinct in me was crying out that the basic plot had potential. It could beat Maderfole's story no it CAN beat Maderfole's story. It's not the story that's the problem it's me, it's because I'm not a good writer that my story suffers.

That's when I had my second realization, I didn't just want to write a story that only I enjoy I wanted to write a story that everyone enjoyed. The Gundam Seed fans, the original Gundam fans, the non-Gundam fans, I want to write a story that everyone can enjoy and connect to. A story that inspires people, that touches them, that makes them laugh when they're having a bad day that's what I wanted to write but to do it I had to make some changes. I went on hiatus so that I could rewrite the first five episodes of my story and do another proof read of all of my current episodes. I also decided to switch over to novel format.

Why did I pick script format in the first place? I do not know, maybe because I felt more comfortable with it because of my bad grammar. In any of event I asked if anyone would care if I changed from script to novel format and once again the only response I got was from Byron who said he didn't. Why did I decide to switch? Because I only had two reviewers and I was desperate to try something to get more, that and one of the major things I kept hearing from the negative reviewers was that they didn't like script format so since no one said they liked it I changed it.

Then there was my grammar, I tried and worked but my grammar still sucks and there's no point in making a story that only I can understand so I got an editor who has become a good friend of mine. So I came back ready for the second round, sadly though as you can see progress has been slow. I now average about three reviews per episode which I'm actually proud of and my hit and visit chart has gotten higher so I like to believe I have a large silent fan base. Still I want more which brings me to the point of this word from author. Episode 2 through 59 still remain in script format and I am considering switching them to novel format.

Keep in mind this won't be a fast transition since I don't want to go back on hiatus nor fall behind on my current episodes. To be honest I wasn't going to even bother to ask considering the small fan base I have but for whatever reason since I posted the last episode my story has boomed. I've notice a significant increase in my hit and visit chart not to mention I have received a lot more reviews then normal recently (for me anyway) so that made me stop and wonder for a moment. Maybe there are people who like episode 2 through 59 the way they are and I don't want to ruin it for them. So I've decided to ask you guys what to think.

I'm sorry for making this so long and for possibly giving you too much information but I wanted to show you how important this is to me and how much I value your opinions. I also wanted to thank Maderfole my editor and you guys for making me into the writer I am today and the writer I will be tomorrow. So please feel free to make your opinion know through a review or talk about it on the Gundam Seed Shadow forum. You can find the link on my page but here it is just in case forum/Gundam_Seed_Shadow_forum/103826/

Oh one last thing, we are currently working on a cover for Gundam Seed Shadow….it's a work in progress so don't worry we won't leave it blank forever. That's all, thank you for your time and patience.


	72. Episode 71 Fighting against a Jedi

Episode 71 Fighting against a Jedi

_Location: GFC building_

Tim nervously paced in front of Drake's desk, he knew how stubborn Shadow and Cagalli were but eventually everyone gets frustrated and quits, it was only human nature. NO, he couldn't think like that he had to find a way to distract himself. "The qualities of a Gundam fighter, you got to admit it's such a weird and interesting list, like how smart and intuitive is counted as one."

The other managers look up as Tim speaks, now that all of the excitement had died down it had gotten strangely quiet so they were eager for something to talk about. "True but if you think about it each quality does fit and make sense. Let's take your example smart and intuitive, as a Gundam fighter you're going to face hundreds of problems that you need to figure out the solutions for. Many of them are going to require that you think outside the box so you need to be smart but being smart isn't enough, even if you logic your way down sometimes you're still going to get a number of possible answers that are all as likely as the next. With no way of narrowing down your options any further you're left with no choice but to guess and that's where intuition comes in. Intuition can be random and unpredictable, using it by itself can give you just as many right answers as wrong but it can give you direction when you have no idea where you're going and if you have to pick between multiple possible answers that all have an equal chance of being right, you might as well pick based on your intuition." Drake answers.

####

_Location: Arianna's ice skate park_

Cagalli leaps forward and reaches out with her hand. She was acting on instinct now, the goal was the medal. The representative though wasn't about to let that happen, he jumps back within a second of Cagalli jumping forward but that second makes all the difference. Cagalli is able to grab onto the middle of the scarf. "Got it!" The representative smiles, _not bad. _"Congratulations on grabbing a scarf." In the next second the representative grabs the top end where the medal is and the bottom end of the scarf and pulls ripping the scarf into three. Cagalli blinks in surprise as she suddenly finds herself with a meaningless torn off part of the scarf.

She doesn't have much time to reflect on this though as the representative's right leg slams into her face. Three more kicks hit Cagalli square in the chest and cause her to crash to the ground hard; the representative takes off straight towards the exit. In hindsight he probably shouldn't have hit the girl so hard, after all she was just an E-rank but it had been such a long boring day that when someone finally found him he couldn't help but go all out. The security guard was rushing over to them but the representative quickly pulls out his Neon gauntlet and flashes it to the security guard indicating he was a Gundam pilot. It would just be mean to let the blond girl get arrested after she successfully picked him out.

The security guard sees the Neon gauntlet and nods his head showing that he understands the situation. After seeing this the representative reluctantly puts his Neon gauntlet back in his pocket, he felt naked and vulnerable without it in its proper place on his arm but it couldn't be help. After all he was supposed to remain hidden.

Cagalli jumps up to her feet and blinks a couple of times to clear her vision, she rubs blood off her face as she begins to look for the direction the representative took. In the back of Cagalli's mind she begins to do a self-checkup, she had a bloody nose but it wasn't broken. Shadow had once accidently whacked her in the face with his training sword during one of their sparing matches and had broken it, it had hurt like a son of a bitch but Cagalli had gotten Shadow back in their next sparing match when she broke his nose.

The kick to her chest had just bruised her but didn't cause any serious damage. Cagalli finally spots the representative on the path leading to the exit. _Damn, he's fast. _Cagalli takes off after him, she hits a few buttons on her Neon gauntlet and brings it up to her mouth. "Guys I've found the representative! He's a little taller than Zuke with brown hair, in his thirties with a banana yellow T-shirt on and he's making his way toward the exit of the ice skate park!"

"What?"

"We're on the way mate!"

"Hold on my sweet bosoms!"

Cagalli ran as hard as she could but whoever the hell this representative was he was freaking fast, he turned the corner and Cagalli completely lost sight of him. "Damn it!" Cagalli shouts as she rushes out of the exit to the skate park only to find nothing.

"Cagalli!" Shadow shouts as he leads Nick and Roxas straight toward Cagalli.

"Where is he?" Nick asks in his Australian accent.

"I don't know I lost him."

"What, how?" Shadow demands, Cagalli doesn't like his tone of voice and snaps back

"I don't know, he's like some kind of freaking ninja the way he move so fast and fluidly through the crowd."

Nick quickly steps in before the two start trying to kill each other again; they didn't have time for this. "Shadow, easy mate, I'm sure Cagalli did everything she could to get him and placing blame won't help anything. Cagalli you also need to chill, Shadow is just stressed out and frustrated, you know how stir crazy he gets." Nick successfully calms the storm and cools the fire; Cagalli and Shadow look to the ground embarrassed by their action.

"Sorry."

"Yea, I'm sorry too." With that out of the way Shadow begins to wildly look around in a poor attempt to find the representative. "So what are we going to do, how are we going to find him now?"

"Can't we just ask people what direction the guy in the white scarf went? The mate's got to stand out now." Cagalli feeling a tad bit guilty raises the cloth in her hand.

"Um I don't think that's going to work now, when I went to grab him I grabbed his scarf instead and accidently ripped it; he can't wear it anymore."

Roxas sits up when she hears this and asks "You got a piece of his scarf, was he actually wearing the scarf?"

"Yes, why?"

"Can I see it?"

####

_Location: GFC building_

"You're right Drake, being smart and intuitive is important but don't forget about the second quality, being resourceful." Risha takes over. Things were getting interesting again as more people look up to see what was going on, while they all knew about the qualities of a Gundam fighter it was still fun to talk about them and how they do in fact relate to real life. "As a Gundam fighter, especially the lower rank Gundam fighters, you're not going to be given a lot so you have to make do with what you have. Often that involves using things in ways that they were never originally designed for. You have to dig deep, push your tools and assets to their limit as you reinvent what they're designed for. Pick up the trash that other people threw out and make a use for it and sometimes you have to use tools you never even realized you had."

####

_Location: Arianna Clock Street_

The representative flowed with the crowd as he blended into his surroundings. He still had to wear the now incredibly short white scarf, the thing looked more like a neck warmer, because of the rules but it was so small that it was hardly noticeable. This meant he could blend into any crowd he chose. Clock Street, a fitting name considering Arianna's clock tower resided on it; the reason he had picked to come here was because there was a graffiti art festival going on today although most people were beginning to close up. The place was still packed with artists on ladders and self-made catwalks painting the side of buildings with old school paint cans and brushes, ironically spray cans had been banned because it could cause a safety hazard.

There was plenty of foot traffic going on so he found it easy to blend into the crowd. It was a little disappointing that he lost the girl so easily, but he guess it wasn't-

He sensed the attack coming moments before it happened, it came from behind. The representative turns around to see a wild red headed chick with purple eyes come flying at him in a jump attack with metal claws on her fingertips. Years of training and fighting though were on the representative's side; he turned his side towards his attacker and spreads his legs. He ducked under her first claw slash and palm slams her in the chest flipping her over him and pushing her away.

Roxas blinks in surprise, as she suddenly finds herself staring up at the sky then the sensation hits and flows through her body as she twist in mid-air. She felt her arm joints loosen and become slack; her legs stretch to their maximum height. Roxas lands lightly on her feet and charges the representative. She needed to get that medal; it was important for the team and besides it was also shiny. Roxas goes on the offensive, her arms become whip like as they slash through the air with such force that we can actually hear it. The crowd gasps in surprise as people jump out of the way of the fight, forming a bubble around the two.

The representative walks backwards as he leans, jumps and flips in an acrobatic form dodging all of Roxas's attacks with ease. "Let me guess, Diu Brachium right, the Sora jungle base animal?" Like picking buzzing flies from the air the representative grabs both of Roxas's arms and flips her around, crossing both of her arms locking them in place without causing serious damage and pulls her close to him restricting her movements.

"Oh a cute man who knows his animals, I think I'm in love." Roxas replies as she struggles to break free, he was pretty cute and interesting; she'd have to do it with him later after she kicked his ass.

"It wasn't hard, the long arms and whip like attack gave it away. Animal type fighters are always interesting to fight." A new thought strikes the representative while he firmly keeps Roxas in place. "Son of a bitch, are you part of that blond girls' team? Did you track my scent from that scarf fragment she had?" Not only was that resourceful it was impressive, not many people could train their sense of smell to such a sharp degree.

Roxas gives a seductive smile as she begins to grind her behind up and down the representative's lap. "Yes to all of the above but in my defense, I'm a lot more fun to hang "out" with if you know what I mean." She purrs like a kitten.

The representative could be mature about this, he was a man and she was a very attractive woman so when she began to grind against him it was only natural that he would get a hard on, any man would. The representative's grip loosens due to the distraction giving Roxas the chance she needed. Roxas places her foot behind the representative's and slips her hands free. Roxas quickly swings her head backwards in a reverse head-butt aimed at the representative's head. The representative instinctively moves backwards to dodge the attack and trips over Roxas's foot.

He recovers though by placing his hands on the ground and performing a backwards somersault.

_Damn, he's stronger and more skilled then I am; I can't let him recover or else I'm screwed! _Roxas presses her attack, she charges the representative only this time she brings up her hands close to her chest and sticks out two fingers. She begins to stab at the representative with her fingers; her arms become like stringboards as they shoot forward and get pulled back. "Woodpecker assault!" But just like she feared the representative has recovered and is once more easily dodging her attacks.

"Not bad and very clever but I think I've spent enough time with you, after all I wouldn't want your friends to surround me."

Roxas's eyes open wide in surprise as the representative with relative ease guesses what their plan was, _no he figured out our plan long ago, he's just been messing with me! _The thought was not only a complete turnoff but it enraged Roxas; she jumps back and then charges the representative. The representative palm slams the air as his gloves pulse blue, sending a light color blue wave straight at Roxas.

It was like a wave of air only blue, it came fast and hit Roxas in the blink of an eye like a freight train, literally knocking her off her feet and sending her three feet back. The representative smiles as he sees the red head hit the ground hard after taking his force push attack, that was going to buy him a couple of minutes. It was time to go before her friends surrounded him; he didn't want to give them too many advantages. _Speaking of advantages, _the representative thinks before pulling out a bottom of Zero Smell, it was a military grade chemical that temporary got rid of a person's scent. It was a good thing he decided to bring this with him.

Roxas blinks a minute then groans as she gets up and hits a couple keys on her Neon gauntlet. "Guys I hope you're in position because the freaking bastard just nailed me good."

####

_Location: GFC building_

"Smart and intuitive; and resourceful are all good for the pre and after battle stuff but we can't forget about the qualities a Gundam fighter needs during a battle." Ted says thoroughly enjoying this conversation. He had been feeling a little down when his team dropped out so this conversation served as a nice distraction. It was like they were competing against each other, to show off and highlight the importance of each of the qualities. "And during a battle you need the third quality quick thinking especially during the high level battles where a single second can be the difference between life and death. [Maybe you should switch that to win and loss since you won't actually die.]You don't have time to second guess, to ponder what could be or couldn't be. You don't have time to dwell on mistakes or carefully comb through every strategy. You have to think quickly and act fast because a second is all the time you've got to make a move and you're opponent isn't going to wait for you."

####

_Location: Arianna's Clock Street_

Nick climb on top of a pedestal in the middle of Clock Street, the pedestal had a statue of a local Arianna hero on it. "Damn it, we're not in position yet Roxas can't you track him again and stall him some more?" Nick overhears Cagalli ask Roxas over the Neon gauntlets.

"It's no good; the asshole must have used Zero Smell to nullify his scent. It's going to be five minutes at least before he starts to smell again and that's assuming he doesn't spray himself again."

Nick begins to scan the crowd, his razor sharp vision could read the words on a person's shorts a couple of meters away if he focused on it but such a large crowd made it more difficult to concentrate on any one thing plus the sun was setting further hindering him. Nick understood and felt Shadow's frustration with their lack of progress in the ranks, he hadn't shared with the others yet but he too needed to get into the higher ranks so he could have access to their database and information network. This was taking too long; he needed to find her-

_THERE! _He spotted the target from the general description Cagalli had given him, plus the way he moved and blended into the ground was unnatural. It was as if he was hiding from wondering eyes like Nick's and he lost him a couple times. _This isn't good; he's heading toward a crowd admiring one of the art works, in another second I'm going to lose him! _Time slowed down as Nick rapidly looked at all the angles and everything his eyes could behold. He had to find some way of marking the target so they wouldn't lose him and getting the civilians out of the way.

Nick zeroed in on a paint can sitting on a low catwalk, there was no time to second guess or hesitate. He pulled out his custom designed gun which had already been fitted with rubber bullets, they'd leave a nasty bruise but wouldn't kill anyone, lined up his shot and fired! The rubber bullet sped through the air over the heads of the crowd and slammed right into the paint can. The representative sensed the paint falling towards him but the crowd that had been serving as his cover now pinned him in place preventing him from moving out of the way.

The paint scores a direct hit and lands on the representative covering him from head to toe in pink. The crowd surrounding him jumps back startled making a nice clearing.

"God damn it, do you rookies have any idea how much dry-cleaning cost?" The representative shouts angrily aloud while scanning the distance and rubbing paint off his face, so this team had a sniper as well.

"Mates I just marked him, he's the guy covered in pink!"

"I see him Nick!" Cagalli shouts excited while Roxas snaps with fury,

"That bastards dead!" It would still take the others a couple of minutes to converge on the representative so it was up to him to slow the mate down. Nick opens fire on the representative; his shots are fast and in tight groupings. The representative finally spotted the sniper standing on the statue of Korta before he opened fire. The representative whistled, the sniper was pretty good to have hit the paint can and timed it to fall on him from all the way over there. He saw the sniper was looking dead at him, it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what was happening, in the blink of an eye he brought up his kinetic barrier as the first bullets began to slam into it.

"What the hell is that?" Nick shouts as he quickly switches out the clip in his gun. Some kind of blue bubble had surrounded the representative and was blocking all of the rubber bullets. It looked similar to a beam shield but that was impossible, beam generators can't be made that small. The representative was walking backward toward the clock tower, the blue bubble and him being pink was enough to keep people at a distance and for a second Nick considered switching over to regular bullets, the increase in fire power might be enough to break the shield but he immediately dismissed it. It was against his code to put innocent people at risk and there would be no guarantee that the bullet wouldn't ricochet off the bubble and hit someone.

Nick emptied the second clip and put in the third, he just had to keep up the pressure until the others got there. The representative spotted both the blond girl and the red head coming straight toward him, it was time to go. He dropped his shield and quickly fired a force pull blast, the blue almost flame ball looking energy came at Nick as fast as a bullet giving him no time to dodge. Nick braced himself expecting some kind of impact knocking him back but instead the moment the blue fireball hit him he found himself violently yanked forward off the pedestal. The cowboy hit the ground hard but luckily he hadn't been that high up and hadn't broken anything.

"Nick!" Cagalli shouts in a voice full of worry; Nick quickly rolls over and hits a few buttons on his Neon gauntlet.

"I'm alright mate, go get him." The representative smiles as he sees the shooter fall to the ground, the fall wasn't that high so the kid probably didn't suffer any real damage but he was sure going to be winded. The representative doesn't get much time to enjoy this as he sees the shooters two teammates close in on him, the time for stealth was over, it was time to get serious. With that in mind the representative turns around and force jumps onto a street lamp, then onto the clock tower itself. He then performs several more jumps aiming for the top of the clock tower.

Cagalli and Roxas come to a stop and gape; mouths open wide at the superhero like move. "Did you just see that, please tell me you saw that? He just jumped eight meters straight up!" Cagalli shouts. Roxas still in awe adds

"He also fired some kind of blue wave at me that knocked me like three feet back."

"He made some kind of blue bubble appear around him that blocked all of my bullets plus the mate sent some kind of blue fireball at me that yanked me forward." Nick says as he finally arrives where the others are, he looks around for a moment and notices that someone is missing. "Where's Shadow mate?"

####

_Location: GFC building_

"Power," everyone turns around surprise to hear Shiua speak. He had been sitting down in a gloomy mood ever since Drake schooled him in front of everyone. "The fourth quality power is the most obvious, heh really it's true about everything, if you want to be a Gundam fighter you need to have power. You want to fight your way on the battlefield, you want to stick to your ideals, you want to make your dreams come true then you better be packing the power to back your shit up. You need power to stand up to the world especially when it seems like everyone is pushing you down. But power isn't just needed for Gundam fighters, it's needed by everyone."

####

_Location: Arianna Clock Street; on top of the clock tower._

The representative jumps onto the lower ledge of the clock tower. The paint had already dried on his clothes, probably some specialty fast drying paint, but they didn't cause any hindrance to his movements. Nothing like a good force jump to put some distance between himself and pursers, if he had really wanted to he could have jumped to the other side of the city in ten minutes but that would be really mean, at least this way the kids had a chance to catch-

Every alarm inside the representative's head went off, this was different from the previous attacks, this person was a real threat and he was out for blood. The representative ducks down as a tall black man with a goatee tries to punch him. To a civilian a punch may not seem like such a big deal but the representative knew that appearances can be deceiving as evident when the man's fist hit the gargoyle statue and obliterated it. Fragments of cement statue rain on the representative's head while the man pulls his unscratched fist back.

This guy was ridiculously strong and well trained, the representative couldn't afford to hold back here or he might be killed. Zuke and the representative go at it fast and hard, their punches and kicks cause the air to rumble as they emit a powerful commanding presence. This isn't a joke anymore; each attack has the power to break bones at the least if not kill. We can hear the booming sound as the two fists collide struggling for dominance.

Zuke punches with the strength of an iron fist but the representative performs a strong deflect; Zuke pulls his punch so as to not waste any more energy while the representative performs a strong roundhouse kicked. Zuke ducks down and places both hands on the ground as he performs a strong upper kick. The representative leans back dodging the attack but Zuke grins having expected this and quickly reaches out with his hand and foot swipes the representative's feet.

The representative's eyes open wide in surprise as he starts falling backwards, Zuke quickly pulls his leg back and goes for a charging strong punch, the air ripples around his fist signifying its stone breaking power. The representative grits his teeth then still in midair unleashes a full power force push blast. The wave originates from the representative's hands and hits Zuke point blank, sending him flying straight into the wall of the clock tower hard. The force also sends the representative flying in the opposite direction but he quickly turns around and fires another force push blast to straighten himself up and land squarely on his feet.

The force push slams Zuke in the wall and causes a good sized impact crater to appear in the concrete structure around him. The proud coordinator spits out blood but with unyielding eyes as he rips himself free from the wall causing more cement, dust and pieces to rain on the ground around him. He wipes his cheek as both he and the representative enter into a stare off. They're both breathing mildly hard but it's clear neither one has used their full strength yet.

"It appears the one eyed natural was not lying when he told me that I would find a strong opponent if I participated in this competition, listening in on the natural's conversations turned out to be useful. You're a Kinetic Spatial Awareness user or KSA user as people more commonly call you. As a KSA user you're able to manipulate kinetic energy with the help of certain technology, in essence giving you telekinetic like powers such as sending me into that wall, pulling people towards you and being able to jump great heights."

The representative smiles despite the seriousness of the situation. This guy was well trained and extremely dangerous, one wrong move and he'd be killed. "Very impressive, you've been well trained both physically and mentally but I guess I should expect nothing less from a Neon Coordinator." The representative smiles as he sees the slight twitch in the black man's cheek, bulls eye. "Surprised? I've fought against several high level Neon Coordinators before, you guys are basically the coordinator version of the BCPUs."

"Heh we prefer to think of ourselves as the improved version, after all anything a natural can do a coordinator can do better. Now come and give me that medal my fellow coordinator, we have no need to fight each other like savage naturals."

"Nice spot on being able to tell I'm a coordinator but to be honest I don't think of myself as one. I don't classify people by their genes. I pity you."

Zuke glares at his fellow coordinator, while he normally refrains from killing his own kind if they got in the way of his objective he would treat them all the same. "What do you mean?"

"It's obvious you have power, your body through genetic manipulation and conditioning is as hard as steel but you lack vision. You can't see the wide sky before you so your power is stunted and can't grow to its full potential making it meaningless."

That was it, it was time for the representative to die. "Well if that is how you feel then let me show you just how deadly this meaningless power is!" Zuke screams as he charges the representative. The representative brings up both hands and fires another full power force push blast but this time Zuke sees it coming.

Zuke slams his feet into the ground and braces for impact, he raises his hands and performs a cross guard. The blast hits Zuke dead center, the ground rumbles and cracks under his feet as the force push blast pushes him back; just as it looks like Zuke is going to be sent flying back into the wall he lifts up his feet and smashes it into the ground breaking the concrete. Zuke lets lose a mighty roar as he pulls both his arms back appearing to rip the blue wave in half.

"WHAT! You ripped the force push blast in half with just pure power!"

The representative has never seen anyone with such raw strength but he doesn't get much time to sit in awe as Zuke comes in fast. The representative does a back flip dodging Zuke's fist which shatters the cement floor like glass. Zuke keeps up the pressure with a series of strong punches and devastating kicks putting the representative on the defensive. The representative blocks all of Zuke's attacks, he grits his teeth several times as he's forced to use kinetic reinforcement, a technique that puts a thin psych barrier around the body part of the users choosing so that the bones, organs, nerves and tissue can survive greater impacts.

The downside is that it required a lot of energy and precision, use it too many times or for too long and it would leave the person exhausted which is why the representative refrained from using it as much as possible, still it wasn't like this guy was giving him much choice. If he didn't use it he risked taking serious damage to his arms or legs. For a moment the representative was tempted to stay here and fight this out, this Neon Coordinator would obviously give him a good fight but his mission was only to give the fighters a hard time and test them to see if they had the qualities of a true Gundam fighter.

This guy was clear so staying any longer would be pointless. Zuke goes for another roundhouse kick but the representative uses a force jump to jump over him onto a windowsill above. Zuke turns and glares at the man annoyed.

"Well this battle has certainly been fun but sadly for me this is an evasion mission and fighting you any longer would be breaking away from the mission objective so goodbye for now." With that the representative fires a zero gravity sphere, the blue orb created a small area of zero gravity which caused targets to suspend for a limited amount of time in mid-air.

Zuke had only fought a few low leveled KSA users before, the rest of the combat data he got from his training at Spatium but reading about something and experiencing it first hand was two completely different things. The blue ball was slower than the other attacks and it was clearly not going to hit him so Zuke dismissed it until he realize what it was, it was the first time he had seen the attack in person, he had only ever read about it in the Spatium combat text books and in his defense the unit on KSA users had been rather short since Spatium didn't consider them personally a threat rather a possible opponent they might have to fight as a consequence.

So it took Zuke a moment realize exactly what had been shot at him but once he did he immediately ran over to destroy the orb but it was too late. His feet leave the ground as he slowly starts floating up into the air. Zuke grits his teeth in a combination of annoyance and humiliation at being caught by such a simple trap, he begins moving his legs in a running motion but without ground that becomes pointless, in fact it actually makes things worse as Zuke begins to spin almost comically slowly upside down. The representative's left eye starts to twitch uncontrollably as he fights the overwhelming urge to laugh, the guy's strength wasn't going to help him here and it was mean to add insult to injury.

The representative turns around and continues to force jump up to the top of the clock tower. He lands on the very top of the clock tower, the roof of the clock tower was luckily flat and like the majority of the clock tower was made out of concrete. The sun was setting and all of the street lamps were beginning to turn on, the clock tower was now closed which sucked for anyone who knew he was up here. Guess they would have to figure out another way up here-

"Representative prepare to be defeated by the awesome might which are the Shadow Knights!"

_Or they could have gotten in before the clock tower closed and hid from security. _The representative sighs as he turns to face his new opponent. He looked like an idiot; the kid was roughly the same age as the others with short cut black hair, green eyes, black jeans, a black T-shirt with some kind of logo on it and a black windbreaker. Why was he wearing a jacket anyway, it was like seventy degrees? The kid had on a goofy grin adding to the representative's idiot theory.

"I am the great, the magnificent, the amazing Shadow Zoomarey team leader of the Shadow Knights and we're going to be the ones to claim the wildcard spot for the D-rank tournament!" Shadow shouts in a loud voice. The representative eyes him unimpressed.

"You're the idiot of the group aren't you?"

"DAMN IT! Why does everyone say that?" Shadow shouts angrily.

"Um because instead of trying to ambush me which would have been the smart move you shouted at me and gave me your name and Gundam team name which in my opinion is rather stupid."

"Well of course I gave you my name and Gundam team name, how else are you going to know who beat you. Speaking of names though what's yours, calling you representative seems a little silly."

"That's the only thing that seems silly to you? At least you're not lacking in the confidence department, tell you what kid if you can beat me I'll let you know my name."

Shadow grits his teeth as he pulls out his sword and charges forward clearly angered. "It's young adult!" He gets maybe three steps before the representative fires a force push blast. The blue wave hits Shadow in the chest and knocks him clean off his feet and sends him flying a couple of feet backwards. Shadow hits the ground hard but manages to not let go of his sword or stab himself with it.

"Ugh what hit me?" He groans as he sits up and rubs his head.

"Good question, I wonder what?" The representative says with a knowing smile, _interesting it looks like the Neon Coordinator didn't share his intel with the rest of his team. _

Shadow glares up at the representative as he climbs to his feet; a steady light breeze begins to blow. "Fine be that way, even if you don't tell me I'll still kick your ass!" Shadow charges the representative again. He gets to the same spot before the representative sends him flying back with another force push blast.

Twelve attempts later and Shadow still lands on his back hard. He rolls over as air burns his throat from breathing so hard. _Ok this isn't turning out like I thought; _Shadow thinks to himself as he stabs his sword on the ground to help himself stand back up.

"Ready to give up yet?" The representative asks the young Gundam fighter. Shadow pulls his sword out of the ground, stumbles for a moment like a drunken idiot then steadies himself and points his blade at his target.

"Funny I was just about to ask you that." Shadow charges the representative again, the representative winds up his arm and throws another force push blast but this time Shadow dives left at the last second dodging the blue wave. "HA I dodged-" Shadow gets whacked by an even stronger second blue wave, the force push blast knocks Shadow flipping into the air.

"Nice dodge but just to let you know I can fire about thirty force push blasts before you can bridge the gap between us."

Shadow spits out blood as he slowly and painfully climbs to his feet, just once he like to have a fight that didn't end with him black and bruise the next day. "Force push? What are you some kind of Jedi?"

The representative's smile widens. "Something like that." Shadow glares at the representative's purposeful mysterious answer.

"Fine but just pushing me back with the force isn't going to stop me!" Shadow shouts as he charges the representative again.

"Well then I guess it's a good thing I can do other stuff too such as force crush." The representative's glove begins to glow blue as he brings it up then slowly brings it down. It was like a Gundam had landed on Shadow's back as his body suddenly felt a hundred times heavier. He managed to keep standing all of two more seconds before his body crumbles under the weight and slams into the ground.

It didn't stop there though as the invisible force kept pushing Shadow harder into the ground. It made him feel slightly better to see the ground itself rumbling and cracking under the same force but that didn't stop him from starting to scream out in pain. Shadow now knew how getting run over by a car must feel as his body tried to become even flatter, he could feel the bones in his body beginning to snap and crack. Searing white pain flooded his vision as Shadow became certain that every bone in his body was about to be beaten into dust.

####

_Location: GFC building_

"It's true all of those qualities are important, they define what makes a Gundam fighter a professional. That's not to say other qualities such as pride and dedication aren't important but those five are the core of being a Gundam fighter, nothing else."

Drake says as he leans back in his chair. "Whoa, whoa back up there a minute buddy we still have to talk about the fifth quality guts." Tim receives a couple of cheers from the E-rank manages helping to prompt Drake to answer.

"Sorry but I thought that it was obvious. In order to be a decent Gundam fighter you need guts, the guts to take huge risks to win it all. The guts to keep getting up no matter how many times you get knocked down, even after everyone else has quit and lost hope. You need the guts to never give up."

####

_Location: Top of the Clock tower in Arianna_

Shadow slams into the floor then skips across it like a rock over water. He lies there for a moment then slowly unsteadily climbs back onto his feet with the help of his sword. Blood drips down across his arms from several cuts and places where the ground rubbed the skin off. His clothes were torn and ripped; his sweat soaked them like he had swum in a pool. The representative eyed this Shadow Zoomarey with a smile, he had turn off his force crush after a few more seconds, not long enough to actually cause injury but it sure as hell hurt a lot.

Since then he had been throwing the kid around like a rag doll with different angle force push blasts. The young Gundam fighter though kept getting up and coming at him, the representative noted that each time he charged he got a little bit better at being able to read his force push blast. The kid could now dodge three force push blast in rapid succession, he wasn't taking a beating for nothing. "Ready to give up yet?"

Shadow was still wobbly on his feet but he stabilizes himself and lifts up his blade to point it at the representative. "What's the matter getting tired already Mr. Representative? I can keep this up all night."

"HAHAHA, funny kid but I can't help wonder if you're not trying to overcompensate for something." Shadow narrows his eyes as he glares at the representative.

"Oh yea, what!"

"Your fight against Blake." Upon seeing the confused look on Shadow's face the Representative elaborates.

"Don't look so surprised, your name was big talk around Arianna after the Haben incident and so was that devastating loss against Blake."

"SHUT UP!" Shadow shouts as he charges the representative again. The representative fires multiple force push blasts, Shadow manages to dodge three of them by diving left and right but the fourth blast hits him hard and sends him right back to where he started.

"Ohh I guess I hit a sore spot, understandable anyone who suffered that humiliating of a loss would have their confidence shaken to the core."

"My confidence is fine thank you!" Shadow shouts as he climbs back to his feet and charges the representative again. The representative this time though doesn't move to attack and allows Shadow to come all the way up to him but the moment Shadow swings his sword down the representative activates his psych barrier blocking the attack. Shadow blinks in surprise as he wonders where the blue bubble came from while the representative continues talking as if nothing happen.

"Hmmm no, I don't think so, your confidence is definitely holding up better than expected but it still looks shaky to me, like a tower that's had most of its supports destroyed."

Shadow grits his teeth in anger as he starts to wildly hack at the blue bubble with his sword to no effect. "Well you're entitled to your wrong OPINION!" The representative turns off his barrier and fires a full power force push blast in the span of a second sending Shadow flying across the room into the viewing window. Luckily the window is reinforced glass but the force push still manages to crack it and Shadow coughs out blood on impact and lands hard on the ground.

"You know you can give up, people have fallen from much higher and never gotten back up. No one would blame you, hell if I had lost that bad my confidence would have been shaken too."

Shadow stabs the ground with his sword as he struggles to stand up, he fails and collapses back onto the ground. "I'm…I'm…not…giving up."

He says weakly. The representative eyes the stubborn warrior with a small smile. "Why not? Just stay down and you won't have to go through this pain any more after all this entire struggle is all pointless, you'll never be able to beat me. As you so kindly pointed out I'm like a Jedi and you you're just a regular no talent natural. Give up on trying to beat Blake, the guy's been with the GFC almost five times as long as you, he's better trained has more experience and unlike you has talent. Can't you see that what you're doing now is pointless; you're just going to get knocked down again and again, do you really think you have the will power to take all that abuse and keep getting up? I don't, in fact I think it's time for the little kid to grow up and give up on his impossible little kid dreams. You're an adult now so start acting like one, get a real job and start setting real goals that you can actually accomplish."

"NO!" Shadow shouts as he finally manages to get back up onto his feet. He points his sword at the representative. "You can think whatever you want, but guess what I DON'T CARE! Call me an idiot, immature, a stupid dreamer, call me whatever you want but that's not going to stop! My dreams may seem stupid to other people but they're important to ME so guess what, no matter how many times you knock me down, no matter how many times I get my ass kicked, no matter how many times I lose I'm going to keep getting back up and coming at you and anyone else who stands in the way of my dreams!"

Shadow charges the representative again, Shadow had been moving closer and closer to the representative while talking making the distance between himself and the representative smaller. The representative begins to fire off five force push blast in rapid succession but surprisingly Shadow is able to dodge them all and reach the startled representative. _He's still able to move this well after taking all that damage! _The representative rapidly thinks to himself as Shadow brings up his sword and prepares to attack him directly. In that second though the representative's glove begins to glow blue as he takes his fist and slams it into the ground.

"Impact!" The representative shouts as a blue shockwave shoots out from his body in all directions creating an impact circle in the floor with him at the center and sending Shadow once more flying back. The representative stands back up and wipes off the dust on his pants. He looks up at where a dazed and stunned Shadow landed then begins to walk over there. "I got to admit kid you've got guts, I'll give you that and that's some will power you have but let my offer you some words of experience. Will power alone will not be enough to make it as a Gundam fighter."

"Says you!" Shadow shouts as he attempts to get up and attack the representative but he fails and collapses to the floor again.

"Trust me kid it's true, I know from experience, there will come a time when you just get knocked down one too many times and you can't muster the will to get back up any more. When that time comes you'll need the sixth quality of a Gundam fighter."

"Sixth? There's only five qualities of a Gundam fighter."

"It's a hidden quality that isn't publicly stated but something that each Gundam fighter must figure out for themselves." Shadow takes this in as Cagalli leads Nick and Roxas charging into the room.

"Shadow!" Cagalli shouts as she pulls out her gun and points it at the representative, this was bad, Shadow looked a lot worse than what she expected; it had taken them way too long to get inside the building and up here. Nick and Roxas flank to the representative's sides, Nick raises his gun as well and begins to calculated different target points in case the representative tried to dodge his bullets. It was against his code to let someone beat up his mate and get away with it.

Roxas digs her claws into the ground slightly as she arched her back and growled very dangerously, no one hurts her friends and lives to tell the tale. This asshole was going down, it's tiger time.

"Well this is unexpected, how did you guys get in here past security?"

Roxas grins with a wicked saber tooth smile. "I seduced the guards."

"Heh resourceful." The representative makes a very small tiny slide backwards but is interrupted by Zuke's appearance from behind. Zuke had come in from the same window entrance the representative had used and he looked highly annoyed.

"You're not going to be running away this time." Zuke says coldly as he completes the circle around the representative.

The others look surprise but the representative just smiles and asks, "How long were you waiting outside?"

"Long enough to make sure you had no more escape routes left." The representative begins to think about his options as Shadow finally is able to stand up.

"Take it easy mate?" Nick cautions.

"I'm good, now Mr. _Representative _are you ready to surrender?"

The representative looks at Shadow surprise for a moment then laughs. "Hahaha actually I am." This catches everyone off guard.

"Come again?" Roxas asks. The representative digs into his pocket and pulls out the medal. He tosses it to Shadow who in his weaken state fails to catch it. "

There you go." Shadow bends down to pick it up while the representative turns around and begins to walk away; Zuke seeing no reason to stop him allows the representative to pass.

"Wait a minute that's it?" Cagalli shouts more than just a little annoyed with the whole situation.

"My mission was never to beat you to death it was just to test whether or not you had the qualities of a true Gundam fighter and in my opinion you guys have it. No one actually expected you guys to be able to take me on, I'm an upper C-rank Gundam fighter, so it's been up to my discretion to decide who gets the medal and I decided to give it to you guys. Always remember that not every mission requires you to win the fight." The representative turns around again and continues to walk away leaving the stunned and silent Shadow Knights when he suddenly remembers something.

"Oh yeah, Shadow right? You wanted to know my name, it's Rick Yulans from team Japan, I hope to meet you again." With that Rick jumps out the window and force jumps away.

Cagalli rushes over to the window as her brain desperately struggles to process and make sense of what she had just seen. "Ok can someone please tell me what just happened?"

Shadow with everyone else also walks over and looks out the window. Shadow's awe quickly disappears as he feels the medal in his hands and realizes what that means. "I'll tell you what's going on, we're in Arianna's D-rank tournament OWW!" Shadow shouts as shooting pain cripples his body causing him to collapse once more to the ground.

"Would you like some help?" Roxas asks with a sly grin. Shadow stubbornly refuses "No I'm-OW oo-good."

Shadow groans in pain causing Nick and Roxas to trade knowing glances while Zuke tisks "stupid natural." After a moment more Cagalli shakes her head to dismiss the impossibilities she witnessed and sighs as she moves to help Shadow up.

"Come on you big dummy let's get you to Doctor Price." Cagalli and Nick begin to carry Shadow out of the building while Roxas and Zuke follow them.

"We have to celebrate, you need to drink beer."

Cagalli rolls her eyes as she replies "We can celebrate later after you get fixed up and I don't drink beer Shadow."

####

_Location: GFC building_

"Guys, Guys, you're not going to believe it! Someone actually passed the test!" Ted shouts after getting off the phone. Everyone gets up and gathers around Ted except for Drake and Tim.

"What? That's impossible!" Shiua exclaims!

"Well don't just keep us waiting who did it who won?" Risha asks.

Ted looks straight at the calm, cool collected Tim and Drake, a little scared by how they seem to know what's coming. "The Shadow Knights." All eyes turn towards Drake and Tim in shock but they both maintain blank faces as they get up and begin walking out with Drake in the lead.

"Well then gentlemen and ladies this has been fun but I'm afraid I have to get going. After all winning a D-rank tournament requires a lot of work or else everyone would be doing it." With that Drake and Tim leave a stunned crowd, after walking out of hearing distance Tim leans over to Drake and whispers

"I still think it was mean and a little unfair to have hacked the security cameras around the city to see firsthand what was going on, on your smart phone. Not to mention illegal too."

"Like you weren't going to the bathroom to check and see what was going on."

"You know I have boundary problems but anyway what's next Drake? The team's secured a spot in the D-rank tournament but that's still a month away."

The episode ends with Drake smiling as he answers "Training, lots of training."

_Word from the author: Just to clarify my editor is not Maderfole. My editor is aurelian620. Also I like to once again apologize for the late arrive of this episode, it's really felt like conspiracy against me getting this done. However is has inspired me to make a new topic in the Gundam Seed Shadow forum called Delays, so when I start running behind from now on I'll post in it to let you guys know what's going on and when you can expect the next update. You can find the Gundam Seed Shadow forum by either going to the first page of the Gundam Seed forum section or googling Gundam Seed Shadow forum._


	73. Episode 72 Training and Heartache

Episode 72 Training and Heartache

_Location: Dark-Angel Time: 9:30 AM 30 Days left until the tournament_

"I'm telling you he was a Jedi." Shadow says stubbornly, Price had fixed him up yesterday and now he was ready to get back to work.

"And I'm telling you that Jedis don't exist in the real world." Cagalli argues.

"Ok then how do you explain the psych powers princess?"

"Don't call me princess and there's no such thing as psychics, it was probably some unknown technology. Gundam fighters like to use prototype tools, plus they also like to make and design their own unique and sometimes weird weapons so as to have the element of surprise in a Gundam fight."

"Oh my god, you've been reading the GFC blog haven't you?" Shadow asks wide eyed.

Kenny continues to watch Shadow pester Cagalli with mild-amusement as he walks behind them to the conference room of the Dark-Angel, they were meeting Drake. Nick leans in and asks "You never told the mates that we fought a KSA user?" When the others got back Kenny and Jack had of course drilled Nick and Roxas on what happened. Shadow was in the med bay getting treated, and Cagalli had decided to get started on the paperwork for the D-rank tournament. After hearing what Nick and Roxas had told them about this Rick guy Kenny had figured out that he was a KSA user.

Once Kenny had said it aloud it became obvious to the others. In all fairness that had been the first time anyone on the team had fought against a battle ready KSA user, well not counting Zuke. Kenny had no idea about anything with that guy. "I never got around to talking about it with Shadow and to be honest it's kind of funnier to watch him believe in Jedis."

"Well what about Cagalli?" Roxas asks as she yawns, she had had a long night with three male "friends".

Jack answers this question, "I tried telling Cagalli at breakfast but she wouldn't listen. She just kept saying that there's no such thing as psychics."

"So not only does the blond natural believe she's some kind of ruler on Earth she also doesn't believe in psychics, tisk she should be locked in a white padded room or put down." Zuke chimes in which was unusual for him in the first place.

Nick and Roxas glare at the last person in line. "At least she isn't a geneist like some people mate."

"So what if she's crazy, you got a problem with that buddy?" Roxas asks threateningly as she hunches her shoulders and shows up her fang like teeth. Zuke ignores the lesser beings attempts to start a fight with him.

"Hey what are you guys talking about? I thought I heard my name?" Cagalli asks as Shadow looks on with one eyebrow raised.

"Nothing." Nick, Jack, Roxas and Kenny say at the same time.

"Um ok." Cagalli replies as she raises an eyebrow in question at Shadow who just shrugs. They walk into the conference room with a waiting Drake and projector.

"Hello everyone, I hope you're ready for a good fun day of training." Drake says in a highly annoyed voice like he's being forced to pull out his teeth causing everyone to stop and stare at him…and the note card he's reading from.

"Tim making you follow a script Drake?" Shadow asks as he sits down at the table. Drake flicks his note card away with the skill of an expert card thrower.

"Tis he says I need to connect more emotionally with you guys or something like that. Anyway everyone take a seat and let's get to work."

"Are there any opponents equal to the representative's strength in the D-rank tournament?" Zuke immediately asks.

"No." Drake replies without hesitation. Zuke turns around and leaves.

"Ok so-"

"Wait a minute, how come Zuke can leave the boring lessons and bookwork stuff?"

"Because he's a better Gundam Pilot then you, now shut up. It's time you guys learn how to do a fight breakdown."

"I'm sorry a fight breakdown?" Kenny asks.

"It's basically when a Gundam team goes over a Gundam fight, we watch videos and talk about everything going on in the fight, from the Gundams to the weapons to decisions and tactics the pilots made. It's pretty standard for professional Gundam teams and something you're going to be doing from now on so get used to it." Only Cagalli and Roxas moaned slightly but the others seem to look forward to this.

"So what did you pick for us to watch?" Shadow asks salivating. Drake flashes him an evil smile.

"I'm glad you asked." Drake hits a button on his remote control starting the projector.

Shadow's fight with Blake pops up on screen causing Shadow's smile to drop from his face. "Your fight with Blake."

This lightens Roxas and Cagalli's spirits as it darkens Shadow's. "Out of all the Gundam fights why do we have to watch this one?" Shadow asks sourly.

"Because it's important to learn from your mistakes and besides…it will amuse me."

"Don't worry Shadow we'll go easy on you." Roxas says with an evil smile.

Shadow glares at her but before he can say anything Cagalli dives right in. "Ok so how should we start?"

"Normally we start chronologically from the beginning of the fight. I'll participate in this breakdown since it's your first time but I'm not a babysitter so don't expect me to sit in on this all the time. Ok for starters Shadow why do you launch so late?"

Shadow blinks in surprise from the question. "Huh?"

"You always wait until the referee says your name before you launch into the arena but you can launch earlier, you can launch the moment the referee gives you the ok."

"How will anyone know who I am if I don't launch when he says my name and besides it's more dramatic that way."

"Isn't being dramatic a little unnecessary in a Gundam fight mate?" Nick asks a little skeptical.

"No it's part of the psychological warfare; I'm sending a mental image of power to my opponents."

"No you're not; you're just doing it because you think it's cool." Kenny calls Shadow out.

"No, it makes a difference in tactics."

"It does not; it has absolutely nothing to do with tactics." Jack comes in agreeing with Kenny. While they continue to argue Cagalli asks a question.

"I have a question, how come Blake's Spartan Class Warrior type Gundam was able to overwhelm Nightwing so easily when Zain's Knight fused Spartan Class Special type Gundam couldn't? Isn't Zain's Gundam more powerful?"

"Don't use the word power when describing a Gundam; it's too general and not descriptive enough. Yes though the Knight Fused Spartan Gundam is a superior model to a standard Spartan Gundam but Zain wasn't a good enough pilot to fully use it to its maximum potential. A Gundam can only go as fast as its pilot can make it go. Low level Gundams like Nightwing only need low level pilots like Shadow-"

"Hey!"

"-in order for their potential to be reached and then surpass. Laconia is a high level Gundam and Blake being a high level pilot was able to fully bring out all of its abilities plus you can bet that Blake's mechanic has modified and increased Laconia beyond what it was manufactured to do similar to what Jack has done to Nightwing."

Cagalli slowly nods her head as she pieces it all together. For the next ten or so minutes the Shadow Knights discussed every single move Shadow made since the moment he entered the arena and began to theorize what he could have done better.

"Ok let's move onto Blake's weapon of choice, a beam chakram. Now what question should we be asking about this weapon?"

"Where it came from?" Roxas suggest with a sly smile causing Shadow to snap.

"Very funny!"

"No, this actually has nothing to do with Shadow's piloting ability. How is he controlling it?" Understanding dawns on everyone's faces but Jack is the first one to answer.

"Well if it's light enough and has XI-22 series motor engine or higher then the blades can spin and propel themselves upward like a helicopter and victor thrusters for angular control-" Drake cuts Jack off. "

No not how is it moving how is Blake controlling it?" He waits a moment for someone to answer; when no one does he sighs and rubs his brow as he realizes he's going to have to explain this from the beginning.

"Ok there's three different ways to control objects or weapons other than just using your hands. The NS system is your first example. Now the NS system in essence connects your brain to your Gundam fooling it into thinking that the Gundam is the body. Through this way anything connected to your Gundam can be controlled with your brain in the same way that your brain controls the movement of your arms. This is how Fachtna controlled his tail but we can rule this method out. When the object or weapon is not directly connected to the Gundam it loses efficiency since it becomes so completely foreign to the brain. That's why it's very rare to see someone control unmanned drones using the NS system."

Cagalli raises her hand and asks "Unmanned drones?"

Jack answers this question for Cagalli. "That's the general term for any device or tool that doesn't have a pilot and flies around by itself, and are normally controlled or influenced by a person from a different location." Cagalli takes this in then connects the dots.

"Oh like the DRAGOON system." Jack's the only one who doesn't give Cagalli a blank stare, after talking with her about her brother's Gundam Jack had figured out what DRAGOON meant though she did forgotten to tell Cagalli that whatever terminology or slang she was using was either incorrect or nonexistent.

"I'm sorry?" Drake asks in a slightly annoyed voice with this interruption. He assumed Cagalli was making a reference to some Earth technology but he wasn't a mechanic and it wasn't like he knew everything about Earth.

Cagalli looks around at the blank stares then realizes her mistake and sighs. "Never mind."

Drake looks at her for a moment still annoyed but decides to move on. "Anyway there are several different types of drones but that's a discussion in itself later, just know that Blake's beam chakrams are classified as ghost warriors."

Shadow giggles at this, "Ghost warrior, really?"

Drake turns and gives him the stink eye. "Yes, ghost warriors are drones that are shaped like melee weapons and attack the enemy as if an invisible ghost was using them, moving on drones are normally controlled by PSA users."

This time it's Cagalli with the blank stare. "Who?"

"Seriously? Do I have to explain basic high school science to you now, I guess this just shows the lack of Sora education." Drakes sighs as he silently grins on the inside. Cagalli flashes red as she realizes the question she just asked must be stupid.

"No, stop that you asshole you know I'm from Earth." Cagalli notices that everyone begins to avoid eye contact as they look down and shuffle their feet or twiddle their thumbs except for Shadow who continues to look on between Drake and Cagalli's fight with a goofy grin oblivious to the change in atmosphere.

"Mate maybe you should take it easy."

"No, god damn it I'm not crazy! Drake you know I'm not crazy tell them I'm not crazy!" Drake's mental smile gets bigger as he turns to Shadow with his annoyed face and says.

"Shadow can you please control your delusional teammate."

"Damn you, you asshole!" Cagalli screams as she jumps up preparing to attack Drake but Shadow speaks first.

"For the record I don't think Cagalli's crazy, and in fact I think she is from Earth." The others glare at Shadow and shake their head not approving of him encouraging what they think is an unhealthy delusion. They care about Cagalli and want her to be well. Cagalli herself though stops completely in her tracks and looks at Shadow with overwhelming gratitude and appreciation. She wasn't by herself; there was one person who believed her, one person who didn't think she was crazy.

"You also believe that launching right when your name is being announced makes a positive tactical difference."

"It does!" Shadow insists further hurting his credibility. "I rest my case though I do have to admit that they only briefly touch on the subject in high school science, you don't really get into the details until college. Since none of you have been to college I'll give you the spark notes version, a PSA user is the abbreviated term for physical spatial awareness user, now Spatial Awareness is our seventh sense."

"When you say seventh sense, are you referring to touch, sight, taste, smell, and hearing senses?"

"Yes."

"Wait can't only spacenoids develop Spatial Awareness?" Cagalli asks confused.

"No, that's a common misconception though, all human beings have varying levels of Spatial Awareness, you see within the human brain there are cells called Kaartionals that emit a brain wave. This brain wave was used similar to echo location to help us determine our location within an environment, however because of our other five senses the seventh sense has been pretty much useless and weakened. The only time it even remotely came close to being seen was when someone lost another one of their senses but for the most part this seventh sense has gone by unnoticed in human history for almost as long as humans have been around. In fact it's only been a couple of centuries since we discovered it. Its discovery was largely thanks to human expansion into entering space which is how the misconception that only spacenoids have Spatial Awareness was started."

Shadow raises his hand. "Um I still don't get it?"

"In space all our other senses become isolated due to the harsh environment, suddenly the seventh sense becomes our key to judge which way is up, down, left and right. At first it was still very weak but after spending extended amounts of time in space it slowly began to grow stronger and become more useful. You don't need to know the exact date now but eventually humans discovered how to detect this sense, and designed a system to judge how strong it was in a person. As time passed we discovered that we could control the density of the brain wave so that it mimic some of the waves on the electromagnetic spectrum."

"The what?" Shadow asks causing Drake to sigh. "Radio waves, so that they can mimic radio waves. A PSA user is a person who uses these brain radio waves to control drones remotely, like a remote control helicopter only with their brain."

_So Kira, and Mu La Flaga would be considered PSA users. _Cagalli thinks to herself as she process this. "But we can rule this out as well."

"Then what was the whole point of telling that long ass speech then?" Roxas moans highly annoyed, she had learned most of this stuff anyway growing up from her private tutors.

Kenny though asks the next question, "How can you tell he's not a PSA user?"

"Well medical records and body data aside you can tell from the fact that during his first fight with Shadow he couldn't control his blade remotely. Instead he relied on it boomeranging off Shadow to come back to him."

"Couldn't he just not be able to afford to build a custom drone that size to use?" Jack asks.

"True but right here with this hand motion he gives away what he's using." Drake rewinds the video to show Blake's Gundam make the come at me gesture with his hand. "Thanks to that we can tell that Blake is mostly likely manipulating his beam chakram through a combination of a remote controlled system in his Gundam's hands and the NS system."

"So he's just using a remote control?" Jack asks with a slightly annoyed look.

"Basically." Drake answers with a shrug.

"So then what was the point of going into such detail with how the NS system control and PSA users work?"

The very busy mechanic asks now highly annoyed, Drake decides to answer this time. "For the test later."

"Test?" Kenny did not like the sound of that.

"Yes, in fact that brings me to our next portion of the day, school." Everyone frowns as Drake shuts off the projector and walks over to the corner of the room where a box has been place.

"School?" Roxas asks very uneasy with the subject.

Drake begins to pull out very large college text books and tosses them to the Shadow Knights. "That is correct, now that I've personally reviewed with you the various core subjects and I've judged you to have a satisfaction high school education it's time we move onward. Welcome to college."

This does not fly well as Drake receives a large number of moans of protest.

"You can't be serious mate?"

"Who gives out solid text books anymore?"

"Why do I need a college education?"

"Do you even have a degree?"

Drake raises his hands and shouts "SILENCE!" In his loudest most commanding voice. "You need a college education, because one it will look good for anything else you might decide you want to do in life and most importantly so you don't look like idiots and embarrass me. I will not be one of the few, and it is few, managers to manage a team with no college education. I'd be the laughing stock of the GFC; so I am going to personally teach you and yes that means all of your core subjects like Math, Science, Language and any other subject I deem appropriate. You will have tests, papers, and homework so deal with it now. I have a master's degree which means I can legally teach you and I like solid text books because I know that will annoy you more and you won't be multitasking on your laptops. So now that that's settled open your math text books to page three hundred and twenty-four we are going to learn calculus." Everyone shares a look with each other but seeing no possible way out they all reluctantly open their text books and resign themselves to their fate.

####

_Location: George's Car shop. Time: 1:00 PM_

Shadow collapsed as soon as he got to the garage, after two hours of putting up with Drake's college class they were allow to have a half-hour lunch break followed by stretches then for the last hour Drake had then running at least five miles straight with no breaks. The only thing that had kept Shadow going was his need to beat Cagalli, that girl had gotten fast and had been neck and neck with him the whole way.

"Get up you big babies it wasn't that much." Drake exclaims as he stands over the exhausted kids, Shadow wasn't the only one on the ground struggling to reclaim his breath.

He had purposely set the pace for the run high to see exactly how good they had gotten and although he would never say it out loud in front of their presence he was impressed. After lunch Drake had sent Kenny and Jack back to the Dark-Angel to continue the repairs and upgrades for the Gundams while he continued the physical part of the Gundam fighter's training. Drake had only expected them to maintain the pace for a little while, to finish with only six miles but they did seven. "You guys can't be tired yet, until the day of the tournament you're going to be living this workout so get up and get moving already."

Drake receives more groans but reluctantly after a minute more everyone slowly rises back to their feet. "So who are we doing here?" Roxas asks as she eyes a very attractive sweaty female mechanic working under a car. Drake's run had brought them into the poorer part of the city; the garage was under an overpass with very little car traffic although the drifters were out in force. George's Car shop was on the low tech and cheap side of things as one could tell from the size of the shop, the number of poor old cars in the lot, the tools including skateboards they were using and failing paint job on the sign itself but God the staff was pretty good looking if not downright hot in Roxas's opinion.

Roxas wanted to run right over to that sexy red head and rip off her clothes and take her-_oh shiny! _The easily distracted animal spots a shiny round metal barring and hops on it like a cat as she begins to bat it back and forth in her hands. The others ignored her as Drake explains, "As I hope you can tell this is George's car shop where they perform basic maintenance and repairs to cars, they also buy cars from the owners where they in turn sell them at the scrap yard for parts. I've already talked to the owner and she's agreed to let you guys transport the cars to the scrap yard."

"Well that sounds easy." Shadow says hopeful.

"I'm glad you think so, your first car is that yellow one over there." Drake points to one of the run down dirty pieces of crap cars in the lot.

"Alright, where are the keys mate?" Nick asks.

"Hahaha that's cute, you misunderstand you see most of the cars sold to George are broken beyond hope of repair. No you're going to have to push it about five blocks up the street to the scrap yard."

"You want us to push a car five blocks?" Cagalli asks stunned.

"Five blocks up a very sharp inclined hill." Drake adds with an evil smile causing all of their jaws to drop. "Staring at me open mouth isn't going to get those cars to the scrap yard."

####

_Location: Dark-Angel Gym Time: 4:30 PM_

Cagalli hated Drake sooo god damn much, it wasn't just that he made her look like a crazy lunatic in front of everyone which she knew he did on purpose, he was also trying to work them to death. Her arms and legs ached; it had taken all four of them to be able to push that car all the way up that freaking hill to the scrap yard but that hadn't been enough. Drake had made them turn around and run back to the garage and push another car to the scrap yard, after they somehow managed to do that Drake had them jog back to the Dark-Angel where they did their daily sparing matches. Cagalli smiles to herself as she remembers her victories over Roxas, her animalistic friend had beat her the first round but Cagalli had won the last two taking the set.

Not only that but she had also beaten Shadow today as well; everything had been going great until Drake stepped in and said it was time they started fighting even stronger opponents. From now on whenever Drake was available they would go up against him in sparing matches one on one. Needless to say that all of their sparing matches with Drake were less about sparing and more about Drake beating them senseless. Cagalli was black and blue all over, and her nose had only just stopped bleeding; Shadow had been worse though, the idiot had run smack dab into Drake's fist breaking his own nose. Lucky for him Sora medical science has progress to the point where fixing a broken nose was fast and easy.

They were currently in the middle of dinner with Jack and Kenny; "No, Jack, no." Cagalli says shaking her head.

"Why can't I build the new prototype atom splitter gun for Cowboy, it can devastate a whole city in one shot?"

"For starters it can destroy a whole city in one shot." Cagalli begins in an elderly sister voice, for as smart as Jack was she had a similar impulsiveness to Shadow which made her reckless at times.

"We don't have the money for parts mate." Nick adds.

"Isn't it also still highly unstable?" Kenny finishes forcing Jack to concede.

"Fine, fine I won't try to build one jeez." Jack pouts. "How about we go to that new mechanic shop later on, you said you needed to get some new tools right?" Cagalli suggest with a knowing twinkle in her eye, just as she hoped Jack's demeanor changes immediately as her eyes open wide in surprise and excitement.

"Really you'll come with me, I thought you didn't like that mechanic stuff Cagalli?"

Cagalli drinks some of her ice tea before replying. "I never said I don't like it, I just have a hard time understanding a lot of it, you'll have to show me the ropes."

"Ohh let's make it a girl's day out!" Roxas chimes in. "We can hit the clothes store afterwards, and then let's do some sunbathing in the park." Jack smiles even bigger liking the idea of spending the day out with Cagalli and Roxas.

"Wait what about me?" Shadow asks a little annoyed. "That's sexist."

"Learn to deal with life." Roxas says uncaringly as she rips apart a big piece of chicken.

"Besides you just want to see me and Roxas sunbathing." Cagalli says reading Shadow like an open book.

"So sue me you girls are hot, and I happen to like looking at all the mechanic tools involved with Gundams." Shadow high-fives Jack as Drake walks up to them.

"You guys will have to schedule that after the training month, as it is Jack and her team will have to work themselves almost to death to finish the repairs and upgrades in time for the first match."

Jack groans as she looks at her watch. "Don't remind me, come on Kenny we have to get back to work."

"What but what about desertowww!" Jack whacks Kenny on the head and then grabs the collar of his shirt and begins to drag him away. Drake lets them leave then turns to the others

"Ok let's get going." Drake walks Nick, Cagalli and Roxas into the gym where he's set up the range. Shadow as always went on to do his own thing.

"Starting today you guys are going to practice with different guns. During battle you'll never know when you might get disarmed and have to use whatever you can get your hands on." Roxas doesn't care and scratches behind her ear with her left foot, Cagalli surprising herself actually thinks this is a good idea.

Nick also didn't really care, his uncle owned the gun shop in his home town so he had already gone through all the many different types of guns. Drake walks over to the gun rack which he had set up before hand and grabs the machine gun. "This is the stainless steel Joger-43 armor piercing machine gun; it fires a rather large caliber solid steel bullet that will get through standard armor. It has a relativity average rpm of 1200 to 1500. The draw backs for this weapon include its clip size of only a hundred bullets and its heavy kickback making aiming difficult. Roxas you'll get the machine gun first."

Drake hands her the gun as Roxas goes bug eyed as she stares at the reflective surface of the stainless steel material. "Oh so shiny." Roxas begins to rub the surface of the gun like a hypnotized cat while Drake goes to grab a rather small sniper rifle. "This is the mosquito or beta-R-3 military grade short sniper rifle; it was designed as an easy to transport light weight sniper rifle. That makes it perfect for long drawn out infantry combat, it's easy to draw and set up within seconds. The downside includes a rather small range for a sniper of four hundred meters and you'll have to reload after every shot but the bullets do pack a punch. Cagalli you'll start off with this one."

Drake hands Cagalli the sniper rifle, Nick smiles with pride as he sees Cagalli begin to feel the weight of the weapon and look for its point of balance, she was also looking over every nook and cranny of the weapon, Nick had taught her to do all of that during their gun practicing lessons. Drake raises an eyebrow impressed with what Cagalli is doing but he would sooner rip out his own tongue then admit it.

"So what weapon do you have in mind for me mate?" Drake walks over and picks up a box.

"None, I have something very special in mind for you." Drake opens the box to reveal an exact replica handheld gun to Nick's.

"Holy crap it's your gun Nick!" Roxas exclaims shocked, she's not the only one as both Cagalli and Nick stare dumbfounded at the weapon. Even to Nick's sharp trained eyes he found it extremely difficult to tell the two weapons apart, the match was so close that Nick felt compelled to tap the holster where his own gun resided in case Drake had somehow pick pocketed him without Nick noticing.

"Just to let you know it was a major pain in the ass to have an exact copy of your gun made, and it cost me more money than I would like, stupid gunsmith. Well don't just stand there staring at it like some kind of owl pick it up and feel it out!"

The cowboy pushed forward by Drake's comment picks up the gun from the box and begins to feel it out. "Amazing, it feels almost identical to mine, and it even has the changeable barrel and clip holder for different size ammo." Nick says in his Australian accent. "How did you do this mate?"

"Tim analyzed your gun one time during your sparing matches with Shadow. You're new task now is to master duel wielding."

Nick looks up at Drake surprise; duel wielding guns was extremely hard. Only one of his brothers and pa could do it. "Duel wielding?"

"Yes, it's extremely difficult to get the hang of and will lower your accuracy rate in the beginning but if you can master it this skill will open many doors for you brining you into the next level of marksmanship."

Nick takes another minute to feel this new gun then pulls out the tiny screwdriver he carries in his pack and begins to adjust the barrel for the size ammo he was using. "Let's get started then mate."

####

_Location: Unknown Time: 5:30 PM_

Nick sighed for the tenth time, he hadn't done that bad at a shooting range since he was nine. He remembered why he stopped trying to wield duel guns. Drake showed Roxas the basics of using a machine gun while Nick had showed Cagalli the basics of using a sniper rifle, once they were settled in Drake came over to watch Nick. He offered a tip here and there but it was clear that what Nick needed was a lot more practice. After an hour of that Shadow rejoined them as Drake ushered them into a small building adjacent of the GFC building. Like normal Drake wouldn't tell them where he was taking them, he just pushed them into a large elevator which was taking them down somewhere.

"You're learning a completely new type of shooting Nick; it would be weird if you didn't stink at it at first." Cagalli tells Nick in an attempt to comfort him.

"Thanks mate." Nick says appreciating her gestured.

"We're here." Drake says as the elevator doors open revealing an entire underground city. "Welcome to Arianna's GFC's underground training city." The elevator has opened up on top of a roof of one of the buildings in the underground city. The others slowly walk out and look around at the eerily quiet city, like almost all major cities on Sora its buildings reach high up to the heavens about five times the height of the average Gundam. The streets had a good number of empty almost abandoned looking cars parked throughout the entire city, while the buildings were close together the roads were wide enough to allow a normal size Gundam to move around easily.

"This is a little creepy." Shadow says as he looks up at the dome like ceilings with its fluorescent lights. Cagalli nods her head; she hadn't been in a ghost town like this since desert dawn. Drake leads them to a side door that goes into the building as he gives them a brief explanation of the city.

"This is a fake city designed and maintain by the GFC, as you can tell there aren't any real people in it which makes it perfect for training in a city environment."

"Isn't that what the simulators are for?" Roxas asks.

Drake scoffs at the comment. "Simulators are alright for beginners but they can't come close to all of the factors that you experience in a live Gundam. Anyway this building here is off limits since its where the training Gundams are kept. Now hurry up and get into your pilot suits and get into the training Gundams."

"Why can't we use our own Gundams?" Shadow whines.

"Because they're in the middle of repairs and upgrades now hurry up!" Drake snaps annoyed. Ten minutes later everyone was in the middle of the streets in their Gundams. The Gundams are clearly Basic Originals only with no paint job other than a number on the shoulder to help tell who is who.

"This sucks, this Gundam feels weird and slow compare to Nightwing." Shadow complains over the communications link.

If Cagalli was standing outside observing Shadow she would have just assumed it was all in Shadow's head but even she could feel the difference in machines. "It's probably because of all the upgrades and stuff Jack did to our Gundams." Still Cagalli was surprised to find how much she was feeling those differences, and it was bothering her immensely.

"At least you guys have the same type and class Gundams while I'm stuck in this piece of crap!" Roxas snaps bitterly. Her Gundam stood on floor legs like an animal Gundam with a tail, but that's where the comparison ended with anything living on either Sora or Earth. The Gundam looked too square, its shape too undefined, too robotic to ever be mistaken for a real animal of any kind.

"I'm surprised they even still make the Basic type Animal Class Gundam; look at these god damn baby claws, what kind of animal has claws like this! I swear to god did the designer of this abomination ever see a real animal in real life before."

"Bitch all you want but until your Gundams are complete you're stuck in these cheap second hand suits." Drake exclaims as he pops up on everyone's helmet screen. They immediately notice that Drake is also wearing a pilot's helmet and in shock they all turn to look at the building they came from to see a fourth Basic Original Gundam walk out. The NS system felt odd after so long, not bad just odd. Drake guessed the old saying about once a Gundam fighter always a Gundam fighter was true. Truth be told Drake would have been happy to never pilot a Gundam again but it couldn't be helped. They wouldn't understand what he was trying to teach them unless Drake showed them the techniques himself.

"Ok let's jog about ten minutes that way so we're-What?" Drake asks as he finally notices everyone still staring at him open mouth?

"This is the first time we've seen you in a Gundam? Is that your old Gundam from back in your official Gundam fighter days?" Shadow asks.

"NO, my real Gundam is locked away somewhere where it will hopefully never see the light of day again and don't get used to seeing me in even this training model. It's only for today so that I can show you what to do. Now get moving!" Drake roars at them! Ten minutes later they stood in some random part of the city with Drake's Gundam pacing in the front of them. "Now you guys have been piloting your Gundams for a while but you've yet to fully master your machines."

"I've mastered Nightwing!" Shadow shouts angrily and he's not the only one as everyone nods their head feeling confident in their piloting abilities.

"No you haven't, you've barely scratched the surface of what a Gundam can do." Drake sighs as he sees their puzzled looks on his helmet screen. "You guys don't understand, you're in a Gundam right now. You can break the normal limitations that bound you when you're in your human form." In the blink of an eye Drake's training Gundam bridges the gap between itself and Shadow's training Gundam, Drake's Gundam picks up Shadow's Gundam in one fluid motion and throws it into the building to their left.

Shadow's Gundam goes straight through the building and crashes into the next street over. Glass shatters as bricks break as the buildings collapses sending up a small dust cloud. "OWwww" Shadow groans as his Gundam sits back up and begins rubbing its back.

Nick yells "What the hell mate?"

Drake though carries on as if this was normal. "Now Shadow how do you feel?"

"My back hurts you asshole!"

"But other than a bruise are you alright?" Shadow blinks confused by the question.

"Um yea." Drake stares at Shadow hard trying to make him see his point.

"I just sent you flying through a building and your only injury is a small bruise if even that?" Shadow just nods his head this time as he stands back up, Drakes turns to the others now as they slowly figure out what he's getting out. "Roxas tell me what would have happen if I had thrown Shadow, Gundamless in his human form into that building?"

"He wouldn't have gone through it, if you did throw him that hard he would have just splattered like a water balloon."

"EXACTLY! His spine would have shattered into pieces, his flesh would have been ripped from his body, and as Roxas put it he would have ended up like a fly hit by a fly swatter. Don't you guys see, all those action animes and superhero movies you've watched, were the heroes fly into buildings, break rocks, jump super high, move so fast that you can't even see them; as Gundams you can do those impossible things. You're only limited now by your own imagination." They all begin to look at themselves or their Gundam selves through their Gundam's eyes as they begin to fully grasp all of the possibilities of Drake's meaning.

After a minute Cagalli looks up and asks a single one word question. "How?"

"For starters you guys aren't using your thrusters correctly, Shadow you're the furthest along with learning to use them but you only know how to run with them. You subconsciously switch them off when you enter a melee fight with your opponent because you can't fully control them."

"I do not!" Shadow argues defensively. Drake sighs again but he expected this from Shadow.

"Watch me, this is what you do with no thrusters." Drake's Gundam pulls out a beam saber from its hidden compartment and actives it. The Gundam begins to slash the air in a series of sword slash attacks, hilt bashes, kicks and punches. The attacks are semi-fast and while one wouldn't want to get hit by them they don't scream deadly. Still they emitted the same feeling as Shadow's attacks and even he had to admit it.

"I don't see how this is any different from how any of us fight Drake, other than obvious weapon and fighting style." Cagalli says.

Drake nods his head as his Gundam stops moving and regrips the beam saber with both hands. "Exactly, now this is what Blake does, with thrusters." The thrusters flare up but they're not noticeable without some kind of tool, what is noticeable is the attacks. The air is ripped apart with each swing of the sword like water, each punch and kick slams into it like it's a physical wall. You can almost see it now but what you can't see is the blade itself as it becomes a blur, afterimages start to appear. Each time Drake's Gundam brings its leg back down it smacks into the ground causing it to rumble. It's clear that these attacks are on a completely different level than the previous.

These were attacks that Shadow had never seen in real life, these were anime style attacks. Drake stops confident he's made his point. While the others still looked at him open mouth in awe Drake decides to quickly move along to the next point so they won't interrupt him again. "Air or dry sparing is something you'll do every day until the start of the tournament. To help you get more used to using your thrusters like this I have another exercise you'll be doing, wall running." A light bulb goes off in Cagalli's head as she instantly recognizes the phrase.

"That's what Zain was doing during our battle!"

Drake nods his head, he knew this already from the various reports Tim had hacked into plus the stealth drone that was spying on them. "It's a standard skill for all D-rank pilots and above although given the nature of Zain's job it's no surprise he was able to pick it up."

"SWEET, this is going to be awesome, we're going to be like those ninja animes!" Shadow shouts excitedly. Drake just gives him a look and shakes his head and moves on.

"Ok the basic concept is simple, now has anyone noticed that the thrusters on the bottom of their feet are different from the thrusters on their back and legs?"

"We have thrusters on the bottom of our feet?" Shadow asks shocked as his training Gundam begins to pick up and examine the bottom of its feet; everyone begins to do the same.

"Huh well what do you know it's true mates."

"Sora Gundams are so weird sometimes." Cagalli says.

"Huh I never noticed." The cat says as Roxas's Gundam begins to lick its paw then rub its head, while it didn't have a tongue Roxas still liked to go through the motions and pretend. Drake angrily bites his lip and forcefully reminds himself that they're still rookies.

"Ninety-five percent of Gundams on Sora are built with thrusters on the bottom of their feet, only bird type animal Gundams and some water Gundams do not, they're used to increase the Gundam's running speed as well as help stabilize flying on flying models. Now as you will notice these thrusters are different in design from the ones on your back.

You see the back thrusters use a fuel system that produces heat, normally that's fine since the heat disperses in the air and it's not that hot that it would cause any problems but if the thrusters were in constant contact with the ground the heat would build up and cause extreme wear and tear in the long term. That's why a new air pump system was designed for the bottom of your Gundam's feet."

"You mean like a propeller on a helicopter mate?" Nick asks.

"Umm it's more like a really powerful leaf blower. Naturally this kind of thruster design isn't as powerful as the fuel system but it does give you that little extra boost when running, jumping and as pilots have discovered, climbing walls. You see the air flow in the thrusters can be reversed causing suction like a vacuum instead of propulsion."

Everyone slowly nods their head. "So the suction lets us climb buildings and walls and such?" Shadow asks.

"Not exactly, while the suction is powerful enough to make your feet stick to a wall like superglue the average Gundam does weigh around seventy tons plus you have the force of gravity pushing on you, assuming you're on Sora, and all that weight is focused on that small surface of the wall where your feet are touching. The total weight will literary rip those pieces of wall from the building sending you crashing to the ground, which is why you have to constantly be moving."

"I see." Cagalli says as she reviews her battle with the mercenary; now that she went over it Zain had never stood still while he was standing on the side of a building, he had always been running.

"What about if I grab on to something, would it hold my weight then?" Shadow asks thinking.

"If its anchored good enough onto the building and if it disperses the weight then you should be able to stand stationary without trouble and yes before you ask the majority of buildings on Sora can support the majority of Gundams' weights if they stand on top of them." Cagalli closes her mouth slightly annoyed at how easily Drake had read her.

"You'll spend the next two and a half hours doing this and then you'll be free for the rest of the day, now let's get started."

####

_Location: Lady Dragon's Night club Time: 10:30 PM 17 Days left until tournament_

The rock music blared as the multi colored lights flashed all around. The regular lighting had been set on the lowest setting allowing more "intimate" and "private" dancing on the dance floor. The dance floor was on the lower level while a balcony overlooked it, there was a little more light on the balcony then on the dance floor but not much. It was a full house on the balcony too as the waitress flew across the floor, refilling drinks, bringing out food and trying to make sure every table was happy. Kenny watched all of this as he sipped his ice tea.

"Man this sucks that we can't drink." Shadow complains bitterly. Kenny smiled at his friend; Drake had forbidden them from drinking alcohol during their training period. Shadow of course had broken the rule on the second day; Drake had punished him by giving him a paper on the effects of nanite development on religion. Shadow learned his lesson after that.

"Drinking too much is bad for your health anyway." Cagalli says having been the only one in the group other than Kenny who didn't mind not drinking.

"I don't drink that much, you don't drink enough. It's been proven with science that having a single glass of beer a day can extend your life."

Cagalli rolls her eyes, "People have lived just fine without making a fool of themselves oh I'm sorry I meant to say drinking." Cagalli replies with a smirk. Everyone laughs while Shadow turns red. Kenny could always count on Cagalli and Shadow to argue about at least one thing every night, they normally went out somewhere after Drake's training. The classes were moving along like any other school with Drake teaching them, occasionally they would have more fight breakdowns but for the most part it was just like school. Kenny had been busying himself finishing up the new programming for the Gundams, upgrading the old ones and designing new ones for the new equipment Jack was building.

It was going to be close if they finish the Gundams on time but Jack was still confident they could. From what he had been hearing the pilots were making progress in their training too. Shadow bragged how it now only took two people to move the cars, Roxas had mentioned how the sparing matches were becoming more intense, she now had to work really hard in order to beat either Cagalli or Shadow and she could tell Nick was the same. Cagalli told Kenny how everyone was improving with their new weapons on the shooting range, and Nick was slowly making progress with his duel gun wielding skills. They all complain about how they had only just finally figured out how to make suction with their Gundam's feet, plus they were having a hard time not tripping when using their thrusters during dry sparing.

"Well I think I've had enough mates, I'm hitting the hay good night." Nick says as he gets up and tips his hat at them.

"Good night Nick." They all echo back. Jack watches to make sure he's gone then turns around and asks.

"Ok so do you guys think Nick is gay?" Everyone spits out what they were drinking in shock.

"Jack!" Cagalli scolds.

Jack holds up her hand defensively "What? It's just a question."

"Like Humpback Mountain gay?" Shadow asks causing Kenny to roll his eyes.

"No Shadow the happy gay." Kenny says with heavy sarcasm.

"Ok first fist off we shouldn't be talking about this behind Nick's back and second where did that even come from?" Cagalli asks.

"Well for starters he always politely turns down every single chick that hits on him, he never flirts with women." Jack folds her hands and nods confidently, she didn't have a problem if Nick was gay she was just curious.

"Jack makes a solid case." Shadow agrees.

"Thank you."

"No she does not, has it ever occurred to you guys that not all men are horny jerks who only want to sleep with women. Nick is simply a perfect gentleman." Cagalli says.

"Well then how come we've never see him date a women?" Shadow asks, Cagalli shrugs unconcern.

"He's probably just shy-"

"He's in love." Everyone blinks surprised then turns to face Roxas who stretches and yawns in her seat.

"What?"

"How do you know?"

"With who?" They all ask the red head at once. Roxas just shrugs her shoulder uncaringly.

"I don't know with who but you can see it in his eyes, he's the type of guy that's only got one woman hardwired into his brain, everyone else is simply just friends. Why do you guys think I gave up on trying to seduce him, it's impossible to seduce someone with those manners in that mind state." The others begin to think this over as they wonder what kind of girl could have Nick's heart when some random guy walks up to Cagalli.

"Excuse me Miss but did it hurt?"

Cagalli sighs as she turns around and says, "No it did not hurt because I didn't fall from heaven. Thank you for the compliment but I'm talking with my friends and I'm sorry but I'm just not interested." The guy makes a sad face as he walks away while Cagalli turns back around. "Geez can you believe him." She says as she takes a sip of Clora, a type of soda on Sora. Shadow, Kenny, Jack and Roxas trade looks before Shadow decides to make the bold move of raising an eyebrow and speaking.

"Speaking of gay, people are going to start thinking you're a lesbian Cagalli if you keep shooting every single man down that tries to flirt with you."

"YES!" Roxas snickers before Cagalli glares at her.

She turns back to Shadow and says defensively "I don't reject every guy."

"Um yes you do, that's the fifth guy tonight you just stepped on." Jack says.

"Ok I will admit to being a little picky but I don't want to waste my time with someone who's only interested in getting in my pants." Cagalli says starting to get annoyed at having to justify her actions to the others.

"Sweetie if you were this picky with food you would have starved years ago." Roxas says.

"Cagalli you're always stressed out, when was the last time you got any?" Shadow asks causing Cagalli to once more spit out her drink.

"Excuse me?"

"It's a proven fact that people who don't have sex get stressed out and act like there's a big stick up their ass." Shadow says confidently causing a very red Cagalli to snap.

"No it's not! And my sex life is none of your god damn business!"

"What sex life, I've never seen you even touch a guy in the months that I've known you. Please don't tell me you're virgin." Cagalli's right hand shoots out and punches Shadow in the face knocking him to the ground. "OWWW" He yelps but otherwise he was unharmed, he could have dodged the punch if he really wanted too and Cagalli had hit him a lot harder in sparing practice.

_Crap, I relapsed. _Cagalli angrily thought as she glanced at her hand, she hadn't punched someone like that since the first Bloody Valentine's Day War. After the war when she decided to follow in her father's footsteps and become a politician she realized she would have to break that bad habit of hers.

After all real world leaders don't go around decking people just because the person pissed them off, Cagalli had thought she had kicked that habit but leave it to Shadow to cause her to relapse. "In all seriousness though Cagalli are you even really looking for love?" Kenny asks completely ignoring Shadow who he felt had that coming. Cagalli turns her fiery amber eyes on Kenny causing him to move his chair back a little, just in case.

"Of course, isn't it everyone's dream to one day fall in love and get married and have kids so can we please just drop this?"

"Nope, not me I never want to have children; I hate kids, can't stand them." Shadow says already over the punch.

"Same here." Roxas and Shadow high-five each other,

"Hey we should hook up then." Shadow says trying to be smooth but failing.

"You're still not interesting enough." Roxas replies instantly rejecting Shadow while causing Jack to laugh. Kenny moves right along completely ignoring them,

"Then why don't you go out with some of those guys, you can't know for sure if they're only interested in sex until you actually talk with them." Cagalli stubbornly folds her hands, her friends were starting to get on her nerves, "Look, I don't want to talk about this so just drop it." But the others have no attention of letting this go now that it was out in the open.

"And even if they are only interested in sex, having just sex once in a while isn't going to kill you. We are women Cagalli we have needs."

Cagalli turns to glare at Roxas, she was already having trouble controlling her temper and they weren't helping, why couldn't they understand that she just didn't want to do that kind of thing. "I said drop it!"

"Cagalli, how are you ever going to find your one true love if you never put yourself out there?" Jack asks causing Cagalli to bite her lip as she struggles to hold her temper down.

"It's not like you have a boyfriend back on Earth right?" Shadow says unknowingly crossing the line. Cagalli stands up and slams her hands down on the table and explodes. "SHUT UP, JUST SHUT THE HELL UP ALREADY!"

Everyone jumps back startled and stares wide eye at Cagalli; they had never seen her act like this before. Cagalli starts taking deep breathes, she could see the looks of fear and concern in their eyes, in the rational part of her mind Cagalli knew that her friends didn't mean any harm. They were just doing some harmless teasing, and in their own way were looking out for her, but they had hit too close to one of her most sensitive spots, too close to a part of her heart that was still violently wounded and hurting. "No, means NO why can't you guys understand that?" She shouts still angry and walks away.

"Ok, I think we made her angry." Shadow says stating the obvious.

"SHADOW GO APOLOGIZE to Cagalli right now!" Roxas shouts at him.

"ME, what did I do?"

"She obviously exploded right after you made that stupid Earth comment so it's obviously your fault." Jack says as she takes out her wrench from one of the many pockets of her jean jacket and begins to whack Shadow on the head.

"OW, OW, OW"

Kenny joins in, "Shadow you know how…out of it Cagalli can get when you bring up Earth." Shadow fights off Jack then turns to Kenny.

"Has it ever occurred to any of you that Cagalli might not be crazy and is really a princess from Earth?" Once the sentence leaves his mouth Shadow realizes how stupid it sounded. Everyone just stares at him, then Kenny says slowly.

"I have a hard time trying to figure out who's crazier you or Cagalli; now get out there and apologize."

"Alright already but I still don't know what I did wrong." Shadow gets up and chases after Cagalli. It was dark outside, with the traffic dropping down to hardly anything, it wasn't cold out yet but Shadow still wore his windbreaker much to the annoyance of his friends. Luckily Cagalli hadn't gotten too far, Shadow was able to spot his moody friend walking down the mostly deserted street a block away.

"Cagalli!" Shadow calls out, he could swear he saw smoke coming off the top of her head.

"What?" Cagalli snaps still irrationally bitter about the whole conversation. She comes to a stop allowing Shadow to catch up to her.

"Whoa, easy there, I come in peace." Shadow holds up his hands in a gesture of peace, the rational part of Cagalli's brain finally begins to win back control as she says with a sigh while rubbing her head.

"I'm sorry, what do you need Shadow?" Shadow blinked as he took in his friend's tired appearance and stressed out attitude, it bothered him to see Cagalli liked this, she looked so much better when she was relaxed and smiling.

"Come on." Shadow grabs Cagalli's hand taking her by surprise as he begins to lead her somewhere.

"Wait, what? Where are you taking me?" Shadow wasn't sure why but he was going on instinct now.

"I know the perfect place for you to chill and relax?" Cagalli looks at her odd friend questionably but continues to follow him. Shadow leads Cagalli down a back alley, where he stops and begins to look for something on the ground. Cagalli looks around unimpressed.

"Um Shadow, your quiet place looks like somewhere I would get mugged at." Shadow rolls his eyes as he finally finds what he was looking for, a rock.

"No faith." Shadow says as he throws the rock up at a fire escape ladder, his aim is perfect as the rock hits the ladder at just the right spot causing it to unhook from the rail and slide all the way down to the ground. Cagalli whistles impressed,

"Not bad, now if only you could aim that well with a gun." She says with a smirk, Shadow glares at her in response.

"Haha now right this way your majesty." Shadow bows and holds out his hand in an over the top butler impression, Cagalli sticks her tongue out at him but nevertheless goes up the ladder first. Shadow follows quickly after and then pulls up the ladder after him.

They climb all the way to on top of the roof, to Cagalli it looked just like any regular old roof. "Ok it's a roof, and are we even allowed up here?" Shadow walks onto the roof and lays down looking up at the night sky.

"Probably not but I seriously doubt the police care enough to check roof tops for no reason, since the Dark-Angel is stuck in the indoor Dock I like to come up here sometimes after the clubs to look up at the stars." The massive weight which was the uncertainty of her love life dissolved off her shoulders as blond chuckled in the star light.

She should have known this was what Shadow had in mind, leave it to the Gundam fighter junkie to think the most relaxing spot on the planet was somewhere up high to look at the stars…still she agreed that it was a little relaxing. "Heh, this is just like you Shadow." Cagalli says as she lies down beside him. Their minds quieted, their bodies relaxed, and their heartbeat slowed as they lied their watching the endless black sea with white lights for a while then, "I'm sorry."

Cagalli blinks in surprise and turns her head to look back at Shadow. "For what?"

"For that comment about you having a boyfriend on Earth, it was stupid." Shadow says sincerely. Cagalli fidgets guiltily, now that the stars had helped cool her flaming mind she realize how out of line she had been. She shouldn't have taken out her anger about her own insecurities on the others.

"No, I was out of line. I have a problem with my temper; a real politician shouldn't have lost her composer like that, I've been working on it-"Shadow cuts her off.

"Don't"

Cagalli turns to Shadow surprised. "What?"

"Don't ever feel like you have to hold your tongue with me," Shadow rubs his hand through his hair as he struggles to think of a way to describe himself. "Look I know I can be an ass sometimes, I don't mean to be I just get excited sometimes and talk without thinking but I want you to tell me when I'm being an ass. Promise me that if you're ever angry with me you won't do some passive aggressive crap, you'll yell at me and try to beat the shit out of me."

Cagalli blinks again then laughs. "Hahahha alright Shadow if I ever get angry at you I'll be sure to yell at you and beat you up." This causes them both to burst out laughing, after a bit they settle down and continue to look up at the stars.

"There is someone back on Earth." Cagalli wasn't sure why she just said that, it's not like she knew Shadow that well that she should feel comfortable telling him about something that private…but deep down she desperately wanted to talk to someone about it! She had wanted to talk to someone about it the moment she had taken off her engagement ring but there had been no one she could talk to about it.

The only people she felt close enough to, comfortable enough to talk to about this was Kira, Lacus and Athrun; but she couldn't TALK TO THEM ABOUT THIS! She obviously couldn't talk to Athrun, but she couldn't talk to Lacus either because she had known Athrun forever and even been engaged to him herself, even though it was an arranged marriage, and Kira knew Athrun from way back, they were best friends so she couldn't talk to him about it either.

That left her with nobody she felt close enough with to talk to so she just buried it deep inside and tried to ignore those insecure feelings, but now under the moonlight with no one pressuring her, no big crises to deal with, with nothing she could distract her mind with…she couldn't make these sad feelings go away and she just wanted someone to listen to her and Shadow was the closest ear. "You have a boyfriend back on Earth, why haven't you ever said anything about him before?"

"No…we're not dating anymore."

"Oh so you guys broke up?"

"No, not exactly…it's complicated."

"Cagalli I'm laying down here watching stars, I think I have time to listen to a long complicated story. What's his name?" Cagalli took a deep breath, she couldn't believe she was about to tell Shadow this but she just couldn't take it anymore, she needed someone anyone to talk to.

"His name is Athrun Zala." And so she talked and told him everything, about how they first met during the first Valentine's Day War, how she tried to kill him, how he had taken her hostage, how they had connected, how she had fallen in love, they're first kiss, the two years they lived together, when she received the wedding ring she had been the happiest girl in the world.

She left out the part about almost marrying Yuna, that had been the worst mistake in her life, and most embarrassing so instead she altered the truth a little, she told Shadow that she bowed to pressure from her fellow politicians into ending her engagement with Athrun and that Kira had forcefully taken her away from their influence which in a way was all true so it wasn't like she was lying and she didn't have to feel embarrassed about ever considering to marry that idiot. Cagalli told Shadow how hard she had cried when Athrun was rushed into surgery from the injuries he had received when he tried to escape ZAFT.

She even told him how hard it had been to take that ring off, and how after the war they had talked again a little before she had ended up on Sora. Every now and then Shadow would ask a question but for the most part he was silent, after she was finished Shadow lay there and thought about everything. Cagalli for her part felt like another huge weight she had never noticed before was lifted from her shoulders, just talking about everything made her feel better, come to think of it she had never told anyone the whole story before.

"So you and this Athrun guy agreed to take a break from your relationship?"

"Yes."

"And you both agreed to see other people?"

Cagalli began to fidget uncomfortably. "Well technically yes but I don't want to see other people I'm still in love with Athrun."

"Is Athrun seeing other people?" Cagalli instantly wanted to say no, the thought of Athrun seeing someone else brought such intense anger and sadness to her mind that she thought she would go crazy. Cagalli opens her mouth to say no when the image of that young red haired ZAFT coordinator girl he had rescued enters her mind. She closes her mouth, she didn't know for certain that he wasn't seeing anyone but she wanted to believe he wasn't. Shadow takes her silence as a yes.

"You should start seeing other people too."

"What?" Cagalli asks dumbfounded, he couldn't be serious.

"I know it's got to be hard-"

Cagalli interrupts him "No you don't understand."

But Shadow continues speaking through Cagalli. "But you have to move forward-"

He kept speaking but Cagalli was shaking her head saying no, she didn't want to listen, she didn't want to hear any more. It was as if a great flood was coming upon her sending every alarm in her head to full blown panic. She had been happy where she had been, why did she have to leave that place; she didn't want to go somewhere new!

"It's like the old saying goes, there are plenty of fish out there in the sea-"

"You don't UNDERSTAND ANYTHING!" Cagalli shouts as she jumps to her feet and looks down at Shadow. Why couldn't people understand that she didn't want to start dating other people, she didn't want a new boyfriend, she wanted Athrun! "Athrun isn't just some random god damn fish, he was my FIRST!"

"First, for what?"

"EVERYTHING! He was my first real boyfriend, my first true love, my first lover, the first guy to take me on a date" tears start to swell up in Cagalli's eyes "the first guy I ever really started to think about spending the rest of my life with, the first guy I thought would be the father of my children, the first guy who ever proposed to me, the first guy to ever give me a ring." Tears stream down Cagalli's face as she shouts this all out. Shadow looks away embarrassed, now he felt like crap for making Cagalli cry, he didn't know how to deal with a crying girl. Still he had to say what he had to say.

"I understand-"

"You couldn't possibly understand how I feel BECAUSE YOU'VE NEVER BEEN IN LOVE!" The moment the words left Cagalli's mouth she knew she had made a mistake. The look on Shadow's face said it all, like someone had stabbed him from behind. That had been horrible, how could she have said that to him, that had been the bitchiest thing she had ever said to someone before. After a moment of stunned silence to process her thoughts Cagalli immediately goes to apologize. "I'm sorry I didn't mean-" But Shadow cuts her off.

"No you're right, I don't understand how you feel. I've never been in love, sure I've have crushes growing up but never the kind of heart pounding true love you had with Athrun so I don't know how you feel right now. I do know though that something in your relationship with Athrun didn't work, otherwise you would be married now trying to have children." It felt like Cagalli just got bitch slapped back but it was worse because it stung of truth. "I know that you would have never taken off your ring, chosen Orb over Athrun if you didn't at least on a subconscious level feel that there was something missing from your relationship with Athrun." Shadow looks up at the stars and gets a far way almost longing look in his eyes.

"But you're right Cagalli I've never been in love, I've never even had a serious relationship before so I can't tell you what went wrong in your relationship, who screwed up what; no one can tell you that Cagalli only you can and the only way you're going to be able to do that is by going out there and getting into more relationships. Find out what works and what doesn't and as you get into many different relationships and compare what you like and what you don't like you'll be able to slowly piece together what went wrong with you and Athrun.

I'm not telling you to stop loving him, that's impossible, but you need to be open to the idea that he wasn't the one for you and that there could be someone better. Use Athrun as your gold standard if you have too, your idea of perfection in a man and if a guy can't meet up to Athrun's stats then dump him and move on. If you find a guy that's better than Athrun then forget about him and marry that other guy, but if you can't find a single guy better then Athrun then go back to him with the experience you've gained from all those relationship's and figure out what went wrong and then make it right. One thing though Cagalli is certain, if you just sit here and don't do anything and just wait for Athrun to come back to you then your relationship is just going to probably fail again because nothing will have changed."

In a quiet voice almost a whisper. "But what happens if I don't find anyone else better than Athrun, and what happens if the problem isn't something I can fix, what happens then?" Her voice trembles with fear of uncertainty.

"I won't lie to you Cagalli, there are hundreds of girls out there who all want their happily ever after, who work hard for it and deserve it but in the end they don't get it. You might not get the happily ever after you want Cagalli but you still have to try."

For a long time Cagalli was silent as she thought over what Shadow said, she loved Athrun with every inch of soul in her body but Shadow was right. Something had been wrong with their relationship and she just didn't know what and she would never know what if she just sat around doing nothing. She had to be willing to experience new things and meet new people if she was ever going to figure it out. "Alright."

####

Shadow had managed to talk Cagalli back to going to the club, when she got there she immediately apologized to the others about her actions. It was getting late and it was Roxas's turn to take Jack back to the Dark-Angel much to Jack's constant complaining. Kenny and Shadow hit the dance floor about five minutes ago after Roxas and Jack left, they were currently among the idiot men trying to charm women. Kenny had felt bad leaving Cagalli by herself at the bar but she told him she would be fine.

"Can I get you something Miss?" The Bartender asks as he cleans a glass.

Cagalli normally didn't like drinking, she first tasted alcohol back in Haben and since had only had it extremely rarely but after today's events she deem it appropriate. "A Minjia please." The bartender nods his head and pours her the slightly glowing bluish green drink; it actually tasted a lot better than it looked. Cagalli begins to sip the beverage,

"Excuse me miss but can I ask you to dance?" Cagalli blinks surprised and turns around to see the same man from earlier standing behind her.

"You're that guy from earlier, the one who tried that really extremely old falling angle pickup line."

The man smiles back a little embarrassed. "Yeah, I thought about trying another line on you but I figured that wouldn't end well either so I'm going with the direct approach."

That brought a small smile to Cagalli's face, "I'm surprised that you would still talk to me after that cold rejection I gave you."

The guy shrugs and sits down next to Cagalli. "Well I figured that when you're hunting the most beautiful girl in the building and no one else is, you better be expecting some fight back."

"Ok I'll admit that was clever."

"So how about that dance?"

Cagalli reflected for a moment, this guy seemed nice enough, and he had some wit; she should give him a shot. Suddenly an image of Athrun entered her mind and caused a deep gut-wrenching feeling in her stomach. Ok there was no way she was going to be able to do this sober. For the first time since she was sixteen Cagalli said screw her public image to hell, she was on Sora now so it's not like she had to worry about some reporter taking pictures and everyone questioning her ability to lead. It was time to get blasted and take a risky stupid chance. She was tired of mourning her loss of Athrun, she had been doing that for months, Shadow was right it was time to move forward. Cagalli was tired of being the smart responsible girl, if was time she tried to be the idiot for a change.

"Tell you what, sit here, talk with me and buy me two more drinks and we'll see about that dance."

####

_Location: Dark-Angel, lunchroom Time: 7:00AM the next day, 16 days until tournament_

_Getting up this early is freaking ridiculous, S_hadow thinks to himself hating the world as he downs a cup of hot chocolate; Nick, Jack, Kenny and Roxas were drinking coffee. Kenny also had a sour mood on his face while Nick, Jack and Roxas looked perfectly alright.

"Hahaha you should have gone to bed earlier mates." Nick says laughing at them.

"So was staying up to two AM just to sleep with a girl worth it?" Jack asks them both. Shadow and Kenny glance at each other than say at the same time. "

Yes" Jack rolls her eyes while Roxas laughs when suddenly a man walks into the cafeteria, it's the same man from last night.

"Um excuse me, do you guys know where the exit is?" Everyone turns to stare at the disheveled guy who smells of post sex and his clothes are at an awkward angle.

"Um sure you want to go left walk about six doors make another left at the corner, walk down the flight of steps, turn right and travel straight until you see the Gundam bay, from their it's easy." Roxas answers still staring at the guy.

The man takes all of this in then replies, "Ok thank you," and walks away. Everyone continues to stare at where the man left, a few minutes later Cagalli walks in. The blond radiates a warm morning glow and looks fresher then she's ever looked before, there's not a single tense muscle in her body.

"Good morning guys." She says in a cheerful voice as she goes to pour herself a glass of hot chocolate.

"OH MY GOD! YOU HAD SEX, DIDN'T YOU?" Roxas shouts in stunned shock. Cagalli turns around and frowns, passing this off as no big deal.

"Jeez guys can't we be mature about this? As Roxas pointed out to me last night I am a woman and I do have needs just like everyone else." Cagalli chooses to leave it at that as she turns around and begins to walk away to take a shower and get ready for today's training. Roxas, Jack, Nick and Kenny are still far too stunned to even think of words but Shadow manages to get one last question in.

"How was it?"

Cagalli freezes at the door as a small smile spreads across her lips. "It was nice, he was nice…but he wasn't as good as Athrun." Cagalli finishes with a sly smile as she walks away.

Shadow shouts after her. "That makes one man down, a couple million to go."

The episode ends with everyone finally regaining motion and attacking Shadow like a bunch of starving ravens demanding to know who this guy Athrun is.


	74. Episode 73 Strong Women At Opening Day

Episode 73 – Strong Women At Opening Day

_Location: Arianna's Gundam Fighter arena. Time: 11:00 PM, opening day of the tournament_

Drake and Tim walk into the VIP box of the arena, normally managers didn't have access to the VIP box unless they were invited or paid for it themselves however today was a special day. It was the opening ceremonies of Arianna's D-rank tournament which was a major event for the city of Arianna.

"Why are we here again?" Drake asks highly annoyed and already feeling bored.

"To support the Shadow Knights." Tim states also growing annoyed at his rather insensitive friend.

"I don't see how us being here is going to make a difference, they don't actually fight today. This is just a bunch of formality crap to get the crowd hyped and in turn spend more money on the malls just outside the arena."

Tim sighed, there was no use in explaining to his one eyed friend that this ceremony was to celebrate and honor the Gundam Fighters that had worked hard and earned their spot in this tournament and if anyone deserved to be celebrated it was definitely the Shadow Knights. Drake could get a little carried away with the training, although Tim did approve of the schooling. They all struggled in various subjects, except for Roxas who seemed to have the best education from the lot, not surprising considering her background. They had also improved greatly in the physical aspect over the last month.

They were able to do eight miles in one hour now, they were also able to move 4 cars in teams of two with relative ease, their sparing matches with Drake hadn't improved much but Tim wasn't expecting acts of God to happen. Cagalli and Roxas had mastered the basics on a variety of weapons and while they may not be masters yet they were starting to show good groundwork. Nick was also bringing his skill with duel guns back up to the level it was at with one gun, he wasn't quite there yet but he was still better than the average shooter. They had all gotten the hang of wall climbing which was pretty impressive, they couldn't go that high yet but that was something that took experience and endurance training.

Tim also noted that Cagalli was acting much more relaxed and at ease than ever before, she no longer questioned every single thing she was asked to do and she no longer attacked her assigned paperwork like a single old crazy cat lady. Tim wasn't a hundred percent sure what had happen to cause this change in behavior but he liked it.

"Look there's no one here." Drake says while quickly scanning the empty room, well ok it wasn't completely empty but it was plainly obvious that a large number of managers didn't show. One side of the wall was made from extremely durable transparent material, directly in front of it were cushioned couch like seats equipped with the latest high tech binoculars and personal monitors where they could watch the battle, zoom in, pause and do replays at their own pace.

In the back of the room, where they were currently at, tables had been set up for dining, waiters would come in and deliver their food directly to the box from any shop within three miles. There was also an open bar in the right hand corner, and of course the place was kept spotless using aTR-32 clean bot.

"Thanks Drake, it's nice to see you too. Hi Tim." Drake and Tim turn to a table were a short man in a business causal shirt and pants was sitting, he also had strawberry dyed hair and glowing yellow contacts.

"Mac Basilety, manager of the Gundam Team the Raptures."

"Yes, what's up with him?" Mac asks Tim as both of the Shadow Knight supporters sit down at the table.

"He's in his battle mode and he's grumpy that I brought him here."

Mac looks to Drake surprised. "Don't you want to support your team?" Drake rolls his eye, Mac was a very nice guy and well respected around the office, even Drake thought he was very intelligent and good at managing. He was also another self-made manager who had had join the GFC straight out of college similar to Shiua.

"What's there to support? They're not doing anything today other than looking pretty for the fans, most of which don't even believe they'll make it to the next round."

"They're still going to be nervous, I know Blake and several other teams that were terrified sitting in front of all those people for the first time, normally we have double the turnout for the tournament then regular single matches."

"Ha this is nothing compared to the audience size for a C, B or A rank and even if they were nervous it's not my job to baby-sit them and hold their hands in front of a crowd."

Mac eyes the man in a suit for a moment before turning to Tim. "Was he always this big of a jackass or did something happen to turn him into a jackass?"

"Well he wasn't always this cynical; I think he just got grumpier with age." Tim says carefully but with his poker face smile, Mac doesn't notice the difference and just laughs along with Tim much to Drake's annoyance. "So I heard you and your husband Bob are thinking of adopting a child?" Tim continues with the small talk.

Mac can barely contain the joyful smile on his face. "Well actually Bob and I talked it over last weekend and its official; we're going to start looking at the different agencies for our child next week."

"Good for you man, both of you will make great fathers." Tim says after high-fiving Mac. Even Drake recognizes the significance of this happy occasion and feels the need to do something in celebration.

"I know the head at an adoption agency; they're a good name with honest connections and roots. The head owes me a favor so I can make sure the paperwork you have to fill out is fast and painless, although you'll still have to go to the interview and I suggest taking the glowing contacts out and letting your hair turn back to its natural color so that you don't look like some teenager who has no idea what he's about to sign himself up for."

Mac turns to the grumpy manager touched by this act of charity. "Thank you Drake, and I see your point about my hair and contacts," Mac fidgets a little guiltily in his seat before saying "I'm sorry Drake, I tried talking to Blake again but he just won't go for a rematch with your team, he can be so stubborn sometimes like with the C-rank exams." Drake shrugs his shoulders uncaringly.

"I already expected he would say no, it's why I've been working the ass off my team for this tournament…is he still refusing to take the C-rank exams?" Drake asks with his eyebrow raised.

Mac just puts his head in his hands helplessly. "I've tried talking to him, I showed him stats, brought him to higher rank teams, everything I could possibly think of to show him he's ready to move on to C-rank but he just won't move, I'm afraid he's going to stunt his growth at this rate if he doesn't fight some real competition soon."

Drake smiles at this and just manages to get in before the speaker comes on and tells everyone that it's time, "I think you're in for a surprise Mac, there are still people in both D and E-rank that are capable of fighting on Blake's level." Mac looks at Drake surprised but doesn't have time to reply before Tim jumps up and begins to rush the both of them to their seats,

"Come on guys let's grab a seat it's about to start." The managers and Tim move to the front of the box along with everyone else in the room and grab a seat in the nice cushions. Mac looks around and is bewildered to find that most of the seats are empty.

"Ok, this is weird; the only people who are here are the managers from Arianna's GFC branch but I know for a fact that twenty-five percent of the participants this year are from out of town."

"Hum it looks like I wasn't the only one who thought coming to this was pointless."

"Oh my God Drake look!" Tim shouts startled causing both Mac and Drake to look at the rocker concerned, while they had been talking Tim had been playing around with the personal monitor attached to the seat, getting the feel for the zoom, rewind and pause buttons. Mac and Drake look over Tim's shoulder to see what's gotten him all worked up, Tim had zoomed in on the master of ceremonies' hover platform where most of the "action" was going to take place. A podium had been set up where the various speakers would give their speeches. Normally there were at least a dozen different people given the honor of sitting on the master of ceremonies hover platform although not all of them would speak, they ranged from the heads of the different departments in the GFC who oversaw anything involving the tournament to the leaders of organizations or private individuals who donated God knows how much money to fund this event for the GFC.

The hover platform was already in the air slowly moving toward a spot dead center in the arena only eye level with the audience, that's when Mac and Drake saw what had caught Tim's eye. Normally Joey being the head of Arianna's GFC headquarters would open the tournament and then introduce the speakers however this time around there was someone standing next to Joey at the podium. "Who is that?" Mac asks, this was highly unusual, in all of the time he had been a manager he had never seen anyone but Joey start off right at the podium when officially declaring the start of a tournament.

The man was tall with green short hair and rectangular glasses, he wore a lawyer suit and his face had sharp features like a crow or vampire. "That's Victor Von Wulfsoberg." Drake answers as his eye narrows, what on earth was Victor doing here?

"Wait, Victor as in one of the members of the board of directors who run the entire GFC organization Victor?" Mac asks suddenly very nervous, of course he heard the name and seen pictures of him before but this was the first time he was seeing him in person.

"He was also known as the Crimson Lighting back in his Gundam Fighting days, but yea Victor is in one of the highest positions you can get in the GFC." Tim answers.

Mac looks at both Tim and Drake and raises an eyebrow; it didn't take a rocket scientist to see the obvious. "Do you guys know him personally?" It made sense; Mac only knew both Tim and Drake for a couple of years but after that their past was a little bit of a mystery. They had both definitely been a part of the same Gundam Team and public access was still open to all of their records but they never talked about the past except for when mentioning someone they knew, and given their reputation Mac wouldn't put it past the two to know all of the members of the board of directors on a first name base.

"It's complicated." Drake replies leaving no room for further questions. "Those idiots better not do anything stupid."

####

_Location: Arianna's arena Gundam bay_

"I swear to God Shadow if you do that I'm going to punch you in the face, HARD!" Cagalli threatens. She along with Shadow, Nick, Kenny, Roxas, Jack and even Zuke had arrived two hours ago, according to Drake all they had to do was stand on the hover platform for about an hour and not do anything stupid. There had been a lot more people in the bay then Cagalli had expected, Kenny explained that for events like this every team was allowed to bring all of its active Gundam pilots, their programmer, the lead mechanic and a tactical adviser.

"Cagalli you won't have to, I'll punch him first." Kenny adds on staring Shadow down.

Upon hearing that Blake would be getting to speak, Shadow had hinted that he planned on interrupting him and challenging him right there on the spot. The rest of the team had made it known they didn't approve of the plan. "Fine already, God you guys have no balls." Shadow exclaims as he folds his arms and puffs.

"It's not that we don't have balls mate, it's that we don't want to look like giant jackasses in front of thousands of people." Shadow wanted to argue some more but the referees who were acting as the chaperons watching the different teams closer than mama hawks shouted out,

"Alright everyone to the hover platform, it's time."

With that the referees begin to herd the Gundam Teams to the hover platform, with all the confusion from the noise and movement the Shadow Knights are unable to further continue the conversation. Once everyone had been herded onto the hover platform the engines roared to life, the hover platform was a large round disc that had the diameter of 18 meters, around the average height of a Gundam. It was about five meters thick with a small staircase on the side where they could get on it. The hover platform rose slowly into the air once everyone had gotten aboard, then move out from the Gundam bay into the arena.

"Ladies and gentleman here is the moment you have been waiting for, here are the Gundam Fighters!" Joey booms through the hundreds of speakers set up around the stadium, the crowd roars in response like a fierce thunderstorm that defends all other sounds. Cagalli took a look around, this was the first time she had seen the stadium packed full, most of the time they were lucky if it was fifty percent full. Still Cagalli had to admit that this was pretty impressive; this was at least the same number of Orbnites that had turned up when she gave her public speeches, possibly more. Heh leave it to a sporting event to draw up a larger crowd then a political event.

Cagalli began to feel the tingling of nervousness in her chest that came whenever she stood before a large crowd of people, she had learn long ago how to deal with it and control it so that to the outside world she looked perfectly relaxed and at ease but she still felt that little tingle when all eyes were on her. Cagalli turned her gaze back to the Gundam Fighters to see how everyone else was doing, several of them had gotten tense and where obvious nervous including Jack and Kenny. Some were like Zuke and Nick, and stood at ease uncaringly before the crowd while the rest including Roxas bathed in the attention of so many people. That just left one person, a single person that she just couldn't read, Shadow Zoomarey. She felt slightly annoyed, even in times like this when she should be the expert she had a hard time reading her unpredictable friend.

Cagalli wasn't sure what made Shadow so difficult for her to read, she hoped he wasn't going to do that stupid challenge thing but in truth this was one of those times when Shadow just felt so foreign to her, he was completely different from everyone around him, from everyone she had ever known; that she couldn't grasp what he was feeling. _I wonder what he's thinking._

Shadow's mind was like a raging storm with feelings of excitement, nervousness, and anticipation; Shadow had seen crowds like this before when he had been able to score enough credits to buy a ticket to one of the Gundam tournaments but it was one thing to be part of a crowd like this and another to be the one the crowd was cheering for. Cagalli looked right at home under this kind of attention, _stupid politician training, _he thought with a tad bit of envy. The Gundam Fighter hover platform moves in front of the master of ceremonies hover platform after circling the whole arena once. The controllers for the hover platforms were careful to make sure that the Gundam Fighters hover platform was on a lower plain then the master of ceremonies hover platform.

Joey waits a moment then begins to speak. "Now that I have introduced myself and the Gundam Fighters who have entered the tournament I like to introduce our next speaker. We of the Arianna GFC branch are honored to have from the GFC headquarters Director Victor Von Wulfsoberg." This immediately causes a stir in both the crowd and Gundam Fighters, Shadow turns to Cagalli smirking as he silently gloats. A couple of nights ago when it had been his turn to have control over the remote control for the TV Shadow had chosen to watch an "in-depth look at the cooperation that crosses all boarders and connects all words, the Gundam Fight Committee." Much to Cagalli's displeasure, ironically it was thanks to that hour long show that she could understand why everyone was making a big deal about a director showing up….still she didn't like the smug look Shadow was giving her.

The man with glasses and brown eyes steps up onto the podium and looks out at the crowd with a stone like serious impression. "Greetings everyone, I like to thank Mr. Caster for introducing me and for dealing with my sudden and unannounced arrival. Would the last tournament's champion Blake Grendal please step forward?"

There's a stir of surprise in both the audience and the Gundam Fighters, normally Blake didn't speak until the end. The crowd parted slightly as Blake and his team the Raptures moved to the front. Shadow tenses when he sees the bastard in the red sweater. "Blake!" Shadow says roughly under his breath. Cagalli standing right next to him senses what Shadow is thinking and warns in a very aggressive whisper.

"Shadow don't you dare!" Shadow glares at Cagalli out of the corner of his eye but he relaxes his muscles as Blake begins to talk.

"I'm Blake Grendal!" The fans cheer in response to Blake's strong reply.

Victor sizes Blake up before speaking. "So you're the one that's won Arianna's D-rank tournament four times in a row, that's both impressive and insulting." Blake as well as everyone else looks at Victor confused by his meaning but Victor doesn't wait for questions and continues onward. "So do you think you'll win again?" Now that they were switching back to more regular questions Blake relaxes as he replies in an already thought out speech.

"Well looking at this year's competition I can understand why some people might think I might have a hard time winning this year but to be honest I don't see any real threats."

This cause a huge commotion in both the crowd and the Gundam Fighters, the statement is met with rage by the Gundam Fighters who find this very insulting, the crowd is split between Blake's fans and everyone else as we hear cheers and boos. Like during a stampede nothing is heard as everyone begins talking at once, but it's not until some of the Gundam Fighters begin to move toward the Raptures that Victor calls out in a loud booming voice. "SILENCE!" The effect is instant as the crowd and Gundam Fighters cease talking and turn to look at the director. "Thank you, now there are a couple of new rules and a few changes the GFC has decided on that I will now go over. The first new rule is that a competitor who has won the tournament four consecutive times in a row will automatically advance to the final round."

Murmurs of surprise spread in the crowd at this new rule obviously specially designed with Blake in mind. "Hold on a minute that means we only get to fight once!" Blake shouts.

"That is correct." Victor replies with a stone cold stare at the outraged Gundam Fighter.

"The tournament is a six week event and the rules state that all participations in the tournament cannot engage in non-tournament related Gundam Fights unless they've lost."

"So?"

"So what do expect my team to do, sit on our hands for six weeks! I demand that we either be allowed to fight our way to the finals like everyone else or engage in non-tournament related fights!" The crowd and the Gundam Fighters begin to whisper in a buzz at Blake's demands and outrage, as they also begin to predict what the director of the GFC will say in response.

"Your demand has been registered, processed and rejected. If you don't like this new rule you are more than welcome to forfeit however considering this is technically the first round of the tournament and you have won the last four you will without a doubt lose ranking points, a large amount of ranking points if you forfeit now."

Everyone goes silent at this very obvious threat, Blake's mouth opens and closes as if he just got bitch slapped. He was screwed and that statue of a man knew it, so Blake reluctantly grits and grinds his teeth in anger. Seeing that Blake wasn't going to object any more Victor moves on with his still almost glare like look on his face.

_####_

_Location: Mire's fashion store. Time: One hour and thirty minutes later._

"How's this one?" Cagalli asks Roxas. She holds up a yellow and blue tie-dye shirt. The ceremony in Roxas's opinion had been long and boring after that head honcho guy verbally torched Blake's ass; that had been the highlight of Shadow's day. The rest of the rules though didn't affect them at all and then after that they had everyone else give their do well it's an honor speeches.

"Oh sweetie keep trying, one day you'll develop a good sense of fashion." After the ceremony they had released everyone, the spectators had left the building and most have started hitting the shopping strip.

"What's wrong with it?" Cagalli asks slightly annoyed as she looked back over the shirt she picked out. Cagalli had been a little suspicious when Roxas had asked her to go clothes shopping with her. Jack and Kenny had run off as soon as the ceremony had ended to finish working on the Gundams….Cagalli wasn't thrilled to know that the upgrades to their Gundams still weren't finish yet and their first fight could very well be tomorrow! _Deep breaths Cagalli, don't flip out, like Shadow said the first round fights are going to be happening all throughout this week so the chances of us having to fight tomorrow are very slim._

Zuke had gone to wherever he went when he decided he was too good to hang around with them. Shadow with a sad many number of Gundam Fighters were camped out in front of the manager's office so they could know right away as soon as the drawings were finished, who they were fighting and when. Nick had told Cagalli that it was against his code to leave a mate by himself when he's surrounded by a tough crowd and Cagalli had to agree that a lot of those Gundam Fighters looked a lot bigger and more muscular then Shadow not that he'd ever admit it.

"It's too bright, too perky, it's more for those cheerleader types but Cagalli you need something more badass, something darker that screams attitude."

Roxas had saw the look on Cagalli's face when Shadow had suggested camping out with them and knew her chance to strike had come, Cagalli had been reluctant to trust Roxas's motives but in the end she'd decided to come. Roxas walked on all fours as she checked out the sales, all of the stores were having special sales today for the opening ceremony. "Why don't you look for something in dark red sweetie, you look great in red oh and speaking of red how was your date with Rojo last night?"

"Great, he took me to an art gallery where one of his portraits was showing." Cagalli had met Rojo when he had brought his car to be checked out at George's garage. Cagalli had been a little hesitant to talk to Rojo since it was obvious he was hitting on her, ironic considering her one night stand a couple of nights ago but that had been different, that had been her finally deciding to look for someone else to be the "one" instead of Athrun, it was the releasing of a coil that had been so tight that it had to be cut in half by a knife in order to be released. Once that itched had been scratched though and she had been able to think clearly again Cagalli decided that it was definitely something she would not be doing often if ever again.

After all she was looking for something serious, a real relationship. Even though she said that Cagalli still found it hard to flirt with other guys and she would have probably turned Rojo down if Nick and Roxas hadn't encourage her to at least humor the guy with one date, a date that had been perfect. Rojo had handled himself like an absolute gentleman and had taken her to a beautiful restaurant; Cagalli had been so impressed that she had even agreed to a second date which had been as equally well done as the first.

So have you slept with him yet?" Roxas asks as she notices a couple of guys staring and gawking at her. They were pretty attractive too and Roxas might have slept with them except they started snickering and making cat calls to her, regarding her walking on all fours and if she like doing it doggy style too; which was a complete turnoff. Roxas was used to these kinds of people and ignored them.

"NO! And stop asking me questions regarding my sex life, you know I don't like it and won't answer most of them!" Cagalli snaps as she turns red, she also noticed the little punks making cat calls at Roxas. Cagalli amazed herself with how quickly she was ready to beat the shit out of them to defend Roxas but her rational mind observed how Roxas was handling the situation and decided to follow suit.

"Ok so you're going with the three dates then kiss approach, a little old fashion but you can't mess with the classics. So have you set up the third date yet?"

"No, we'll talk tonight over the phone about it." Despite the girls ignoring them the guys continue to make their cat calls; which was really starting to bother Cagalli despite her best efforts. Cagalli was considering going over there to say something when some else beat her to the punch. "Don't you morons have anything else to do besides snicker and make cat calls like some kind of construction worker, like maybe a job or is your male intellect too stupid to comprehend the need for money."

The woman in question had long well done purple hair, and grey sharp eyes. She was wearing from what Cagalli could tell a very expensive and good looking tree brown suit, she also had on nice clear glasses and carried a suitcases. She might as well have screamed "head of a cooperation". Roxas looks up at the commotion, normally she didn't like people fighting her own battles but those guys were being real assholes so Roxas was more than happy to let the suit deal with them….until she started marching over to her still angry. "And YOU," Roxas blinks surprise, turns left then right, nope suit was ranting at her. "Look at you walking around in those ripped up dirty clothes like some kind of street urchin, NO that would be an insult to the street urchins, you're more like an animal walking on your hands and feet and shaking your ass like some kind of sex object! It's negative stereotypes like you that encourage those vile stupid males to treat us women as nothing more than bimbos and sex objects! Your outfit, manners and behavior make you a complete and absolute disgrace to all women in the universe!" Cagalli's first instinct was to punch that woman, she would have too if Cagalli didn't suddenly feel a strong sense of déjà vu, the way this crazy woman was talking reminded Cagalli of someone….

Roxas for her part flashed her teeth and hunches her shoulders for a moment; it had been a long time since she had been this insulted, however she quickly regained control and replied with a vicious smile. "You say I'm a disgrace to women, that I encourage men to treat us like crap but I honestly don't give a damn. Men, women, hell aliens can think whatever they want about me but I'm not going to stop dressing and acting the way I want to dress and act. Now you on the other hand, dress in that neat, pretty, and nice suit and behave in that all professional manner just so that men wouldn't think less of you. Between the two of us, who's really the one under the control of men?"

The woman in a suit takes a step back as if she just got bitch slapped, she quickly recovers though and grits her teeth in boiling rage. "How dare you suggest those filthy pigs have any influence over my action! Proud, strong women dress and act in a professional manner not like some slut."

"A strong proud woman dresses and acts in whatever God damn way she wants, and says fuck you to the rest of world!" Roxas growls out.

"Who do you think you are coming over here and telling my friend she's a disgrace to all women?!" Cagalli challenges backing up Roxas. The woman with grey eyes straightens out her suit and reveals her twilight lavender Neon gauntlet which starts to glow as she proclaims in a loud proud voice.

"I am Angela Mercola a Gundam Fighter for the Valkyries and defender of the rights and pride of women!"

Cagalli freezes in place as the name finally triggers her memories. Roxas on the other hand takes a step forward and growls again threateningly as her own purple Neon Gauntlet begins to glow. "Big whoop bitch, for someone who's determined to not lose to men you've already been defeated, you care too much with how men think about you or treat you which means every decision every action you make is a direct result of the men you hate, they basically own you!"

Angela's eyes pop open in rage as only a very thin thread holds her back from attacking Roxas. "I wouldn't expect a stupid dirty slutty animal to understand a complex social issue, however if you can't control your behavior can you please try to stay out of the public's sight, like maybe in a barn, I'm pretty sure there's a horse you can fuck there too if you get bored."

Roxas snaps first as she quickly puts on her gold claws and jumps towards the suit, but Angela is a Gundam Fighter too and two miniature thicker trident weapons drop from a hidden sheath in her sleeves. Angela sidesteps right dodging Roxas's attack, the suit flips up her sais while getting into a defensive stance. Roxas lands lightly on her feet and flips around still growling only she acts a little more cautious than before. The fight starts so quickly that Cagalli is still processing what she learned about Angela, _the Valkyries that' Se-_

"Stop!" As if Cagalli's mind had conjured her to come, Roxas and Angela both turn to look at a rather tall dark black woman with black hair and light brown eyes. She wears a dark red leather jacket with a white T-shirt with brown pants and black sneakers. Her voice booms with authority as her magenta Neon Gauntlet begins to glow brighter then both Roxas's and Angela's Neon Gauntlet's. "Fighting between contestants outside the tournament is against the rules so both of you knock it off right now before you get both teams disqualified and Angela how many times do I have to tell you that women don't response well to being openly criticized in public."

"Sesen Omolara team leader of the Valkyries." Cagalli says in a tight voice as her own anger boils to the surface as well as a little bit of nervousness as Cagalli remembers the overwhelming defeat she suffered at the hands of Sesen. Sesen however doesn't even turn to Cagalli; Angela takes a moment to steady her breath then puts her sais back in the hidden sheaths in her sleeves and picks up her suitcase.

"You're right Sesen, I'm sorry for letting this animal get under my skin and endangering the team."

"I rather be an animal then some stuck up bitch!" Roxas snaps still angry.

With Sesen standing next to her Angela is able to maintain self-control however she does snap back. "What's your name and Gundam team so that I may look forward to crushing you in battle you mongrel."

Roxas still on all fours straightens up a little and proclaims in a loud proud voice. "Roxas Nile of the Shadow Knights and we're going to be the ones doing the crushing!"

Roxas's and Angela's Neon Gauntlet's begin to glow more intensely with the rise of tension but Sesen places a hand on Angela's shoulder stopping her from continuing the conversation. "Let's go, we'll be seeing them soon in the arena."

Angela reluctantly nods her head and begins to walk away behind Sesen. _She's IGNORING me! _Cagalli thinks in shocked, it's not like she expecting a hi or anything like that but some kind of recognition! All of the nervousness and fear evaporated in flames of her anger. "SESEN!" Cagalli shouts out strongly as she marches out of the isle and directly behind Sesen and Angela, Roxas blinks surprise but quickly goes to back Cagalli up. Sesen and Angela turn around, Angela begins to look back and forth between Sesen and blond woman sensing some kind of history, it was unlike Sesen to just ignore someone who had spoken her name.

Cagalli took a minute to catch her breath; ok she got their attention…now what? "Um don't you remember me?" Cagalli asks now feeling more awkward then angry.

Sesen gives a soft chuckle almost liked the thought amuses her and replies coldly, "As if I would bother to remember anything about pathetic weak women who aren't serious about what they've chosen to do."

Like adding a new log to the fire, Cagalli's anger rises once again at the insult, Sesen had known exactly who she was! "I do take the Gundam Fights seriously!" She snaps.

Sesen cracks a sly condescending smile. "You can continue to shout that all you want until your voice goes horse but take a look around weak little girl," Sesen makes a grand gestured "You're the only one in the tournament who has never won a Gundam Fight and whose Neon Gauntlet still hasn't changed colors." To highlight her point Sesen holds up her own magenta colored Neon Gauntlet. Cagalli wanted to argue, wanted to prove Sesen wrong, wanted to say something but she couldn't. Cagalli glances down at her own dull Neon Gauntlet feeling its colorlessness.

Sesen sees Cagalli's stumped face and deems the conversation over. She turns around and begins to walk away, however as if remembering something she stops and turns back to Cagalli. "Oh, tell Shadow I look forward to settling our fight in the first round."

Cagalli and Roxas look startled. "What?"

"Oh you haven't heard? Then again I guess I shouldn't expect a part time Gundam Fighter to know what's going on in the tournament, leave that to real Gundam Fighters. The first round match ups have already been decided, the Valkyries will face the Shadow Knights in the first round of Arianna's D-rank tournament!"

####

_Location: The Dark-Angel's conference room. Time: 3 hours later_

"So we're facing the Valkyries in the first round of the tournament." Shadow says. Fighting Sesen had been the only thing he had been able to think about since he found out at the GFC building, that fight in desert with Sesen had been one of his favorite moments throughout the Haben mission. That fight had been exhilarating, going up against such a strong opponent, he had been on the receiving end of most of the attacks and they had hurt like a bitch but each time Shadow had connected with his own attack he had felt such an amazing sense of accomplishment.

And beyond all of that, when it was just the two of them the whole world just sank away as all of their ideas, beliefs, hopes and dreams were forged onto their weapons and clashed again and again with each blow adding, subtracting, and helping to shape who they were. All that had been going through their minds was the need to win and Shadow still felt that sense of rivalry. Jack, Kenny, Nick, Roxas, Cagalli, Drake and even Zuke were all in the conference room coming up with a plan. "The Valkyries, a D-7 rank team and we have to fight them tomorrow."

"They're also a favorite to win the tournament, when you last saw them they were a D-9 rank team. When all of Fachtna's illegal Gundam equipment was being transported to storage by the Haben military they were hit by pirates who managed to steal the Gundams. It would have been a huge disaster if the Valkyries hadn't been hired as escorts, they were able to wipe out all of the pirates and shoot down all of the stolen Gundams." Drake adds not helping the solemn mood. Roxas slams her fist down on the table startling everyone except Drake and Zuke.

"I don't care how flipping tough they are tomorrow we're going to rip them apart, and that suit bitch is mine!" Roxas looks like a dog with rabies with her fang like teeth and almost foaming mouth. She was still angry from their encounter earlier in the day.

Kenny sighs as he explains, "The first round of the tournament are one on one matches and considering what Sesen told Cagalli we can bet who the Valkyries are going to send out."

"Wait why are the first rounds only one on one fights?" Shadow demands to know.

Drake answers this question. "It's because no one cares about D-rank fights that much, the fights are interesting to the audience one at a time but after five consecutive fights all week long they quickly become redundant to anyone who's not a diehard fan, plus financially speaking the Arianna's GFC branch can't afford it which is why the first round fights are always one on one, and the second, third and fourth round fights are three on three, the last round will be five on five like a normal Gundam battle." Shadow continues to argue with Drake on that while Nick turns to Jack and asks.

"Will the upgrades to our Gundams be ready by tomorrow mate?"

Jack fidgets while Kenny glares at her annoyed. "Ummmm no,"

"I told you we had too many upgrades going at once; I told you we couldn't get them all done in one month!" Kenny cuts in.

"Oh quit your whining, Nightwing is done and finished, La Rouge has been completed mechanically she just needs Kenny's programming. I don't have much left to do with Cowboy and Quanlier and Kenny's already finished the programming for them so everyone will be ready in a week."

"Why did you finish Shadow's Gundam first?!" Roxas demands to know a little annoyed.

"Partly out of pity and because we figured Shadow would want to go first in the first round of the tournament." Kenny answers having calmed down a little.

"You figured correctly, tomorrow I'm going to finally settle my fight with Sesen." Shadow says practically drooling with excitement. Everyone turns around and begins to help think of Shadow's game plan when Cagalli interrupts.

"I want to fight." Cagalli wasn't sure where that voice had come from, no that was a lie, ever since she got verbally schooled by Sesen all Cagalli could think about was how to get even. Something inside of her was burning, screaming not to let it end like this. Everyone turns to look at Cagalli astonished.

"What?" Kenny asks stunned.

"No!" Shadow snaps angrily. "I already called it!"

Now that she had stepped through that door Cagalli felt something pushing her forward, her rational mind knew that her fighting didn't make any sense at all but it was being overridden by something Cagalli had thought long since died within her. That and Shadow's kid like reaction irritated her. "Well that's too bad; you fought Blake last time so it's someone else's turn to fight."

"Hold on a minute even if you did want to go La Rouge isn't ready yet, it isn't possible for me to finish the programming for it by tomorrow." Kenny adds completely ignoring Shadow and causing Cagalli to bite down her tongue in agitation.

"Kenny I've seen you reprogram the Dark-Angel in an hour in the middle of battle, what's going on what's the hold up?"

The proud programmer takes slight offense to that comment. "It's the new weapons system; it's extremely tricky and agitating to program."

Cagalli takes a minute to think this problem over then asks, "Can't you just ignore the new weapons system for now, all I need is for La Rouge to be able to move and fight."

Kenny does several calculations in his head then says, "Well yea I guess so but you have to understand that the weapons system is tied into all of La Rouge's weapons and shield, without it you'll only have La Rouge's beam guan dao and the upgrades made to La Rouge's speed, and physical strength."

This causes Cagalli to pause for a minute but only for a minute. "That's fine." Somehow a one on one fight with Sesen with nothing but her guan dao seemed fitting, heh she was starting to go stupid like Shadow.

"Well I'm not fine with it!" Speak of the devil. "I want to fight Sesen, we have a Gundam Fight to settle." Shadow shouts, getting up.

"Settle it some other time then!" Cagalli shouts right back as she gets up too.

"Why do you even want to fight so bad, you told me yourself that if this wasn't the fastest way to get back to Earth you would, in your own words, never engage in this barbaric sport; why should you fight over me when you don't even like the Gundam Fights?!" Shadow shouts right in Cagalli's face, they entered into a glaring stare off where it looks like either person can attack the other.

"Because it was humiliating! You didn't get your ass kicked so badly, so thoroughly, so god damn overwhelmingly! You didn't have to stand there at that mall and take all that shit and be unable to say anything back to her and to make things even worse she completely dismisses my presence whenever she sees me, do you have any idea how insulting that is?! That's why I want to be the one to kick Sesen's ass tomorrow in a Gundam Fight!"

Shadow glared intensively back at Cagalli; he stared unblinkingly at her golden amber eyes, she had some nerve trying to steal his fight! Shadow could feel the temperature rise as the air shimmered between the two opposing forces. So what if she got beat up…even though that's kind of what happened with him and Blake, ok so he understood how Cagalli felt but he still wanted to fight Sesen again, to feel those feelings and emotions one more time. Looking into Cagalli's amber eyes Shadow noticed the spark growing steadily stronger and stronger, a change was occurring in Cagalli.

Now that Shadow stop to think about it a lot had been happening with her lately, letting go of her old boyfriend, not feeling like she's making any progress with getting back home, plus Shadow knew about the reoccurring nightmares she's been having even though she didn't want him to know. Shadow couldn't remember the last time he thought this hard about anything so thoroughly before but the more he thought the more an idea began to form and strengthen in his mind. Shadow had never seen Cagalli with this much burning passion to fight before.

He knew Cagalli was skilled even if no one else believed it, it bothered the crap out of him how much faster she learned new stuff over him. Still Cagalli's biggest weakest was her lack of motivation for fighting, Cagalli didn't like Gundam Fighting so unless she really got motivated she would make tons of careless mistakes during her match….but when Cagalli was motivated she was focused and as sharp as a needle point.

Shadow had only seen Cagalli get really motivated a couple of times during their sparing match when he had pissed her off and with her battle with Zain. This time though was different; the motivation Cagalli was oozing out of every fiber of her body was on a completely different level. Looking into her intense eyes determine not to blink first Shadow suddenly find himself wondering what kind of battle would he see between Sesen and highly motivated Cagalli? As the idea entered his mind he began to think and imagine about it and the more he thought about it the more he wanted to see that fight.

For each time he visualized it the more epic it grew in his head until it became an all-consuming thought, at the end Shadow was a diehard Gundam junkie and while fighting in an actual Gundam battle would always be better than watching one on the sidelines some fights were too epic to pass up. That and maybe on a subconscious level that he would never admit, Shadow realized that Cagalli needed a win right now more than he did. "Ok"

It was like a pin had dropped as everyone stared at Shadow in shock and disbelief, Cagalli blinks a few times as she stared at Shadow's smiling face. Was she dreaming, did Shadow the biggest Gundam Fighting junkie she had ever known just give the fight to her? "R-really?" There must be some kind of catch.

With his mind made up Shadow drops into one of the chairs and leans back and puts his feet on the table. "A fiery Cagalli vs. an ice cold Sesen; that's a battle I'd like to see more then I wanted to fight Sesen, just make sure you win."

Never in her life did Cagalli think Shadow would actually let her have the fight without some kind of annoying hassle and now that it had happened Cagalli didn't know what to do, however a new problem quickly makes itself apparent.

"I reject that decision," All eyes turn to Zuke; Jack leans in to Roxas and asks in a whisper.

"Is it me or is Zuke talking to us more often?"

Zuke ignores the child's comment which he easily heard with his superior hearing and continues. "The blond natural has never won a Gundam Fight, so it's stupid to put trust in her when she's only shown failure before." Cagalli burns from the insult but Nick is faster on the draw and speaks first.

"Why do you even care mate?"

"Because I wish to fight strong opponents worthy of my genetics but that won't happen until this pathetic team gets into the higher ranks." Nick begins to glare at Zuke but Drake also steps in and adds.

"I agree with Zuke, for crying out loud Cagalli's never won a match before and yet you want her to represent the team in a one on one match where there will be no second chances if she loses, against an opponent who she already admitted overwhelmingly beat her. I suggest you think about this very hard Shadow because if she loses the Shadow Knights will be eliminated from the tournament in the first round which will only make getting good missions and high level Gundam Fights that much harder and more importantly you won't be able to have your rematch against Blake for a very long time. You're the better choice for this fight, you already were even with Sesen before and now with Nightwing's fully operational upgrades and you're successful training you'll be an even tougher opponent. I will not let you guys embarrass me by losing in the first round!"

This was a disaster; Drake had figured that Sesen would be the perfect opponent for Shadow to help him get closer to Blake's level. He had done the math and he knew that Shadow had a good chance of winning that fight but never in a million years would he have guessed that Cagalli would also want to fight Sesen, Drake had thought Cagalli would be too timid or scared to fight Sesen, and to make matters even worse Shadow had actually backed out!

Cagalli looked all around at the growing doubt on everyone's faces, maybe she was being selfish, she was part of a team after all and the choices she made affected everyone else too. Besides her goal wasn't to be a good Gundam Fighter, it was to get home to Orb and her friends and family. The faster she got to C rank the faster she would be able to achieve that goal and giving Shadow's record, him fighting over her would be in the best interest of that goal.

"No," Like a lightning bolt, Shadow speaks striking into everyone's thoughts with a firm unyielding resolve so strong that his Neon gauntlet began to glow. "Cagalli will fight against Sesen tomorrow and she will win!"

Drake blinks as he tries to not let too much of his frustration leak out into his voice. "But you can't know if she'll win."

The episode ends with Shadow giving everyone his goofy smile as he says "No, but I have faith."


	75. Episode 74 A Fierce Battle

Episode 74 A Fierce Battle, The Tournament Begins!

_Location: Dark-Angel's Gundam bay Time: One hour before the fight_

"Sesen uses an Amazonian type Chief Class Gundam, this kind of Gundam is known for its arms." Jack explains for the tenth time to Cagalli, ever since yesterday Jack, Nick, Roxas and Shadow had been giving her tips and advice on how to fight Sesen.

"It's arms?" Cagalli asks despite already having been told the answer nine times before.

"Its arms have a specialized wiring muscular system, meaning in simple terms it can bench press like seven buildings and its movements are fast and flexible but it's not made for speed combat. Sesen covers this up with modifications to her Gundam's thrusters, it allows for an extreme sudden burst of speed which is why Artemis can bridge gaps between people so quickly but the system is useless in a contest of distance."

"So if you get backed into a corner mate don't be afraid to turn tail and run." Nick suggests, his suggestions had been primarily defense based. Jack nods her head excitedly,

"La Rouge is going to be faster and more agile then Artemis, her metal Bo staff literary weighs the same as an average Gundam so she's going to be feeling that weight during a distance run."

"Rip her apart, limb by freaking limb. No mercy!" Roxas adds viciously, everyone takes one step back away from the still very angry tiger lady. The sad thing was that that was the tamest thing Roxas had suggested regarding the fight.

"Don't show weakness in front of Sesen, that will only piss her off more, make sure you get in there and push HER back." Shadow advises, Shadow had been focused more on offensive strategies, unfortunately they were all INSANE in Cagalli's opinion and she wasn't planning on using any of them. Drake had walked out in anger much to Cagalli's enjoyment, and Kenny had run off to start working on the programming of La Rouge right away. She had heard that Kenny had pulled an all-nighter, and that Cagalli did feel bad about. The fight was in an hour and Kenny had finally called saying he had finished the programming.

A large smile lights up Jack's face as she approaches La Rouge, she had put up curtains around all of the Gundams so that the others wouldn't be able to see her master pieces until they were finished. "Ok are you ready Cagalli to see the new and improve La Rouge?"

Cagalli smiles back at her young companion's enthusiasm and she had to admit that despite herself she was feeling excited about the new upgrades to La Rouge. "You bet."

Jack's smile gets bigger and she turns around and shouts "GO!" On her cue the curtain releases and drops to the ground to reveal the upgraded La Rouge.

"Wow La Rouge lost some weight." Shadow comments and he was right. La Rouge was without a doubt slimmer and that wasn't the only difference, it now had six wing thrusters, three were stacked in a row a little to the left of La Rouge's back and the other three were stacked a little to the right.

La Rouge's yellow, red, and orange paint job had been retouched making it shine slightly; its amber eyes stared down at them. "When La Rouge came back trashed I decided to scratch out and redesign the whole frame, to make it better for aerial combat since I decided to install wings on it. You're looking at the RF burner thruster, which I built from scratch myself, on each one of those wings which can bring your speed up to seven hundred mph in flight."

"You mean La Rouge can fly now?" Roxas asks having momentary forgotten her anger as she stares at the magnificent machinery which was Cagalli's Gundam.

Jack's grin grows even bigger, "Flying is only the tip of the iceberg, I've designed an entirely new type of weapons system for La Rouge which I have dubbed the wing system, wait until you see that puppy in action." The red eyed mechanic glows with pride as she sees the look of marvel and wonder on everyone's faces, however Cagalli's is slightly different, there's also surprise and confusion.

"The-the Freedom?" To Cagalli La Rouge looked just like her little brother's Gundam the Freedom, or Strike Freedom to be more accurate.

Jack fidgets nervously as she explains, "Um yea, after hearing about your brother's Gundam I kind of was feeling a little inspired and based La Rouge's upgrades on it…is that ok?" Jack asks seeing the look on Cagalli's face.

Cagalli notices the look of nervousness on Jack's face, as if she had done something wrong, Cagalli forcibly relaxes herself and smiles. "Are you kidding me, the Strike Freedom was one of the greatest Gundams back on Earth and you made something even better, I love it." Watching Jack's face light up at the comment made Cagalli's day, she was being stupid after all La Rouge and the Strike Freedom looked similar but not identical.

It was more than just the paint job too, with no other weapons La Rouge looked much slimmer and less bulky then the Freedom, also the Freedom had eight wings total that attached to one another to form two more powerful thruster engines whereas La Rouge only had six wings total and it was clear that they didn't attached to each other and as Cagalli stared more at the wings she realized that La Rogue's wings were more curved whereas the Freedom's wings were more rectangular in appearance. Yes, as Cagalli studied La Rouge more and more she became more certain that while the two Gundams were similar they were not the same.

"Oh don't mind me, it's not like I did an all-nighter to make sure the damn thing moves when you go out and pilot it." A sleepless Kenny grumbles over by a computer terminal, there were at least a dozen cups of coffee in the trash can next to him.

"Think you've mainline enough coffee Kenny?" Shadow teases.

Kenny glares back at him and snaps, "Hell no!"

Cagalli smiles at the two and then says "Thank you Kenny, sorry for making you do an all-nighter, you should go get some rest now."

Kenny feels much better and appreciated when he hears Cagalli's apology, he takes out an energy drink and mixes it into his coffee. "No way, I'm the programmer so I'm going with you guys."

Kenny downs the fusion drink causing Shadow to smile. "Well what are we waiting for, let's go!"

####

_Location: Arianna's GFC arena Time: 5 minutes until fight_

Unlike the previous day the arena was only half full if even that, the general mood in the arena was upbeat and positive if not very excited. A couple of food vendors were out trying to sell drinks and other snacks but most had given up since many people weren't expecting this to take long. "Wow, considering yesterday's turnout I thought this place would be packed again." Tim says to a still sour Drake.

"What did you expect; the Shadow Knights are an E-rank team going up against a D-rank team who's a favorite to win the tournament. Most of the people here are either fans of the Valkyries, die hard Gundam fans who go to every fight, or people who bought the special tournament deal tickets where they get to watch every fight. No one here though actually expects the Shadow Knights to pull off a win, especially me." Drake replies bitterly causing Tim to glare at him.

"Don't be an ass Drake, Cagalli has made great strides in her training, she's definitely Shadow's equal so I don't know why you think Shadow would have a better chance to win over her."

"You're right, physically Shadow and Cagalli are equals but she lacks the mental part; Cagalli doesn't have the mind frame yet of a Gundam Fighter. I'm telling you that Sesen's determination and will to win will crush Cagalli's."

"Well I think you're wrong," Tim sighs, "This sucks, it's like I'm the only Shadow Knight fan here."

"Heheheh don't worry you're not the only fan." Drake and Tim turn around, they already knew someone was behind them but since they didn't sense any threat they just ignored the person. He was an older gentleman, mid to late eighties, with a grey rough beard, his skin was heavily tanned and he had brown eyes and black hair, he wore lose fitting old dirty clothing.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to ease drop I just wanted to let you know you weren't the only fan for the Shadow Knights who came today."

Tim speaks first, "No it's no problem, you're a Habenion right?"

The old Habenion is startled by this, "That's right, how could you tell?"

Tim smiles kindly as he replies, "Only Habenions have that tanned of skin with brown eyes but what brings you so far away from your home?"

"It's a long story involving a con-artist and my own stupidity, to sum it up though I'm broke and unable to return home. You said that the lady name Cagalli was the one who would be fighting today, isn't she the Shadow Knight that pilots the red, yellow and orange Gundam?"

Tim continues the conversation while Drake remains silent, "Yes that's her Gundam La Rouge, I'm sorry to hear about your troubles is there any way I can help?"

"HAHAHA you're too kind young man but no I couldn't accept any help you had to give me, this was my mistake and now I have to live with it. Besides I took my last hundred credits and bet it on the Shadow Knights to win, they told me it was a million to one odds but I don't think that's right because if that other team wins they would have to pay off those other million people." Tim smiles kindly at the old man and explains.

"It doesn't actually work that way, because the Valkyries are such a high favorite to win people betting on them can't actually just bet on them to win alone, they have to set a condition too like the Valkyries win in less than five minutes, they take certain amount of damage, etc. so they're not just betting against the Shadow Knights they're also betting against each other depending upon the condition."

"You're better off taking your money elsewhere, if you take it to the black jack tables and play your cards right you might be able to make just enough credits to get home." Drake says.

"I'd still be broke when I got home, and I'd have to admit to my family that I'm just a foolish old man who lost all of his money. No even if I do never return home to the land of my ancestors I'll be happy watching the heroes of Haben one more time." The old Habenion gets a faraway look in his eye as he remembers the battle of Azize. "You know I was there at the battle of Azize, I saw her fight."

"Wait I thought all of the civilians were able to get to shelters before the battle started?" Tim asks surprised, the old man smiles sadly and shakes his head.

"No, there was so much confusion, everyone was so scared as the soldiers began to bang on every single door yelling at people to get a move on to the shelters. Even though it had been such a long time since we had Gundam evacuations drills everyone still knew those horns, the military was out in force making sure we didn't trample each other or start looting but everyone was so scared and things got worse when shelters started to get full. Panic set in as people began to abandon their cars because of traffic in order to beat everyone else to the still open shelters. It became total chaos since there was no way of knowing if a shelter was full until you got there or until someone else told you and we could all feel that at any moment the battle could start, I found myself alone in the city, most people had found a shelter to go to but I had gotten separated and lost from my family. The streets were deserted as I wandered alone looking for a shelter and that's when the fighting started. I had never been more scared in my life, it was like thunder that kept moving in closer and closer until eventually it was in the city.

Buildings exploded into burning blazes as these giants began to fight all around me, I could smell the smoke in the air and taste the dust from the destruction as it scorched my throat and I ran and ran trying to find cover, to find a safe spot as the world became a living hell around me and then she appeared. It wouldn't be until much later that I found out her name and what she was doing but already I could tell she was trying to help, unlike the others I could see she was looking down, trying to avoid stepping on any possible people, and destroying homes and then that red and yellow demon appeared, the exact opposite, causing destruction chaos, ruining people's homes cars and dreams.

They fought and I just stood there despite the danger transfixed by the overwhelming display by the two giants before me and despite being struck down she managed to seal the demon so forgive me sir if I disagree with you. I believe she's going to win….and even if she doesn't I'll always be a fan of the Shadow Knights, it's one of the reason why I decided to spend some of my last credits to come see this match. I just thought that if I can see the heroes of Haben one last time I would be happy again."

"Ladies and gentleman can I have your attention please!" The referee's voice booms forth as several huge TVs all around the stadium switch on with his face on it, signaling the end of talking. "Welcome to the first round of Arianna's tournament!" The referee shouts out and receives a roar of applause and cheering from the crowd. "We have an exciting match for you guys, the winner of the E-rank wildcard spot, the Shadow Knights will face off against the women of fury the D-7 Valkyries!" The referee pauses for a moment as another set of cheers goes through then he continues. "This is the five minute call for anyone who still wants to place a bet at our betting booth or is going to buy any food at our concessions stand."

####

Kenny sat at the computer terminal in the Shadow Knights's team room, fueled by coffee and his energy drinks, his fingers danced on the keyboards as he ran one more diagnostic test on La Rouge's programming. Jack was down in the Gundam bay probably doing her own diagnostic check; Nick, Shadow and Roxas were hovering behind him while Zuke stood in his usual corner in his usual stance. Cagalli was on one monitor, La Rouge's stats on another, and the actual arena on the third.

"Kenny I know you didn't finish the programming for La Rouge's new weapons system but are the thrusters on its wings operational, like can I fly?" Cagalli asks, why hadn't she asked that question sooner?! Everything had been happening so fast, traveling to the arena, getting situated in the team room, and coming down to the Gundam Bay to get into La Rouge; it had all felt like a blur and now that she stood inside La Rouge waiting on the Gundam catapult time seems to have slowed down as she stood here it all felt too real.

On her monitor she could see Kenny blink in surprise, "Yea, I put a sub tone program for the wings in, I'll have to change it when I finally finish the programming for the weapon's system but for now the wing thrusters are fully operational but I don't recommend you try flying."

Cagalli could feel the butterflies in her stomach as she remembers her previous match against Sesen and how much she had riding on this match, if she lost it would set her back months on Sora if not years plus there was also Shadow's own goals to consider. _NO, calm down, _the first thing she had learn as a politician's daughter was how to control those butterflies when they got this bad and that meant distractions. "Why, Sesen's Gundam Artemis can't even fly so wouldn't that give me an advantage?"

"True but you've never flown before," Kenny could see the argument coming out of Cagalli's mouth and rolls his eyes as he corrects himself, "in a Sora Gundam which trust me is a completely different monster entirely from a joystick controlling one, I doubt you could get it to fly even if you wanted to."

Cagalli wanted to argue but Kenny was right, there was no controls here like in an Earth Gundam so she had absolutely no idea how to get La Rouge to fly, she was actually a little bit interested in learning how from Jack after the match.

Kenny sensing Cagalli's anxiety asks a distracting question, "How is La Rouge feeling, it's been a month since you've piloted it and throughout that whole time you've been using a training Gundam so the NS system might feel weird to you at first-"

"No actually it feels perfect," Cagalli admits, "like finally putting on the right sized glove, it doesn't feel exactly like how La Rouge used to feel, it feels better."

"HA, I told you so!" Shadow shouts triumphantly temporarily pushing Kenny out of the way, they had argue before about how the NS system between the training Gundams and their actual Gundams had differed, Cagalli had tried to down play it but Shadow had insisted there was a major difference. She choose to ignore Shadow but Cagalli couldn't help to marvel a little bit at the odd feeling which was the NS system. It definitely felt a lot more comfortable now than when she first started piloting La Rouge, it had become almost like putting on another outfit no another skin and each time Jack made an upgrade or tweak it became a more natural, better fit.

A green light came on signaling that Cagalli was free to enter the stadium whenever she was ready, this was it. On impulse Cagalli makes her first decision of the match, "Kenny I'm going to launch when the referee says my name."

"HA, it's not a stupid idea now is it?!" Shadow grins smugly as Cagalli glares at him.

"Good, it's better that she sees your face so that she knows what hit her when you tear her apart!" Roxas approves.

"Are you sure mate, you'll lose out on your chance for an ambush?" Nick the most level headed and caffeine free person asks. Cagalli slowly nods her head in response.

"Yes, the plan makes sense; Sesen is expecting Shadow to come out and face her so she'll be thrown off when she hears my name and sees me all at once. In that moment of confusion I'll strike and hopefully deal a harsh blow." It was a good plan and despite her hesitation Cagalli did think it would be the best way to start off the fight…but there was another reason she choose it, a growing part of her was telling Cagalli to face Sesen in the open, a real challenge, a real chance to prove to Sesen, no to everyone once and for all that she wasn't weak.

####

"Fighting for the Valkyries is their fearless team leader Sesen Omolara in her Gundam Artemis!" On cue Artemis launches from the catapult, the strong Gundam flies smoothly in the air before doing a front flip and then activating all of its thrusters temporally stopping its fall three feet above the ground. The thrusters quickly shut off and even from three feet up in the air Artemis still makes a dent on the ground as it lands. The crowd cheers and roars in response as Artemis stands firm in an almost a relaxed position.

Sesen was focused as she waited for Shadow to appear, their last fight had been interrupted due to an outside environmental factor but there would be no interruptions this time. She was also stronger since that battle, she had trained and fought hard but she also suspected that Shadow had gotten much stronger as well. His loss to Blake didn't matter to her, in fact it only highlighted his growth to her. In the spam of a month he had improved his swordsmanship to a professional level, whereas during their fight it had been rookie level at best, and now that another month had past Sesen looked forward to seeing how much he had grown.

"Ok so Nightwing is just a Basic Original so what you see is what you get but you should still be careful, that pig could have always have modified it." Sayo the Valkyries's programmer says as she appears on Sesen's helmet screen.

Angela jumps in close next to Sayo and begins to say violently, "Beat that man to a bloody pulp and then beat him up some more until he's unrecognizable, prove to everyone that we are not their slaves!"

Sesen blinks; Angela was obviously still agitated by that animal like girl though if her suggestions continued to increase in violence Sesen would have to have a talk with her.

The referee waits for the crowd to quiet down then continues. "And fighting for the Shadow Knights is Cagalli Yula Athha in La Rouge!" Gasps of surprise come from the crowd as maybe one or two people in the whole stadium remember to clap/cheer. La Rouge launches from the catapult and due to its new sleek aerial design lands gently and lightly on the ground. Cagalli took a moment to stare at her hands surprised; La Rouge was not just feeling lighter but stronger too.

"I must say this is rather an interesting choice by the Shadow Knights, from what I know Cagalli has yet to win a single Gundam Fight; I wonder what they could be thinking?" The referee speaks the opinion of the entire crowd but finally most people remember to politely clap for the newbie but it sounded weak and feeble compared to the roar of Sesen's entrance, Drake shakes his head and moans.

"This isn't going to be good."

Tim glares at him before jumping up and down shouting and cheering his head off, "Screw you, GO CAGALLI, KICK HER ASS!"

The noise is unnoticeable though in the arena as Sesen pops up on Cagalli's helmet screen, her anger is coming off in waves. "What is this, WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!" Sesen roars as Artemis punches one of the smaller boulders standing next to it, causing it to shatter into a million pieces. "I wanted to fight Shadow, not some puny weak little girl! Are you mocking me?!" Sesen screams on the open comm. Link feeling a combination of insult, underestimation, humiliation, and a little hurt.

Kenny looks over his shoulder at Shadow who just gazes at the monitor with his unreadable face.

The referee takes this in and begins to announce excitedly, "Oh well it looks like someone's pissed off"

"SHUT THE HELL UP, you little man before I kill you, now start this match!" Sesen booms threateningly causing the referee to jump a little bit and reply quickly and timidly.

"Yes ma'am, Gundam Fighters ready get set go!"

Even though the referee has officially started the match Artemis makes no move to engage La Rouge in combat, Sesen clenches her fist in anger and exclaims bitterly, "I expected better from you Shadow, but I guess it was wrong of me to think so much of a man!"

Cagalli was thrown off by Sesen's reaction, she hadn't expected the prideful warrior to react so strongly to this switch around but when Sesen started to bad mouth Shadow Cagalli felt compelled to set the record straight. "Shadow wanted to fight you but I told him no, I wanted to fight you instead and I forced Shadow to back down."

Artemis turns to face La Rouge as Sesen eyes the true source of her rage…..yes it did seem more like Shadow to allow his weak little friend to come and fight her. "Heh what makes you think that _I _would want to fight _you_? Didn't you learn your lesson the last time?" Sesen asks as she channeled the energy inside her body, and fired a KI attack on Cagalli but things were different this time. La Rouge never looks away and only moves its left foot back a fraction of an inch in a very slight flinch; otherwise the attack had no effect. This was surprising for Sesen considering last time her KI attack had induced a panic attack on the girl.

Cagalli for her part was completely unaware of the KI attack or her own increased endurance to such attacks, all she knew was that she had flinched from Sesen's intimidation and that angered her and Cagalli directed that anger straight at Sesen. "Well guess what, I've improved since that battle!" Cagalli shouts out as La Rouge reaches to its side and pulls out a metal rod, the rod was small and La Rouge was easily able to twirl it around its right hand fingers. While twirling it around the metal rod begins to extend to the same height as La Rouge. La Rouge catches the pole firmly in its right hand and then quickly grabs it with its left hand and swings it as the beam blade actives.

Cagalli smiles for a fraction of a moment as she feels her beam guan dao's weight and balance; the night before Jack had explained the new design for her beam guan dao. La Rouge charges forward with a burst of speed from its new wings which are folded inward on its back. La Rouge closes the gap fast and swings its beam guan dao down in a vertical slash. Sesen's eyes open wide in surprise as her battle reflexes save her. Artemis sidesteps the attack by a fraction of inch but doesn't have time to think as La Rouge brings its blade back up with no hesitation but Artemis takes a step back as it leans back dodging the blade again.

_Tisk, she's gotten faster_, Sesen thinks as she recovers and begins her counter attack. "Nothing's changed, you're still that same little weak girl that cowers behind her shield and uses beam guns!"

Artemis begins to use a series of strong punches against La Rouge, but things were different this time. La Rouge spun its beam guan dao around moving its body fluidly in motion as it easily moves its grip up or down depending upon which end of its beam guan dao it was using. The pole flips all around La Rouge's arms and back as the agile Gundam either dodges Artemis's punches or deflects them off the pole end of its weapon, at the same time La Rouge uses the bladed end offensively as it attempts to stab Artemis anyway it can but Sesen's eyes were sharp and she is able to stay always an inch away from the blade.

"Using a shield or range weapons doesn't make me weak Sesen, it's that kind of thinking that's weak!" Cagalli shouts back strongly, her eyes have also gotten stronger, in their previous battle Artemis's punches had seemed lightning fast and unstoppable but now Cagalli had reached a level where she could truly see them from what they were. Slow, awkward, and easy to read; they had always been this way it's just that at the time of their previous battle Cagalli had been even slower and more awkward. Though Artemis's punches were still deadly powerful and Cagalli didn't want to be on the receiving end of one of those puppies she no longer feared getting hit by them.

"Holy freaking crap, La Rouge is the first to make a move and she looks equal with Sesen, no wait she looks to be gaining ground holy freaking crap someone call my doctor I must be seeing things!" The referee screams as the crowd stares on in shock, some of them had bet that the fight would be over in a minute. In the Shadow Knights's team room, Shadow and Roxas are screaming their heads off.

"GO, Cagalli, GO!"

"Rip her to pieces Cagalli, you can do it!"

Artemis and La Rouge continue to circle each other in their series of attacks and defends with neither one willing to give ground easily but Artemis was getting slowly pushed back. Sesen could sense she was slowly losing ground, normally it wouldn't have bothered her after all it's only natural for a warrior to get pushed back sometime in the battle but against this opponent who she looked down on, it infuriated her. Artemis fires its right arm out like a cannon aiming for Cagalli's head with even more power than normal but that power came at a price, too late Sesen realizes that the extra speed combined with the weight made her momentum too powerful and pulls Artemis forward slightly creating an opening.

An opening that Cagalli sees, the music played in the back of head like background noise that guided her every move, La Rouge gracefully spins out of the way of the fist as it twirls its beam guan dao and swings it upward in a powerful upward right diagonal slash. Gritting her teeth Sesen actives her burst thrusters and jumps backwards dodging a potentially lethal blow but the tip of La Rouge's beam guan dao manages to nick her shoulder at the last second. Artemis hops a good twenty or so meters away but given how La Rouge was able to cover that distance with no problem the first time it doesn't really provide much comfort.

"Artemis has taken a hit! Artemis has freaking taken the first hit of the battle! Oh my freaking god did the world turn upside down or something?!" The referee screams into his mike as most of the crowd tries to process what they just saw. The blade didn't pierce the armor but the fact that it even touched Artemis was a shock for Sesen, Cagalli pops up on her helmet screen with a smug smile as she says confidently,

"That loading your gloves trick won't work anymore so you should just stop holding back if you don't want to lose!"

Sesen grits her teeth in a scowl but then smirks and replies evenly "You're right." Cagalli becomes confused having not expected this reaction. "I am no boxer, and anyone who does any research into my fight history will know how my punches are so strong; therefore this style of fighting is both inefficient and lacks any element of surprise. Heh this is a D-rank tournament after all, I'll take this as my wake up call to stop using these little E-rank tricks, you wanted me to stop holding back, fine but you're going to regret it!" Sesen shouts as two metal poles shoot out of Artemis's arms; Artemis slams them together forming its heavy metal Bo Staff which stands up to Artemis's shoulders.

Not wasting a moment Sesen activates her burst engine and Artemis rams into La Rouge shoulder first; the sudden burst of speed is so fast that Cagalli has no time to react. The impact sends La Rouge flying into one of the boulders, which the wing Gundam smashes into, turning a large portion of it into rubble. Cagalli is momentarily dazed as she shakes her head to clear her mind. "Cagalli get the hell out of there!" Shadow screams on her helmet screen. Cagalli blinks and instinctively rolls right as Artemis having used its burst thrusters to close the gap again in seconds swings its metal Bo staff down.

The metal Bo staff smashes into the boulder and obliterates it, ruble rains down onto La Rouge's face. La Rouge jumps onto its feet and grabs its beam guan dao but Artemis doesn't give it the chance to go on the offensive. Artemis charges forward swinging its metal Bo staff with agility and skill, it's flexible power arms allow it to swing the enormously heavy weapon like it was just a regular wooden stick. Left, right, right, up, left, down, down, stab, stab, stab; La Rouge twists, turns, leans and sidesteps out of the way as it desperately struggles to avoid taking a hit. La Rouge uses its beam guan dao to deflect the Bo staff a couple of times but each slight impact sends a shiver up Cagalli's arms.

Cagalli grits her teeth in frustration, _Damn it it's all I can do to dodge! She's not giving me any room to attack!_

Cagalli scrambles to think of a counter while outside the referee shouts "OH it looks like Artemis is getting serious now, pulling out her metal Bo staff and then following through with a ram attack, a devastating combination that's put La Rouge on defensive!" The crowd roars in response as the excitement grips the air.

Sesen pops up on Cagalli's helmet screen and shouts out, "Your weakness is a disgrace to all women and it pisses me OFF!" The metal Bo staff becomes a blur for a moment as Artemis sweeps La Rouge's legs out from under it. La Rouge hangs in the air for a moment defenseless and helpless as Artemis fires off a series of merciless stab attacks, each one creating a dent as it smashes into La Rouge's armor. Artemis pulls back its Bo staff for its finish as it lines it up like a pool stick. "Break shot!" Sesen screams as the metal pole slams into La Rouge's chest and sends the poor Gundam flying again into another boulder. La Rouge smashes into the rock and collapses to the ground as Cagalli gags slightly from the breath getting knocked out of her.

"OWWW Artemis connects with its Bo staff, La Rouge, I repeat La Rouge is down and hurting!" The referee shouts to be heard over the cheering crowd.

Red lights are going off on Kenny's monitor back in the team room as his fingers fly across the keyboard. "Damage to La Rouge is serious but not critical, Cagalli you can't take hits like that-WATCH OUT!" Kenny screams as he sees Artemis move in front of La Rouge and bring up its Bo staff in an attempt to bash La Rouge's head in.

At the sound of Kenny's voice Cagalli looks and spots Artemis, gritting her teeth La Rouge flips its beam guan dao around and grabs it firmly with both hands spread apart as Cagalli braces herself for impact. Artemis swings down its weapon with tremendous force not troubled at all by the makeshift shield as Sesen calls out, "You think that puny pathetic weapon can stop my mighty two hundred and fifty ton metal Bo staff?! It's going to snap like a twig, you're finished you stupid weak little girl!"

"This is it!" The referee shouts to the anticipation of the hungry crowd, as everyone including Tim and Drake hold their breath.

Artemis's metal Bo staff slams into the beam guan dao creating a huge boom that can be heard all across the stadium, La Rouge's elbows slam and sink into the ground as does its back from the impact but the beam guan dao holds, in fact it's not even dented. A stunned silence falls upon everyone in the stadium.

"I-it didn't break." Kenny stutters in shock as Jack smiles at him from her own station back in the Gundam bay.

"Of course it didn't break; I completely redesigned and rebuilt La Rogue's beam guan dao. I used two layers of electric displacement metal for the skin to block against any energy weapon but I used Nortion gel braces for skeletal structure so it can take any blunt attacks too. There's no way it would break." Jack brags confidently one thing but thinks, _but the gel was only tested to survive a solid hit from 200 tons so I wasn't sure if doubling up would help or not. _Jack takes a minute to pull out her PDA and write down her observations from the new design.

The referee is the first person to get over the shock as he stutters out, "SHE LIVES! The Shadow Knights are still in this!" Despite their earlier hesitation the crowd roars in response to Cagalli's survival with cheers.

Sesen stares down dumbfounded, this was the first time she had ever seen anything survive a full impact from her metal Bo staff without some serious damage. "That's impossible." Sesen mumbles.

Cagalli's body and arms ache from the blows of the attack but she grits her teeth and says "My beam guan dao isn't puny, pathetic or weak and I'm not a girl, I'M A WOMAN!" Cagalli explodes as La Rouge kicks out its right leg right into Artemis's right leg and then sweeps out Artemis's left leg. The sudden loss of her footing kicks Sesen back into action as Artemis crashes to the ground while La Rouge rises to its feet. La Rouge thinking she sees an opening moves to perform a stab attack but Artemis even on its back goes on the offense with its own stab attack aimed at La Rouge's head and hits La Rouge first. La Rouge dazed stumbles backwards as Artemis flips its metal Bo staff around and slams it into ground using it as leverage as it jumps back to its feet.

"Woman!? You insult the term by putting your name with it!" Sesen shouts proudly as her Neon gauntlet begins to glow strongly. Inside the core Artemis's S-generator grows just by a fraction a bit bigger.

"Cagalli get out of there, fallback and regroup!" Roxas sensing danger screams right next to Kenny's ear.

Cagalli breathing heavily didn't need to be told twice, as much as it killed her to admit it Sesen had more combat experience then she did, running away and tiring her out was Cagalli's best option at the moment. Turning around we can see the thrusters on La Rouge's wings kick on as La Rogue hightails it out of there. Sesen grits her teeth in annoyance as Artemis activates its burst thrusters to purse. "Come back here you coward!"

Artemis's burst thrusters allow it to close the gap between itself and La Rouge, Artemis raises its metal Bo staff and swings it down but at the last second La Rouge nimbly jumps out of the way, flips in the air and onto one of the rock mounds. La Rouge then begins to zigzag running across the side of the rock mounds as it hops from one to the other. Cagalli on a subconscious level is using the running on walls technique Drake taught her while thinking, _crap, crap, crap this isn't good, I need to think of a new plan. If La Rouge can fly I could just stay outside of Sesen's reach, fly, fly, fly!_

La Rouge's wings shutter slightly but otherwise there's no response to Cagalli's mental ordering. However La Rouge does continue to gain distance from Artemis since its burst thrusters aren't able to fire continuously.

"La Rogue is falling back, retreating from the fearsome Artemis and it appears that Artemis is unable to keep up with its faster opponent." The referee announces to the excited crowd.

"Running away, just as I would expect from a weak girl!" Sesen growls angrily as she continues to give chase.

The comment ticks Cagalli off as she snaps back, "I'm not weak and I'm not running away. I'm tiring you, the stupid rude one out!"

"Stupid?"

"That's right, only a stupid person is sexist even against men and labels women as either weak or strong by their standards. I've got news for you, we're all built differently, we all have our strengths and weaknesses! And it's really rude and insulting to use that stupid system as an excuse for not remembering someone's name especially when they remembered yours!"

"You think I'm using myself as a standard to judge other women by, DON'T BE NAÏVE! I'm well aware that people are different and have their own set of skills they're good at, if I wasn't the Valkyries would not be as strong as it is now! I can even acknowledge your animalistic friend as a strong woman. I don't call you weak because of muscle or intelligence, or even fighting ability!"

"THEN WHY, WHY DO YOU KEEP CALLING ME WEAK!"

"BECAUSE YOU OOZE OUT WEAKNESS! I knew from the moment I first saw you what kind of women you were!"

"What kind of women am I then?"

"The type that never does anything for themselves, the damsel in distress who's always waiting for a man or anyone to save them rather then get off their ass and try to save themselves! The type of women who talks big and acts proud when they feel safe or secure but the moment any real danger shows up and there's no one around to hid behind they fold like a freaking lawn chair! True pride comes from fighting tooth and nail for your beliefs, to stare fear in the face and not blink, to put your entire being into what you love and the confidence that comes from all of that but you do none of that, have none of that which is why your pride is hollow and false which is why your Neon Gauntlet won't glow now or ever!"

Sesen's words cut Cagalli deeper than any blade; past all of her emotional defenses they touch a silent fear because Cagalli can see truth in her words. It was a fear that Cagalli had always tried vigorously to block out, deny, reject, but one thing that she could never do was run away or escape from it. "Y-you're wrong, I'm not that way!"

"Then prove it!" Sesen challenges, "If it bothers you so much that I don't bother to remember your name then force me to remember it, with your own two hands instead of waiting for someone to come and fight your battles!" Silence falls as La Rouges continues to hop from rock mound to rock mound with Artemis continuing to chase after.

Cagalli bites her lip as she clenches and unclenches her hands in humiliation. _Sesen can't catch me, so she's trying to bait me into fighting her but it's not going to work, _or at least that's what Cagalli told herself but even her own inner words sounded hollow to herself as the real reason Cagalli didn't want to fight crept out from them, a fear the likes of which Cagalli had rarely ever seen, a deep dark primal fear that stole her breath and threatens to lock her body in place if she broke concentration for even a moment.

"Tis, when the pressures on you always break, like I said weak." Sesen rubs in. "But running away is no longer an option!" Artemis separates its metal Bo staff back into its two smaller poles. While running Artemis takes one of the metal poles and winding up its arms and flexing its wiring muscular system to their maximum power sends the metal power flying. The metal pole doesn't fly so much as fire like a cannonball straight into the rock mounds; it crashes through five boulders decimating them before coming to a stop at the sixth boulder which it still managed to take a chunk out of.

Unfortunately for La Rouge one of the boulders the metal pole turned to dust was the one La Rouge was running on. Cagalli's eyes open wide at the sudden loss of footing, La Rouge crashes into the ground back first. Artemis continues pushing its burst thrusters to catch up with La Rouge before it can start running again but Cagalli is no stranger to sudden hits and is already back up on her feet. "I won't let you get away!" Sesen shouts as Artemis takes its second piece of her metal Bo staff and throws it at La Rouge. This was a rushed throw so it doesn't have the same power as the first one but it does still pack a punch and nails La Rouge right in the face.

The metal pole makes a massive dent in La Rouge's face armor and stuns Cagalli giving Artemis the chance to finally catch up. Artemis grabs La Rouge's right hand and twists causing La Rouge to drop its beam guan dao and follows up with several right hooks into La Rouge's face. Cagalli fights back pain as she refocuses, La Rouge ducks the next punch and then twist its body in the direction of its arm as it performs a round house kick into Artemis's chest. The breath gets knocked out of Sesen as Artemis is force to let go of La Rouge's arm but not before kicking La Rouge's beam guan dao away.

The two weaponless Gundams back off for a minute and circle each other, "No more running, no more hiding, no more cowering, we settle this once and for all here and NOW!" Sesen roars definitely as her Neon Gauntlet continues to glow strongly. Artemis charges forward a dozen different jabs and strong arm punches aimed at La Rouge's face and chest, without the weight of its metal Bo staff even Artemis's poor boxing technique becomes irrelevant by its sheer overwhelming speed as most of its attacks connect despite La Rouge's attempts at blocking.

If it wasn't for all of the fights and training matches Cagalli had been in she never would have been able to think straight as Sesen hammers into her but now that pain had become second nature to her and while it did register Cagalli was more than able to work around it. _Damn it, her fist are like blurs, I can barely see them until they hit me! Khiêu vũ doesn't work if I can't move fast enough to react. I have to go on the offense._

La Rouge deflects one of Artemis's punches and goes on the offense as it makes a series of balletic punches and kicks at Artemis. Sesen's quick reflexes and skills allow her to dodge most of the attacks but Artemis forgets defense and forces its way through the punches and kicks and continues on its attack.

"I came here expecting a slaughter, I came here expecting to be able to leave in a half hour tops, I came here expecting nothing but instead I've got a Gundam Fight! Steel vs. steel, skill vs. skill, spirit vs. spirit with no one willing to back down; this is what it's all about this is where it all begins, this is how legends are born!" The referee screams as the crowd continues roaring even louder than before.

La Rouge hits Artemis in the face with three fast jabs and follows up with a straight kick to the chest but Artemis blocks it with a cross guard. La Rouge pulls back its leg and tries another kick but Artemis spots one of its metal poles on the ground and makes a barrel roll swiping it up in one grab and uses it to block La Rouge's leg. Jumping straight up Artemis uses its metal pole like a police baton, hitting La Rouge in the shoulders, chest, arms and face. Cagalli stumbles for a second dazed but quickly regroups and catches Artemis's arm that's holding the metal pole.

In the same heartbeat La Rouge head butts Artemis, Sesen stunned stumbles backwards as La Rouge quickly performs another straight kick right into Artemis's chest sending the Gundam flying into a rock mound. Cagalli breathing hard screams, "Now who's weak?!" and charges Sesen. But luck is on Sesen's side as she shakes her head to clear her thoughts she notices her second metal pole lying on the ground. With no hesitation Artemis kicks the pole up into the air, catches it and connects the two together again to form its metal Bo staff and swings at La Rouge in the span of a second.

"It's still you!" Sesen screams in response as Cagalli realizes too late the danger she's in. Artemis's metal Bo staff slams into La Rouge full force, lifting the Gundam off its feet and smashing it into the rock mound reversing their positions. La Rouge slides down to the ground as Cagalli struggles to regain her breath but it's too late. With metal Bo staff in hand Artemis begins to smash La Rouge with everything it's got.

"Ohhh and it looks like this is the end, La Rouge is down weaponless as Artemis mercilessly beats it with its metal Bo staff."

The crowd cheers for the favorite Sesen while Tim and the old Haben moan and shout out, "Oh no, move get out of there Cagalli!"

Drake looks on having expected this outcome. "I told you this would happen."

Meanwhile in the Shadow Knight team room every warning light is going off. "La Rouge's armor can't take that kind of beating!" Jack screams on one of the monitors while Kenny rapidly types on his computer,

"Damage level rising to critical levels!"

"Mate you've got to move!"

"Cagalli get the hell out of there!" Roxas screams. Shadow is unusually quiet in this situation as he stares unblinkingly at Cagalli on the monitor with his intense electric green eyes.

Sparks fly as La Rouge's armor begins to crumble like paper as Artemis whacks it again and again with its metal Bo Staff knocking La Rouge so hard into the rock mound that cracks are starting to appear. "You're so weak, you're strength is as hollow as your confidence and determination to win!" Sesen screams in rage. "You still think this is a corny anime where the heroine goes away trains and then comes back to beat the person in a rematch but that kind of crap doesn't happen in the real world!"

Cagalli's body was going numb, she barely felt the pain as sound became muffled and her vision became blurry. _Am I going to lose again, is this it? What am I doing here, it was a mistake for me to fight Sesen in the first place, I should have let Shadow fight her like everyone said to. _Just as it looks like Cagalli is about to blackout a single question, like a lightning bolt, pierces the darkness and strikes.

"Cagalli what do you want?"

Her mind with something to grasp onto focuses in on that one single question. _What do I want? I want to go home, to Orb._

_Then why did I want to fight Sesen, Shadow had the best chance of winning and winning should be all that matters?_

_I should have let Shadow fight, I'm the leader of a nation and the leader of a nation should focus on the big picture. It shouldn't matter who wins against Sesen or anyone else as long as the Shadow Knights keep winning and progressing to C-rank as fast as possible so picking the person with the best chance of winning should have been only logical._

_But it wasn't, I wanted to fight Sesen more then I wanted to get home to Orb. It mattered to me, why?_

_Because I'm so tired of everyone calling me weak, everyone thinking I'm weak….I'm so god damn tired of BEING WEAK! _She remembers what the warden at Slyer said, "You claim that too much power will only bring conflict, but it seems to me that you don't have any power at all. At least not any you gained yourself."

What Drake said, "You're a parasite! You can't do anything by yourself, you always have to leach off of others power!"

What Sesen said during their first fight, "Look at you groveling on the ground, you're pathetic and it's because of that patheticness that men still look down upon women!"

_Why does it bother me what other people think, the leader of nation shouldn't be bothered by individual rants, she acts in concern to the greater whole._

_Because they're RIGHT! They've always been right I've just never wanted to admit it, I've never been able to do anything by myself. I couldn't stop Yuna by myself; I couldn't stop Durandal by myself, I couldn't clean up my own mistakes without help, I couldn't save the country I love without help, hell I couldn't even give a stupid god damn public announcement by myself without needing Lacus to help me! No one believes I can do anything by myself, I don't even believe I can do anything by myself._

_That's not true, Shadow believes in me. _Shadow's response to Drake, "I can see a spark in her eyes! It's been buried deep in there through years of political upbringing and crappy rules of etiquette but it's there and I believe that one day that spark will grow into a great and powerful inferno!"

_Shadow is always cheering for every single one of my matches no matter how many I lost_

"Go Cagalli Go, you can do this! Don't you dare give up, now get your ass back up!"

_Yesterday when no one else wanted to back me up_, "Cagalli will fight against Sesen tomorrow and she will win!"

_Stupid Shadow, he always has a hard time realizing when he's wrong._

_I want to be more like him. I want to win. I want to stand tall and confidently like he does, like father did._

_Is this pride, I thought that mutilated useless feeling had died in me a long time ago?_

_It did but he brought it back to life. It beats and tells me to get back up, to continue fighting. I'm tired of being unable to do anything by myself; I'm tired of being weak! I want to win this fight by myself with no help from anyone else! I don't want to let Shadow, Nick, Jack, Kenny or Roxas down! I want to be stronger! I want my Neon Gauntlet to glow! _"I WANT TO WIN!" Cagalli screams as every fiber of her being trembles, something in her mind just snaps as a wall put up long ago, added onto through the years finally crumbles down.

In Cagalli's subconscious an amber seed falls onto a clear pond before shattering and sending a light ripple across the water as Cagalli's pupils dilate and she unknowingly activates her Seed mode. Her Neon Gauntlet begins to change colors turning a mixture of red, yellow and orange before glowing just as strongly as Sesen's. Inside the core the S-generator beats like a heartbeat and grows by a fraction bigger than before.

Artemis goes to stab La Rouge with its metal Bo staff again but to everyone's amazement La Rouge with unbelievable reflexes catches it and stops it in place. Sesen tries to push her metal Bo staff forward but is dumbfounded to find she can't; against La Rouge's grip it won't move an inch. "This might not be an anime but the ideas behind animes are based on real life!" Cagalli screams as La Rouge's eyes flash with extra power from its S-generator.

La Rouge smashes the end of Artemis's metal Bo staff into Artemis's face. Artemis stumbles backwards as the engines on La Rouge's wings burst to life and propels it upward back onto its feet. Within the breath of a second La Rouge grabs Artemis's metal Bo staff with both hands and begins to perform a series of strong stab attacks into Artemis's chest and head pushing the Gundam back. Sesen grits her teeth in rage from the humiliation she feels at the loss in control of her metal Bo staff.

"ENOUGH!" She screams as Artemis separates its metal Bo staff into its two smaller parts and rips the metal pole La Rouge is holding onto out of its hand.

Artemis goes to reclaim the offensive as it swings both metal poles at La Rouge but La Rouge agilely dodges the attack as its wings rise up showcasing their thrusters. Cagalli though still can't take to the air however that's not what she was doing, with relative ease she spots her beam guan dao on the floor a few meters back and with impressive speed zips past Artemis like a world class sprinter and snatches her weapon up. La Rouge flips its beam guan dao around once before pointing it straight at Artemis. "MY NAME IS CAGALLI YULA ATHHA, REMEMBER IT!" She roars on the open comm.

Her face and sentence appear on the monitors for a moment as the crowd hears her. "Unreal folks, if I didn't see it I wouldn't believe it La Roug-No Cagalli has forced her way out of Sesen's pin and pushed her opponent back while reclaiming her weapon! This fight isn't over yet!" The crowd turns to one another and begins to mumble the unknown challenger's name. Cagalli's name is mentioned hundreds of times over in an instance but like a catching fire the crowd begins to warm up to the young Gundam Fighter's bold statement as cheering for her increasing tenfold and a chant begins, "Cagalli, Cagalli, Cagalli, Cagalli,"

In the Shadow Knights's team room Nick, Shadow and Roxas go wild with cheering and screaming. "YEA! GO CAGALLI!"

"That's it mate!"

"Rip some freaking ass Cagalli!"

Sesen takes an unintentional step back as Cagalli's KI blast hits her but that was IMPOSSIBLE, there should be no way someone on that's brat's level would be able to use KI hell Sesen doubted if the girl knew what KI was. Sesen doesn't have much time to ponder this thought as La Rouge blazes forward in a heavy offensive. La Rouge's beam guan dao, slashes, stabs and strikes with unreal accuracy finding the slightest opening, the smallest hole in Artemis's defense not to mention just the sheer power they now possess. The few attacks Artemis does get off are easily blocked by La Rouge not even hindering La Rouge's own attacks by a second, even Artemis's unusual kick attacks are read and blocked by La Rouge's own legs.

"Sesen, I'm going to prove to you right now once and for all that I'm not a weak little girl. I'm a strong proud women and I'm also going to beat my name into your skull whether you want to memorize it or not!" Cagalli roars after switching back to the private comm between Gundam fighters, as she continues on with her attack.

In seconds Artemis is covered in cuts and scratches as sparks begin to fly from the open wounds. Sesen has completely forgone all attacks as she finds herself in a desperate defensive against this overwhelming power. _What the hell is going on, she's reading me like an open book now, it's all I can do to stop her attacks from become critical hits! Where the hell did this power come from?! _Sesen thinks rapidly fighting back panic and fear.

Cagalli herself wasn't sure what the hell was going on, everything around her seemed to be moving much slower especially Sesen not that Cagalli was complaining. Now that she could see Sesen's attacks it was child's play for her to use khiêu vũ to block them and continue her attack. Wait, Cagalli was sure this happened once before to her…it was during the second battle of Jachin Due after Asagi and Juri died and Cagalli had just lost it. All the Gundams had started moving really slow all of a sudden, giving her plenty of time to line up her shot and destroy them…but this time it was different.

Cagalli was different, she was physically much stronger and overwhelmingly better trained then that time meaning she could do so much more with this power than simply line up a gun and pull the trigger. Now that Sesen was moving so slow Cagalli was able to study and exploit small openings in her defense stance, something she had learned to do during all of her sparing matches. Still Sesen was very skilled and had amazing reflexes, the moment Cagalli went to attack an opening she just as quickly closed it. Somewhere deep inside and instinct told Cagalli that whatever was happening wouldn't last long….thirty-two more seconds.

She wasn't sure where that number came from but she felt extremely confident that it was correct; she had to end this now before that number counted down but how? She had to find an opening in Sesen's defense that she wouldn't be able to close. _Where are you, where are you, come on there has to be one-THERE! _She spotted it, an opening that Sesen wouldn't be able to close. Without hesitation La Rouge's wing thrusters scream to life as its wings spread apart slightly.

La Rouge bends its legs and jumps high up into the air directly into the path of the sun, Sesen's warrior's instincts start screaming their heads off letting her know that this was is it, this next attack would decide everything. Sesen squinted her eyes, she couldn't make out the exact details as La Rouge flipped in the air and spun its beam guan dao so she didn't know where Cagalli would be attacking exactly but she could still tell what kind of attack it would be. Artemis raises its metal Bo staff horizontally up in the air over its head preparing for a downward vertical beam slash, which is exactly what La Rouge does swinging its beam guan dao with everything it has plus the momentum it gained from falling.

La Rouge lands hard on the ground in crouching position, its beam blade lay directly underneath Artemis. Sesen's eyes are open wide in disbelief, _No way, she targeted the point where the two metal poles connect to form my larger metal Bo staff. _Sesen thinks as the safety device activates and the escape pod forms around her and ejects her out of Artemis. Outside Artemis's metal Bo staff snaps in two with a breaking noise as Artemis itself splits in two right down the middle and falls to the sides with a loud bang.

There's silence in the stadium for a moment then the referee losses it, "OH MY FREAKING GOD, NO FREAKING WAY! She's done it, Cagalli Yula Athha has WON, her first fucking win in the GFC during the tournament no freaking WAY!" The crowd explodes roaring cheers as people go nuts, they might not have started out as fans of Cagalli but after seeing that fight, after feeling that epic fighting spirit they were fans now. It's not like Sesen lessened in their eyes, she had fought to the very edge of her limits and the fight in itself had been absolutely amazing but Cagalli had risen in their minds as a serious prominent Gundam Fighter with a lot of potential.

"I don't believe it." Drake says stunned as he blinks trying to wake himself from this obvious dream.

"BELIEVE IT YOU ASSHOLE, YEA CAGALLI! Tim screams right in Drake's ear causing Drake to glare at him. Tim hops up and down like a little kid who won the grand prize; he even drags the old Haben up and begins dancing with him.

"I knew she could do it, I just knew Cagalli could win!" The old Haben cries out feeling dozens of years younger.

"You did it too." Tim reminds him, the old Haben looks confused so Tim explains. "The bet, a million to one odds." Understanding dawns on the old Haben's face as was as the weight of what it means settles on him. Drake sums it up nicely though.

"I guess you've got enough credits to go home now and not look foolish to your family." There were no words to express how the old Haben felt at that moment so instead he cried as the largest smile in the world spread across his face.

Meanwhile a full on celebration was happening in the Shadow Knights's team room as Kenny, Nick, Roxas and Shadow all danced around. "She did it!"

"I never doubted it for a second!"

"You liar Kenny!"

"You were amazing out there Cagalli!"

"We are so going to get drunk off our asses tonight in celebrating your first win including you!"

Zuke alone remained quiet in the back corner of the room away from everyone else. _For the last fifty-four seconds of the match her stats doubled, she must have used some kind of boost but what kind of boost? _Not that it really mattered, in the end she was still just a natural.

Cagalli breathes in and out, she felt exhausted, she smiles and nods at her friend's enthusiasm but at the moment she was feeling a tad bit too tired to care plus there was this annoying sound going off. It was a strange sound that Cagalli couldn't quite place. "Hey Jack I think the microphones have been damaged, I'm hearing some kind of strange noise that I can't place."

Jack pops up on Cagalli's helmet screen and looks surprised to hear this. "Really? I'm not seeing any damage in that area on the scanners but I'll look over it in person."

Cagalli nods her head in appreciation but Shadow pops up on her helmet screen with a knowing smile. "I know what you're hearing, although it's really not that surprising that you don't know what it is since this is your first win and all."

"Oh yeah, what?" Cagalli asks tired and in no mood to play games.

Shadow's grin widens as he answers, "The crowd."

Cagalli blinks startled and then for the first time takes a real look up into the audience stand, La Rouge begins to turn around slowly in place taking in every single person. They were all standing on their feet, some jumping up and down; the sound she had been hearing was clapping and cheering, in fact now that she concentrated Cagalli could hear her name being chanted!

"Cagalli, Cagalli, Cagalli,"

Although she was no stranger to cheering crowds this was completely different, these people weren't cheering for Orb, for her father, for Kira and Lacus's victory; these cheers, this sound was hers and hers alone. A sound that she had fought tooth and nail for, tapped into everything she had and then more to win and earn. In awe and bewilderment Cagalli suddenly felt the urge to raise her fist, like in the old school boxing fights when the winner won. Slowly and cautiously La Rouge raises its fist up high in the air causing the crowd to go even more nuts, the volume seems to triple as people scream their heads off in cheers.

It wasn't until that moment that it finally hit Cagalli, she had won. This was her first win in the GFC; she had beaten Sesen all by herself with no help from Kira, Athrun, Lacus, Orb or anyone. She had won against an opponent of that strength, of that skill, of that power with her own merit and skill. Pure joy floods Cagalli's systems rejuvenating her weary body, Cagalli felt like she could fight a bull with her bare hands right now. The episode ends with La Rouge raising both hands in the air as Cagalli roars "I DID IT, YEAH, I WON!"


	76. Episode 75 To Live by a Code

Episode 75 To Live by a Code

_Location: Lady Dragon's Night club Time: One hour after the fight._

"I don't know what happened but at the end of the fight Sesen just started moving real slow, at least to me and once that happened I was just on it, I was able to see through everything, all of her attacks, and the weak points in her defense." Cagalli tells her friends while drinking a beer which Shadow had insistent she drink and the truth was she was on such a victory high that she felt like celebrating hard with the others.

Roxas gets up behind Cagalli like a ninja and begins to grope her breast. "Cagalli you were absolutely magnificent out there, you radiated the beauty of an angel while you crushed those bitches stuck up their own asshole." Roxas leans in close and whispers seductively into Cagalli's ear, "I am so hot for you right now!"

"OFF you perverted cat!" Cagalli snaps as she reflexively does a back kick. Roxas lets go and lightly jumps back, while everyone else laughs. They were sitting at a corner table a little bit away from everyone else just in case they were being a little loud. Not that anyone would notice anyway since the club was naturally loud.

"If you ask me that slow mode thing was probably all that training, dodging Roxas's advances that finally paid off." Jack says while laughing.

"Whatever it was you were amazing, as I would expect from a member of my team!" Shadow boasts loudly and proudly.

"And your Neon Gauntlet finally changed colors mate." Nick says slapping Cagalli on the back, she glows with pride as she looks down at her orange, yellow and red colored Neon Gauntlet, it was funny considering how important that had become to her she didn't even notice it had changed colors until Shadow had pointed it out to her.

"Yeah, it's a little weird though that it's the same color scheme as my Gundam, does it always change colors to match our Gundams?" Cagalli asks.

"I don't think so mate, my Neon gauntlet is a solid grassy green color but the Cowboy is a green cameo color."

"The same here, my Neon gauntlet is a solid purple but Quanlier is purple and silver. Now that I think about it your Neon Gauntlet is the only one I know that has multiple colors on it, everyone else just has one color."

"Do you know anything about it Kenny?" Jack asks but Kenny just shrugs his shoulders.

"No, it's actually kind of weird because I looked on the web but there's no information on it, just the same basic information regarding what the Neon gauntlet can do that we already know about."

"Ah who cares about that stuff, I want to hear more about how Cagalli figured out where the weak point in Sesen's metal Bo Staff was!" Shadow says excitedly while Cagalli blushes a little bit with pride in her accomplishment although she tries to downplay it.

"It wasn't that great, I mean at the time I was just thinking, weak point, weak point, weak point while staring at Artemis's metal Bo staff and then I just kind of focused in on the center of the staff and then I remembered Sesen disconnecting and reconnecting her metal Bo staff and everything kind of clicked I guess."

"Don't try to down play it!" Shadow snaps startling Cagalli, "Being able to do that within seconds was amazing, hell I doubt the Freedom or Justice could have done a better job."

Cagalli shines a little brighter with pride at the compliment while Jack raises an eyebrow and asks, "Ok, I know who the Freedom is but who's this Justice now?"

Cagalli is in such high spirits from her victory that she answers without even thinking, "The Justice was a state of the art Gundam back on Earth that was piloted by my ex."

"EX!" Everyone shouts while Shadow quietly sips his beer. _Crap, _Cagalli thinks while Roxas feeling a mixture of excitement and a little jealously asks

"You had an ex? Who was he?"

"What was his name?" Jack asks.

"How come you never told us about him mate?"

Kenny notices Shadow being strangely quiet and then connects the two dots, "But you told Shadow?!"

This seems to anger the others while Cagalli sighs; she wasn't going to get away without telling them something. Shadow raises his head in a silent question to Cagalli but Cagalli shakes her head in response, she didn't need him to tell the others to stop. She could handle telling them about Athrun as long as they didn't get into the details leading up to their relationship ending. "His name is Athrun Zala,"

Shadow leaned back in his chair as Cagalli began to tell the others all about this Athrun guy, he had already heard all about Athrun during one of their star gazing times. To Shadow Athrun seem like a decent perfect guy if a little slow to act, or at least that's how Cagalli made him sound. Still it was better than listening to Cagalli talk about her brother Kira and how perfect he was, Cagalli definitely took a lot pride in her brother but still talk about a brother complex. If he Shadow ever met one of them he would have to challenge them to a Gundam fight to see what they could really do.

The restless Gundam fighter fidgets in his chair as Cagalli continued to talk about her ex, he knew talking about Athrun at all was still a little sore to Cagalli as it reminded her of what she might lose and Shadow doubted Cagalli would have opened up so easily if she wasn't so pumped up from her win so he didn't want to interrupt or ruin this moment for her but still he hadn't come to this bar to talk about Athrun he came here to celebrate and talk about Cagalli. He still had questions he wanted to ask her about the battle. The fight had been absolutely unbelievably awesome, thank god he had paid for the gold package video recording at the fan booth.

He patted his pocket where the video was stored on his MK drive; it had every single camera angle. Shadow planned on watching the whole battle again later tonight. He was happy for his friend, he really was…but a part of him was also jealous of Cagalli. Seeing her beat Sesen, an opponent that Shadow hadn't been able to beat; Cagalli was just progressing so much faster than him that it kind of made Shadow feel like he was standing still. As Shadow leaned back in his chair thinking about things he noticed a group of women making their way towards them, it took Shadow all of three seconds to realize who these women.

"The Valkyries!" All eyes flip around to the group of women lead by Sesen, they stop directly in front of the Shadow Knights's table.

"The Shadow Knights, we heard that you hung out at this bar." Sesen says while her team fans out behind her.

"Hey Sesen how have you been doing since I last saw you?" Shadow asks as if Sesen appearing was the most normal thing in the world. Sesen gives a small smile at Shadow's weirdness as she also answers in a normal voice.

"To be honest I could be better, since this was the Valkyries first D-rank tournament we didn't lose any ranking points by losing in the first round but still it was a blow to the pride but I'll get over it."

"Did you guys come here to start a fight?!" Roxas shouts as she jumps up onto the table and growls. Angela jumps to the head of the pack in an offensive stance.

"As if we would waste our time fighting you guys!" Roxas and Angela enter a glare off while there teammates just ignore them.

"Why are you here Sesen?" Cagalli asks; she currently had mixed feelings regarding Sesen. She still felt angry at the Amazonian like warrior but beating Sesen in battle had helped relieve much of that anger, to the point where it was more like an annoyance…..but it wasn't quite that either. It was a feeling that Cagalli experienced with Shadow sometimes.

"I came here to issue a declaration of resolve," Sesen points a finger at Cagalli and says in a loud voice, "Cagalli Yula Athha and Shadow Zoomarey I will defeat you two the next time we have a Gundam Fight and the Valkyries are going to make it to A-rank before you do!"

_She remembered my name, she didn't call me girl or insult me, she addressed me by my first name_; a burning sense of pride filled Cagalli as she realized Sesen was addressing her as an equal as well as another feeling just as strong…rivalry. Both Shadow and Cagalli share identical smirks as they shout out in response.

"Bring it!"

"That's right, the Shadow Knights won't lose to the Valkyries!" Roxas adds.

"The Valkyries are totally going to kick the Shadow Knights's ass!" Angela counters.

The tension in the air is thick but it's also positive as both teams are focused on using that energy in constructive ways, plus there's also an air of excitement as they look forward to the future with an intense determination not to lose.

####

_Location: Arianna's GFC building, data and research department_

Arianna's research and data department consisted of an entire floor of huge bulky black processors; some people would wonder why the GFC had such huge processors, it's not like this was the twenty-first century where they could only hold a few hundred gigabytes. One processor of that size should be able to hold at least one Exabyte which was a hundred thousand terabytes and there where at least a dozen of them on this floor. But the truth was that the GFC needed that much storage, it contained all fight records including detailed video footage, public and private communications that happen during the fight, technical readings along with a dozen different things a person could ask for.

Hell someone could ask for the seismic readings and temperature during the fight and be able to find it; and they had this for every single battle involving an Arianna GFC fighter for the past ten years. Not to mention it also contained every single medical record and financial information of every single person who ever was associated with the GFC in the last thirty years, plus they also kept track of every single bet regarding an Arianna GFC fight in the last fifteen years. Overall it made sense that they needed so much memory space and it's not like everyone had to surf through all that data.

The processors were programmed to organized the information and send it to the department that dealt with that type of information, finances to the financial department, fight data to the ranking department, medical records to the health and safety department and so on. Normally that meant no one had to ever come down here other than the maintenance workers. The only reason a person would come to the research and data department would be to access several different information records that their department didn't have permission to view and even then they could simply ask their department head to give them the temporary override access code.

What most people didn't know is that everything at their desks and on their computers could be monitored; well Drake should amend that, everyone knew that big brother was watching after all, the GFC made it known that they were watching. They did it in order to prevent corruption in any branch of the organization and if things proceeded to trial they would have undeniable proof of that party's wrong doing. The naïve and foolish though believe that only the GFC headquarters had access to this big brother system but Drake was neither, he knew that as much as the GFC tried to keep that system secured there were still a few other organizations and even some nations that had hacked into it.

This is why it was not always in the pilots' best interest to have their managers looking at the information at their desk which was why Tim and Drake were down here to begin with. The big brother system couldn't monitor information off the processors directly, there was simply too much information moving too fast for any system to keep track of making this floor a blind spot for wandering eyes, a blind spot that Tim and Drake were taking full advantage of.

"Your hunch was right Drake; Cagalli Yula Athha has a Seed Factor." Tim says in awe for a moment not completely sure how to process this new development. It had taken him a bit but he was finally able to find Cagalli's medical records after the fight, which included a full biological scan and chemistry breakdown. He doubted the health and safety department or anyone for that mattered had discovered this yet; it wasn't something anyone who wasn't looking for it would stumble upon.

"I knew it." Drake replied with a hint of triumph as he began to think about the next move. The signs had all been there, dilated pupils followed by a sudden rapid increase of power and skill for a short limited time; there could only have been one thing it was.

"It's a really weak Seed Factor though, only twelve Se."

"But the fact she even has one is significant in itself; how could we have missed it?" Drake asks bitterly despite already knowing the answer.

"You know that Se only shows up on scans after the Seed Factor first activates."

Drake ponders something in his mind and says slowly, "If the Seed Factor goes back to a dormant state its Se count will no longer come back up on the scan."

"Dormant state? You think she's used Seed Factor before?" Tim asks surprised.

Drake snaps to attention and quickly says "It doesn't matter, put a red flag on the file."

"A red flag? That means anyone who wants to access it will have to ask our consent first; and don't we need Joey's permission first before we can put it on anything?"

"There are certain factions that would pounce on Cagalli like a hungry lion if they find out she has a Seed Factor so the less people who know she has one the better."

Tim was uncomfortable with lying to Joey; he understood though the reason why. It wasn't that he didn't trust their boss, but the fact was that Joey didn't have the worldly knowledge that he and Drake had plus as Drake put it this was on a need to know bases and Joey didn't need to know.

"It's done but you know it's only a matter of time before people find out she has a Seed Factor and then Seed hunters will come for her."

Tim shuts everything down as he and Drake exit the research and data department and head back up the stairs to the Gundam team management department. "Hopefully by that time she'll be more then able to handle them by herself."

"Are you going to start training her Seed Factor? I mean that's a huge advantage in battle, most boost skills like that don't start appearing until C-rank."

"HA with only twelve Ses, she can probably only keep it active for a minute and that's nowhere near enough time for any serious control training. Maybe I'll consider training her when her Se count gets to a respectable level."

Tim eyes Drake a little bit annoyed now, "That's just an excuse, if you really wanted to train Cagalli you would find a weird, slightly dangerous training method."

"Not true, it's just not practical to attempt to give her control training over her Seed Factor before it's able to last at least five minutes. Her Se count will naturally increase over time, now that its re-entered an active state she'll be able to activate it more easily in battle situations from now on. Not having to train her is just a lucky side effect for me."

####

_Location: Arianna's GFC building Time: two days later_

"This is beyond stupid! I am a Gundam Fighter, I fight Gundams, to make me and my team go six weeks without Gundam Fighting is insane!" Blake complained as he paces angrily in front of Mac's desk. Blake was still pissed off by that director dude's announcement, that new rule was obviously put into place to spite him. "There's no way the director, some stranger who's never been to Arianna before would be able to come up with it by himself. Someone must have summited that rule, someone screwed me on purpose!"

"Blake don't you think you might be overreacting a little? I mean most people would consider it a reward that they didn't have to fight their way to the final round."

"Not to me it isn't, I like to Gundam fight, besides we lose out on ranking points and fight money this way and if we don't Gundam Fight we risk growing rusty against a Gundam team that's going to be in great shape from having progressively harder fights."

Mac gave Blake a look showing his skepticism, "It's only six weeks, as long as you continue on with your regular training you won't get rusty in that amount of time…..and maybe this is a sign. A sign for you to move on and start thinking more about your future, there is a special event going on in Lily, the city just a half hour away by traicioship, they'll have C-rank Gundam teams there giving advice on how to pass the C-rank exams."

Blake sighs, he had this conversation with his manager many times before. "The team isn't ready yet to take the C-rank exams."

"I think your selling your team short and since you can't Gundam fight anyway-"

"I SAID NO!" Blake replies sharply cutting Mac off. "We've talked about this Mac and my answer remains the same, the Raptures will not move on to the C-rank exams until I feel that we are ready. Now let's move on to more important stuff like finding out who's trying to screw me over."

Mac breathes a long sigh but nods his head in submission, "Ok Blake, what do you want?"

"Ok I want you to find out which department that rule suggestion came from; we can narrow down the search after that."

"But Blake rule suggestions are anonymous and I don't have access to those files." Mac lowers his voice and whispers nervously.

"Then hack it, the submissions are on a public server so it shouldn't be that hard to find the IP address of the messages but if you have trouble I can send you our programmer. Once we have the IP address we can find out which department that asshole works in and then from there we'll start to narrow it down to people who know or have any connection to me."

"Tarry isn't needed for this Blake, I can get you the IP address but it's going to take time." Mac replies still nervous, this isn't the best answer Blake was hoping for but he accepts it.

"That's fine; all I have is time right now but try to hurry up." Blake is about to storm off angrily when Mac in a last act of desperation shouts out.

"Did you hear, the Shadow Knights won their first round fight against the Valkyries?" Blake stops at the door, of course he had heard about it. It's been the only thing people had been talking about for the past two days and quite frankly it was starting to get on Blake's nerves.

"Yes I heard, so they got lucky once; I don't see why people are making such a big deal about it."

Mac sees the irritation and annoyance on Blake's face and smiles as he finds an opening, "I don't know about that, I saw a recording of the fight and Ms. Athha has most definitely improved dramatically from her last official GFC fight. If Shadow has improved just as much then I think we should start thinking of the Shadow Knights as a serious threat in the tournament."

"Not you too, the Shadow Knights are not a threat, they're just a small time E-rank team that got lucky and the Valkyries's abilities have more than likely been blown out of proportion."

"I disagree, the Shadow Knights have obviously worked and trained hard since you've last fought them and I think it would be a mistake to underestimate."

"I'm telling you they're not worth the time of day, watch and see they're just going to lose in the next round."

"Well I guess we'll see who's right after the second round, especially since this time it will be a three on three." Mac says with a sly smile causing Blake to become even more annoyed.

####

_Location: Arianna's GFC's underground training city. Time: One day later_

"DAMN IT!" Cagalli shouted as La Rouge crashed back first into a building; that was the fifteenth time today. She hated the stupid Sora cockpit at the moment with its ridiculous NS system for the controls; give her a game system controller over this any day.

"Hehehe are you alright princess?" Shadow asks trying to suppress laughter; today was a great day. Jack and Kenny had finished all of the Gundams including reprogramming La Rouge's new wing system, whatever that was, and Jack was letting them do some practice with them. Shadow had been a little bit unhappy that La Rouge was the only Gundam to get a new look but both Jack and Kenny had insisted that on the insides all of their Gundams had been ramped up with heavy upgrades and some new equipment.

Although Nightwing didn't look any different, Shadow definitely felt the power increase in Nightwing's speed and physical abilities. To make things even better while Shadow was practicing wall running with Nightwing Cagalli had to practice flying and using her new weapons system. Unfortunately for her she had no idea how to fly and there was something hilarious about watching her jump off from the top of buildings only to fall flat on her back, that and Shadow remembered all the times Cagalli had laughed at him before he finally got the hang of landing from the catapult.

"Can it!" Cagalli snapped back, she could see Nightwing a couple of meters to the left while she began to push herself off the building she had landed on. Even though she was in a Zero gravity bubble the stupid NS system still made her feel every single landing so her entire body felt sore.

"Cagalli don't get frustrated, you have to feel your wings and the engines through the NS system." Kenny says encouragingly, he could tell Cagalli was growing frustrated from not getting it; they had been working on trying to get her up in the air for the past two days. La Rouge's armor still needed work from the previous match but Jack had repaired all the important internal components.

"I know!" Cagalli snaps stronger then intended, she stops for a moment and takes a deep breath to collect her thoughts and then says more gently in an apologetic tone, "I know Kenny, but I don't have wings on my real body so I have no idea what mechanical engine wings are supposed to feel like, can we come back to this later and practice using my new weapons system? You finished the programming for that right? I still have no idea what it even does."

"I did finish the programming for it but the controls for the weapons system function similarly to the wings and flying, so if you can't even fly you won't be able to use the Wing system."

"Argh, can't you at least tell me what it does Kenny?" Cagalli asks feeling more frustrated and annoyed then before. Kenny gives her a sad smile and says "I can but Jack really wanted to be the one to tell you how it works."

"Speaking of Jack where is she, I know Nick went out to get a haircut and Roxas is sleeping off a hangover back on the ship but where did Jack get too?" Shadow cuts into the conversation; he had been ease dropping from the beginning.

"Jack went to Ask Shayn, a Gundam parts shop, to pick up our parts to restock the ship. They cheated us out of the metal sheets we asked for last time so she wanted to go there herself to check everything over." An idea hits Kenny, Cagalli was getting frustrated and tired so some downtime would probably help her more than anything right now.

"Cagalli how about we take a break and you and I go help her?"

Cagalli blinks surprise by the suggestion but she wasn't going to pass up the opportunity to escape this hell, "Ok, what about you Shadow?" She asks not wanting to leave her friend by himself.

Shadow shrugs his shoulders, "I already promised Nick that I'd meet him at this outback diner; we were going to do our run together today." La Rouge and Nightwing turn around and start heading towards the Gundam elevator so that they could be placed in the transport trucks and moved back onto the Dark-Angel.

"Ok see you later then."

"See you later Shadow."

"See you guys."

####

_Location: Rancher Stack house_

Nick sat at one of the outdoor tables drinking coffee, despite the name of the diner the coffee still wasn't as good as back in New Australia but it was better than that sewer water they served on the Dark-Angel. He was waiting for Shadow before he ordered anything…he felt bad. It was against his code to lie to a mate, but he hadn't told Shadow the complete truth. He knew Shadow was excited about practicing with their upgraded Gundams together but he had other things to do, things that he didn't feel comfortable telling the others about.

So Nick had told Shadow he was off to get a haircut, and he did get a haircut so he hadn't lied to Shadow but Nick didn't mention that he had also gone to the GFC's resource and intelligence gathering department, it had taken a little bit of digging for him to find out which official department of the GFC could help him find someone, Nick knew from public news stories that the GFC had that power but he didn't want anyone else to know that he was looking for someone so he had to be careful on how he worded his questions but patience won out in the end and he got what he wanted…if only.

The staff had done the best they could to help Nick find her but the results turned up nothing, there was hope though; the staff had told them that Arianna's GFC branch and all city or localized GFC branches didn't have very large resource and intelligence gathering departments but if he managed to get to a national GFC branch or GFC HQ they would either have the resources and power to find who Nick was looking for or no one would be able to find her. Nick for the millionth time wondered if she was ok, was she being well fed, was she safe?

"Ladies giving you trouble bro?"

It was a saying that Nick had heard over a hundred times before growing up, Nick turns around to see a man dressed in blue jeans that looked to have been baked in the sun, brown cowboy boots, a light blue t-shirt and a brown vest. The man had brown hair and amber eyes but he looked strikingly similar to Nick only the newcomer was a tad bit taller and more muscular. Nick instantly recognized the ugly grin which was his older brother Max Mu.

"Bro!" Nick got up and gave his older brother a bear hug, a little competition they had since they were kids where they tried to crush each other. Both cowboys had huge smiles on their faces, and almost got a little teary eyed, while they talked every now and then on the phone it had been about a year since they had last actually physically seen each other.

"It's good to see you Nick." Max says to his little brother, his Australian accent is less thick then Nick's but it's still noticeable. Nick quickly goes to offer his brother a seat; in the background a curious person dressed in all back ducks behind a bush and spies on the events going on.

"It's good to see you too mate, jeez it's been about a year since I actually saw you. You were leaving the ranch to make your own way in the world and you were telling ma and pa you would call once a week, but what are you doing in Arianna bro?"

Max chuckles remembering that, it felt like such a long time ago, so much had happened since he left home, to him and his little brother. "It's definitely been a while since I've last seen ya mate but I see you still got girl troubles." Max felt his accent thicken for a moment being around another New Australian but it quickly went back to normal.

Nick's face darkens for a moment, he wasn't sure how much ma and pa had told Max but it didn't matter, he was family and Nick's code told him that all family members were to be trusted. "Valencia has disappeared and I can't find her bro; Sheriff Jeff won't launch an investigation because there's no evidence that Valencia was forced to leave town but when she last came to see me she was scared bro, I could see it in her eyes but she wouldn't tell me what was going on and then she just up and left. That's not like her mate, it's not like her at all and Valencia doesn't have any family so no one else is looking for her except for me so I have to find her mate, I have to find her. That's why I decided to join the GFC, there are news stories on all the time that they help one of their fighters find someone. I found out which department in the GFC does that sort of work, the resource and intelligence gathering department but Arianna's resource and intelligence gathering department is too small so they told me I would have to go to national level GFC branch or the HQ itself."

Nick summed up everything that was going on with him, as much as he didn't want to involve his older brother in what was essentially his problem, every day he didn't find Valencia his worry grew and he trusted that Max would have words of advice and wisdom to share to ease his mind. It had been this way since they were kids, whenever Nick had a problem his older brother Max would have an answer. Nick remembered the time he had accidently broken the cattle house's window with a rubber bullet.

Max had told him he needed to tell pa about it no matter what but it didn't hurt his case if he already cleaned up the mess and scrambled the money together for a replacement. Nick highly respected and trusted Max's opinion.

Max nodded his head as he quietly listens to his little brother but he didn't look surprised. Max took a breath before he spoke, he knew that Nick wouldn't like what he had to say but he had to say it for Nick. "I know, ma and pa already told me everything…that's why I'm here in Arianna."

A sudden understanding dawned on Nick, he knew how his parents felt about him leaving home in search of a woman. "You're not here in Arianna by accident are you? You came here looking for me?" Nick wasn't so much asking as he was confirming what he already knew, an ominous feeling gripped his heart as he could sense what was coming.

Max fidgeted nervously in his seat, he had forgotten how sharp his little brother could be, "Yea, you know for a New Australian cowboy with an accent that thick you were pretty tough to find." It was a half-hearted attempt at humor to lighten the mood, sighing Max gets straight to the point. "Look little bro it's not what you think, ma and pa and all of us are just worried about you mate. I mean think about it, you're traveling half way around the world, leaving behind everyone you've ever known, joining a dangerous sport like Gundam Fighting, all for just some girl."

"She's not just some girl mate, she's the one!" Nick says strongly, almost offended by Max's comment. Max can't help but to roll his eyes at the remark, something that Nick doesn't miss. "I'm serious mate, I love her."

Max couldn't help the rising anger brewing up inside him, his parents had been trying for months now to gently coddle Nick out of his insanity but it clearly wasn't working. Nick was a man now and if a gentle push and nudge wasn't working it was time someone beat sense into him. "Ok Nick, you're my little brother and I love you mate and I don't want you to take this the wrong way but grow up. You've only known this woman for a year and it just didn't work out, some gals just don't like the range life we have. I know she was your first love but you just got to accept the fact that she left you, even the greatest men get dumped."

"It's not like that, Valencia liked life on the range, she told me she like being in open spaces rather than the hustle and bustle of a city! She's in trouble mate!"

"When you last saw her did she say she was in trouble?"

"Well no but-"

"But what!? Did she or did she not tell you she was leaving you?!" Max demands. Nick grits his teeth in frustration, as he reluctantly admits.

"She did but she wouldn't tell me why-"

"Mate some women just don't give the reasons why they want to break up, they want to spare your feelings because they're too nice to tell you what flaws they think you have!"

"That's not it!" Nick cries aggravated by the fact that his brother wasn't listening to him. My gut is telling me that she's in trouble, I need to find her bro!"

"Look around you Nick! Do you see anyone else searching the whole world for one single woman who basically dumped you?! She broke up with you and no amount of closure is going to make you feel better about that, you need to move on! It's time you give up this stupid quest of yours and come home with me back to the ranch, ma and pa want you to come home too but they didn't want to come out and say it."

Nick narrows his sharp blue eyes and says strongly but evenly, "I can't do that mate; even if Valencia wasn't a factor I have commitments here already."

"That's a whole other thing, Gundam Fighting is simply too dangerous. As an E-rank team you might not have noticed it but people get hurt all the time Gundam Fighting or training to Gundam Fight, especially once you get into the higher levels and missions. Besides pa needs you to help him on the ranch with the cattle, he might never admit it but he's not getting any younger."

"I'm sorry mate but I can't go back, it breaks my code in several places. A man always defends a woman in trouble, a man always keeps the promises he made to his friends and a man always goes the distance for those he loves."

Max sighs and then slowly gets up as he tips his hat up and scratches his head. "A man's code, a series of moral rules that we vow to never break, heh it's funny considering that the entire family helped you develop that code of yours, something we all take pride in, and now it's that very code that's stopping you from returning home." Max looks down half hoping Nick would bend but Nick looks straight and tries one last time to have his brother understand his feelings.

"Look bro I know you're worried but when you love someone, isn't that something worth fighting for?"

"I see you're too far lost in that silly dream of yours to be reasoned with little brother, very well mate, you leave me no choice; I'm going to force you to come back home with me! I challenge you to a man's duel of honor!"

Nick gritted his teeth; it was against his code to turn down a duel or challenge of his honor unless it required hurting someone or breaking the law. It was one of the few codes the entire family had in common. With great reluctance, anger, and bitterness Nick gets out, "What kind of duel and what are the conditions?"

"The duel will be something familiar to you, a Gundam Fight and when I win you'll give up on trying to find Valencia and come home back to the ranch with me!"

Nick looks at Max stunned unable to process what he just said; "W-what? You mean you're-"

"That's right, I'm the team leader of the D-7 Gundam team the Sharpshooters!" Max raises his right hand, revealing his Hunter Green Neon Gauntlet which has started to slightly glow. Nick recognized the name the moment Max spoke it, the Sharpshooters had won their match yesterday which meant that they were going to be the Shadow Knights next opponents.

Annoyance dawns on Nick as he asks, "Why didn't you, ma or pa tell me you were a Gundam Fighter and isn't it a little bit hypocritical of you mate to tell me that being a Gundam Fighter is too dangerous?!"

"Ma and Pa don't like me being a Gundam Fighter as is so they asked me to refrain from telling you and the rest of our brothers about what I'm doing in case that influences your decision; not that it turned out to matter in the end. And yes I am aware of how I could sound hypocritical but I am a little older then you bro and besides I have already seen friends get hurt fighting in the GFC so the last thing I want is for my little brother to be in it too." Nick thinks that answer is horse crap but Max continues "So do you agree?"

Nick once more grits his teeth, a rush of emotions surged through him, frustration, anger, sorrow, betrayal, worry, and a sense of hopelessness. If he said no to this duel it would break his code but he couldn't agree to it without telling the others, they had a right to know that he was betting his future on this match but he couldn't tell them. It's not like he liked lying to them but he was scared that they would treat him like everyone else did when he told them his reason for fighting, like a naïve child who couldn't accept reality and Nick absolutely hated that.

"Well little brother?" Max presses seeing Nick's hesitation, before Nick can answer though a new voice cuts in.

"He accepts!" Shadow shouts as he marches over from where he was hiding and stands next to a dumbfounded Nick. "On the condition that when the Shadow Knights win you guys back the hell off and leave him alone to do what he thinks is right!" Max turns and stares at the kid before him who was a whole head shorter than him and nowhere near as muscular. He was definitely an odd ball dressing all in black and wearing a windbreaker on such a warm day.

"Who the hell are you mate?"

Shadow's electric green eyes were intense with anger and his black Neon gauntlet was slightly glowing. "Shadow Zoomarey team leader of the Shadow Knights; and if you ask me you've got no right telling Nick what to do!"

"Heh Shadow Zoomarey, for such a big mouth you're certainly a short guy-"

"I'm average height!

"Obviously you've never had a little brother before, as the oldest it's my responsibility to steer him back on the right path when he's acting foolish and immature."

"And who died and made you the expert on foolishness and immaturity because to me Nick's one of the smartest most mature guys on my team!" Sharp amber eyes meets intense electric green eyes as both Neon gauntlets started to glow over this clash of wills.

"A mate can be both smart and foolish at the same time."

"I don't think it's foolish to go chasing after the person you love, I think it shows a lot of courage."

"Then you're an idiot."

"No you're the idiot!"

This little punk was starting to get on Max's nerves but he hadn't come here for this. "Mate this ain't none of your business so I'm warning you to back off before you get hurt little guy."

"Nick's a member of my team which makes this my business so screw you asshole, or maybe it's the fact that you can't get yourself a girl that's the real reason you're bothering Nick!"

Max rapidly draws his gun from his holster and fires at Shadow hitting him in the right shoulder. Shadow manages to get his right hand on the hilt of his sword and draw it a little bit before bullet hits him, knocking him backwards on the ground. Within the span of that heart beat Max can hear Nick get up and point his own gun at his brother's head. "Relax mate, I'm only packing rubber bullets"

"I don't care bro, it's against my code to stand by and just let anyone hurt my mates, even if it's my own flesh and blood." Nick replies evenly, his quick draw speed didn't slip by Max's notice; it had significantly increased since last time they had met.

"This is a clear example of how dangerous Gundam Fighting is."

"That hurt you freaking asshole!" Shadow snaps as he hops back up onto his feet taking Max by surprised, even though it was rubber bullets he had still hit the kid at close range and was expecting him to stay down at least a while but Shadow was already up and brushing off the pain as if nothing happen. This was unexpected; it suddenly became clear to Max that his brother and his friends weren't going to be the pushovers he originally thought they would be.

Nick has finally heard enough and is ready to end this conversation, "I accept your challenge brother and the Shadow Knights will win!" he says strongly. Max looks into his brother's sharp gaze then lowers his hat and hostlers his weapon.

"Then I guess we have nothing left to talk about, we'll settle this in the arena." With that Max turns around and leaves. After he's gone Nick hostlers his own weapon as both he and Shadow relax, turning to Shadow Nick says "Well I guess I have some explaining to do mate."

"It's your dream to find this girl right?" Shadow suddenly asks, Nick blinks surprised but nods his head.

"That's right."

Shadow turns around and begins to walk away as he says "Well as team leader it's my job to make sure that dream comes true and that's all I need to know." Nick looks on Shadow stunned for a moment then the episode ends with him smiling gratefully at his friend as he begins to follow him.


	77. Episode76 Now we have to deal with Gangs

Episode 76 Now we have to deal with Gangs!

_Location: Ask Shayn_

Jack went through the list on her PDA one more time, it would be a huge pain in the ass if she had to come back a second time in a month if she forgot something, not to mention it would be a waste of money since they had paid for everything up front. Ask Shayn didn't have the best reputation among Gundam supply and parts shops; they had been known to give substandard equipment and to skim some of the supplies its customers had paid for. If they weren't the only Gundam part supplier that the Shadow Knights could afford Jack would have taken their business somewhere else.

Almost highlighting Jack's opinion of the shop she had noticed a group of less than friendly people hanging around outside luckily for them though they hadn't bothered her. The dealer thought he could pull a fast one on the young mechanic when she had first walked in, but after demonstrating her superior mechanical knowledge and then threatening to sue with the full might of the GFC legal department the dealer quickly backed down and offered a price discount. Jack had overseen the loading of the truck herself, they were currently in the truck bay about to head out. Ask Shayn provided the truck and driver as part of their service. Jack hopped out of the back of the trunk after going over the inventory one last time. "Ok, I'm satisfied you can head out."

"Whoa slow down little lady, what's the hurry?" Jack flipped around as the same low lives she saw outside walked through the door, there were eight of them in total, they were all dressed in ragged street clothes, sagging their pants, backwards hats, the whole gang image. Jack almost wanted to tell them that real gang members didn't dress like that but considering that those guys looked thuggish it probably wasn't the best idea.

"I have a job I have to do, so I'm sorry but I can't stay any longer." Jack had seen these types before in Junk City and knew not to blink first or show weakness or else they would pounce. Turning back to the driver Jack shouted out, "Ok let's move on out."

"That's alright Tommy, why don't you go take a five minute break while we all get cozy." The thugs parted to reveal their leader, unlike the others this guy looked like the real deal with a sleeveless red shirt and jeans, he had a tattoo of some ancient symbol on his arm, his head was shaved and he had a noise piercing. On the pack leader's command the driver gets out of the truck and walks away, Jack made a silent curse at the man; next time she came here she was going to get one of the Dark-Angel crew members to drive the truck. The pack leader began to advance toward Jack slowly; he glanced inside the large Gundam truck that was used to transport supplies.

"Ohhh you've got some fine parts in here but a little girl like you wouldn't know how to properly use them but I tell you want, I'll show you."

Jack could see the twisted look in the man's cold blue eyes; this person was dangerous, a true criminal capable of murder, rape, and a whole lot more. Tom had taught Jack how to spot those types of people and to stay as far away from them as possible but this time she didn't have huge bulky fellow mechanic comrades to watch her equipment. Jack adjusted her footing into a defensive stance, she was a mechanic born and raised in Junk City so she knew how to brawl, she had once taken down a thug three times her size and most importantly of all Jack was a member of the Shadow Knights. Her team was counting on her to get these parts and she was going to, even if Jack had to fight for them.

"I studied under the best mechanics in Junk City and I'm the head mechanic of a Gundam team so I could build and design Gundams ten times better then you can."

The criminal mocks hurt in a cruel way, he's clearly still talking down to Jack. "Ow, that hurt there little girlly, you're a little young for my type but if you keep being stubborn I'll have to make an exception so why don't you do what all girls do and run along." The thugs move forward as the pack leader moves back, allowing room for a fight. The thugs surround Jack grinning like jackals as some of them pull out knives or chains. Jack pulls out her own weapons of choice from the many pockets of her homemade jean jacket, two wrenches which she brings up in a defensive gesture.

"Oh we got a fighter here, try not to hurt her too bad; I want to have some fun with her later myself." The pack leader says in a sick voice but Jack doesn't even flinch.

"I'm the one who's going to be doing the hurting, now who's first?" The young mechanic says confidently, one of the guys holding a switchblade advances on Jack first; he manages to take two steps before Cagalli's fist smashes into his face. Blood spatters from the thug's nose and mouth as he gets knocked into the truck and then collapses onto the ground unconscious, he's missing a couple of teeth and his nose is clearly broken. All of the thugs back off for a moment as they stare at the blond fiery woman with spiked hair who has put herself squarely between them and the dirty blond ponytailed girl.

"You assholes have just picked the wrong person to MESS WITH!" Cagalli shouts with barely contained rage, while everyone had been busy threatening each other Cagalli and Kenny had walked in through the back door. Cagalli had taken one look at the situation and then saw red as her body instinctively moved onto the offensive.

"Jack are you alright?" Kenny rushes over to Jack and asks as he begins to check over her to make sure she's not hurt. Jack blinks surprised at Cagalli and Kenny's sudden entrance but smirks as she raises her wrench,

"Yea, I'm fine, don't worry Kenny, me and Cagalli will beat the shit out of these punks." The young mechanic goes to stand beside Cagalli but a worried Kenny quite literary picks her up and begins to run away.

"Absolutely not; you're too young to fight gang members, besides Cagalli's got this." Jack begins to struggle against Kenny's grip while a calmer Cagalli flips her head around shocked.

"Wait you're not going to help me fight these guys?"

"We're the support crew, you're the Gundam Fighter, so you know….fight. We believe in you though Cagalli." Kenny says awkwardly as he gives Cagalli a thumbs up while forcing Jack to hide with him behind the truck.

"Kenny let me go damn it!"

Cagalli stares at them dumbstruck as it suddenly occurs to her that she's now the protector in this situation. One of the thugs decides to take advantage of Cagalli's back turned to him, swinging a big heavy metal chain the thug charges forward but Cagalli easily hears him coming and without thinking swings her body around in a roundhouse kick. Cagalli's leg slams into the thug's face and knocks him clean off his feet, the thug was unconscious before he even hit the ground.

Two thugs with knives charge Cagalli but in a balletic fashion Cagalli slips between them and sweeps out the legs of one guy causing him to face smash right into the ground. Without breaking momentum Cagalli jumps back to her feet and grabs the second guy's knife wielding arm, twists it forcing him to drop his knife, and then flips him into the air causing him to land back first onto the hard ground within the span of a second. Cagalli gives them both a strong punch to the face knocking and finishing them off before turning to stare at her last three opponents. After watching four of their comrades get beaten to a pulp easily the thugs take a cautious step back, but this means little as Cagalli goes on the offensive.

The thug she's charging tries to counterattack with his chain but Cagalli is able to read his attack with little trouble, she titles her head slightly avoiding the chain and connects her fist to his face knocking him clean out. Another thug with a knife tries to stab Cagalli in her exposed back but without turning around Cagalli ducks down and sweeps out his legs and then leg slams him into the ground finishing him off. The final thug realizing the danger he's in drops his knife and goes to draw his gun.

_Shit, _Cagalli thinks as she tries to draw her own semi-automatic pistol first, she was too far away to charge him; _I'm not going to make it in time! _The thug pulls out his gun first takes aim, and then a wrench nails him right in the face instantly breaking his nose and knocking him out cold as he too collapses to the ground. Cagalli blinks surprised and turns to the source of the wrench attack,

"HA, got one!" Jack says proudly having finally broken free from Kenny. Only the pack leader was left standing yet strangely he didn't seem bothered by this new development.

"Hehehe I must say that I prefer my woman on the soft side but there's something incredibly attracting about breaking a strong woman into an obedient slave."

Cagalli stared at the last man standing coldly, "You don't seem to care too much that I just beat up your friends."

"Friends? HA don't make me laugh, these losers aren't even my subordinates," the pack leader says as he kicks one of the thugs hard in the chest. "These are just fanboys, potential new recruits for the gang that I was testing out; obviously they don't make the cut."

"You're Lucas Dane!" Kenny shouts as he places the pack leader's face. Cagalli turns to Kenny surprise.

"You know this guy Kenny?" Kenny bites his lip and clearly looks nervous.

"No, but I've seen his face on news articles online all the time, he's a member of the Tyke Devils a violent gang in Arianna, he's been accused of over three dozen counts of rape, murder and torture in the first degree and he's also one of the Gundam Fighters in the tournament."

"Wait, WHAT?!" Cagalli shouts startled as she flips around, sure enough on Lucas's left arm was an acid yellow Neon Gauntlet.

"Hehehe you see the key word there is "accused" as in I've never been convicted of anything in my life." Lucas says proudly.

Kenny glares at the man, no scumbag; "That's only because all the witnesses to any of your crimes have been killed."

"Well that certainly is unfortunate for them, it's also sad that a suicide bomber blew up the building where they had supposedly finally managed to collect enough physical evidence to convict me." Lucas says with a huge smile on his face. Cagalli glares at the fiend, while she had met other sick bastards before during her time in politics, this was the first time she met someone from an actual street gang or mafia syndicate. This was a man who wasn't concerned of what the public thought about him, were his funding was going to come from if he pissed off his backers; this was a man who did whatever he wanted.

"I can't believe the GFC would allow someone like this to be a Gundam Fighter."

"HAHAHAHAH bitch you have no idea, the GFC lets everyone be a Gundam Fighter, even convicted felons. It takes an extraordinary circumstance to be forbidden from participating in the Gundam Fights." Lucas continues to laugh at Cagalli's expense. "You know you E-ranks should just drop out of this tournament now before you get hurt; after all car accidents are very common and I would hate for someone to lose control and run you or one of your little friends over." Lucas says staring directly at Jack.

"Bring it on asshole!" Jack says as she tries to move forward but Kenny holds her back, instead Cagalli takes a step in-between Jack and Lucas and stares him down; her neon Gauntlet begins to glow as she says intensely.

"The Shadow Knights aren't going to drop out of this tournament and I swear if you touch our mechanic YOU WILL REGRET IT!" Lucas stares back at Cagalli, and sizes her up. Then he shrugs his shoulders and begins to walk away.

"Don't say I didn't warn you, the Bloods are going to win Arianna's D-rank tournament." Cagalli, Kenny and Jack watch the gangster walk away.

"I've heard that the Bloods use underhanded tricks to win their Gundam Fights, like jumping pilots the day before or the day of the fight but no one's been able to prove it. Luckily for us we won't have to fight them unless we both make it to the semi-finals."

"HA I'm not scared of those punks, they were just lucky that Cagalli got to them before I could." Jack proclaims boldly, despite the situation Cagalli can't help but smile at her young friend.

"Jack I think you've been hanging out with Shadow too much."

####

_Location: Arianna's GFC building_

Joey sat at his desk as he stared at the director; it struck Joey once again how different the GFC was from any other cooperation or even military organizations. Victor was his boss's boss's boss's boss's boss yet here he was sitting on the other side of Joey's desk. The GFC was not a place that was held down by rank or position; it was much more living than that. Victor may have more power than Joey but there was only so much he could do by himself without Joey's cooperation and as the head of Arianna's GFC branch there were still some instances where Joey could have more power than him.

"You deceived me Director."

Victor stared evenly and almost coldly behind his rectangular black glasses. "I did no such thing."

"No such thing; then why don't you explain to me why an entire Gundam team is in the ER in critical condition?!" Joey snapped with rising anger.

"Being a Gundam Fighter is inherently dangerous."

"Don't give me that bullshit; they weren't piloting their Gundams when they were hurt! They were jumped by a gang before they got to the arena and had to forfeit their match against the Bloods. You told me that the Gundam Fighters in my jurisdiction would be safe!"

"I told you no such thing." Victor responds coldly as he adjusts his glasses and stares Joey down, "I told you that the best thing you can do to insure the safety of the people within your district would be to cooperate with me. If you were naïve or inexperienced enough to believe that meant no one would be getting hurt then that is not my fault."

Joey gritted his teeth in anger, he was fully aware that he lacked the worldly experience compared to the director, after all the highest he ever went in the fights was C-rank but that didn't mean he was stupid.

"Look Mr. Caster if it had been my attempt to deceive you why would I have even told you what my plans were, the only real loss here is that we couldn't see the Bloods' Gundams but rest assure their sacrifices will not be for nothing."

"The only reason you told me your true reason for being here is because you knew that if I had found out what you were up to behind my back I would have done everything within my power to make your stay here a living hell. And don't talk about those pilots as if they were stats! They had names, families, dreams and I am ultimately responsible for them!"

Once more Victor eyes Joey's anger calmly; anger to this was only to be expected. "And I am in charge of protecting all of the GFC; as you know Mr. Caster more is riding on the outcome of this tournament then the life of a few Gundam Fighters. If we must sacrifice a few to save the many then we must or would you put the lives of only a few people before the lives of the entire world?"

Joey grits his teeth in silence; Victor nods his head and then gets up. "If that is all Mr. Caster then I will be leaving."

"How do we decide?" Joey asks calmly as he continues to stare at the director. Victor's hand was on the doorknob when Joey spoke.

"How do we decide what?"

"How do we decide whose life is worth saving and whose life we should sacrifice for the greater good, should we save the young but sacrifice the old, maybe we should just let the poor die first after all they don't contribute much to society anyway right, and coordinators should obviously be protected since they tend to be smarter and stronger then naturals so tell me director how do we determine whose life is more important than another's?!"

"Are you finished?" Victor asks as he stares unblinkingly at the head of Arianna's GFC branch. Victor traveled around a lot and frequently worked with the heads of city GFC branches but this was one of the few times when a head actually stood his ground with him. It took courage to stand up to the director since Victor had the ability to make the branch head's life absolutely miserable for a very long time.

"Yes, I understand that you're looking at the bigger picture director and I will support your plan but make no mistake I was chosen to lead Arianna's GFC branch and while we might reluctantly give for the greater good I will not allow you to sacrifice us to save the rest of the GFC, and if necessary I will personally fight you tooth and nail to protect each and every single person working in my district." Joey's resolve echoes in the quiet room; after a moment Victor closes his eyes, turns around and leaves saying only,

"I see."

####

_Location: Dark-Angel's conference room_

"He said what to Jack?!" Roxas, Shadow, and Nick scream when Cagalli fills them in on what happens at the mechanic shop.

"Tell me where that bastard lives so I can rip off his rapist balls and shove it down his throat!" Roxas growls dangerously as she gets up and begins to walk towards the door like an enraged tiger.

"You can do that to whatever's left of him when I'm through with him!" Shadow says admitting a dangerous but quiet rage.

"It's against my code to let anyone who threatens my mate like that to live!" Nick is up as well walking in unison with Shadow and Roxas.

"No sit down guys; we can't just go start a fight with a gang. Cagalli say something!" When Kenny fails to settle the guys down he turns to Cagalli who has been unusually quiet considering this insanity.

"Um sorry?" Cagalli says innocently; normally Cagalli would be the one to preach common sense in this situation but then again that asshole had threatened Jack so Cagalli was more than happy to look the other way this time around while Nick, Roxas and Shadow went to beat that jerk bloody. In fact Cagalli almost wanted to join them. Kenny glares at the person who's supposed to be the mature and responsible member of team disapprovingly.

"Alright knock it off guys I'm fine; I'll be more pissed at you if you go and get us kicked out of the tournament by fighting that guy." Jack says finally calming the three angry pilots down.

"Oh, yea that's right. Crap I guess we can't kill him until after his team loses in the tournament." Shadow says as he remembers the rules.

"Grrrr fine but if I ever see that bastard myself I can't promise I won't try to kill him!" The wild red headed animal says as she paces back and forth on ground on all fours before reluctantly sitting back down.

"I have to side with Roxas here mates, especially if that punk threatens Jack in front of me; it's against my code to let something like that stand." Nick says as he also reluctantly sits down.

"I hope you stupid naturals are aware that the criminal was trying to bait you into attacking him, it's a pathetic trick only morons fall for." Zuke speaks from his spot in the corner although he still has his hands folded and his eyes close.

"Even if this is nothing more than a trick I don't want Jack going to pick up parts at that shop by herself anymore." Cagalli puts forth her opinion causing outrage by Jack.

"What! I'm not a little girl, I don't need a babysitter!"

"All in favor?" Cagalli asks ignoring Jack, everyone but Zuke and Jack raises their hands in agreement.

"You guys suck, fine I'll bring Alan since I need a driver anyway." Jack says as she crosses her arms angrily.

"Um no, how about you pick someone else who isn't crippled, anyway we'll talk about this later. Nick will you be alright fighting against your brother in the second round match?" Cagalli asks.

Nick and Shadow had only told the others that they had run into Nick's brother at the restaurant and that they had found out he was the team leader of their next opponents the Sharpshooters.

"Yea man it is your brother so we understand if you have some kind of code against fighting him." Kenny adds.

Nick smiles kindly, "Thanks mate but me and my bro have got a small little bet riding on this match so I kind of have to fight now."

"Oh some kind of sibling rivalry, I hope if you lose the bet it isn't too embarrassing what you have to do." Roxas says excitedly as she images some kind of embarrassing bet like running through the streets naked; Nick was pretty hot so she wouldn't mind seeing him naked and if his brother was as good looking as him then Roxas wins no matter what.

"As if Cowboy will lose to whatever Nick's brother's Gundam is; especially with its new weapons and the improvements I've made to the frame and armor."

"Oh yeah speaking of new weapons Jack, what exactly is the wing system? Kenny wouldn't tell me." Cagalli asks. Jack looks at Cagalli having completely forgotten about La Rouge's new weapon's system with everything else that's been going on.

"Oh right, Kenny can you put on the projector?" Kenny pulls out his computer and with a few strokes of his keys lowers the light setting and activates the projector Drake uses for his classes. An animated picture of La Rouge pops up on screen.

"The Wing system is a brand new weapons system that I created because I'm a genius; it works off the common principle of being able to switch your weapons in the middle of combat. As you guys know La Rouge's beam guan dao is a great melee weapon but lacks the reach of mid-range and long range weapons not to mention it's not really much of a shield. The tips of La Rouge's wings separate from the rest of the wing and position themselves on La Rouge's beam guan dao to form a different weapon."

"Wait it's a Drago-I mean umanned drones? I can't control those things though." Cagalli says clearly nervous but Kenny quickly goes to clear that up.

"They're semplice type drones, you only have to give one mental command like beam rifle and then the drones programming will automatically pilot them into the correct position, even during a combat situation which is one of the reasons why it took me so long to finish their programming."

"Right, and the way the system works is that you'll only ever have two wing tips active at any one time. There are a total of six different wing tips one for each wing and they pair off to form three different items. The top right and the top left wing tips combined to form a Sweyn-7GH beam rifle."

"The Sweyn-7GH beam rifle!? That's so unfair that Cagalli gets such a good beam rifle and I don't!" Shadow complains highly annoyed, Kenny smirks and can't help but remind his friend.

"Shadow you can't shoot though."

"Shut up Kenny!" Shadow snaps causing the others to laugh. After calming down a little bit Cagalli turns to Nick and asks.

"But is it really that much better than the other beam rifle that La Rouge had?"

"It has a fast rate of fire and its beam bullets have triple the power." Nick answers with his Australian accent.

Jack is beaming with pride as the others gawk in amazement at her achievement. "You think that's great, wait until you see this. The middle left and right wing tips separate and attach to the beam guan dao to form the hummingbird Px-4 beam sniper rifle. The same beam sniper rifle that's based on the mosquito sniper rifle you've been training with; it's got a short range for a sniper rifle and has a cool down time of forty-five seconds after each shot but it's got a long tight beam bullet that's great for cracking or punching right through shields and armor. Speaking of shields and armor, the bottom left and right wing tips form together to make the final item, an energy shield, that puppy can block almost five times as many attacks as that other metal shield you had plus now I don't have to worry about you destroying it or losing it after every freaking single battle!"

"How many times do you want me to apologize for that, it's not like I do it on purpose." Cagalli says causing the others to laugh. "So all I have to do to get it to work is think gun, sniper or shield?"

"It's more complicated than that, the best example I can think of is like flying where you're not telling it to move anymore then you're telling your arm to move." Kenny explains causing Cagalli to once more become frustrated an annoyed.

"Damn it Kenny can't you just program La Rouge to just take my mental commands?"

"If I did that then every time you think "gun" your beam rifle will activate. The human mind is too complex to make the system any simpler; once you get it you'll realize how great the system is as is."

"How about we just have Cagalli sit this one out," Jack suggests. "Until she gets the hang of the new weapon's system and flying La Rouge isn't really suited to fight the sharpshooter's Gundams which specialize in gun weaponry."

Cagalli shrugs her shoulders, "I'm not against that," she says but Cagalli couldn't help feel slightly a little disappointed, she was still feeling the effects of her first win.

"Ok so the next round is going to be a series of one on one matches with the best out of three moving on, so me Nick and Roxas are going to be the ones fighting." Shadow sums up nicely.

"Yup, now unlike the Valkyries we don't know who else the Sharpshooters are going to send so we have to look at all of their Gundams and then plan our order and hope we get lucky matchups." Jack says as she continues to lead the conversation and move along to the next slide.

####

_Location: Arianna's GFC Gundam arena Time: ten minutes before the fight_

Roxas was walking on the streets on all fours making her way towards Arianna's GFC arena, she was running behind the others today because a fight had broken out on the Dark-Angel between two D-crew members over her so Roxas had to stay behind and make it clear to both of them that she wasn't a one guy or woman type girl. It was never pleasant letting sensitive men know that she held no interest in them past the physical stage but it was better to tell them quickly and crush their hope so that they can move on faster.

Still it made Roxas feel bad that she had to hurt that guy's feelings. A black limousine slowly pulls up next to Roxas; she had spotted it tailing her since she left the dock but hadn't thought much about it. The door opens up to reveal a man in a suit with sun glasses, "Miss Roxas Nile, can I have a word with you."

Roxas wasn't concerned with how the stranger new her name, she had gotten around in the club district so it wouldn't be that hard for anyone to find out who she was; still she was running late and if she didn't grope Cagalli's bosoms then who would? "Sorry hottie I'm running behind today so maybe some other time."

"Please wait, it will only take a moment and we can make this worth your while." The suit man pulls out a thick wad of cash to highlight his point but Roxas looks on with zero interest.

"Sorry babe but credits just don't interest me, and I'm cutting it close as it is getting to the arena on time."

"We can drive you there; it would only take a few seconds by car, and we have other things that might interest you." The man says as he leans back and reveals a large stash of very bright jewelry.

Roxas's eyes open wide as she exclaims "Ohhh shiny." It wasn't so much that they were jewelry that attracted Roxas to them but rather it was the sheer brilliance of the shine and polish that they emitted. Without even thinking about it Roxas dives into the limo, head first into the jewelry and begins to roll around in it in a very cat like fashion.

"What did I tell Tony; all girls love jewelry HAHA!" A new person says. Roxas looks up from the jewelry at the new person while the other man in the suit, Tony, closes the door. The doors make a very obvious locking sound as the limo begins to move again and just like that it finally dawns on Roxas the situation she's in.

_Crap, sometimes I wish I would think things through. _Roxas thinks to herself as she begins to look around.

It was one of those fancy limousines with a TV, soft couch like seats, low nice colored lights and it also had a mini-bar. The new guy sat near the front of the limo and judging by the body language between the two this new guy was definitely the boss. The person who had lured Roxas in only wore a clearly older and outdated grey and black suit while the boss wore a nice expensive blue suit as well as a gold watch and a couple of diamond rings. He had amber eyes with blond hair nicely combed into place. He also held a wine glass in one hand but what really got Roxas was his gold Neon Gauntlet, this man was a Gundam pilot.

"Welcome Ms. Nile, would you like anything to drink?"

"Call me Roxas, and no thank you." Roxas eyes the man suspicious.

"HAHAHAH don't worry, we're not here to fight I just want to talk. Oh my where are my manners, I am Merick Jode a Gundam Fighter for the Bloods."

Roxas instantly recognizing the name hisses angrily.

"Judging from your reaction I guess that your friend told you about my friend. Yes for starters I would like to apologize for Lucas's actions but you must understand that he can't always help himself; his violent nature makes him a good enforcer of our rules but a bad representative of our organization."

Roxas relaxed…..slightly, she could respect a person for coming and apologizing on their friend's behalf and it wasn't like he threatened Cagalli and Jack himself so she could let it slide. "Apology accepted, but I don't think that's why you wanted to meet me."

Merick's smile widens, "No it isn't. My lovely friend Arianna is a big beautiful city and it is on the verge of greatness. You see a great change in power is coming, our organization is about to enter into a whole new international level of business and as such we're going to be taking this city as our base of operation."

This brought Roxas to full attention, the Tyke Devils were known mostly on Myrtus's west coast and they certainly weren't an international criminal organization so whatever this guy was smoking most be pretty powerful.

"Now when this change happens we will remember our friends, those who supported us will be richly rewarded for their services."

The way he talked was confident, it unnerved Roxas because she could tell Merick was smart and so whatever he had planned for taking over the city and launching the Tyke Devils into an international syndic must be big.

"I've already told you that I have some place I have to get to so could we cut to the chase?"

"Of course, I'll be frank, I've heard good things about you Roxas and I would like you to be our friend. As our friend we would give you all those jewels you're lying on, you'll have access to all of our facilities for free and even though I know you don't care for credits having a nice stack of them the size of a brick doesn't hurt." Merick tosses the money towards Roxas who catches it easily enough however she looks straight through the man in the blue suit.

"All that we ask in return for our friendship is that you…..fight today and….do poorly."

And the real reason finally comes out. Roxas narrows her eyes, "You want me to throw the fight?"

"Don't say it like that; look the truth is that my organization isn't making as much money off these Gundam Fights as we thought we would so we would like your assistance. Since you have no previous ties to us no one will question us putting a large bet on you losing and then collecting the profit when you do lose."

"Do you honestly believe that I would screw over my friends for money and shiny objects?" Roxas growls highly offended as she takes the wad of cash and rips it in half, she also pushes all of the jewelry onto the floor. Merick eyes her coldly but it wasn't as if he hadn't expected this response.

"I don't want you thinking of this as betraying your friends; I want you to think of it as you helping your friends. By being our friend your friends are automatically given an umbrella of protection from our otherwise unfriendly staff provided they don't do anything stupid. Now if you don't join us we will remember your refusal when we come into power and it will have the reverse effect for your friends. So trust me when I say it's in everyone's interest if you lose your match."

Roxas let lose a growl, a low tone that was purely animal as she glared intensely at the man before her. Roxas's Neon Gauntlet begins to glow as she with mounting anger says, "If you've already talked to your rapist pig friend then you should know what will happen if you miss with us, but Cagalli's nice, she would probably let you live, me on the other hand….. If you touch any of my friends I will rip out your little gangster spine and shove it up your own ass!"

Merick eyes the red head coldly for a moment then sighs, "It saddens me that you rejected our offer, oh well time for you to leave I guess." A flashing light suddenly goes off by the TV blinding Roxas as the door to the right opens automatically, having done this a million times before Tony on cue delivers a swift kick to Roxas's chest and launches her out the door of the still moving car. The world was blurry to Roxas not just from her eyes struggling to properly adjust to radically different changes in light but also from the sheer speed of the car. They must of at least been going sixty miles per hour; however if Mr. Blue suit thought that blinding Roxas was enough to stun her for more than a second then he was sadly mistaken, she could name over a dozen different animals that had no eyes.

Roxas felt the ice cold water sensation hit her signaling her mimicry. She shifted her entire body and muscles into a ball, careful to make sure that there was no finger, toe, or any sharp point sticking out. Roxas was mimicking the blind Coloas which were mole like creatures with extremely tough and durable exoskeletons. She hit the ground hard but rolled with the blow, luck was on the animal's side as she rolled directly off the road onto the soft grass divider between the roads.

"Owww" Roxas moaned as she got up, she was bleeding in a couple of spots where the hard road had torn off skin but more importantly she hadn't broken any bones from the fall. Roxas continues to blink her eyes in the hope of speeding up their recovery faster. Good news was that her vision cleared pretty fast, bad news was that she spotted the arena in the distance. Those assholes had driven her further away from it not closer. The episode ends with Roxas growling with intense rage, "They are dead; they are freaking dead when I catch them!"


	78. Episode 77 Gundam that can take a punch

Episode 77 A Gundam that can take a punch

_Location: Arianna's GFC arena Time: Ten minutes before the start of the match_

Max sat in the Sharpshooters team room cleaning his gun, his teammates were over by the monitors discussing last minute strategies but Max had other things on his mind. There was more riding on today's match then his teammates realized, he had to win for his brother. Even if Nick ended up resenting him for the rest of his life Max had to protect his brother from his own naïve ideas before he ruined his life. Still there was a small part of Max that questioned whether or not he was doing the right thing; Max had experience with these types of women before. He remembered one time when a similar thing like this had happened to him, the girl he liked left town without a word and Max had convinced himself that something had happen to her so he tracked her down.

Needless to say nothing had happen to her, she just didn't want to live in a country town anymore with some cowboy as a boyfriend. The whole experience had been humiliating and soul crushing to Max and the only positive thing that he could think of from it was that at least he had tracked down the girl fast. If he had spent months trying to find her like what Nick was doing, he couldn't imagine how much more it would have hurt. No he was doing the right thing, Max had his own code to up hold to.

"Don't worry Max; we're not going to let you lose to your little brother."

Max looks up at his friend Oda; a giant of a man who makes the pro weight lifters look small. He had muscles upon muscles with a giant frame, his head was shaved although he still had a nice black beard with blue eyes. Max hadn't told the rest of his team about what was riding on this match, it was a personal matter between him and his brother and in the end it would only serve to distract them.

Within seconds Max reassembles his gun and looks up at his friend, "As if I would lose to my little mate, anyway you're up first Oda. Why don't you show these rookies the strength of a strong punch."

Oda smiles as he begins to walk toward the elevator, his rock grey Neon Gauntlet begins to glow as he replies back strongly, "Will do."

####

"Blake what are we doing here, I thought you said that the Shadow Knights weren't a threat?" Violet asks her team leader. She stood tall at five ten but the looks she was attracting was for a different reason, like her perfect figure not to mention she pulled off the G.I. Jane look with her blue hair nicely.

"They aren't a threat, but the Sharpshooters are well known in the west as a skilled up and coming D-rank team so it would be foolish if we didn't come to check out their fights." Blake said as he led Violet and his other teammate Kevin through the stands, the place was getting a pretty decent turn out.

"Right, and it just so happens that they're fighting the Shadow Knights? I'm not buying it, are you buying this Kevin?"

"Well I hate to break this to you Violet but coincidences do happen, right Kevin?"

"Coincidence my ass, I heard what Mac said to you, you were ranting about if for a couple of hours. Admit it, you want to see for yourself if the Shadow Knights are just lucky or actually have improved since you last fought them; right Kevin?"

Kevin watched as his two friends bickered back and forth, despite his slightly large stature he was quiet by nature. He had to agree though with Violet, there was no way that it was a coincidence that Blake came here to watch the Sharpshooters just as they were about to fight the Shadow Knights. There was an old surfing saying that Kevin had read about in a journal that fit this situation perfectly; if waves at a shore keep growing bigger and bigger it won't be long before all the surfers come to ride it.

####

"Where on Earth is Roxas?!" Cagalli paces back and forth angrily as she continues to rant, "The match is about to begin; I swear to god that if she ended up sleeping with those guys and lost track of time I'm going to, ARGH"

No one but Shadow was paying attention to her though; Nick and Zuke were in two respective corners being silent in their own thoughts, Kenny and Jack were busy doing last minute checkups of all of the Gundams. Cagalli was worried about Roxas; Shadow wasn't sure how he learned it but Cagalli used a kind of fake type of anger to cover up some of her other emotions occasionally. Shadow could just tell from the way she moved, the difference in how she talked, the way her amber eyes glowed that she was using her worried fake anger.

"Relax Cagalli, I'm sure everything is fine; besides I'm up first so Roxas has plenty of time to make it here….well not plenty of time since I'm going to smoke this guy in a snap but a good amount of time." Shadow grins playfully as he sat on the couch, before Cagalli can answer Kenny calls out.

"Shadow it's time." Shadow grins and hops up from the couch.

"And there's my cue, it's time to kick some ass."

####

"What do you mean Roxas is missing?!" Drake snaps annoyed. He and Tim where in their usual spots in the stadium; Kenny had just called him on his cell phone and told him what had happened.

"Put it on speaker, god damn you Drake put it on speaker!" Tim shouts as he jumps out of his seat and tries to steal the phone. Drake pushes Tim out of the way as he takes a deep breath to calm his anger.

"Ok look it's just as Shadow says Roxas still has up to the second match to show so there's no reason to panic now, call me back when she shows up or by the second match."

"Right." Kenny replies as both he and Drake hang up.

"Should we go out and look for Roxas?" Tim asked worried. Drake considers it for a moment then shakes his head.

"No, if Roxas really was in trouble she would have contacted us through her Neon Gauntlet; the fact that she's not picking up must mean she's in the middle of something. If she doesn't show up by the third round we'll go looking for her."

"But what are we going to do if she doesn't show up for her match?"

Drake sighs and scratches his head, "Zuke won't fight against these opponents, so assuming Shadow wins his fight we'll just forfeit the second match and move straight onto the third match with Nick." Tim looks at his old friend a little annoyed.

"You do know there's still Cagalli, she might not have mastered La Rouge's new upgrades yet but she's already proven that she can win without them."

"Proven is a very strong word, a single victory means nothing and to be honest I would rather not used Cagalli in this fight if we can. Her piloting ability is too unstable to be reliable in battle."

"Damn it Drake why don't you grow up and act like the adult you're supposed to be and get over your hatred of Cagalli?!"

"I don't hate her, I just strongly dislike her and my personal feelings don't matter as long as they don't affect my job."

"BS! You know that your feelings are directly affecting how you handle her training." Before they can argue any further the speakers start going off as the referee pops up on the screens.

"Oh beautiful and wonderful ladies and gentlemen can I please have your attention?" Drake smiles at Tim in victory, it was nice when the lady luck was on your side.

"Sorry Tim we can't talk about this now, the fight's about to begin."

"Oh you-"

"We've got a great match up in store for you folks tonight!" The referee cuts in again. "We have the rising or should I say shooting stars of the west the Sharpshooters!" Screaming of deafening proportion rips through the stadium as thousands of feet stomp in place, flags start being waved as chants start breaking out. Feeding off the crowd's energy the referee continues.

"Master of the guns these cowboys are fiercely determined to shoot their way to the top and they will be facing off against the rookies of the year the Shadow Knights! Is this team the real deal or are they just lucky? I guess we're about to find out!" The crowd screams even louder in response.

"This is your five minute warning to place any last minute bets, oh and just a quick reminder to all you gamblers. Ninety-nine percent of the people who bet last time against the Shadow Knights lost, and the one percent who won now have more money than I make in a year, just something to keep in mind while you're placing those bets."

####

Kenny looked at the screen, Shadow looked like his usual excited prefight self but Kenny was worried. This was Shadow's first official Gundam Fight since his battle with Blake; it would be only natural for someone to be nervous in this situation especially since that was Shadow's first lost. "How are you feeling Shadow?"

Shadow looked up as Kenny popped up on his helmet screen. "Great, me and Nightwing are about to kick some ass." Kenny didn't seem satisfied with this answer but he decides not to push it.

"Alright."

Nightwing steps up on the Gundam catapult and waits for the referee to give the green light to launch. "Heh, waiting is always the hardest part right Nightwing?" Shadow spoke to his Gundam, Nightwing was more the just a machine to him he was a person….well sort of, more like Shadow's own soul but the point was that Nightwing had feelings too and Shadow should respect those feelings. Besides as a wise man once said, Shadow was only crazy if Nightwing talked back to him.

"You're feeling pumped up too aren't you buddy? Heh this is our first match since our loss….we took that pretty hard like some kind of a little wimp….let's show them no let's show everyone that we haven't lost our nerve. That Nightwing and Shadow are back and ready to kick some ass!" Shadow's Neon gauntlet starts to glow as Nightwing's S-generator grows just a fraction of an inch bigger causing Nightwing's green eyes to flash with power. The light above the catapult turns green singling the referee's permission to enter the stadium.

There's no hesitation as Shadow shouts "This is it, Shadow Zoomarey in Nightwing let's rock this joint!" and launches into the arena. Shadow gets a surprise as his eyes adjust to the sudden bright light.

"A city!" Shadow shouts as he sees a proportion of Arianna's city stretched out before him instead of the usual rock arena he had grown accustom to. "Oh shit!" Shadow goes into full blown panic mode as he tries to stop Nightwing from flying straight into a building. Nightwing leans back and fires it's thrusters, and angles its legs so that the bottoms of its feet hit the building. Glass instantly shatters as the concrete cracks and a small indent appears on the side of building around Nightwing.

The thrusters are enough to lessen Nightwing's impact so that it doesn't punch through the building. Nightwing does a back flip off the building and lands squarely on its feet on the wide streets below. "Kenny what the hell?!"

In the team room Nick and Cagalli are leaning on Kenny's shoulders almost pushing him out of the way so that they can see the monitor. "Why is there a city in the arena?!" Cagalli asks shocked. Before anyone can say anything the referee starts talking.

"Nice save Shadow, for those of you who don't know that's Shadow Zoomarey the team leader of the Shadow Knights representing his team in the first match. I suppose this is my fault since I actually gave Shadow the green light to launch into the arena but in my defense I never expected he'd launch so quickly especially since he's always waited until I said his name before launching heheheh you sure have rotten timing." The referee teasing Shadow causes the crowd to also join in the laughter.

Cagalli glares at the referee pissed, "What the hell, you're the referee, you can't just go and chance the type of arena on the drop of a dime without telling the teams beforehand. This completely messes up our strategy, right Shadow?!" Cagalli turns to look at Shadow who to her disappointment is dancing up and down excited.

"Oh this is so awesome, a city type arena, yes, yes, yes!" Nightwing starts dancing on the monitor causing Cagalli's face to twitch in annoyance.

_Of course he wouldn't care if our plans got screwed over, that stupid Gundam fighting junkie. _Cagalli thinks with annoyance.

"Well it seems that someone is ready to get started, and facing Shadow representing the Sharpshooters is Oda Writ piloting Heavy Arms!" The referee shouts hyping the crowd up. On cue a new Gundam appears on the battlefield, like it's pilot this machine is large in size, at least three heads taller than Nightwing and five times bulkier as well. This Gundam is sporting a grey color scheme and has two large circular disk almost the size of Nightwing's chest attach to its shoulders.

"Is this your first time fighting in a city type arena mate?" Oda asks as he appears on Shadow's helmet with a big bear like smile. As if a switch had been flipped Shadow gets serious as he returns the friendly competitive smile.

"Yup but I've been training in the GFC's underground city so this doesn't really bother me at all."

"Heh nice, but still this kinda sucks, after La Rouge's big makeover I was hoping that all of your mechs would be beefed up. It's hard to believe but I'm not the kinda guy that enjoys trashing weaker opponents in weaker machines."

"Nightwing's not weak! He may not look different on the outside but on the inside he's just itching to go!"

"I guess we'll see."

"Ohhhhh looks like we have got some trash talk going on now folks." The referee speaks as the very public conversation airs on the monitors around the stadium.

Drake expected Tim to say something expressing his worry over the situation but to his surprise Tim just stared and grinned wickedly. Over at another corner of the stands Violet gets into the spirit of the fight.

"Talk about a size difference, the basic type Gundams are relatively average size to begin with and that Heavy Arms is a giant even by Gundam standards."

"It's a disadvantage but size alone doesn't determine the outcome of a Gundam Fight." Blake comments as he watches the scene closely.

"Gundam Fighters are you ready, get set, and FIGHT!" The referee shouts starting the battle. On his command Heavy Arms raises its arms and points them straight at Nightwing, just its hands flip around and then slide off up to the side of its arms becoming and aiming device as the arms themselves are revealed to be hollow and cannon like. Oda smiles as he fires, two cannonball objects shoot out from Heavy Arms's arms straight at Nightwing.

Shadow grits his teeth as Nightwing jumps left dodging the attack. The two cannonballs slam into the buildings behind Nightwing and almost appear to explode as they punch right through to the building's core shattering steel, shredding concrete and turning glass to dust.

"Not a bad dodge, but how long can you keep that up?!" Oda shouts as Heavy arms starts to rapidly fire out cannonballs out like a machine gun. Upon seeing the power of just one of those cannonballs Shadow decides to do the very manly thing of turning tail and getting the hell out of there. Nightwing turns around and begins to make a full retreat, using the new wall climbing technique he learned Nightwing jumps up onto the side of the buildings and begins to zigzag all around as the snake like cannonball line pursues him leaving a trail of destruction all around.

"Nightwing is on the defense as Heavy Arms uses its destructive cannonball machine gun." A cheer goes through the crowd as they cry for blood.

"Shadow Heavy Arms is a Marksman type Cannon class Gundam. It specializes in shooting those heavy cannonballs with rapid speed but it's slow to move and can't use any melee weapons." Kenny speaks as he rapidly types on his computer. The plan to fight Oda had been to weave in and out of the rock boulders using them as cover in order to get into close range of Heavy Arms but that wasn't possible now. Shadow and Oda were fighting in and open straightaway and the buildings to their sides were packed too close together to let a Gundam get through.

The walls explode all around Nightwing sending up fragments of bricks and even steel shards but Nightwing keeps moving all around in no predictable pattern avoiding a direct hit. Oda pops up on Shadow's helmet screen looking pretty confident, "Want to call it quits yet, I can keep this up all day." He says on the very open public channel.

Shadow grits his teeth annoyed then smiles back confidently, "I don't think so, I don't see an ammo pack anywhere on your Gundam and since you're firing cannonballs I don't think you can keep this up that much longer."

"HA is that what you think, hate to break this to you but do you think these round disk on my Gundam's shoulders are for show? These cannonballs are made from Yuja steel!"

A ripple of surprise goes through some of the crowd as they recognize the word while others look confused including Violet. "Yuja steel?"

"Son of a bitch so that's how he can fire like that without having to worry about running out of ammo." Blake exclaims as he stares intensely at the battle, Violet turns to him surprised by his knowledge considering Blake should have roughly the same mechanic sense that she does.

"You know what Yuja steel is?

"Yea, I had a fight against a Gundam fighter who had a weapon made out of the stuff. It's an artificial steel created in a lab, basically it appears small and lightweight but if you run a Nihiun current through it, it will rapidly increase in mass and size."

"So from the shape of those disks on its shoulders I'm guessing it works like this. The majority of the disk is used for storage of the miniature cannonballs, when it's about to fire one of those miniature cannonballs slips into the outer ring where it circles around building up speed as a Nihiun current passes through it increasing its size and mass, once its ready a hatch flips causing the cannonball to exit out into the arms where it's fired straight at the target." Jack explains.

"That's great Jack but can you tell me how many cannonballs he has left to fire at me?!" Shadow says not really giving a damn how the thing works.

"Oh right, ummmm from the size of those disks and the cannonballs I want to say roughly five hundred thousand total."

This doesn't make Shadow happier, this doesn't make him happier at all. "Great, so if he keeps firing like this when will he run out?"

"In about forty-two hours." Jack wasn't sure how it was possible but Shadow looks even less happy.

"Great."

The jet black Gundam hopped all along the sides of the building like a jackingdon rabbit back where Oda grew up. Some people made the mistake of thinking that because of his size and type of weapon that he fired that Oda didn't really aim so much as do that mad overwhelming rain of bullets style of shooting but that wasn't true. Oda was a Sharpshooter which meant that he could aim, Oda watched his opponent and studied his movements like a hunter would his prey and then he took a deep breath and fired.

The cannonball left Heavy Arms differently than before, there had been a slight pause as the Gundam took aim and then fired, the round black object flies straight through the air like an arrow spinning slightly as it breaks through the solid wall of air. Nightwing looks up just as the cannonball hits it square in the chest; the force of the cannonball picks Nightwing off its feet and slams the Gundam into and through the wall of the building. Nightwing's shape and general size prevent it from going all the way through the building but the force of the blast still causes it to go through a nice quarter of the building.

As if it was a conspiracy by the heavens, the new damage combined with all of the damage the building took from the previous attacks causes the entire front side of the building to collapse. Nightwing begins to free-fall like a ragdoll as huge chunks of concrete and steel pound into it, Nightwing bashes into a ledge or two that were still standing on its way down before finally hitting the road below hard.

"Ouch, a direct hit by Heavy Arms and that fall wasn't pretty either. Who says you can't be strong and accurate?"

"Heh looks like you were right Blake, this Shadow guy is weak." Violet says while Kevin nods his head in agreement but Blake still looks focused, in fact his eyes are glued to the battlefield waiting for something. He wasn't the best Gundam Fighter in Arianna for nothing; an instinct inside him told him that this battle was far from over.

"No, something is about to go down."

Oda grins as he closes his eyes and confidently waits for the referee to call the fight, _it's a shame that the fight ended so quickly, I should probably say something to the guy afterwards to make sure he doesn't take his second loss in a row so hard._

Suddenly debris and rubble burst outward as Nightwing hops to its feet and charges at Heavy Arms's left side with beam saber already in hand. "Too bad those same round disks that store your ammo give you a pretty big blind spot!"

"Nightwing is up and charging, he's aiming for Heavy Arms's blind spot on his right side!" The referee screams as the crowd jumps up to its feet.

"Come on mate, you've got this!" Nick shouts as he and Cagalli stare breathlessly at the scene unfolding before them.

"Go Shadow!" Jack screams along with them down in the Gundam bay with the other machines. Nightwing manages to get in pretty close before small gun turret objects pop out of the disk, lock on to him and fire.

"Crap, beam CIWs!" Shadow shouts as Nightwing raises its arms above its face in a defensive position and jumps backwards stopping itself in a full on retreat as beam bullets rain down upon it. Heavy Arms swings its arms around and opens fire as Oda grits his teeth.

"Did you seriously think I wouldn't know about my blind spots and do something about them, those beam CIWs automatically lock on to any enemy that approaches from my sides and opens fire. I've got to give your mechanic props though for building such a solid Gundam that didn't shatter to pieces when it got hit by my cannonball."

"Thanks," Jack says with a warm sense of pride, since they were still talking on the public link she was more than able to overhear the entire conversation.

"Jack focus, we have to think of a way to help that moron." Cagalli says sternly, Jack never closed the window she had up to the team room so everyone there overheard and saw Jack.

Embarrassed Jack quickly refocuses, "Oh right."

"Heavy Arms has got Nightwing dancing all around the stadium." The referee describes the situation perfectly as Nightwing zips all across the street trying to avoid another cannonball to the gut. In a desperate move Nightwing begins to pick up prop cars that had been left in the streets and begins to throw them at Heavy Arms. The cars are about the size of a shoe box compared to the massive Gundams and harmlessly bounce off Heavy Arms as Oda stares at Shadow as if he's stupid.

"Nightwing looks to be getting creative out there using cars that were setup in the city to make it look more authentic, however I don't think it's doing that much good against a two hundred ton Gundam." The crowd begins to laugh along with the referee at Shadow's stupidity while Drake slaps his forehead in embarrassment.

"That dumbass."

"It's not that bad, I mean maybe if he throws the cars at Heavy Arms's head he might be able to cause a decent distraction." The ever optimistic Tim suggest but Drake just turns and stares at him. "Ok I guess that's a stretch."

Nightwing continues to moves in crazy patterns, moving forwards, running backwards and turning in all sorts of weird angles to make Heavy Arms have a harder time locking onto it. Heavy Arms in comparison advances slowly forward pushing Nightwing back as it continues its relentless stream of cannonballs while Oda studies Shadow's movements waiting for his chance to lock on. With his ever present grin on Shadow having the time of his life begins to rapidly think about his situation ;_ok so attacking from the sides is out of the question with those beam CIWs so that just means I'll have to charge him from the front but how do I do that without…_

Shadow's eyes gaze upon a pothole as he goes to pick up another car and just like an electric current that finally completed a circuit it hits him. _That's it! _Nightwing stops moving for a moment as the plan forms in Shadow's mind, a moment that Heavy Arms doesn't miss as another cannonball bashes right into Nightwing's back sending the Gundam skipping across the tar road like a flat stone against a pond, leaving some good sized imprints as well as flattening quite a few cars and street lamps.

"Oww I didn't know a Gundam can skip like that, someone should tell the rookie to not daydream in the middle of a-holy shit he's up again!" The referee screams as he jumps up onto his table trying to get closer to the match. True to his words Nightwing has jumped back up to its feet and has resumed its evasion maneuvers only this time it begins to strike at the ground with its beam saber. Oda grits his teeth with slight annoyance as he presses his attack forward.

"What the hell is this guy, some kind of cat with nine lives?"

Sky the Sharpshooter's programmer pops up on Oda's helmet screen, "Don't let him get to you Oda, he doesn't have any range weapons so you have the overwhelming advantage."

"I know Sky, I know, don't worry there's a reason after all why I'm always the Sharpshooters' starter." Oda says with a lopsided bear grin as Heavy Arms charges forward.

"Wait don't just charge in there so recklessly!" Sky cries out but Oda doesn't listen, the programmer sighs as he turns around in his seat to his team leader Max. "He's doing it again Max, the enemy could be setting a trap for him."

"I know mate but try to bear with it, he's always been this way ever since he was little. Some might call it reckless but then again he's never met a situation before that his strong punch couldn't get him out of." Max tells Sky as he thinks of the past.

"Wait he's always gotten out of traps with just pure power?" Violet asks Blake, it was obvious to her from the way Nightwing was moving and slashing at the ground that he was setting up a trap of some kind and here that Heavy Arms guy was just mowing on through it like a big hulking idiot.

"I agree that it seems strange but Heavy Arms is a powerhouse Gundam that uses force to break out of tight spots and from what I've read those cannonballs aren't its most powerful attack." Blake grins, "Heh I'm looking forward to seeing this so called strong punch."

The road looks like a meteor shower hit it with indents almost completely covering the place, Nightwing has been running all around the same area slashing at the ground with its beam saber. Heavy Arms continues to advance faster as it also enters the meteor crater area. "I don't know what you're up to but if you let me get this close then I'm definitely going to hit you."

Oda isn't lying, the cannonballs are coming within inches now of hitting Nightwing even with its full on rapid running around technique, Nightwing has to dive and roll several times to avoid getting hit, as the ground shakes and cracks all around the Gundam. "Shadow move back already, you're too close you're going to get hit hard at this rate!" Kenny screams going into full panic mode.

"Just a little more, just a little more, hold out just a little longer Nightwing." Shadow says under his breath, as his Neon Gauntlet begins to glow.

"I don't know what you're up to but it's not going to-" Heavy Arms takes one more step forward but then the ground underneath its leg begins to shake as the cracks Nightwing made with its beam saber begin to grow wider and connect with each other, within a second the road directly under Heavy Arms's right foot collapses causing Heavy Arms right foot to slip right on through. With no footing the large Gundam drops to its hands and knees unable to move or attack.

"Got you!" Shadow shouts as he charges forward.

"What the hell?!" Sky shouts.

"Sky what just happened?!"Max demands to know.

"Heh, that clever bastard, he used the sewer system under the city." Violet says as she grins, she could appreciate a good trap when she saw one.

"Wait they even replicated Arianna's sewer system?" Max asks.

"The GFC is very thorough; they wanted to make sure the city type battlefield was as realistic as possible." Sky explains.

"But aren't the roads designed not to break from impacts, in case there is a Gundam fight in the city?" Max asks.

"He used his beam saber to compromise the impact padding underneath the roads, and with the increased bombardment in that one area the padding completely failed." Violet explains to Blake, she had used a similar trick in one of her own Gundam Fights.

Oda clenches his jaw, he was off balance with his leg caught like this making it impossible to aim and fire his cannonballs. "Damn it!" He shouts as he struggles to try and pull his leg free. However his focus quickly shifts as Nightwing appears right in front of Heavy Arms.

"Got you!" Shadow shouts triumphantly as Nightwing slashes its beam saber down scoring a direct hit to Heavy Arms's chest.

Shadow grins proudly thinking he's won the match when Oda pops up on his helmet screen also grinning confidently, "You can try again if you want." Shadow's eyes pop open as he looks at where Nightwing slashed Heavy Arms's chest. _The cut is shallow! _Shadow realizes with alarm.

"What the hell, Shadow scored a direct hit!" Cagalli freaks.

"Why is there so little damage to the mate?" Nick asks. Kenny pulls up all known records on Heavy Arms on one window while zooming in on the damage on another but Jack's the one to piece everything together.

"He's using chainmail armor!"

"Of course!" Kenny cried as he quickly follows Jack's logic.

"Um would someone mind explaining to us less mechanically inclined people?" Cagalli asks annoyed.

"Oh right, chainmail armor is a type of Gundam armor that basically reduces the penetration ability of all weapons. Behind a thin layer of metal you have these special type of cables that absorb electric and heat energy such as in a beam saber and because of the way they are woven together and their natural thickness they reduce the momentum of any sharp blade objects." Kenny explains.

"But Nightwing only has a beam saber, how is the mate supposed to hurt him even if he can hit him!" No one has an answer to Nick's question.

"Nightwing has scored a direct hit against Heavy Arms but Heavy Arms has just shrugged off the attack like it was nothing!" The referee announces further fueling the crowd's energy. Shadow racks his brain as he tries to think of a solution to his new problem but he continues to draw a blank.

"A weak attack like that isn't going to do anything against me, let me show you what a real punch is like!" Oda screams as he switches Heavy Arms's arms to hand mode, his Neon gauntlet begins to glow. Heavy Arms raises its fist high up in the air, "STRONG PUNCH!" and then smashes it down onto the road right next to its trapped leg. The already damaged road collapses further expanding the hole giving Heavy Arms the room it needs to hop out.

Too late, Shadow realizes the danger he's in when the towering Gundam's shadow falls on him. Nightwing tries to get back but Heavy Arms's fist smashes into Nightwing's chest, it felt like Shadow had been hit by one of those cannonballs again, no it felt even worse, the punch felt stronger as evident when Nightwing flies several dozens of meters without hitting the ground. Nightwing might have flown even further if a building didn't abruptly stopped it…hard.

"No mercy, this time you stay down!" Oda says as Heavy Arms's arms once again flip into gun mode but this time they shoot out a massive rocket thing up into the air. The rocket explodes in the air and rains down large Gundam arm length metal spikes directly were Nightwing crashed. Shadow still daze from the previous attack doesn't notice the metal spikes coming his way until Kenny pops up screaming on his helmet screen.

"Shadow ABOVE YOU!" Acting on instinct Nightwing grabs its beam saber and takes a defensive stance as Shadow looks up.

"SHITTTTTTTT!" The spikes were too spread out so even if he had time to move there was no way he could get out of range. In a last ditch effort Shadow makes a silent prayer to the force and tries to whack away the spikes like the Jedi would block against beam bullets…..yea Star Wars downplays how easy that actually is. The spikes slam down onto the ground piercing anything underneath them, cars, buildings, street lamps, the road and Nightwing. A thin tiny dirt cloud covers the scene up for a moment but it clears quickly allowing everyone to see the damage.

Nightwing has been hit dead center in both of its legs and its right shoulder blade; the dark Gundam has collapsed onto the ground face first as it still clings stubbornly to its still active beam saber. A small smile lights Oda's face, "Heh, now it's over for sure."

"Damn a spike barrage rocket, and did you see that punch, it was like a freaking shotgun blast at point-blank range. And I thought my Gundam could give a punch right Kevin?" Kevin nods his head in agreement with Violet while Blake continued to stare unblinkingly at the arena.

"It never ceases to amaze me and scare me a little to see Oda unleash his already devastating attacks into a combo like that." Sky tells Max who merely smiles as he stares proudly at his friend.

"Heavy Arms is a Gundam designed to give devastating and powerful hits to its opponents."

"Nightwing is down and has taken some serious hits; with a spike in each leg and in the shoulder blade it's unlikely that Nightwing can still function, I wouldn't be surprised if the pilot passed-no way." The referee stops speaking dead in his tracks and just stares unable to process what he's seeing. Confused the audience turns towards the arena to see what has caught the referee's attention. Nightwing stabs the ground and rises unsteadily to its feet.

Oda stares wide eyed in silence, _how is it possible, he took two direct hits from my cannonballs, a direct hit from one of my strong punches and he was nailed with the spikes? _"Sky how is this guy still standing?"

"I'm looking into it now Oda, just hold on."

Oda isn't the only one in awe as Cagalli and Nick watch the scene unfold with disbelief. "This is unreal, how can Nightwing take all that damage and still get back up?" Cagalli asks dumbfounded.

"I'm so glad you asked," Jack had been waiting for this moment, she had been getting a lot of complaints about how only La Rouge looked upgraded despite the fact she kept telling people that the upgrades where more internal. "It's called the multi-layer build."

"Multi-layer build?" Cagalli asks to no big surprise.

"It's a fusion between an actual mechanical part or system as well as how the Gundam itself is build. Ok think of it like this, when Nightwing gets stabbed normally that part or system around the stabbed or damaged point ceases to work sometimes resulting in a limb shutdown. What the multi-layer does is that it either activates a backup system that immediately replaces the damaged internal systems or the secondary and primary organs within the Gundam kick in to compensate for the loss. This lets Nightwing continue to operate at a hundred percent efficiency despite taking massive damage, of course not counting actual limbs getting cut off and such."

"It also just makes Nightwing more durable, the materials used, the reorganization of where all the systems and parts are located and even the armor is designedto withstand intense damage for a long period time." Kenny adds. Nick whistles while Cagalli's eyes seem to grow as big as dinner plates.

"This is amazing Jack, I can't believe you came up with it all by yourself but why didn't you do this for all of our Gundams?" Jack swells with pride from the compliment but admits honestly.

"Well I didn't come up with the multi-layer build myself; it's actually an old design that almost every mechanic knows about."

"I don't understand, then why isn't everyone using it?"

"Because it takes up so much space, like seventy percent of the internal systems in Nightwing are going towards it but you normally couldn't do that in a regular Gundams without sacrificing a major loss in power somewhere, like I wouldn't have been able to fit the Wing system on La Rouge if it had the multi-layer build. It works though for Nightwing because Shadow doesn't use anything other than his beam saber so basically everything else had just been wasted space up until this point."

"Still it was brilliant of you Jack to come up with this for Shadow, it fits his fighting style perfectly." Kenny complements but once again Jack admits, "Well I didn't come up with it by myself."

####

_Location: Dark-Angel Gundam Bay Time: Three weeks before the tournament_

"Arghhh!" Jack shouts in frustration as she crumples up a piece of paper and throws it onto the ground, the mountain of balled up crumpled papers was growing even bigger. Some of the mechanics at Junk City preferred to draw up their blueprints old school with a pencil and paper rather than using the Idraw feature on touch screen monitors. Jack herself liked using technology over the paper method, it was easier to store and carry around all of her ideas but she was currently suffering the worst case of mechanics block she had ever experienced.

Jack had come up with awesome and brilliant designs for La Rouge, Quanlier and Cowboy if she said so herself, but she had drawn a blank with Nightwing. She didn't know why but every idea she came up with for Nightwing other than her standard tweaking of its systems and parts just seemed like complete and other crap. She was getting so desperate for some kind of inspiration that she switched to drawing ideas on paper, the whole see things in a different light thing…it didn't work.

"Well you're here working pretty late Jack." Jack looks up at the rocker wannabe carrying ramen and smiled.

"Food!" Jack didn't realize how hungry she was until her stomach started trying to separate from her and get the food itself. She gets up and grabs the package from Tim's hand and begins to eat.

"You know I'm beginning to feel that's all you guys see me as, just Drake's friend that feeds you." Tim complains emitting an uncomfortable depressed feeling.

"That's not true, we also see you as that wannabe rocker and the good cop to Drake's bad cop approach."

"I can be more helpful! Come on there's got to be something you need help with, where's Kenny by the way?" Tim asks as he looks around the dark Gundam bay, the ship was in night mode now with hardly any lights on.

"He's passed out in Quanlier's cockpit trying to fix a comp error in the programming or something like that. If you really want to help me how about giving me a good idea for a route I can take with Nightwing's upgrade?"

Tim blinks in surprise as he glances down at all of the balled up papers, he knew Jack preferred the technology drawing over the old school method so for her to be so stuck that she would switch her style must mean she's really stumped. "Oh so that's what you're working on so late at night," Tim says as he picks up one of the crumpled pages of paper to see what Jack had in mind, "Hmmmm heheheh is this a crown?" Tim asks as he struggles in vain to resist the urge to laugh out loud.

"Shut up! …I was just putting down whatever idea came to my mind. God damn it why am I having so much trouble coming up with a good idea?!" Jacks shouts in frustration as she pushes all of the papers and pencils on her work place onto the floor. Tim watches her calmly and then slowly begins to pick up all the blank pages and the pencils.

"Coming up with ideas for four Gundams isn't easy so it's no wonder you hit a mechanic's block, but let me ask you something, how did you come up with La Rouge's design?"

"Hmmm well it kind of hit me when I was talking to Cagalli about her brother's Gundams, the Strike Freedom to be exact and once I heard about those wings and the way it could fly I just wanted to build something like that."

"So you got the idea for La Rouge from Cagalli." Tim says trying to lead Jack to the answer

"Well yea actually hehe I guess it's pretty ironic that Cagalli came up with the idea for her own Gundam."

"Well maybe the secret to finding a good idea lies in Shadow?"

"Shadow? He doesn't know a damn thing about the mechanical side of things, and he's probably either asleep or training but his ramblings do occasionally inspire ideas in me so maybe I should go wake him up and get him talking about something stupid." Tim slaps his forehead.

"I didn't mean it literary, ok let's try this close your eyes for a moment," Jack looks unsure but she was desperate for inspiration so she closes her eyes and follows along. "Now I want you to picture Shadow."

"Ok."

"Describe him."

"Umm he has green eyes, short black hair, he likes the color black which is a little weird-"

"Who is he as a person?"

"Oh well um, he's stupid at times, he doesn't take anything too seriously, he laughs a lot, he loves Gundam Fighting and everything involved with it-" Jack was feeling completely calm and at ease, somewhere in her mind she wondered if this was what mediation was supposed to feel like.

"How does he fight?"

"Like an idiot, he's got no patience so it doesn't take much to get him to make the first move. He can't fire a gun accurately if his life depended upon it, in fact the only weapon he knows how to use is that sword of his." Jack grits her teeth, something was missing, an instinct was telling her to look deeper. "He isn't that strong, he's not that fast, heh and he's thick headed but he's stubborn and determined, he never gives up and no matter how many times he gets knocked down he always gets back-THAT'S IT."

Like a bolt of lightning, it hit Jack, it wasn't an original idea but it was something that no one had used in a long time. Tim smiles at her, Jack was brilliant and had a lot of potential as a mechanic but she was young and immature. She couldn't yet see what makes a truly great Gundam great, but if Tim simply told her the answer then Jack would miss out on the valuable life experience that can from finding that out herself.

"Thanks Tim for the help."

####

_Location: Arianna's GFC Gundam arena Time: Present_

"Shadow's greatest strength has always been his ability to take a punch, so all I did was make sure that Nightwing could keep up." Jack explains to the rest of the team.

Shadow was in pain, the multi-layer build was what was keeping Nightwing up and running but it also meant that the safety limit for the NS system's pain tolerance levels had been increased…..a lot. His ribs and back screamed in agony from the cannonballs and the punch he took, and being stabbed with the metal spikes hurt even worse but still Shadow wasn't about to let all of that stop him. He wasn't going to let this guy win because he was bigger than him, or stronger than him; Shadow wasn't going to lose this match!

The black Neon gauntlet begins to glow brighter as Nightwing grabs the metal spike that had pierce through its right leg and pulls it out, a loud high pitch metal screeching sound can be heard, pulling the spike out wasn't as easy or gentle as Shadow had hoped, the damn thing was wedged in their tight but Shadow gets it out and then Nightwing repeats the process to the metal spike in its left leg. Shadow bites his lip in order to stop himself from screaming out loud in pain but with unyielding eyes he goes to the grab the final spike embedded in his shoulder.

"So that's why you've been grinning so confidently." Drake says as he eyes Tim up in the stands.

"Well I can't let you be the only one helping the team grow." Tim says almost glowing with pride. Drake smirks and lets his old friend have his moment.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah go ahead and have your victory dance, still it's something isn't it? The multi-layer build was a great idea in theory but no one could ever use it in practice, at least not that I've ever seen and yet after years of just remaining a dream the perfect pilot for it finally comes along and turns it into reality. Nightwing is a Gundam designed to take a punch."

Down in the arena Nightwing grabs the final spiked lodged in its shoulder blade. Shadow pops up on a still dazed Oda's helmet screen, Shadow looks horrible with sweat covering his face, and he's out of breath but just like Shadow there's a huge smile on his face that practically screams that he wouldn't want to be at any other place in the world. "That was a pretty good punch but it's going to take a hell of a lot more than that to keep me and Nightwing down!" Shadow shouts as he removes the final metal spike.

Oda responds with his own grin, "This battle is starting to get exciting."

"A multi-layer build huh, a clever idea but that won't help much against the overwhelming destructive power of Heavy Arms and Oda's attacks, after all Heavy Arms is a Gundam designed to give a punch." Max says to Sky, there was no doubt in his mind that Oda would be able to beat this punk.

"Heh, a Gundam designed to give a punch vs. a Gundam designed to take a punch," Drake says aloud to no one in particular, despite himself Drake was starting to feel the rising tension of the battle.

Over in the opposite corner of the arena a huge excited smile lights up Blake's face as he exclaims "I wonder which one is stronger."

Down in the replica city streets the two Gundams stare off, "Let's pick the pace up on this!" Oda shouts as Heavy Arms's arms switch back to hand mode and then shoots its own fist out with triple the force of the cannonballs. Nightwing on instinct side steps left dodging the attack as the fist slams into the building behind Nightwing incinerating the wall.

"Holy shit, you actually have rocket hands!" Shadow yelps startled by how close that came from hitting him.

"That's not all." Oda smirks in response, confused Shadow turns back at the fist to discover a thick chain that connects it back to Heavy Arms, the gears in Heavy Arms's body begin to try and retract the chain but the hand acts like an anchor and pulls Heavy Arms towards it like a speeding train. In seconds Heavy Arms bridges the gap between itself and Nightwing.

"Awesome!" Shadow shouts almost salivating at the innovative way Oda figured out how to use his rocket hands, he wondered if he could get something similar built into Nightwing. Shadow gets so lost in his thoughts that he almost forgets to dodge Oda's attack…..almost. Nightwing does a backflip as Heavy Arms'spunches the ground once again displaying it's strength by making a nice fist imprint on the ground.

"Thank you." Oda says as Heavy Arms doesn't even bother to dodge Nightwing's weak attack which once again can't do anything but give Heavy Arms an averaged sized scratch. The massive Gundam swings its fist but Nightwing dives left dodging the blow and rolls around behind Heavy Arms's back and swings its beam saber upward. It's a direct hit but once more it leaves no more than a scratch on Heavy Arms's back, Heavy Arms flips around and switches its arms to cannon mode as Nightwing jumps backwards trying to gain some distance from its opponent.

Heavy Arms opens fires with its rapid fire cannonballs, taking out several cars and street lamps in the area. Nightwing manages to avoid most of the cannonballs but three do hit it at various parts of its body knocking the Gundam onto the ground again but Nightwing growing used to the hits recovers fast and turns tail to run. "I'm not going to let you get away!" Oda shouts as Heavy Arms fires its rocket hands and yanks itself forward at train like speeds with its chain.

Heavy Arms catches up to Nightwing and fires another one of its metal spike barrage rockets. Shadow clenches his jaw and while wall running backwards once again tries to do the Jedi block thing, the metal spikes slice into the building shattering windows sending glass flying but Nightwing manages to avoid taking another direct hit although a few metal spikes leaves a couple of nice gash marks.

_Even if I can hit him my beam saber can't do enough damage to make any difference, damn it I knew I should have practiced learning some kind of special ultra-destructive move! All the fighters in animes have really cool signature moves that are perfect for situations like this but nooooo all I know how to do is freaking climb walls, ok that is still pretty sweet but it's not like I can use it offensively in a-_Shadow suddenly has a light bulb moment as he stares at the wall surrounding the arena. "That's it!"

Nightwing changes direction and makes for the limit of the battlefield while still trading blows with Heavy Arms who's using his grappling hook like hands to keep up and occasionally backhand Nightwing into a building. "Heavy Arms is just pounding into Nightwing while brushing off the smaller Gundam's attacks like they were mosquito bites, still no matter what kind of attacks Heavy Arms throws at him Nightwing keeps hopping back onto its feet. Folks this battle is going to come down to a question of endurance, who can keep going the longest!"

Oda wanted to laugh when he heard the referee; he once had to fight for three hours straight as a child. Come to think of it given the size and the sheer number of punks he had been up against it's kind of a miracle that he walked away from that fight alive. Well walked away is a pretty nice term considering he had been in the hospital for a week having broken every single finger bone in multiple places after the battle. It's amazing what a person can force their body to accomplish when their little brothers' lives depend upon him winning. They weren't actually his real brothers, they just all lived at the same old rundown orphanage.

Oda's parents were drug addicts or at least that was what he had been told, they overdosed and died before he could even remember their faces. Not that Oda would ever complain about that, the local church had taken him in and cared for him like they did for all children. Father David and the sisters had been his new parents and family and they treated him just like their own child. Being the biggest child there out of all those in his age group Oda just sort of inherited the big brother position and it became his job to protect everyone.

The local gang was always causing trouble for everyone in town and trying to force the younger kids into joining their ranks. None of the other kids could fight at all which meant that Oda was always by himself against a dozen or more guys, so the only way he could have any chance of keeping everyone safe was to make sure anyone he punched stayed down. Even if he was outnumbered one hundred to one if his punch was strong enough that anyone that got hit by it was unable to get back up then that just meant he only needed to throw a hundred punches.

With that logic in mind that's how Oda fought his battles, over time the bones in his hands hardened as the skin toughened and the muscles in his arms bulged bigger than even most football players and weightlifters. Father David told Oda once that it was thanks to his sacrifices that all of his brothers and sisters were able to concentrate in school and get a good education and jobs. Even the local gang disbanded and eventually disappeared altogether, some said that Oda had broken their spirit with a single punch. So if Oda had lasted years fighting against a gang there was no way he would be the first to get tired in this battle.

Heavy Arms shoots out its rocket fist which punches through a building and into Nightwing. The force of the blow smashes Nightwing into the wall of the stadium that surrounds the battlefield. Nightwing slowly stands up, stumbles, and then straightens up. One building down Heavy Arm stares at him, "Looks like you've hit a dead end, you've got nowhere left to run."

Shadow grins back, "You're wrong! There's always up." Nightwing turns around and begins to wall run straight up the stadium wall. Oda resists the urge to laugh out loud…well almost.

"HAHAHAHA you do realize the stadium's wall is two hundred and fifty meters tall right! No Gundam can wall climb that high on a vertical straight path, it's not physically possible. You're thruster can't keep your momentum up and eventually gravity's going to overcome you." _And when that happens I'm going to nail you. _Oda smiles as he readies his rocket hand, he switches to a private communication link and calls up his programmer. "Sky can you calculate where he's going to start falling?"

"Already doing it." Within seconds a yellow target appears on the viewing screen showing Oda where Shadow was going to start falling. Oda was a member of the Sharpshooters so he could aim and time a shot.

Shadow climbed higher and higher, leaving everything behind him, the weight of his past failures, the doubts that whisper to him, the fears of the future; his very being was in this one moment this one second that he lived for as a Gundam Fighter. He had spent hours practicing wall climbing, day in and day out for the past month. Thruster control had been the only new skill that he had learned and now it was time to show off what the fruits of his training had to bare. "Shadow wait, what do you think you're doing?" Kenny asks.

"Don't worry Kenny I have a plan, trust me."

"No Shadow you don't under-" Shadow cut the communication link, he wasn't trying to be mean but he needed to concentrate now.

Nightwing was rising rapidly, twenty-five meters, fifty meters, seventy-five meters but Nightwing's momentum begins to slow as gravity overtakes it. Oda smiles as he fires his rocket arm, "Looks like you've reached your limit." Heavy Arms's rocket fist flies like a rocket towards the target, it's a perfect shot but just before Nightwing slips from the wall Nightwing takes its beam saber and stabs it into the wall. The beam saber might have been plasma level hot but the metal wall was extremely thick and specifically designed to not melt easily. Most walls not made of wood would have provided some level of resistance anyway but the stadium walls were designed with taking hits from Gundams in mind.

The beam saber acts as a ledge which Nightwing uses to renew its momentum by dropping off the wall for a moment and swinging its entire body like a wheel upward and then quickly plants its feet on the wall and begins to wall run backwards while dragging its beam saber still imbedded in the wall upward as well, slicing a very obvious trail of where it's been. Using the beam saber as a movable ledge to renew and increase its momentum in the same swinging fashion Nightwing easily climbs another 100 meters leaving the audience and Oda with gaping mouths.

"Ingenious he used his beam saber as a ledge to renew his momentum!" Violet screams getting lost in the moment.

Heavy Arms's first rocket fist misses horribly as a result of this move but before anyone can process what's going on Nightwing at a ridiculous overwhelming height of over two hundred meters off the ground finally jumps off the stadium wall and begins to free fall down with its beam saber held above its head in a jump attack straight at Heavy Arms. Oda didn't have time to wait for his right hand rocket fist to retract, he didn't know if his armor would survive taking a blow from his opponent's blade with the extra momentum it was gaining from freefalling and he sure as hell didn't want to find out.

With almost no time to think Oda went off on complete instinct as he readied his left hand fist and fired, _YES! It's right on target! _Oda screamed in his mind in relief as his second rocket fist shoots up straight towards Nightwing. It looks like it's going to hit it but the chain stops short just a few inches away from nailing Nightwing in the face. _Crap, the length of my chain is only one hundred meters,_" Damn it, the chain's exposed!" Oda screams as tries to retract both of Heavy Arms's hands but it's too late, with a swift slice in midair Nightwing slices through both armorless chains with ease sending the hands flying lose in the air.

Heavy Arms takes a step back but it's useless as Nightwing is almost on top of it, "Diving dragon slash!" Shadow screams as he aims for the place where Heavy Arms's armor was the thinnest, the neck, as he puts the entire force he mustered into the swing of his beam saber slash. Shadow was sure that if he had been holding a bat the force would have ripped off his arms but his beam saber wasn't slowed down by an inch with all of that force behind it and cut through the thin armor with little trouble. Nightwing crashes into the ground behind Heavy Arms, its feet sinking shin deep into the road, ripping it up as Nightwing slides several meters forward before coming to a stop.

A huge overwhelming grin is on Shadow's face as he says confidently "We're back baby!" The episode ends with a headless Heavy Arms collapsing to its knees and then falling chest first onto the ground.


	79. Episode 78 Flying

Episode 78 Flying

The episode opens up directly after Nightwing cuts down Heavy Arms, the crowd is on their feet going nuts while Nightwing has its arms folded in an attempt to do the cool guy pose. "And the first round goes to the Sharpshooters!" The referee announces causing Shadow to look back startled.

"Wait what?!"

####

"YOU DUMBASS!" Cagalli screams.

"Moron!" Jacks shouts.

"Heh, just like a stupid natural." Zuke says in a condescending manner as Jack begins to whack Shadow on the head with her wrench; even Cagalli loses control and begins to punch Shadow in any spot that Jack wasn't already hitting.

"OW, ow, ow, I'm sorry, OW, how was I supposed to know that Gundams can't go over two hundred meters high in the arena? OW!" Shadow complains bitterly, the referee had explained afterwards that the moment Nightwing had crossed the two hundred meter mark Shadow had been disqualified.

"It's in the official GFC rule book mate." Nick says grinning slightly, his friend's goof up was just want he needed to distract himself from his own match that loomed ahead. Shadow looks back at Nick confused as he fights off Jack and Cagalli.

"There's a GFC rule book? Since when?"

"You've never read the rule book for the sport you're playing?!" Cagalli asks shocked and yet feeling that she shouldn't be, not reading long tedious contracts, yup that sounded like Shadow.

"I was trying to tell you when you cut me off." Kenny says also feeling annoyed at Shadow's blunder, costing the whole team a win.

"Well why is there such a stupid rule in the first place?!" Shadow complains bitterly to which Nick answers.

"It's a safety thing mate, for the audience." Jack suddenly pulls out a thick book that was resting on the table and smacks Shadow with it.

"Here is the rule book now go and read it in the corner!" Jack doesn't give Shadow any say as she pushes him into the corner and stands over him threateningly. Shadow surrenders to his fate as he begins to mutter bitterly about the injustice in the world.

"Um guys we have another problem," Kenny reminds everyone, "Roxas hasn't shown up yet-"

"Wait I'm here!" Roxas shouts as she pushes open the door to the stairwell; she was in such a hurry that she had run up the stairs to the team room. Roxas looked even more of a mess then before, she was covered in sweat, and dirt; her clothes were even more torn up and ripped up then normal and she was still bleeding from several very nasty looking wounds. The most striking feature though is that Roxas just looked exhausted, the moment she stepped through the door she collapsed on the ground chest first as her breath came out raggedly.

"Roxas!"

"What happened?!"

"Are you ok mate?!" All at once everyone starts talking as they rush over to her, Cagalli, Shadow and Jack take a knee as they gently help her sit up.

"I'm fine, I just went for a little jog-" Roxas begins but Shadow cuts her off as he says in a very serious manner.

"Roxas what happened?!" Shadow stares directly into her purple eyes, Roxas found it difficult to lie directly to Shadow's face, his electric green eyes were too intense. Looking away Roxas reluctantly admits.

"It's nothing, our new gangster friends just stopped by and gave me a lift…..in the opposite direction of the stadium." An intense hatred spews out of Nick, Shadow and Cagalli, it was powerful enough to make Zuke look up from his resting position.

"Those bastards!"

"When I get my hands on those thugs!"

"They're going to pay!"

Kenny cuts into the group's plot of revenge, "Um guys as much as I would love to start a fight with gang members but we kinda have a Gundam Fight to get back to, we need to send someone out before the referee gets on our case."

Roxas begins to get up, "Look its fine guys, don't worry I'll kill those assholes myself later now if you will let me and my beautiful Quanlier have a match to get to-ouch" Roxas flinches as she accidently rubs one of her open cuts on the ground, she already looked like crap and that flinch sealed it for Cagalli.

"Absolutely not," Cagalli says strongly as she pushes Roxas back down, "You are in no condition to fight Roxas."

Nick without a moment's hesitation says "Cagalli's right mate, I'm going to get the first aid kit." While Nick goes to get the med pack Roxas looks around at her friends surprised for a moment, then a small smile lights up her face as she weakly goes to grope Cagalli's breast and milk this situation for all its worth.

"Cagalli your kindness just makes me want to sleep with you more." Cagalli resists the overwhelming urge to punch Roxas, instead she pulls out of reach of Roxas's hands and gently whacks the animal lightly on the head with her knuckles.

"You pervert."

"Oh sure give Cagalli all the credit, just pretend I'm not even here." Shadow complains grumpily as he looks away and folds his arms. Roxas turns to look at him.

"Don't worry Shadow, I'm sure if you keep trying I'll eventually fine you attractive again and want to sleep with you, now can you carry me to the couch."

"No." Shadow says still angry.

Roxas puts on the puppy eyes and goes on "But I'm injured…..and it would make you look more manly and attractive carrying me, a defenseless woman to the couch!"

"Right, to the couch!" Shadow exclaims totally pumped up as he picks up Roxas and carries her over to the couch.

"Oh for the love of god she's not that hurt, just put a bandage on her wounds and throw her into the arena." Zuke finally says unable to put up with this show any longer.

"A true man doesn't just do nothing when he sees someone who's hurt." Nick says as he gives Zuke the evil eye.

"Um guys, the referee is getting impatient." Kenny says as he types over at the computer terminal trying to stall as long as possible. While Nick treats Roxas Cagalli gets up and sighs.

"I don't suppose you would fight Zuke?" Cagalli already knew what the asshole's reply would be.

"As if I would waste my superior talents on such worthless fighters." Cagalli sighs again and then begins to stretch her arms as she walks over to the elevator leading to the Gundam bay.

"I guess that just leaves me." Cagalli tries to sound annoyed by this new development but the truth was that Cagalli didn't feel annoyed at all, she felt happy and excited that she could pilot and fight with La Rouge and that scared her. She was an advocate of peace which was the complete opposite of what a Gundam stood for, hadn't she been the one who questioned Durandal about why he would even need weapons like them yet here she is taking pleasure in fighting in these machines, she felt the word hypocrite tattooed across her forehead would be fitting.

_This is different though, the Gundam Fights are the only way I can get back home so I have no choice but to do everything I can to make sure the Shadow Knights win…and besides it's only natural that I feel happy about something I'm getting good at. I mean I've worked really hard at trying to improve my skills as a Gundam fighter so of course I want to show off the fruits of my labor, anyone in my situation would. _Cagalli tells herself as she waits for the elevator; Jack gets up and walks over to stand next to the troubled Gundam fighter.

"Well I'm glad I brought La Rouge and checked her over with the rest of the Gundams." Jack was proud of her preparedness. The elevator doors open and both Jack and Cagalli get in, after the doors close Roxas still lying on the couch stretches and exclaims happily.

"Today is the greatest day ever! Cagalli is going out there to win a Gundam match for me; I thought it was going to take months to get our relationship to this point where we played knight in shining armor for each other." Kenny begins to do another system's check of La Rouge's programming while he sent a quick PM to the referee telling them that they had sorted out their pilot troubles and that Cagalli was heading down to the bay now. From his vantage point Kenny couldn't help but notice how much better Roxas was doing and he called her out on it.

"Well you seem to be doing a lot better."

"It's all thanks to the power of love." Roxas sings in a corny voice.

"Yea right, I bet you planned this from the start." Kenny half jokes.

"Oh no those gangster assholes did attack me, however since they inadvertently helped me progress my relationship with Cagalli I guess I won't kill them, I'll just beat them to a bloody pulp instead." While Kenny, Roxas and Nick continued to joke around Shadow uncharacteristically stood silent, he was a lot closer to Roxas then Kenny so he could see the cuts, bruises and places where skin had been torn off a lot better. Shadow was a big fan of cop TV shows and mystery novels so he could tell what kind of injuries those were, Roxas had been pushed out of a moving car.

Really it was a miracle and probably a combination of Roxas's own skill that those were the extent of her injuries because it could have been worse, much worse and that thought angered Shadow deeply. There wasn't a whole lot that could truly make Shadow angry, but attacking his friends was definitely one way. _Those bastards are going to be sorry!_

####

"Reattaching the head's not going to be a problem, the Gundam's brain wasn't damaged but the real hassle is going to be fixing the rocket hands, I'm going to have to replace the chain which means I'm going to have to dissemble the entire arms and rapid fire cannonball system in order to switch out the chains. If I rush it I think I can get it done in a week so you should be good to go for the next round, assuming we win of course." Rebecca the Sharpshooters' mechanic tells Oda over the computer, Oda was back in the Sharpshooters' team room.

"I understand, thanks Rebecca." Oda replies, Rebecca nods her head and cuts the link. The mood in the team room was dark; it didn't feel like a victory.

"Well at least we still won the match." Sky says trying to remain positive but Oda just sighs.

"Only due to a technicality, if that had been a life or death battle I would have been dead. Winning because my opponent overlooked one of the rules feels like a hollow victory."

"You don't give yourself enough credit mate, you fought hard in there and followed the rules." Max tells Oda, "It may not have been the type of victory we wanted but it's not an undeserved victory; anyway let's focus in on the next match."

"I guess that means I'm up." The man who spoke was one of the shortest people in the room; he was roughly the same height as Cagalli and Shadow although he looks to be closer to his late twenties.

"Kumi don't underestimate them, they maybe an E-rank team according to the GFC charts but I can tell you right now that they're fighting on a D-rank level." Oda warns.

Kumi smiles back at the giant and replies, "I always treat my opponents in the same manner my friend, alas though I feel bad that Max won't be able to fight his little brother in the third match after I win." Max smiles at his confident friend as Kumi walks towards the Gundam bay elevator.

"You haven't won yet Kumi."

####

"She was attacked by the Gundam team the Bloods?" Drake shouts causing several people sitting in the stands to turn to him.

"Is she alright?" Tim asks worried, he had grabbed Drake's phone first this time around and put it on speaker phone himself.

"Yea, she's got a few scrapes and bruises but it's nothing that the first aid kit can't take care of, still she looks too exhausted to go out and fight so Cagalli's going out instead." Drake couldn't resist a twitch of annoyance in his right eye from this news.

"I see, anyway go to the GFC website and pull up file A-37C under complaints and have Roxas complete it; and MAKE sure she fully completes it today so I can launch a formal complaint about their actions tomorrow."

Kenny nods his head, "Right."

"Wait that's it, that's all we're going to do?! They threaten Jack, attacked Roxas and now we're just going to fill out some paperwork and bitch about it to your boss?!" Shadow says still angry about the situation, he had pushed Kenny out of the way but Shadow keeps his voice under control so that Roxas, Nick and Zuke don't overhear him. Drake narrows his eye at the young enraged Gundam Fighter.

"Yes or did you have something else in mind?"

"Hell yea I have something else in mind, I say we go down to their little gang hangout and beat the shit out of them!"

"And get yourselves kicked out of the tournament for fighting outside the arena, wasting all of my hard work, I think not."

"They started it!" Shadow snaps.

"And I'm ending it!" Drake snaps right back, "Focus on beating the Sharpshooters right now while I deal with the Bloods."

"Fine!" Shadow still clearly unhappy grumbles as he hangs up on Drake. There's a moment of silence as neither Tim nor Drake say anything then Tim speaks.

"Not that I ever condone violence as a solution to a problem but I kinda understand where Shadow's coming from."

"As do I Tim but we can't ignore the possibility that this is a ploy by the Blood's to bait the Shadow Knights into attacking them outside the arena so that they can launch a compliant and get us kicked out of the tournament; it doesn't matter if they attacked us first if we don't put it on record. Now once it's on record things are different, assuming the GFC doesn't straighten them out if the Bloods attack again the Shadow Knights have the right to defend themselves without having to worry about being disciplined."

"You're setting the stage!" Tim says seeing through Drake's plan, Drake gives an evil mastermind's smile.

"Being prepared is always a good idea," Drake grows serious "But it is worrisome that the Bloods are making such bold moves, the Tyke Devils have never been this openly violent in front of the GFC before." Drake lets the thought hang in the air as the referee comes on.

"Ladies and gentleman may I have your attention please." The audience quiets down as the referee appears on all of the monitors spread out throughout the stands. "That was some battle between Oda and Shadow with both pilots giving it there all, however all it takes is one rookie mistake like not watching your surroundings and crossing the out of bounds line to rob you of victory. Down by one can this rookie E-rank team pull off a win or will the Sharpshooters shoot their way to victory one more time?!" The crowd goes nuts as the referee gets them pumped up.

####

Cagalli did a mental check list of the remaining fighters for the Sharpshooters; she knew Nick and his brother Max had some kind of bet going on so that left only three fighters. Cagalli hadn't been expecting to fight today so she hadn't memorized all of their opponent's stats however she was confident that Kenny would be able to feed her the information when she needed it.

"You seem pretty excited princess." Shadow says with a huge grin as he pops up on Cagalli's helmet screen.

"Don't call me a princess," Cagalli says more out of reflex than anything else at this point in time, "And I'm not excited, I'm annoyed that I have to go out and fight today."

"Really?" Shadow says with obvious skepticism.

"Yes really, I know you may find this hard to believe Shadow but not everyone loves Gundam fighting, in fact some people don't even know why we need Gundams in the first place." Cagalli says more aggressively then she meant.

"Are you kidding me, Gundams are awesome! How can anyone think we don't need them?"

"Gundams are weapons of mass destruction and the only thing they're good for is killing people; if I could I would erase them from existence." Cagalli says with intense venom.

"You're wrong!" Shadow says just as intensely back, "Gundams are more than just weapons, they're dream catchers that help us do impossible things, they're wish granters that make our dreams into reality; Nightwing is my very soul given weapon form!"

"Gundams are just weapons, no different than a gun, which people use to take what they want with violence, there's not a single good thing they can do." Cagalli counters.

"Weapons and guns don't kill people Cagalli, people kill people; guns, swords, and other weapons are just tools and people decide what tools are for." Shadow replies stopping Cagalli right in her tracks. Before Cagalli can think of a response the green light goes off singling that La Rouge can launch into the arena.

"We'll talk about this later but until then don't do anything stupid." Cagalli wasn't sure why but she just had a feeling that Shadow was still angry about Roxas's getting attacked by the Blood's, Cagalli was too but when Shadow got angry he tended to do something stupid.

"Yea, yea just make sure you win." Shadow responds as he walks out of the monitor's line of sight. Cagalli didn't believe her impulsive friend but she didn't have time to think about it as La Rouge got ready to launch.

"Cagalli Yula Athha, piloting La Rouge, launching!" La Rouge launches into the city arena, Cagalli was careful to avoid any buildings. La Rouge does a flip in the air and lands gently on the ground, a perfect landing, than turns right and takes off. It would still be a few minutes before the fight officially began and Cagalli wanted to use that time to hide somewhere so that she could see who she's fighting and possibly even ambush them.

####

"It's the moment you've been waiting for, it's time for the second round match! Representing the Sharpshooters is Kumi Mai piloting Knapp and he will be fighting against Cagalli Yula Athha piloting La Rouge! Many of you might remember Cagalli from last week's battle against the Valkyries; will she pull out another victory to make up for her team leader's mistake?"

"Not if I can help it my friend!" Kumi pops up on the main monitors as his Gundam nimbly jumps up on top of one of the buildings. Like its pilot Knapp is short and skinny for a Gundam sporting a colorful flashy scheme with different shapes as well as a metal 1795 French Navy hat.

"Confident aren't you Kumi?" the referee says to the pilot before turning his attention back to the crowd, "I heard from several of my coworkers beforehand that Kumi here likes to steal the ring leading from us referees."

Knapp does a mock bow as Kumi apologizes, "My apologies my friend, I guess that's the old circus performer in my getting carried away, now are you folks ready to get this match started?!" Kumi shouts fueling the roaring cries of the fans. The referee glares at the fighter who stole his thunder, while he had been warned that Kumi had the tendency to take over he hadn't expected it to be this bad.

"My job." The referee grumbles underneath his breath as he begins the countdown. Meanwhile down in the arena La Rouge creeps its head out from behind one of the building to observe its opponent. _Wow, this guy might even be stupider then Shadow. _Cagalli thinks as Kenny pops up and begins giving her information on her opponent.

"Knapp is a Marksman type mobility class Gundam, it specializes in close combat gun fighting, be careful of Knapp's finger guns and the hidden beam shotguns under its arm guards." Cagalli nods her head as she recalls the briefing they had about this guy.

"He's the counterattack specialist right?" Cagalli asks Kenny.

"Yup so watch out when you attack." Kenny confirms. Cagalli once again nods her head and begins to slowly advance on Kumi, if she ambushed him then Kumi shouldn't have enough time to counterattack.

"Three, two, ONE!" Kumi counts down with the audience much to the referee's annoyance. On one La Rouge jumps out of cover and quickly dashes towards Knapp. In the blink of an eye La Rouge wall climbs the building, pulls out its beam guan dao and performs a left horizontal slash Kumi however sees the attack coming out of the corner of his eyes and with a small smile times his jump perfectly. Without turning around Knapp jumps high into the air and easily dodges La Rouge's attack. Before Cagalli has time to process this Knapp does a back flip and fluidly pencil dives into La Rouge's exposed back sending the winged Gundam flying into the building across the street.

La Rouge smashes into the brick building making a nice oval hole but otherwise the building itself suffers little damage. Knapp lands lightly back on its feet still on the roof of the same building and does a little dance.

"And Cagalli pops up at the start of the match with a surprise attack but I avoid it with ease and counterattack with a devastating kick attack that sent her flying!" Kumi announces once more pissing off the referee.

"God damn it stop stealing my job! I'm the announcer!" The referee finally loses his cool and screams at the fighter.

"Holy crap, that was a freaking nice dodge!" Tim says surprised.

"Not really, at first glance it may look like Kumi was an idiot for choosing that spot but by going on top of the building he was able to see any attacks coming with seconds to spare." Drake says in a gloomy voice.

"Seconds?" Tim asks with his eyebrow raised.

"Yes, for a person of his experience and specialization seconds is all he needs. This isn't good, Cagalli can't use the Wing system yet and she's fighting against the worst type of opponent for her skill set."

Cagalli gets up and shakes her head a little dazed. "Are you alright Cagalli?" Kenny asks.

"Yeah I'm alright Kenny." Cagalli replies back as she stares up at her opponent. _He read my attack so easily; I've got a bad feeling about this. _Knapp jumps down from the building and begins to casually walk towards La Rouge as Kumi begins to address Cagalli on the public channel.

"Tis, tis, tis a surprise attack? A match that ends that quickly would have been extremely boring and our beautiful fans paid good money to be entertained." The crowd roars in response as Knapp gestures to them with its hand. Cagalli clenches her jaw but doesn't allow herself to fall for such an obvious bait. La Rouge pulls itself out of the building and drops to the ground and walks up to Knapp, the two Gundams are not even and arm's length away from each other.

"Sorry but I'm here to win not entertain." Cagalli responds back strongly drawing several cheers from the crowd.

"Heh I see." Kumi says but doesn't move.

"Tension grips the air as both Gundam pilots stare each other down waiting for the other to make the first move." The referee sensing his chance to reclaim his position describes the atmosphere in the stadium perfectly as everyone begins to hold their breath waiting. Seconds pass as both fighters continue to stare at each other than without warning La Rouge swings its beam guan dao in a right upward diagonal slash but in the same heart beat Knapp swiftly ducks down, spins and counterattacks with its leg using the extra momentum from the spin.

La Rouge flips its beam guan dao around and deflects the kick with the pole side before flipping it around again and performs a stab attack aimed at the still squatting Knapp. Knapp quickly hops on one hand and does several backflips backwards gaining some distance from La Rouge before opening fire with its finger guns. Knapp raises its hands and points its fingers at La Rouge as tiny beam bullets come flying out. La Rouge quickly dives left dodging the attack as Knapp stops firing. La Rouge gets up as once more the two fighters stare off. The whole action happens in less than a minute.

The crowd gasps in shock as Cagalli stares at her opponent a little unnerved. "I'm surprised, I can't recognize your fighting style however behind every fighting style there is an underlying objective or meaning and I can tell what yours is, power manipulation." Kumi says with a sly smile.

"I use khiêu vũ, a fighting style I learned from a desert nomad tribe in Haben that specializes in manipulating you're enemy's own power and using it against them…..the same as your style." It had been an extremely odd feeling having her own energy being manipulate while she in turned tried to manipulate his energy.

Kumi grins in responds, "Correct, I use the Royal Jester style, founded by a circus Jester to the king of Obtrus. Although our fighting styling might be different their underlying principle is the same, this should make the fight very interesting." Without hesitation Knapp once again opens fire with its beam finger guns but La Rouge is just as fast and moves left dodging the attack. Without missing a beat La Rouge jumps up onto one of the buildings and wall runs straight towards Knapp and performs another stab attack but Knapp reads this move easily and backflips out of the way.

La Rouge drops to the ground and rushes Knapp but Knapp also rushes forward and engages in hand to hand combat with La Rouge. Both Gundams go all out in a series of rapid speed attacks and deflections; Knapp uses its hands and legs while La Rouge uses its beam guan dao for both offense and defense. Their movements are fast with both fighters trying to feed off each other's power and use it against their opponent, however there are some differences. Knapp uses a large amount of jumps and rolls in his attacks and defenses making him look more acrobatic while La Rouge uses twirls and bends making it look more balletic.

"Don't blink or else you might miss something as La Rouge and Knapp go head to head." The referee announces fully enjoying having his job back.

"This battle is a completely different battle from the one before." Violet says marveling once again at how Gundam Fighters could be so different.

"True, the first battle was a typical male stereotypical battle of strength and endurance while this is a battle of skill and speed; the person who can successfully manipulate the other's power will have the overwhelming advantage." Blake adds on.

"That's why Cagalli is going to fail." Drake says coldly to Tim.

"Don't be so negative," Tim snaps back, "and that doesn't explain anything!"

"Weren't you listening to what I said, this is a battle of skill and SPEED."

La Rouge goes to sweep out Knapp's feet but Knapp jumps up into the air and eagle dives straight into La Rouge knocking it back. La Rouge stumbles for a moment but quickly regains its footing and swings its beam guan dao in response but Knapp grabs the pole and swings it and La Rouge over its head intending to smash La Rouge into the ground like a hammer but La Rouge shifts its position in mid-air and lands squarely on its feet cracking the ground a little under the force. La Rouge transfers the momentum to the blade end of its pole and tries to flip Knapp over its head.

However the moment Knapp reaches the arc it lets go of the beam guan dao and delivers a powerful double kick straight into La Rouge's head knocking the Gundam head first into the ground. Knapp does a backflip backwards and allows La Rouge to slowly get back up. Cagalli is breathing hard as she stares unblinkingly at her opponent. _What the hell is going on, even though we're both power manipulation users how is his attack speed so much greater than mine?_

"Confused?" Kumi asks as he pops up on Cagalli's helmet screen with a smile. "Let me guess, you're wondering how come my attack speed is so much faster than yours right?" Cagalli grits her teeth as Kumi nails it. "You shouldn't feel bad, the answers' simple really and it's not a fault of yours per say. It's experience."

"Experience?"

"That's right, manipulation of power is an extremely complex type of fighting where you have to constantly be calculating stuff, like where to hit your opponent, how much force you need to steer the attack and each calculation has to be extremely accurate, down to the tenth of a degree while a simple stretch punch on the other hand requires no thought at all."

"So what, I already knew that but I can still deflect and manipulate a straight punch with no problem."

"True, but that's because the person is most likely charging you while you remain stationary giving you that extra few seconds you need to do your calculations but the point I'm making is that you still have to think about those calculations." Cagalli still looks confused so Kumi explains further. "Even if it's just a second you still have to spend time thinking about those calculations and that's what slows your attack speed down. I on the other hand have spent my whole life in the circus performing stunts high above the ground where a single mistake could cost me my life.

After spending years upon years making those same calculations hundreds of times a day I'm no longer even aware of it any more, I'm evolved to the point where I'm making those calculations on a subconscious level which means it requires no time for me."

"Oh crap! But that doesn't mean Cagalli's going to lose just because her opponents can make such complex attacks faster than she can." Tim counters trying to mask his worry.

"No but it makes her extremely handicapped, her fighting style has basically been nullified and since she can't use La Rouge's wing system yet, it drastically limits her offensive and defensive options." Drake replies while he leans back in his chair and stretches. Tim begins to bite his nails.

"Not good, what's going to happen?"

"She's probably going to lose, anyway watch my seat will you, I'm going for a walk."

"NOW?!" Tim asks shocked, but Drake just casually gets up and walks away without another word. Meanwhile down in the arena Cagalli stares Kumi down fighting a rising anger in her.

"Is that why you've been holding back?"

Kumi looks genuinely surprised by this. "Holding back?"

"Don't play dumb. The Shadow Knights have researched you and your team and we are well aware that you have a hidden beam shotgun in both your armguards not to mention you haven't taken full advantage of your finger guns in our close quarters fight." Kumi looks startled for a moment but then smiles in acceptance.

"It looks like I've been found out, don't get the wrong idea though it's not like I was mocking you it's just that as a performer I find a fight coming to an end so quickly to be terribly boring and I also didn't want to hurt your feelings."

"I see; then try not to feel too bad when I take advantage of your overconfidence!" Cagalli shouts with anger as she charges forward. La Rouge raises its beam guan dao in a stab attack aimed at Knapp's chest.

"A stab attack again, that won't work on me." Kumi says as he prepares to dodge and counter but he quickly eats his words as La Rouge stops short and throws its beam guan dao instead, Knapp quickly leans right but the spear still nicks it slightly as it stabs into the ground right behind Knapp. "Getting desperate enough to throw your only weapon."

"Who's desperate?!" Cagalli shouts back as La Rouge gets right up into Knapp's face and twirls in an attempt to sweep out its legs but Knapp easily jumps into the air dodging it.

"Too slow!"

"Wasn't aiming for you!" La Rouge's leg slams into its beam guan dao kicking it up into the air, the blade spins wildly and Knapp barely manages to avoid a hit but because of its mid-air dodge Knapp lands on the ground off balance, just what Cagalli was aiming for. With a burst of speed La Rouges closes the gap between the Gundams and delivers a powerful punch straight into Knapp's face sending the Gundam flying into one of the buildings. Without missing a beat La Rouge easily catches its falling beam guan dao and goes in for the kill.

"Shit!" Kumi shouts as Knapp raises its arm and fires one of its beam shotguns. Cagalli's eyes open wide as she quickly switches gears and has La Rouge side step right barely avoiding the beam bullet which punches a perfectly round hole right through the road and into the sewer below. Kumi is breathing heavily having been just moments away from defeat but Cagalli pops up on the public channel and says with a huge smirk on her face, "If you want to continue holding back that's fine, but don't use it as an excuse when you lose."

The crowd roars in cheers and applause as chants of Cagalli's name start springing up, "Ohhh what fiery confidence, what will you do now Kumi?" The referee asks but Kumi isn't even listening to him anymore.

Kumi regains his breath and smiles back in response, "Very well, let's get serious then." Within the same heartbeat Knapp fires another shotgun blast at La Rouge.

####

Shadow could hear the screams of cheers as he walked quickly through the food court towards the exit, judging by the Cagalli chants he figured that Cagalli must be kicking ass. Shadow had snuck away once the fight had started to get good, even though it killed him, while everyone else was distracted. The food courts were deserted not that it was any surprise considering everyone whose anyone would probably be glued to their seats watching the fight, but Shadow had other things he had to do, things he didn't think the others would approve of if they knew about it so he had decide to keep quiet and get it done himself.

"And where are you off to?" Drake asks popping out from a corner catching Shadow completely by surprise. "I wonder if hell's frozen over because I never thought I would see the day when you walk out of a Gundam fight early, especially when it's a teammate's fight." Shadow doesn't respond but stares straight at Drake with his determined eyes. Drake in turn eyes Shadow annoyed. "Well I really don't care since I don't like that girl to begin with and if she loses maybe-"

"Cagalli won't lose." Shadow says with unwavering confidence. Drake blinks in surprise but recovers quickly and smiles and shrugs his shoulders.

"I wouldn't be too sure about that, her opponent is not only a more experienced user of a power manipulation fighting style but just in case he also has beam shotguns which deal extreme damage in close combat."

"There's no way Cagalli will lose, I know it." Shadow says with his opinion unmoving like a brick wall. Drake in turns eyes the Gundam Fighter right back and then decides to get straight to the point.

"Let's cut the crap, you're planning on going to attack the Blood aren't you?!"

"That's right." Shadow says not bothering to deny it.

"That's unacceptable!"

"But it's acceptable for them to just go and attack Jack and Roxas?!" Shadow snaps back letting his anger sweep on through.

"No it's not but there are other ways to handle that."

"Now who's the one giving the bullshit, you're talking to a bully victim here Drake and I know for a fact that bullies don't stop when you go rat on them to the teacher, the only true way to beat a bully is to fight them head on and force them to stop!"

"You're not a little kid anymore; you're the team leader of the Shadow Knights so act like it!" Drake roars louder than Shadow has ever heard. "You can't just go and break rules whenever you feel like, because doing that will always come back to bite you in the ass like in your match today!" Shadow bites his lips as Drake brings up how his stupidity had cost his team a match, if that had been the final match Shadow would have cost them the victory. "It also doesn't help matters that your opponent is a mafia backed team, and at your current level you'd probably get killed over there by yourself. Yet even if you did have the power to beat them, untamed wild power that doesn't abide the rules always has serious consequences."

Shadow grits his teeth and clenches his hands into tight fist as he fights his frustration, "So what am I supposed to do, they attacked my friends; are you telling me that I should just forget about that?!"

Drake looks Shadow straight in the eye and says in an even voice, "I'm telling you, you have to bear with it for now. There is a time and a place for everything, and right now it is not the time to go and attack the Bloods. You are the leader of a Gundam team which means you have to be thinking on a much bigger level then your teammates."

Shadow with reluctance seems to submit to Drake, "I've never been good with politics." Shadow says. Drake smiles, it was no big secret how much Shadow hated politics.

"Don't worry that's what us managers are here for," Drake suddenly grows very serious, "but make no mistake, I'm just as angry as you are."

####

"La Rouge and Knapp are neck and neck trading in a series of high-speed attacks, I know I've already said this but in case you didn't hear don't you dare blink because this battle can be over in a second!" The referee shouts to the screaming crowd. La Rouge and Knapp are wall-running on parallel buildings from each other, Knapp opens fire with its finger guns but La Rouge nimbly evades the beam bullets. Both Gundams jump off the walls towards each other, La Rouge slashes with its beam guan dao while Knapp fires its beam shotgun but both attacks miss as they switch sides and continue running.

La Rouge and Knapp continue to do this as both sides try to hit their target, _this isn't good, I thought with khiêu v__ũ __I would be able to ignore his beam shotguns and be able to get into close range of him but he's just more experienced than me and with that beam shotgun of his I can't stay near him long enough to make a hit. Damn it if only I could use La Rouge's wing system, I could use the upgrade beam rifle._

Knapp suddenly jumps upward and lightly lands on top of the building it was wall climbing on, Cagalli blinks in surprise and quickly has La Rouge follow suit by landing on a building right across the street from Knapp. Kumi appears on Cagalli's helmet screen with a big grin on his face.

"You are indeed a fantastic fighter, it was clever of you to make this fight into a running battle allowing you to keep your distance from my beam shotguns while at the same time letting you get in close to attack me with your beam spear but alas a good performer knows when it's time for the curtain to close so let's end this." Kumi says in his grand voice as Knapp bends down and begins to fire its beam shotguns straight down into the buildings it's standing on. Cagalli looks at Kumi confused as to what he's up to.

"Kenny do you have any idea what's he doing?" Cagalli asks.

"No I do-Cagalli GET THE HELL OUT OF THERE!" Kenny screams startling Cagalli.

"TOO LATE!" Kumi shouts as the building Knapp is standing on begins to lean and collapse towards La Rouge's building, the two buildings collide and crumble down sending La Rouge falling to the ground below. La Rouge hits the ground hard but with relative ease hops right back up onto its legs as Knapp calmly walks towards it.

"I'm not exactly sure what just happened but it seems like Knapp purposely collapsed the building it was standing on so that it would fall into the building La Rouge was standing on." The referee announces to the confusion of the crowd.

"Heh for a finishing move that was kind of weak." Cagalli says as she wipes her cheek. Kumi however in respond just grins.

"No Cagalli you don't understand it's a trap!" Kenny shouts in full blown panic mode.

"A trap?" Cagalli asks confuse not realizing she's still on the public channel with Kumi.

"Correct." Kumi says startling Cagalli as Knapp spreads its hand out wide. "Why don't you take a good look around." Hesitant Cagalli nevertheless looks around and that's when it dawns on her.

"W-wh-what HAPPEN TO THE ARENA?!" Cagalli shouts in panic, La Rouge and Knapp were currently surrounded by collapsed and broken buildings lying on their sides, forming an almost perfect circle around the two fighters like a separate arena within an arena.

"Heheheh did you think we sent Oda out first for no reason?"

"Wow, I'm even more impressed now with the Sharpshooters and Oda, to think that while he was fighting Shadow he was also setting up the arena for the next fight." Violet analyzes while Blake remains silent and focus on the match.

_So Gundam Fights can be fought like this. _Cagalli thinks to herself as she takes stock of her situation.

"Cagalli you can't stay there, the circle is too small which will give Kumi the advantage with his beam shotguns."

"I know Kenny." Cagalli says remembering to speak on the private communications link this time before turning her attention back to Kumi. "Wow having Oda setup the arena beforehand was a clever plan in principle but it's not like there's anything keeping me here, I can just wall climb away." As if to demonstrate La Rouge attempts to wall climb one of the fallen buildings but immediately Cagalli felt something off, the building under her feet felt unstable somehow compared to before.

"Hehehe I'm afraid that's not going to be as easy as you think." Kumi says with a smile as he opens fire on the building Cagalli is climbing on, Knapp fires its finger guns and causes the spots underneath La Rouge's feet to crumble away. La Rouge lands on its feet with little trouble as Cagalli looks up in disbelief. "Those building have collapsed; did you think they would be stable? I'm sure if you had the time and could give it the attention you would have no trouble wall climbing out of here, but I don't plan on giving you either."

Knapp charges forward and does a round house kick aimed at La Rouge's head, La Rouge ducks down dodging the blow and engages Knapp in close combat again but this time it's different, Knapp is using its beam shotguns. La Rouge is forced on the defensive as it leans, twirls and dives to avoid a shotgun blast but still blast after blast explodes near La Rouge's face and if the microphone filters weren't working Cagalli was sure that she would have gotten some serious hearing damage by now.

"Trap, cornered like a rat, as someone fires a shotgun, what….can…Cagalli….DO!" The referee screams purposely raising the tension in the arena as the fans wave their banners and scream their favorites onward.

_Damn it is there nothing I can do! I can't get out of here and I can't get a hit on this guy without risking taking a shotgun blast to the chest! _Cagalli thinks with frustration as La Rouge swings its beam guan dao at Knapp's feet but Knapp jumps up into the air dodging the attack and fires its beam shotgun blast which La Rouge barely avoids by diving to the ground and rolling away but Knapp lands on the ground and fires a second shot.

Once more though La Rouge dodges by hopping up onto its feet, the ground where its head had been laying explodes into more rubble. Knapp doesn't let up though and fires another beam shotgun blast, this one nicks La Rouge right in the right wing. Burning, searing, agonizing pain rips through Cagalli, "ARGHAHHA!" Cagalli screams in pain.

"Cagalli are you alright?" Kenny asks in a panic but Cagalli quickly replies

"Yea I'm alright, he just nicked me." _Stupid NS system_, Cagalli thinks as she once again begins to evade Kumi's attacks. Out of habit Cagalli begins to do a mental check to see where the pain was coming from and how badly hurt she was, of course in a Gundam that meant nothing so for the most part Cagalli was just ignoring that, until she realized she couldn't identify where the pain was coming from.

Cagalli's eyes open wide in surprise; that was impossible, pain didn't just come from nowhere, there was always a source, so why on earth couldn't she figure out which body part was in pain? All background noise faded away as Cagalli became obsessed over this one detail, where was the pain coming from? She focused the majority of her mind on the search as her instincts took over regarding the fight, yes she found the place where the pain was coming from but she didn't know where it was on her body? How could that be possible?

Cagalli focused her mind on the point of the pain, feeling through the sense of touch of what this body part could be. It felt like a limb, but she knew it wasn't her arms or legs, and now that she was looking Cagalli could feel an almost identical limb to it, they were both on her back. Both of these mysterious limbs began to twitch as Cagalli fixated on them, Cagalli found that she could move them, up, down, left, right, they also appeared to fold inward and extend outward. At first the movements were small but as her mind began to get more used to them the larger the movements became and then it suddenly it hit Cagalli.

"These, these are La Rouge's wings." Cagalli says in a quiet voice, too stunned to fully comprehend everything, _is this what wings feel like? _Cagalli asks realizing that no one but birds could possibly answer her question.

"Cagalli what are you doing?!" Kenny's cries finally manage to break through to Cagalli as sound and her surroundings all come rushing back.

"HAHAHA I've got you now!" Kumi shouts as Knapp prepares to fire its beam shotgun. There was no room for La Rouge to move either right or left, Cagalli was frozen, too many things were happening at once and she didn't know what to do but a single voice like a lightning bolt pierces her confusion and tells her exactly what she should do.

"Cagalli FLY!" Shadow screams after finally returning to the team room. Cagalli acts without thinking, you don't think about moving your arms or legs you just move it. La Rouge squats down and spreads its wings, the engines on its wings roar to life as La Rouge jumps straight up high into the air. La Rouge reaches a good one hundred meters off the ground before coming to a stop.

"La Rouge has flown! La Rouge has taken to the skies!" The referee cries as the crowd cheers their heart out. Kumi looks panicked, they knew La Rouge had flight capabilities but because of her match with the Valkyries they figured she hadn't yet mastered it yet, a miscalculation that had come to bite them in the ass.

"Kumi!" Sky shouts one word that expresses all of his fears, and concerns. His trap had backfired, now it only restricted his movement, and with La Rouge having the height advantage it was clear who had the advantage. Luckily La Rouge didn't have any long range weapons or else Kumi would really be screwed, he still had a chance to hit her when she came in to attack him with her spear. Knapp began to open fire with its finger guns however the finger guns didn't have the greatest accuracy against distance targets.

La Rouge hovered in the air looking down on the ground below; it looked so small to Cagalli, she could feel the wind lightly blowing on her skin, a light breeze was blowing. She could also feel the strain of her weight on her wings…HER WINGS! It was crazy, Cagalli didn't have wings but the NS system just made it feel exactly like if she had wings, it was incredible. This wasn't the first time she had flown, airplanes, in other Gundams, the archangel she could go on but all those times just felt so abstract. Cagalli had known she was flying but she could not feel it anymore then a person inside a building could feel the rain pouring outside.

This was completely different though, this was flying from a bird's point of view. "I can fly." Adrenaline flooded Cagalli's system as her neon gauntlet begins to glow brightly. "I CAN FLY!" Cagalli shouts out loud completely on an adrenaline high as she begins to fly through the sky. She spreads her arms out as she could feel the air rushing against her face; she could feel the thrusters pushing her forward keeping her up in the sky. Cagalli already knew that by titling her wings and shifting her weight she could change her direction but now she could feel how the air pushed against her wings and body, how the air just flowed around her like water.

La Rouge flied forward towards the stadium walls at a rapid pace but curves left and begins to fly in all sorts of directions, left, right, up, down, in circles, La Rouge even does a back flip. The flying appears awkward, like if a bird was learning to fly for the first time but that didn't matter to Cagalli. She had looked down on the NS system, to allow pilots to feel what their Gundam was feeling, that had seem like the stupidest thing in the world at the time to her.

She remembered when her arm had gotten blown off, why on earth would they want a fighter to be able to feel that? Now though she took it all back, this feeling that she was feeling right now was far worth the pain she had experienced, the NS system was the greatest idea to ever be invented.

"Well someone appears to be having a good time out there." The referee says while the crowd looks on confused.

"Cagalli, you're still in the middle of battle!" Kenny says worried, Cagalli looked like she was on something with that huge smile on her face. Cagalli slowly became aware of the beam bullets shooting past her, they weren't even close to hitting her but still it helped remind her that she was still in the middle of something.

"Right, battle." Cagalli says feeling a little disappointed that someone was interrupting her flying time. Shadow pushes Kenny out of the way…again and shouts out.

"Cagalli, use your beam rifle." If he had tried to tell her to do that earlier she would have told him he was crazy, but now she was flying, FLYING for heaven's sake. At this moment, this one beautiful moment anything was possible, the world lay at her feet and there was no limit to what she was capable of. La Rouge switches its grip on its beam guan dao, holding it like if it were a gun while also steadying itself in the air.

"I'm holding a beam rifle." Cagalli said out loud and she believed it, there was not a single cell in her body that doubted that what La Rouge was holding was in fact a beam rifle. The wing tips of La Rouge's top two wings separate from the main part of the wing and fly quickly around in the sky in an evasive fashion in case anyone tried to shoot them down, the right wing tip quickly connected itself with the beam blade, completely consuming the blade and sticking out at the end of the pole in its place. The left wing tip lands near the center of the pole, the pole folds downward at a ninety degree angle while the left wing tip itself becomes the trigger which La Rouge quickly moves its right hand over.

"Holy shit La Rouge's beam guan dao just changed into what appears to beam rifle!" The referee screams as the crowd gasps. La Rouge opens fire, firing three shots down at Knapp. There's no time to move and even if Kumi had time to move there was nowhere to move to. The first beam bullet nails Knapp in the head while the second and third shots hit the poor Gundam in the chest. For a moment the Gundam with a hole through its head remains standing but then it falls hard to the ground chest first as La Rouge continues to just hover in the sky with Cagalli breathing hard.

Silence falls on the stadium as the crowd tries to process all of the surprises that had just happened. The referee is the first to get over this and he announces in a grand voice "Knapp has been defeated; the victory goes to Cagalli Yula Athha and the Shadow Knights!" The episode ends with Cagalli being bathed in the cheers of the crowd and the roar of her now growing fan base.


	80. Episode 79 One More Shot

Episode 79 One more shot

The episode opens up in the Sharpshooters' team room; nobody was in the mood for talking. Kumi was taking his loss hard; Max knew though that it wasn't his fault. There was no way Kumi or anyone could have known that La Rouge's beam guan dao could transform into a beam rifle, and Kumi purposely waited to the end of the fight to try and confirm as much as possible that Cagalli was still unable to fly. Max wanted to say something to comfort Kumi but he knew from firsthand experience that when all of your plans blow up in your face the last thing you want is for anyone to try talking to you.

Even though Max felt for his friend and teammate he still felt relieved by this situation, there was an enormous weight on this battle, the loser would on their honor do what the winner asked of them. Max was fighting to save his little brother from a horrible mistake, a fight he had even dragged his team into so it was only fitting that the outcome for this match, the outcome for this duel be decided with a final battle between him and his brother. He stood up, drawing the attention of everyone in the depressed room. Max realized he should say something, his team was suffering and as team leader he had to inspire them.

"Heh for an E-rank team they certainly have given us a lot of trouble, it's no wonder that the Valkyries lost to them. Come to think of it I don't think anyone else has given us this much trouble, but that's what makes us Gundam Fighters. When a Sharpshooter misses you reload your gun, learn from your past mistakes and take another shot! Yea this battle hasn't gone the way we want, our wins have felt hollow and are loses have felt humiliating but even though we suffer greatly from this we can endure it! We endure because we are Gundam Fighters, and as Gundam Fighters we may know defeat and humiliation countless times but we always press straight forward like a bullet learning from our mistakes and always aiming truer. Now cheer up mates, we have one last match and as your team leader and for my own personal reason I am going to go out there and win us this battle and you will in turn help me win this tournament!" This speech gets the Sharpshooters back on their feet as new light sparks in their eyes.

"HORA!"

"Well said Max!"

"We're going to go all the way!"

"Show those rookies Max what the Sharpshooters are made of!"

####

"It was amazing! Oh my god words can't even begin to describe how it felt to soar through the air literally like a bird! I can't wait to take La Rouge out and try flying again!" Cagalli tells to a completely captivated Roxas and Shadow, since she got back that feeling of flying had been the main thing on her mind. Truth be told now that she was out of her Gundam and could no longer feel her wings Cagalli felt sort of like one of those people who had lost a limb but still get ghost impressions from where it should be.

"You were amazing my love, you were like a beautiful angel no wait a fairy no…Kenny what's a magical being that's sexy, not just beautiful but down right hot?" Roxas asks.

"Hmmm I would say a female day-walker." Kenny replies. Roxas thinks about this for a moment while a very smug Shadow leans back on the couch and says.

"So you like Gundams now huh? Not the evil mass murder machines of mayhem you thought they were right?" Cagalli finally begins to calm down somewhat as her competitiveness with Shadow kicks in, prompting her more rational side to regain control, still she reluctantly admits.

"Ok so there's one or two good things about a Gundam, but don't think that you've sold me on them yet." Shadow's grin gets even wider as he asks one more question.

"Ok well how about this, if you had the power now would you get rid of every single Gundam?" Cagalli blinks at the sudden surprise question, the Chief Representative of Orb wanted to immediately say yes, they were dangerous tools of war that should have never been created in the first place but the Shadow Knight armed with that magnificent beautiful feeling of flying surged forth and fought back like a mad-berserker and wanted her to say over her dead body. These two sides collided and Cagalli finds her mind to be in a stalemate.

"Tis, there's no point in thinking about or wishing for things that will never happen." Cagalli says in an attempt to save face from Shadow. It doesn't work as Shadow's grin gets even wider as he thinks he's secured victory. Kenny turns to Nick and says in a joking manner.

"I'm glad Cagalli's getting back to normal, I was afraid that I would have to give her a drug test later to make sure she wasn't tripping on anything with the way she's been acting."

"I can hear you!" Cagalli snaps annoyed which only causes everyone else to laugh. After a few minutes everyone calms down and then Nick sighs.

"Well it looks like I'm up mates."

"Yup, don't worry though it's not like you have to win or not only do we lose the match, the tournament and our only chance for months to get this many ranking points; oh wait it is but no pressure." Shadow says with an evil smile.

"Thanks." Nick says with sarcasm as he in turn gives Shadow a half smile. Cagalli whacks the insensitive Shadow on the head then turns to Nick and says.

"Don't listen to this dumbass Nick, I'm sure you'll do great." The others quickly agree.

"That's right."

"Yea."

Nick smiles at them and replies, "Thanks mates, anyway I better go before Jack comes looking for me, it's against my code to keep a young lady waiting." With that Nick turns around and begins to walk over towards the elevator.

As Nick passes Shadow, Shadow says in a quiet serious voice, so that no one else hears, "Make sure you win, not for me, not for the team but for your right to follow your dream." Nick stops for a moment, he also didn't want the others to hear about this but still he felt a much deeper level respect for his friend. Shadow could be a little absent minded, but he was always serious when it counted.

"Thank you." Nick says quietly back as he burns what Shadow says into his heart; his pa always said that a man has to follow through with what they decide to do.

####

"Cagalli won, she figured out how to use the Wing system and kicked ass." Tim says not bothering to hide the gloating in his voice. Drake glances at his friend and debated telling him that Cagalli did a nice job just to shut him up.

"She also flew like a drunk bird." Crap, his mouth spoke his honest opinion before he could tell the lie. Tim struggles to suppress his overwhelming urge to slap his one eyed friend and instead changes the subject.

"So how do you think Nick's going to do against his brother?"

Drake taps his fingers on the seats arm rest as he considers the question, "Max has more experience than Nick however Nick has the benefit of my training; the match can go either way, it's going to come down to who wants to win more." As Tim ponders these words the referee comes on the screens spread throughout the stadium.

"Ladies and gentleman may I have your attention please." The crowd quiets down. "Boy was that an interesting and exciting battle and with that win the Shadow Knights have tied up the score and now it all comes down to the final round. Fighting for the Shadow Knights, piloting Cowboy is Nick Mu and his opponent will be the Sharpshooters' team leader Max Mu piloting his Gundam Pistol Pete!" Confusion spreads among the crowd as some people connect the two last names.

"As some of you might realize these two are both Mus, that's right folks we have a final showdown between brothers! Ah good old sibling rivalry; although they have started from the same place they have ended up in two different positions. What will happen when guns fire and bullets blaze through the sky? We're about to find out!" The referee roars causing the crowd to go nuts.

Nick and Max launch at identical times, their Gundams land in the arena with little trouble and calmly begin to walk towards each other. There's no sense of urgency nor any attempts to hide as both fighters stare unblinkingly at their opponents. The intensity of these two determined fighters causes the audience to subconsciously grow quiet. Cowboy like Nightwing looks unchanged, its green cameo pattern color scheme has been touched up but strangely Cowboy only caries its solid green shield.

Nick stares at his opponent, his brother's Gundam Pistol Pete. Ironically Pistol Pete had a winter cameo color scheme, Max's Gundam had a body frame that was smaller than Heavy Arms yet bigger and more muscular looking than Knapp's. Pistol Pete carried a gun that looked a lot like a semi-automatic pistol in a hostler on its hip. "That's the Decker 400, a fine beam pistol if I say so myself."

As if reading his mind Nick's brother Max pops up on his helmet screen, explaining his gun. Pistol Pete and Cowboy have stopped moving and are facing each other with about three buildings between them. Nick was reminded of an old western duel between cowboys back in the A.D. era. _Shadow is probably loving this right now. _Nick thinks as he responds to Max "Thanks mate but I already knew that, our programmer and mechanic are pretty good."

Max returns his brother's polite smile with his own, "Heh I see; then you also know that Pistol Pete is a marksmen type cowboy class Gundam."

"That's right, a hype balance Gundam." Nick says not backing down to his older sibling.

"Very good but having an even set of stats isn't the only thing the cowboy class is capable of. I'm only going to ask you this one time little bro, surrender now. In all the times we've played together at the range you've never once beat me in paintball, and I've only gotten stronger and more skilled now that I've become a Gundam Fighter and have Pistol Pete. If you surrender now I promise I'll find a good replacement for your team."

Cowboy raises its shield in response as it adjusts its footing slightly and extends its right hand outward a little, like a person preparing to reach for its gun in its holster. "I'm sorry mate but this is one battle I won't back down from and you'll find that I also have gotten stronger since our days at the ranch, and Cowboy is no push over."

Max sighs, he hadn't expected his brother to agree but his own code compelled him to try however with Nick's answer Max steels his soul and sharpens his gaze, he was the team leader of the Sharpshooters so he needed to win this fight to ensure victory for his team, to ensure his brother's future happiness, and for the sake of the fans who came all the way from their home district to support the team. At this moment in time Nick was no longer his younger brother, he was an enemy that Max would not hesitate to shoot down.

The two Gundams continue to stare at each other for what felt like hours, concentration and endurance were key here. That was the first thing Nick's father had taught him regarding being in a standoff, if you blink or relax you're guard your opponent will get the drop on you. At the same time you have to be completely focused on your opponent to catch those little mistakes and to miss one of those mistakes is to give your opponent another chance to finish you off. So you needed to have exceptional concentration, along with observational skills and the endurance to maintain that concentration or at least that's how a normal showdown between two gunmen would go down.

Pistol Pete moved first, reaching for its beam pistol with its right hand but using the word "move" would be the biggest understatement of the century. Pistol Pete's hands become a blur, as Pistol Pete draws its beam pistol and grabs it with its left hand and takes aim with a two hand stance. Nick realizes that even if he started to draw his own beam gun now it was not humanly possible for him to even get a shot off before his brother aimed and fire; no Nick wasn't consciously thinking this, the speed at which Pistol Pete's hands were moving was beyond even human thought.

The thing that was doing the analyzing was Nick's instincts as a gunman. Nick always had good instincts regarding guns, the same could be said for every member of the Mu family but thanks to Drake's training and all of the battle experience he had been gaining recently those instincts had been sharpened like the point of a piercing round, and they now screamed at Nick to raise his shield and cover his head. Sensing the impending danger Nick's body begins to move without hesitation, listening to the instincts.

This entire span of action takes a fraction of a second, luckily Cowboy's shield was already covering most of its body so it takes only a slight movement to have the shield cover its head but that's the only movement that Cowboy is capable of making. In the time it takes Cowboy to make that movement Pistol Pete has already taken out its beam pistol, aimed, and fired. The beam bullet has a blue-green tint color and seems to also punch through the air with pure force rather than piercing and sliding through it like other beam bullets.

This strange beam bullet doesn't just stop at punching through the air, it punches right through Cowboy's shield after pausing for only a fraction of a moment and slices a piece of Cowboy's cheek clean off. Sparks fly as wires are reveal where the metal armor had only been moments ago.

"What the hell just happened?!" Shadow screams right in Kenny's ear, shocked!

"That's impossible, I used liturzon anti-beam coating on that shield, there's no way a beam bullet can punch through it in one hit!" Jack screams down in the Gundam bay as she yanks her face as close as possible to the monitor."

Tim is up on his feet stretching dangerously far off the railings with his binoculars, "As expected from Nick's older brother, that quick draw was simply amazing for a D-rank pilot." Drake has a hand on Tim's shirt holding the rocker from falling off the railings while he himself looks down at the battlefield with just his naked eye. Vision training from his days as a Gundam Fighter was still useful even today.

"It's not that impressive when you remember his Gundam's class, what's really impressive is that Nick was able to see that attack coming and blocked it."

"Blocked it?" Tim asks in surprise as he turns to look back at Drake. This motion causes Drake to temporarily lose his grip on Tim, almost resulting in the rocker falling to his death, what a sad way to die but Drake quickly reattaches his grip on the front of Tim's shirt and pulls his friend back onto the ground.

"Blocked it might be a strong term but there's no denying that Max was originally aiming for Nick's head with that attack. The slight resistance caused by the shield and Cowboy titling its head in response to raising its shield caused the beam bullet to miss. It wasn't something Nick had time to think about, it was done by pure instinct." Drake continues on as if his friend almost falling to death was a regular occurrence, and stares at the battle down in the arena.

Cowboy moves at a rapid pace, Nick had to get a shot in now before his brother fired that gun again. Cowboy's own beam handgun pops up from the secret compartment that would normally hold a beam saber. Grabbing it with its right hand Cowboy quickly lines up its shot and open fires. It's clear from the first beam bullet that these aren't the same beam bullets that are fired from a standard beam rifle; they're smaller but more condensed and have a light sea blue tint to them.

Pistol Pete begins to dodge the beam bullets by moving in various directions, it uses its thrusters with absolute precision and ability evading the beam bullets with ease. "You're going to have to do better than this little bro." Nick grits his teeth; Max was tracing the path of beam bullets by looking at the angle of his gun. Pistol Pete almost seeming to ignore the beam bullets raises its own beam pistol and opens fire, unlike when Cowboy fired Pistol Pete's hands are once again a blur as they almost appear to fire a dozen beam bullets at the same time.

It happens too fast for Nick to see which means that dodging the beam bullets like normal would be impossible now, but still there were other dodging methods he could use. Cowboy drops to the ground like a bag of bricks as the beam bullets fly right over its head, without pausing Cowboy throws its shield at Pistol Pete's face. "Really?" Max asks in a mocking voice as Pistol Pete easily titles its head dodging the shield. Cowboy fires at the shield, hitting it in midair and changing its direction.

The shield now flips forward and comes close to nailing Pistol Pete in the head but Max has never taken his eyes off Nick's gun and easily predicts what his brother had intended to do. "Clever but not good enough" Pistol Pete ducks its head and the shield crashes harmlessly to the ground, not that it could have down any damage to the Gundam in the first place. Max continues to keep his eyes on Cowboy's beam gun, which is why he never saw the beam bullet pierce his left arm.

Max just felt excruciating pain in his left arm as the beam passes through it, still this wasn't the first time Max had been shot in a Gundam battle, hell Max had been shot outside Gundams several times before so the pain he felt while terrible didn't stop his brain from working. Focusing his blurry and teary vision Max instantly traced back where the shot had come from, Cowboy was holding a second beam pistol in its left hand. _A second gun! _Max thought stunned, he had never seen Nick use a second gun before, he didn't even know Nick could shoot left handed!

Nick grits his teeth annoyed, even though he was ambidextrous he still wasn't used to shooting with his left hand. Nick had been aiming for the chest but his shot had been off a little since he was in a laying position, he obviously needed more practice shooting left handed. Cowboy quickly readied a second shot but Pistol Pete fires first forcing the green camo Gundam to roll out of the way giving Pistol Pete the time it needs to fall back.

"A second gun, it looks like Cowboy not only changed the type of beam gun he uses but also the amount of guns he carries! That surprise attack has caught Pistol Pete completely off guard and now he's down one arm, how will Max respond?" The referee asks the cheering crowd.

"Since when can you fire duel guns, and are they Razors?" Max asks his brother as Sky gives him a quick damage report.

"It's no good Max, he nailed you good in your left arm. You won't be able to move it for the rest of the battle." It was just as Max feared, well it wasn't like he couldn't shoot with just his right arm but he now lost out on the advantage the thrusters on his left arm gave him.

"I'm not the same mate as I was back on the ranch!" Nick shouts as Cowboy hops up onto its feet and opens fire on Pistol Pete with a barrage of bullets. "What about you bro, you've always been a quick draw but never this god like?"

Max has to really concentrate now that there were two guns in play, literally dividing his focus between the barrels of the guns and it was quickly starting to ware on him but he couldn't let his brother see that. "Heheh it seems like you missed the cowboy class's special trait, it has thrusters on its arms that increase my draw speed and overall shooting speed." Two beam bullets nick Pistol Pete on its arms and legs. The damage wasn't even worthy of being called an injury but it would only get worse if the battle continued like this.

Max didn't normally like to shoot one handed but that didn't mean he couldn't. Pistol Pete while still dodging Cowboy's beam bullets opens fire on its opponent with just its right hand. Pistol Pete's arm has slowed considerably with the absence of its left arm and Max's own discomfort with shooting one handed but even still Nick was just barely able to dodge it now. Cowboy makes quick sidesteps left and right with its thrusters and legs, leaning sometimes in order to avoid the piercing green-blue beam bullets. Max was still the fastest shooter Nick had ever seen.

The battle was quickly evolving into another battle of strength, concentration and endurance as both gunmen had to read the path of their opponent's bullets while simultaneously aiming their own guns and trying to hit their target. Sweat forms on both their brows as the gears in their mind struggles to spin ever faster, and faster. Analyze the path of the enemy's bullet, calculate their movement and predict their next action then fire. Nick knows that Max has more experience than he does and can predict the path a bullet will take easier than he could so Nick quickly concludes that Cowboy had to overwhelm Pistol Pete or take Max by surprise again if it ever was going to hit him again.

Pistol Pete shoots at a slower but still steady rate, taking its time and focusing more on tracking its target than trying to overwhelm it with firepower.

"Look at these bullet dodgers go!" The referee screams over the cries of the roaring fans. "Even with one arm the Sharpshooter's team leader is still holding his own against Nick, I guess the real question is who is going to give first!"

Max narrows his eyes; Pistol Pete turns right and shoots way above Cowboy, at the building to Cowboy's left. The piercing bullet hammers into the building and explodes sending debris straight down at Cowboy. Nick startled glances up at the sound and immediately has Cowboy jump back creating an opening that Max doesn't waste. Pistol Pete aims its gun and fires straight at Cowboy completely ignoring the falling rumble that's now in its way. Not that it matters since the hammer like bullet punches right through every single piece of ruble in its way and nails Cowboy in the right leg.

Nick howls in pain as Cowboy drops chest first to the ground, Pistol Pete advances forward to get a better shot but acting on instinct Nick bites his own lip tasting blood as Cowboy quickly shoots directly underneath the parked cars at Pistol Pete's feet. The parked cars flip up into the air and smash Pistol Pete under the chin, even a shoe box can be painful if you smash it into someone's chin. Pistol Pete stumbles backwards but then dives left behind a building as Cowboy rolls to the right, behind another building.

"Nick are you ok?" Kenny asked worried. "I'm turning off the pain sensors in your right-"

"No don't!" Nick cuts in as he suppresses the pain trying to spread throughout his body, Cowboy grabs the building, pushing its fingers through the windows and gripping onto them, and climbs back onto its feet. Nick had almost forgotten how much it hurt to get shot. "It hurts like a rattlesnake bite but it doesn't feel like it hit anything important, I can still move it mate." Kenny was clearly worried but his computer readings were telling him that Nick was right.

"Ok, I've done some cross referencing and research and I think your brother is spiking his bullets with Orza."

Cowboy keeps its back against the building as Nick gets used to the pain in his leg, "Sorry mate but my beam gun knowledge is still a little young."

"Orza is a type of mineral found in Haben, it intensifies the nuromatric energy in the beams into a strong solid form, basically making the beam into a piercing round." Jack explains as she pops on another window. "This isn't good Nick, Orza tipped beam bullets are hard to block under even the best conditions, there's no way Cowboy's armor is going to hold up to those things."

"I can see that mate." Nick says with a straight face.

"How's that arm doing Max?" Sky asks as he rapidly types at his computer terminal to reprogram the power distribution in the arm, to see if he could salvage anything.

"Other than the fact I can't move it at all its great." Max said with gritted teeth, the pain was beginning to go away. Sky looks at his team leader worried, his body may not be injured but the pain could still cause damage to the psyche.

"I wish you would let me turn off the pain sensors for your arm, there's no reason you have to keep feeling it when we've confirmed you won't be able to use it again for the rest of the battle."

Max smiles at his friend and replies back, "Sorry mate, it's against my code; a man has to feel his pain fully when he makes a mistake and gets shot. It helps to make sure he never makes that mistake again." Sky still looked worried. "It's alright, this isn't the first time I've had to shoot one handed and it won't be the last, I'm sure."

Sky nods his head and cuts out; now that Max was by himself he quickly assesses the situation and realized that he would have to do something that he really didn't want to do. Nick had the upper hand, as in an additional hand and gun to shoot at Max with. This left Max with only one option, to challenge Nick's strength of will, to make him doubt himself and lose focus enough in battle that Max would be able to take him out. Max personally didn't like to challenge people's beliefs like that, it was rude and went against what his mama had taught him but he had to do it. This wasn't a battle where he could take risks solely for his pride and comfort. As the older brother Max had to win this battle to save Nick no matter what, even if he became the thing Nick hated the most!

"So how's that leg doing little bro? If you can't move your leg any more then you should probably quit the match now, after all you were having a hard time dodging my attacks with two legs." Pistol Pete slides closer to the edge of his cover and inches his head out slightly to try and find Cowboy's location. Nick blinks surprised, Max was coming in on the private communication link; whatever he wanted to talk about he obviously didn't want anyone else hearing.

"It's doing fine mate but thanks for asking, it hurts like that time one of the cattle got free from the herd and rammed me when I wasn't looking."

"Oh yea, I remember that heh god you were what twelve back then? You were lucky it was only going at not even one fourth its normal speed."

"It still sent me flying, heh you and pa were really flipping out and wanted to take me to the hospital in town even though I kept on telling you guys that I was fine."

"Yeah, heh" Max and Nick smiled slightly as the remembered old times. "Nothing's changed since back then, you wouldn't listen to me then and you won't listen to me now." Nick's eyes grow dark.

"That was different mate."

"No it wasn't, I ended up dragging you kicking and screaming to the hospital just like I'm going to beat you in this Gundam Fight and drag you home!" Max roars causing his hunter green Neon gauntlet to start to glow. Pistol Pete sticks out its arm and fires at the building Cowboy is standing behind. Cowboy dives right as the beam bullet pierces through the building coming within inches of taking Cowboy's head. Cowboys hits the ground rolling, ignoring the pain in his leg Cowboy quickly jumps back onto its feet and opens fire on Pistol Pete's position with its twin beam guns.

"I hate to break this to you mate but I'm not twelve anymore, I'm a man now which means I have to follow my own path!" Nick shouts right back causing his own Neon gauntlet to glow. Cowboy's relentless charge of beam bullets continues to smash against the building Pistol Pete is using for cover. Max grits his teeth annoyed then Pistol Pete flips around and wall climbs the building. Pistol Pete runs up to the top of the building then jumps off firing at Cowboy from above in midair.

"Wrong, regardless of how old you are you'll always be my little brother, which will forever make it my job to watch out for you when you're making a stupid mistake!" Max shouts out in response. Cowboy spots Pistol Pete flying above its head and manages to avoid a lethal blow by dropping to the ground and barrel rolling to the left but the piercing shot still manages to slice off part of Cowboy's right shoulder before disappearing underneath the ground.

"You think it's a mistake to follow one's heart mate!" Nick spits back as Cowboy while lying down open fires on Pistol Pete. Pistol Pete lands on its feet and begins to evade the beam bullets before turning around and begins to run west.

"Don't be so naïve little brother, this isn't a fairy tale where all it takes is true love for the hero to find his girl and they live happily ever after. The real world doesn't work like that!"

Cowboy jumps to its feet and begins to pursue Pistol Pete while continuing to fire on it with its twin beam guns. "So just because something is hard you want me to give up! That's against my code mate and I thought it was against yours!" Pistol Pete leads Cowboy into a street where the buildings are very close together meaning that no one can duck behind a building for cover.

"You're one to talk! I'm your brother damn it, you can spin that story for everyone else to hear and they might believe you but I know the truth!" Pistol Pete turns around and kicks out into the air, from its feet a grenade like object appears. Cowboy doesn't have time to react as a bright light fills up the sky and arena. A protective shield around the audience quickly activates and protects them from harm.

"A flash bang grenade!" Cagalli shouts startled!

"What the hell, since when does he have one of those?!" Shadow screams in a panic while Kenny continues to type at the computer in order to assess the situation.

"I don't know, it must be something they put in for the tournament!"

Nick stumbles as his vision turns white, as a gunman and in a gun battle he knew that this was the worst case situation to be in. Without hesitation he turns left, in the direction where he believed the buildings are and runs while opening fire on the building with Cowboy's beam pistols. The beam bullets tear through the front of the building, softening it up a little as Cowboy literally rams through it at full speed dodging several of Pistol Pete's shots along the way. "The truth is mate that you don't want to admit that you were wrong! I watched you mate; I saw how you always politely turned down every girl who tried to hit on you!

Ma had you so wrapped up in the idea of true love; that you would be able to instinctively feel when that life partner walked on by! The real reason you're chasing after this fantasy is because you're scared you made a mistake! You don't want to admit that you were wrong, that your instincts were wrong that those feelings you thought you felt from her NEVER EXISTED!"

Cowboy pops out of the building it had sunk in before, its armor was a little damaged from the ramming attack but it's nothing too serious. Cowboy begins to wall climb the building while performing evasive actions in order to dodge Pistol Pete's attacks. Nick blinks his eyes, they were beginning to clear but his soul felt shaken. Max had hit him with a type of bullet he could not dodge, Nick remembered when he took Valencia horseback riding, it was the first time she had ever ridden a horse before, she looked so scared. Nick's Neon gauntlet begins to dim.

Cowboy reaches the top of the building, turns and opens fire on Pistol Pete but this attack feels halfhearted. Despite the hail of beam bullets from above Pistol Pete doesn't even have to move much in order to avoid every single shot. "You were taught all of your life to trust your instincts regarding people, to let them tell you who a person was and I have to admit that your instincts regarding people have always been really good. That's probably why it terrifies you so much that those very same instincts you've trusted for years got it wrong!"

Pistol Pete begins to pursue Cowboy and fires three quick shots but Cowboy turns around jumps off the building. Nick remembered how he used to watch Valencia studying for her medical school under the large oak tree in the town park for a month before he had finally found the courage to ask her out, she had laughed at him when he had finally confessed to it two months after they had started going out but rather than think it was weird she found it cute that her cowboy could be so shy.

Cowboy ducks behind another building in an attempt to hide from its pursuer, and perhaps give an ambush. Pistol Pete drops down from the building and begins to slowly walk across street, but sensing an obvious trap stops. _Sorry mate but the flash bang grenade isn't the only upgrade Pistol Pete has. _Max activates Pistol Pete's new system falcon's eyes, and switches to thermal mode and quickly spots Cowboy's heat signature. "But you can't keep running away from the truth mate! You can't just desperately cling to some fantasy, you have to accept your mistake and heal which is why I'm bringing you home whether you want to come or not!"

Pistol Pete opens fire at the building, but lucky for Cowboy the piercing bullet can't make it all the way through a solid building, but it comes close, it hits the last wall standing in front of Cowboy before finally disappearing. The wall still explodes knocking Cowboy forward face first onto the ground. Jumping to its feet Cowboy runs from cover and tries to go on the offensive, but once again its shots are off and it takes little effort for Pistol Pete to dodge them.

Nick remembered how he used to bring flowers to Valencia when she was interning at the hospital, her face would always light up and her violet eyes would just glow beautifully. He remembered their first date, his brothers had laughed and made jokes at him while ma and pa argued about which clothes looked better on him. It's funny, Nick couldn't remember what he wore now but he remembered the elegant yellow sunflower dress she wore, he could describe that dress perfectly. Nick loves Valencia, there's not a single doubt in his mind that he loves her.

Whenever she called he would always come running, even in the pouring rain. He always looked forward to whenever he could see her; he thought about her all the time and saw her smiling face in his dreams. Even now when she was no longer with him there was no other women in the world he would rather be with, Nick would say it a million times over until his tongue was ruined and beyond repair, he loves Valencia….but did she love him? Was his brother right; were all those looks, smiles, and gestures he thought he saw in his head? Did he imagine those feelings he thought he felt from her, did his instincts regarding people to tell him what he wanted to hear?

Pistol Pete opens fire with its beam pistol, Cowboy jumps backwards just barely dodging the beam bullet by falling backwards and rolling backwards. The piercing bullet once again slides right through the road like butter but this time it hits a gas line causing an explosion. A bright light fills both Gundam fighter's eyes blinding them for a moment, Pistol Pete instinctively jumps back avoiding the worst of the shock wave but Cowboy being on ground is unable to move and receives the worst of blast. The shock wave flips Cowboy up into the air and sends the tired Gundam flying backwards, but Nick rolls with the punches and has Cowboy roll behind one of the buildings the moment it lands in order to hide thanks to this momentary advantage.

"Ohhh it looks like Pistol Pete has set off a gas line, I guess there is a downside to having piercing bullets after all, but then again that same explosion did send Cowboy flying so I suppose it still counts as a win."

"Nick, NICK, NICK! Can you hear me?!" Kenny shouts into the computer but doesn't get a response.

"Damn it Nick stop running away! You have more guns then he does so push him back already!" Roxas screams at Nick. Cagalli and Shadow stand behind the others, Cagalli grits her teeth clearly agitated.

"Something's wrong, Nick never shoots this bad. What do you think is the matter with him Shadow?" Cagalli asks but Shadow doesn't answer. This of course bothers Cagalli immediately; she didn't want to ask the others in case it turned out to be a technical error or something that was outside Nick's control so she had trusted him with her opinion and now wanted to hear his. "Hey Shadow are you-"Cagalli stops dead in her tracks when she looks on Shadow's face. His electric green eyes were focused, the type of focus he gets whenever he's in a serious battle, she could almost feel current and energy emitting from him.

Shadow's Neon gauntlet starts to glow brightly as he stares unblinkingly at the battle happening before him and that's when it struck Cagalli, even though they were both looking at the same battle, what she was seeing and what he was seeing was not the same thing. "Sorry princess, give me a minute." Shadow says absentmindedly as he walks up to the computer terminal.

"Don't call me princess." Cagalli says just as absentmindedly as she watches him, she wondered for the millionth time what was going through Shadow's mind.

Shadow was angry, the way Nick was fighting was all wrong! It was too hesitant; second guessing every action he was taking and he looked distracted, in other words it didn't feel like Nick's fighting style at all. As team leader it was Shadow's job to kick Nick's ass back into gear if he was out of it but it was more than a sense of responsibility that drove Shadow to help Nick. Nick was the same as him; he was fighting for a dream that everyone around him told him was stupid, foolish and would never happen. Shadow wanted to help Nick make his dream come true.

The smoke clears in the arena, revealing Pistol Pete standing by itself in the street. _Well that was unexpected, _Max thought. It had been a while since he fought in a city arena so he had forgotten to watch out for gas lines, really Max was lucky he hadn't hit a major one and sent both him and his brother to hell. Thinking about his brother causes Max to become concerned, shock waves tended to be the most dangerous type of attack for Gundam Pilots since they can go right through the armor and safety devices but Max steeled his nerves. The fastest way to ensure Nick's safety forever was to win this battle and forcibly bring his brother back home with him to the ranch. With honest thoughts of protection in mind Max once again activates his Falcon's eye's thermal cameras and begins looking for Cowboy.

Cowboy collapses to the ground behind one of the buildings, Nick was breathing really hard, his throat burned like he had drunken a sip of pure alcohol; sweat pours down his face getting into his eyes and stinging them with the salt but most importantly of all was that Nick was just mentally tired. He couldn't focus the way he normally could, he couldn't stop thinking about what his brother had said, his body just felt sore all over and he wanted more than anything to close his eyes and take a minute to rest. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING NICK!"

When lightning strikes its presence is overwhelming, it is impossible to ignore and Shadow's voice has that same impact. That same demanding presence that Nick's wary mind couldn't ignore like it could with Kenny's and Roxas's voices. "A bullet doesn't hesitate in battle; it flies straight through the air unwavering towards its target. It doesn't matter who the bullet is up against or what that person says, a bullet stands firm to its beliefs and charges its target regardless if it can win or not! You're stupid code is more than just your opinions right! It is a series of unbreakable laws for you right? Laws that supersede yourself and any situations you're in right?! So grow a pair and follow your code!"

Shadow's words send an electric charge throughout Nick's body, reenergizing him and solidifying his convictions. Nick's code passes through his mind, _when you take a woman out you always make sure she gets home safe, always search for the truth no matter how hard it is to swallow, when you fight hold nothing back against your opponent and don't hesitate, and when you start something, always see it through to the end!_

####

It was late at night, Nick looks around the bar he was in; it was completely trashed largely thanks to him. His hands were bloody, and he definitely felt a rib or two fractured perhaps even broken. It had been his mistake to come into this bar in the first place; Nick had just gotten back in town from buying an expensive medicine for one of their horses. Nick hadn't eaten anything all day and because it was so late at night he didn't want to trouble his ma about it so he decided to come here. The place wasn't very crowded but there was this one really drunk guy.

The drunk guy had started to bother this girl with glasses reading at a table, he was saying sexist things about how she should focus more on family and getting a man then worrying about her education. It was against Nick's code to stand by if a woman was in trouble so naturally he went over to the man and asked him to stop, needless to say the man didn't stop, in fact he even said something about Nick's ma so Nick proceed to kick the man's ass.

Normally kicking a drunk person's ass wouldn't have been much of a problem for Nick but the drunk man had a good number of friends with him so it took longer and much more effort than normal for Nick to win. As a result the place got trashed. "Are you sure you want to pay for half of this mess, the other guy comes in here all the time and causes trouble and I would have punched him to if he said that about my mother." The owner of the bar asks him.

"Nah, it's against my code not to pay for this, a man has to take responsibility for his actions." With that Nick hands the owner of the bar a months' worth of pay he made working on the ranch. The owner reluctantly takes the money and walks away, Nick nods his head satisfied and then looks around. Most of the men he had beaten up had hopped away embarrassed, there were still a couple of people hanging around but they had had enough, no one was hurt bad except for the drunk. The bad thing about being drunk is that it numbs the body and the logical part of the mind so no matter how many punches the guy took he kept getting back up for more.

Nick really had to beat that guy in order to get him to stay down, and now that the fight was over Nick decided to go check on him. Nick walks over to the corner of the bar where he had last seen the drunk man go down and to his surprise he saw the woman who the drunk man had been picking on squatting next to him, treating him. "What are you doing here?" Nick asks surprised. The girl glances up at him for a moment then continues her work, wrapping up the drunk man's ribs with a bandage.

"Hump, what does it look like, I'm treating this guy who you beat up." The girl says annoyed. This was the first time Nick had taken a good look at the girl, she had long braided blond hair and violet eyes, Nick became conscious that she was pretty good looking but that wasn't the problem at the moment. The way she said "who you beat up" made it sound like Nick was the villain in this situation, which offended him.

"I didn't want to hurt him ma'am but he didn't give me much of a choice." Nick says in a polite manner, he could never be rude to a girl.

"There's always a choice, you could have walked away and let him be but you choose to fight and this is the result of that choice." The drunk man doesn't say anything as the girl continues to clean and bandage his wounds, it's unclear how conscious he is.

"With all due respect ma'am it was against my code to just stand by and let that man continue to do as he pleased."

"Oh, and what code is this that you speak of?" The woman asks critical of Nick. Nick struggles for a moment as he struggles to find words to describe it; in many ways it was like trying to describe an emotion.

"It's….a series of rules of conduct that I've placed upon myself, like to never sit by while a woman is in trouble and to never allow someone to insult your kin especially your parents." The girl reluctantly gives the cowboy the win there, those rules certainly seem noble and the drunk person had said some pretty disgusting things about the cowboy's ma that even she was offended by. Still she wasn't quite ready to give him total victory.

"And how did you come up with these rules?"

"From the way I was raised I guess, based on how my ma and pa always told me to act and on other life experiences."

"I see, and if someone acts against your code in front of you you'll fight them?"

"It depends upon the rule but yes it can come to that."

"Well then it appears to me sir that you have a very violent code."

Nick frowns when the girls says this, he instinctively knows that she is wrong, yet he once again struggles to put into human words what he knows to be true "That's not true, I don't go around looking for fights…..but when you have things that are important to you, whether they be ideas, people, or places, you have to be willing to fight to protect them."

"It's that logic that governments use to justify going to war, there are other ways of protecting something besides fighting."

"True, but there are times when mates just won't listen unless you force them to; a person shouldn't go looking for a battle but at the same time he shouldn't be afraid to fight when he has no other choice. How can we protect something if we're too afraid to physically fight for it?" The girl can't answer him, his words strike a chord within her and she realizes that this is her defeat by a beautiful idea. Annoyed with how this battle of words and ideas turned out the girl goes back to treating her patient only to realize she's out of medical bandages and Dalzonton cream, a cream that was used on bruises and to seal wounds.

The girl becomes panicked for a moment knowing that this man needs those supplies but before the panic grows too deep the thing she needs are handed to her from the cowboy; she looks up at him in surprise. "My code doesn't just tell me when I have to fight; it also tells me what I have to do after a fight. A man must take responsibility for his actions and that means helping the person who he injured." For the first time the girl takes a good look at the man, she knew he was different the moment he had come to help her.

This hadn't been the first time she had been bothered at a bar, and it wasn't the first time another person had come to her rescue but all of her previous rescuers had had ulterior motives for helping her, motives that where clear in their eyes but this man had been different. He hadn't even looked at her when he had stepped in to help her, as if it didn't matter who she was, as if getting involved solely just to help her was the most natural thing in the world. The Cowboy was now covered in wounds, his fists were dripping with blood, there were cuts all over his body including his lip and above his eye, and it was obvious from his torn clothes that he had bruises on his chest.

He was in just as bad condition as the man she was currently treating and yet he was handing medicine that he needed just as much as this guy without hesitation. This act, it caused a bright warm feeling to fill her bringing a smile of joy to her face. "Thank you."

The smile the girl gave Nick was filled with so much warmth and light that Nick almost wanted to look away. It struck him again that this girl was beautiful, compelled by reasons Nick didn't understand he felt the overwhelming need to ask her a question. "No problem mate…but why are you treating this guy, especially after all those horrible things he said to you?" The girl pauses in her work for a moment, searching for the right words, then smiles having found the perfect answer to the question.

"I'm studying right now to become a doctor, and it's part of my doctor's code to treat every single injured person before my eyes, no matter how much of an asshole they are." Nick knew she used those words on purpose, but still even if she used his words that doesn't mean that the idea behind those words wasn't her own, something was stirring in Nick, something he had never felt before, something that he didn't recognize.

"Finished," The girl says as she rubs her hands satisfied with the treatment she gave the drunk. Without hesitation she turns to the cowboy and orders "Ok now you, sit down."

"Huh?" Nick blinks confused as the girl lightly pushes him into a chair and begins to examine his wounds. "Um that's ok mate, I'm fine you don't have to-"Nick stammers but the girl quickly cuts him off.

"Don't be stupid you're hurt."

"But I don't want to be a bother to you."

"I already told you, it's part of my code as a doctor to treat all injured people in front of me and besides if I was able to treat that asshole who I didn't even like then I should have no trouble treating someone who I do like." It takes a minute for her words to process through both their minds but when it does they both turn a bright shade of red. The girl's hands fumble for a moment as her face turns a bright shade of red, and Nick turned just as red.

He felt that feeling again, stronger than before, something was overflowing from his chest that was filling up every corner of his being and was a million times better than the best drink he had ever had. "My name is Nick, what's yours mate?" Nick asked, no it was more than asked; it was something that he needed to know. A piece of information that he had to attain no matter what, it was the most important thing he ever needed to know in his entire life.

"Nice to meet you Nick, my name is Valencia and I'm new in town."

####

Nick's eyes snapped open from the flashback, which had been the most important memory of his life, the memory of when he first met Valencia. He knew now what that feeling he felt was, love, but it was more than just the love felt by one person for another it was the resonance of mutual love that has the power to destroy one's entire world and remake it into something far greater. Nick's Neon gauntlet begins to glow brighter than ever before. "Thank you Shadow," Nick says to his friend who just gives him a grin in respond.

Max spots where his brother is hiding, _this is it, _he thinks as Pistol Pete raises its beam pistol and prepares to fire. Cowboy gets up from off the ground and stands taller than it's ever stood before and without hesitation comes out from cover and raises its right hand beam gun. As Nick pulls the trigger he roars "You're wrong mate!" The two Gundams fire at the same time, their beam bullets soar through the air and collide creating a small but bright explosion. Max is temporarily stunned by the sudden surprise attack and bright light.

Pistol Pete takes a step back as Max grits his teeth, but before he has time to think Cowboy comes shooting out of the light charging Pistol Pete. "What?!" Max shouts as Cowboy's first right hook connects with Pistol Pete's jaw. Cowboy has sheathed its duel pistols and is going at Pistol Pete with its fist, delivering a series of punches to its head and chest.

"Love is something special, it's something that some people spend their whole lives looking for and still never find, that's why if a mate finds it it's something that's absolutely worth fighting for!" Nick shouts as he continues to pound into his brother. Max clenches his jaw as he is forced to sheath his own beam pistol in order to avoid it being damaged in close quarters combat. Pistol Pete lifts up its arm going on the defensive as it tries to block some of Cowboy's blows and counterattack but it becomes quickly clear that with one arm Cowboy has the overwhelming advantage.

It also becomes clear that Cowboy is not using any specific style with its fight, its punches look amateurish, no better than a bar room brawl yet Cowboy's fist are beginning to dent Pistol Pete's armor and pushes the elder Gundam back. "Argh so you love her, but what if she doesn't love you, you can't force someone to return love!" Max shouts as he desperately fights to hold Nick back.

"You're right I can't force someone to love me back, and I can't know for certain if she loves me back…..but love is worth the risk to ask. Even if there's less than a one percent chance of her loving me back, being in love is about taking risks, it's about betting everything on that one percent chance and that's why I'm going to risk everything because that's what it means to be in love!" Nick shouts out to Max as Cowboy continues to beat on the one arm Gundam.

Metal hits metal, sparks fly as armor creaks and cries under the strain. Nick was a gunman; no one knew that better than Max because Max had taught Nick a large amount of gunmanship techniques. It's thanks to those techniques that Nick is a first class gunman but love has compelled him to abandon those techniques, to come at Max with wild untamed straight forward attacks…and yet Cowboy's attacks have never felt heavier. They break through all of Pistol Pete's guards and begin to severely dent the armor leaving noticeable fist imprints in the chest and face. Cowboy pulls its fists back and delivers a massive punch, the strongest yet, right into Pistol Pete's face knocking the Gundam down.

As Max falls he thinks, _so this is the power of love, this is the power I face. _Pistol Pete crashes onto the ground making a thud sound, within a second Cowboy pulls out its right handed beam pistol and aims it at Pistol Pete's head. "This is the end!" Nick shouts as he pulls the trigger…immediately an agonizing pain hits Nick throughout his body, it was the same kind of pain one experiences when they over exert themselves and run past their stamina limits by lifting the same heavy weight too many times or running for far longer than they should without taking any breaks. It was not the pain though that was the worst part, the worst most shocking part was that the beam pistol makes a clicking sound as if the gun was out of ammo.

Inside Cowboy the S-generator has shrunken down to that of a small ball, barely having enough power left to keep Cowboy moving. Max thinks for a moment that if this was an anime Nick would have won by now thanks to the power of love, to bad real life isn't that corny. Nick stares at his beam pistol in shock, he's never run out of ammo before, he didn't even know it was possible to run out of ammo with a beam pistol. "It looks like you're running low on power bro." Max says evenly as Pistol Pete in the blink of an eye pulls out its own beam pistol and fires.

The beam bullet nails Cowboy directly in the right arm causing Nick to howl in pain and stumble backwards and drop to the ground. Pistol Pete on the other hand slowly rises to its feet its beam pistol still in its right hand. Warning alarms start going off in the Shadow Knight's team room as Kenny fingers dance on the keyboard to figure out what the hell is going on.

"Kenny what the hell is going on?!"

"What just happened?!"

"How can Cowboy be out of beam bullets?!"

"Nick!"

Everyone starts talking at once while Kenny begins rerouting power from the damaged circuits through different circuits and systems but it was impossible, Cowboy's right arm was now down for the count. "Kenny what the hell is the matter with you?! Why didn't you warn Nick that Cowboy's energy levels had dropped?!" Jack screams at Kenny as she pops up on a different window but Kenny just blinks at her confused.

"What?"

Jack now looks at Kenny confused but before any further questions can be asked Max's voice comes through the system.

Nick ignores the pain coming from his now dead right arm and begins to retreat, even ignoring the gunshot wound Nick's body still felt overwhelmingly sore and stiff, as if he had just done a full day's worth of Drake's training. Cowboy is unable to get back up onto its legs and has to almost drag itself to get further away from Pistol Pete. "So you really do have no idea about how the S-generator works, I thought it was strange how you kept recklessly firing at me wasting all of your energy but I didn't honestly believe you had no idea how the S-generator works."

Max purposefully switched from a private communication link to a public link so that the rest of Nick's team could hear what he was saying, teaching them was the least he could do since he would be taking Nick away from them. With only one arm and at least below twenty percent energy left Cowboy wasn't a threat any more. "What do you mean mate, and the S-generator gives unlimited energy so how could I be running low on power?" Nick asks although he was really just stalling for time for his body to recover.

"Heh I can't believe you guys have been battling all this time without knowing, although to be fair that's a common misconception. I don't know who your manager is but you should probably fire that mate for not setting you straight. S-generators create energy and as long as you don't spend more energy than it creates you get an unlimited supply of energy, however obviously if you spend more energy than it can create then of course you're going to eventually run out. A simple Basic Original Gundam and standard beam weapons will never be able to use more energy than the S-generator creates but as you upgrade your weapons and mech to make them more powerful it's only natural that it's going to drain more energy from the S-generator.

Those Razors are easily triple the power of the standard beam rifle you had, and you have two of them on top of a higher performing Gundam. I'm amazed that you were able to continue fighting like you were up until now."

A quiet stunned silence hits the Shadow Knights as they hear this, Jack looks at everyone through the monitors now even more confused than before after seeing the looks on everyone's faces. "W-wait you guys didn't know this, I thought you already knew this, Drake told me he had told you guys."

"Wait Drake knew about this?!" Shadow asks clearly angry. Up in the stands Drake calmly buys a chocolate bar from one of the vendors and proceeds to eat it as if nothing was wrong.

"Really?" Tim asks annoyed at Drake's indifference.

"What? Do you think me not eating a chocolate bar will increase their chances of winning?"

Nick grits his teeth as he quietly asks Kenny, "How much power do I have now mate?"

"Ten percent." Kenny responds trying very hard not to show the despair in his voice.

"Ok, so how long do I have to wait before it recovers enough power to shoot?"

This time Jack comes on and explains, "If you don't move, ten minutes."

"Did you know my Gundam is named after Frank Eaton; he was a famous marksmen way back in the last era, he was a sheriff who enforced the law with his pistol and avenged his father's murder? He would do anything for family, including laying down the harsh law of the world in order to protect them and that's what I'm going to do!" Max cries as Pistol Pete raises its beam pistol and opens fire, this time aiming for Cowboy's head.

Nick wasn't sure where he found the strength to move again, all he was aware of was an instinct screaming at him not to lose like this. Cowboy still lying on the ground flips backwards dodging the beam bullets. Cowboy scrambles back onto its feet and begins to run as fast as it's able to get away from Pistol Pete, each movement caused Nick's muscles to cry in pain as they demanded oxygen but Nick didn't have time to give, a second shot flies over Cowboy's shoulder slicing away the armor like butter and exposing several wires.

"Running is useless little brother, you've got nothing left to fight with so don't make this any harder on yourself!" Max says, he quickly glances at his power levels, fifty four percent, more than enough to finish this. Cowboy moves behind another building and then collapses to the ground as Nick struggles to get oxygen into his almost suffocated body yet all of the pain and discomfort meant nothing to his mind right now as he glares down at his left handed beam pistol, he had dropped the right one after Max had shot him.

"Damn it! Come on, come on mate you have to have one more shot in you, I decided not to quit so you can't quit on me now, come on I just need one more shot!" Nick says in an almost hysterical voice to his gun; anger, frustration, sadness, despair, all mix and crash together in his heart. Had he resolved himself to find the truth, had he climbed so high, worked so hard only to fall now, having never truly had a chance of winning? _NOOOOO! Don't give me this crap, I refuse to let it end like this, Shadow trusted me, Valencia might be waiting for me in trouble, I don't care how impossible it is so just give me one more damn shot! _Nick screams in his mind and suddenly his Neon gauntlet transforms from glowing brightly to shinning like a small flash light.

Inside Cowboy's core the S-generator almost seems to breathe, like a flame that's just been given a new piece of firewood, and grows a fraction bigger. Although Nick doesn't see this his body senses the change, and he knows that his gun now has one final bullet in it, the last burst of a flame about to go out. "Nick you're not going to believe this, Cowboy's power levels just jumped from ten percent to twenty percent! You have just enough power left for one more shot!" Kenny confirms what he already knows excitedly. One more shot, he had to shoot his brother who had been dodging his bullets when he was firing two guns at him with just his left hand. Could he do it?

Cowboy gets up, a calm tranquil wave passes through Nick quieting his agitated and nervous mind. There was no question if he could do it, he would do it because he had to do it! Without hesitation Cowboy moves from behind cover with its beam pistol raised high. Pistol Pete pauses as Cowboy reveals itself. Max knew that Nick shouldn't have had enough power left to fire another shot…..still there was always the possibility that he had one more shot left…..if he put all of the remaining power in his gun….it was possible. Max smiled, if that was the case then all he had to do was dodge this last shot and this match will be over.

Pistol Pete begins to do evasive maneuvers, moving left, right, up, down, crisscross, all while staring unblinkingly at the barrel of Cowboy's beam pistol. To be honest the movements themselves were unnecessary since Max was more than capable of reading the trajectory of the beam bullet and dodging it in the time it took Nick to pull the trigger, but it never hurt to be extra safe.

Nick's blue eyes become sharper than ever before as he read his brother's movements, he had to see beyond his brother's movements, he had to become like the patient wolf and wait for that one moment where everything lined up.

Pistol Pete continues to move defensively around the street but Cowboy stands perfectly still like a statue. "Heh, I was being nice by allowing you to try to fire at me first but I don't have all day." Max says as he readies his own beam pistol, fully confident in his own draw speed.

_There! _Nick saw it, a moment, a heartbeat when his brother slowed down, lost concentration on his beam pistol. Cowboy didn't need to look at Pistol Pete's beam pistol to know where it was being aimed. Both Gundams pull the trigger at the same time, the beam bullets soar through the air and come within millimeters of each other before shooting towards their target. Cowboy tilts its head to the right which saves it from a direct hit but the piercing beam bullet still manages to take a chuck of Cowboy's face away exposing wires, sending sparks and liquids flying.

Max wasn't sure what happened as the safety system activates and encases him in an ejection pod, he should have been able to dodge that beam bullet yet he was too slow, his aim, and trigger speed should have been too fast for Nick to see and dodge and yet Nick dodged and avoided a fatal blow. Unbeatable defenses that are beaten, an insane quick draw which should have been impossible to react to was seen and dodged. Pistol Pete stands with a bullet hole straight through the heart one more moment before falling to the ground.

Nick is breathing hard, sweat pours throughout his entire body as his vision becomes blurry with his consciousness threatening to go out, but he still manages to get Cowboy's speakers working and shouts out to his fallen brother "I will follow my own path mate, even if it leads me to even greater pain I will travel along it straight as a bullet."

Max lying on his back in the escape pod hears his brother's words. Max is staring up at the padding in front of him before calmly saying, "I see," with a smile on his face. He should have been angry now, sad, afraid, hurt, but instead he felt happy, something beyond those petty feelings swelled up in him…..pride in his little brother.

"OH MY GOD! Pistol Pete has been defeated; Cowboy wins which means the Shadow Knights WIN! UNFREAKING REAL! The Shadow Knights win! The Shadow Knights win! This wildcard E-rank team has pulled off another win in the second round!" The referee screams into the microphone as the episode ends with the crowd going wild stomping their feet, cheering, screaming, clapping, and whistling.


	81. Episode 80 Everyday life can suck too

Episode 80 Everyday life can suck too

The episode opens up with Blake growling angrily "How long does it take to find a single name?!"

"Blake it is considerably harder to hack into the GFC databases and back track an IP address than you make it sound, not to mention it's completely against the law."

"Damn it Mac I'm going nuts here, every single moment I'm not in a Gundam fight is another moment I grow rusty. I can feel my skill decreasing, at this rate I'm just going to drop to a lousy E-rank." Blake cries in great detail. Mac just raises an eyebrow at his over dramatic Gundam Fighter.

"Riiight, I'm sure your suffering must be great. Anyway I heard from Violet that you went to see the Shadow Knights fight." Mac says purposely changing the subject.

Blake glares at his manager fully knowing where he wants to go with this conversation, "You're mistaken, I didn't go to see the Shadow Knights I went to see the Sharpshooters."

"Right." Max replies with heavy sarcasm, he wondered if it was humanly possible to be this stubborn.

"Well since you don't have results I'll be going now." Blake decides a strategic retreat would be best but before he can go Mac still manages to get one last question in.

"Fine, but what did you think of the Shadow Knights when you saw them?"

Blake pauses for a moment and then answers reluctantly "They've improved since I last saw them fight but they're still far below my level." Black adds angrily as he marches off not wanting to answer any more questions about this subject. Mac smiles and still manages to get the last word in.

"They're not as far below you as you would like."

####

_Location: Same Time: Roughly the same give or take an hour_

"Shouldn't we be in my office talking about this Victor?" Joey asks annoyed as he glances around from the corner of the Gundam manager floor, he took careful notes on all the people slacking off, they would be getting an email from him later.

"If we keep having closed door meetings in your office people will become suspicious and besides hiding in plain sight works just as often as regular hiding." Victor responds quietly as he casually sips a cup of coffee. Joey glares at him but decides not to push matters, at least not with this.

"We've received eleven more complaints about the Bloods, that's almost triple the amount of complaints from last time." Joey informs Victor.

"Get rid of them, surely Gundam Fighters can handle a couple of assholes." Victor says in an emotionless voice which upsets Joey.

"This is more than just annoyances, the Bloods have made several threats to a number of competitors and have attacked several people hospitalizing them! You can't just expect me to bury that without anyone saying something."

Victor takes off his rectangular glasses and begins to clean them off with a handkerchief as he says calmly "Did any official member of the Bloods attack those people?"

Joey's face darkens as he reluctantly replies "No, but the Bloods are just an off shoot of the Tyke Devils who did do the attacking."

"If the Bloods did not attack anyone themselves then they haven't violated any rules, after all they can't control every single one of their fans now can they." Victor once more responds in a cold voice, he sees that Joey still wants to argue and continues, "I have given you a plausible excuse to use to discredit these complaints, is there a problem Mr. Caster?"

"Yes there is a problem!" Joey says barely able to keep his voice a whisper. "It has been two rounds already and the Bloods have yet to actually appear in their Gundams, they keep disabling their opponents outside of Gundams making them unable to fight in the official matches thus winning by default."

Victor shrugs as he takes another sip of his coffee, "Of course, they know full well that the technology their mechs hold will attract our gaze once they use it, they just don't know we're already watching. As I keep telling you Mr. Caster sacrifices are necessary so that we can protect the greater whole, the rules in the GFC prevent a Gundam team from winning a whole tournament through default matches. They must actually win one match and the final round in order to win the tournament so we have nothing to fear for they will have to reveal themselves in time."

Joey glares at Victor, he knew this already, he knew it but that didn't mean he liked this plan at all, if he could only think of a better plan. Suddenly Victor's phone rings interrupting Joey's train of despair. Grumbling Joey says "I'll let you take that," and turns around preparing to leave before Victor stops him.

"No, this deals with our situation and I believe it is important that you hear this so you fully understand what is going on." This greatly surprises Joey but it doesn't stop him from quickly putting his own phone's ear piece into his ear and entering conference mode.

"Victor?" The voice on the other end of the phone asks having seen the second person connect to the call.

"It's ok Legenic Roxas, this is Joey Caster the man who is in charge of this city's GFC branch." Victor says simply but he might as well have kicked Joey in the balls for the shock he just received.

"L-Legenic, You mean _the__e_ Legenic Jacen Millicent Roxas?!" Joey gasps not able to comprehend this new development. A Legenic was a military rank in Myrtus like calling someone Captain or Commander but simply saying it was a military rank was a huge insult. A Legenic is the highest rank in Myrtus's military, a person who answers to no one but the people of Myrtus, a person who has authority that exceeds even that of the executive branch of government and to a certain extent even the judicial and legislative branches as well.

Legenics were extremely rare, only ten people in Myrtus's history have ever received that title so of course the current Legenic was well known to every single Myrtusian who has a of a quarter brain. "For the love of god please just call me Jacen, I've been trying to get that stubborn cold hearted vampire to do the same for years now but he just refuses." Jacen said in a friendly tone.

Before Joey could respond Victor cuts straight to the chase, "What's the situation like in Myrtus's government Legenic?"

Jacen sighs on the phone and Joey could swear he heard Jacen rubbing his head. "I swear if I hear one more person vote for war against Somera I'm going to lose it. The United States of Ameros will never acknowledge Somera as an independent nation so any declaration of war declared against Somera or attack on their soil the USA will consider an act of war against them.

A war in itself is bad enough but a three way war is ridiculous, the causality count would be through the roof and it gives me nightmares just thinking what the state of Somera would look like afterwards and to make matters even worse we have idiots like Sigrerune who think we can crush both sides easily. The United States of Ameros have a military that's just as strong as ours and has the advantage of being seasoned thanks to their Civil war with Somera so if there is a war you can bet on some serious fighting and assuming we even win our military is definitely going to be crippled afterwards.

We can probably beat the Someran military but it's definitely not going to take us a day like some of those idiot congressmen are making it sound like, Somera is known for their guerrilla warfare style of fighting as well as their hunker down defense. It's going to take us a year at least to penetrate their defenses and that's only if everything goes perfectly which never happens in war. The downside to having such a long peace is that idiots who have no idea what war is truly like start becoming common."

Having listened to this disturbing development Joey asks, "But as a Legenic can't you just veto Congress's war declaration?"

"Legenics only outright exceed the executive branch's authority so I can't just forbid Congress from declaring war against Somera, the most I can do is just make it a really big pain in the ass but the sad thing is that they're right, Myrtus just can't stand by with what Somera is doing."

"If our plan works the GFC and the NSU will step in instead and handle the issue with Someran and the United States of Ameros directly without the need for Myrtus to go to war, we simply need more time." Victor reassures Jacen who sighs and replies.

"I hope so, and if there's one thing politicians are good for its stalling for time. I have to go now, good luck my friend." Jacen tells Victor as he hangs up. Victor turns his attention to the head of Arianna's GFC branch.

"I hope that helps put things into perspective for you from now on." Victor says coldly. Joey felt immense hatred towards the director, he knew perfectly well what was at stake here and he didn't need someone rubbing the seriousness of this situation in his face just because Joey had suggested that there might be a better plan than this one they could use, a plan in which no one needed to be sacrificed or hurt. The air between the two grew thick and highly uncomfortable but a loud voice breaks the tension.

"God damn it, that bastard Drake is hiding from us!" The director turns to the source of the noise, a young man dressed in black jeans, a black t-shirt with some kind of logo on it and a black jacket. He was surrounded by five other people two more males and three females.

"That's the Shadow Knights, Drake's team." Joey says with a sigh, of both relief and slight annoyance. There had been a lot of expectations with the team that Drake had finally chosen however they quickly moved up to Joey's "most demanding" team list. They were always causing some kind of mischief or trouble which normally ended with Joey yelling at Drake to handle them better and having to do more paperwork. Still Joey was grateful for their disturbance at this moment, it was good to just forget about this unpleasant business and focus on the part of his job he enjoyed doing.

Victor instantly connected the team name with the data he had collected regarding the tournament. He knew they were a young E-rank Gundam team, and to be honest he hadn't bothered to collect much information on them since he, like everyone else, had expected them to lose in the first or second round. "They seem to have quite a bit of energy to cause such a ruckus like this without care." Victor comments while Joey gives him a small smile.

"They always have energy like this, heh they're a perfect fit for Drake."

"They seem to be upset; perhaps we should go over there and see what's going on." Victor's suggestion catches Joey by surprise. "Hm do not act so surprised Mr. Caster, regardless of the circumstance I am still a director of the GFC and as such I can't simply ignore any dispute that looks like it's going unresolved." With that answer Victor calmly walks over there with a still surprised Joey covering his back.

Shadow was marching angrily back and forth like some kind of mad hound making a ruckus which would have surprised anyone who had saw the cheerful person last night at the club. After the match the Shadow Knights had once again celebrated their victory at the usual club, the Sharpshooters had even shown up and after an awkward few minutes the Shadow Knights treated them to drinks and they had all started partying, talking about the matches, mistakes or awesome moves each side had made.

It was clear that there were no hard feelings, and Shadow had even seen Nick and Max talking and getting along having finally settled things. That only left one thing to settle, the S-generator, as a mechanic Jack knew that the powers weren't unlimited in the way that most people thought. She had actually figured that the others might not know about this since a lot of people who didn't work with S-generators had the same misunderstanding but Drake had told her not to say anything and that he would handle it.

"That sneaky old one eyed fox, I want to know what he's planning!" Shadow says for what most have been the twentieth time, that drive was what had kept Shadow from drinking too much last night. Roxas on the other hand had gotten completely wasted, and didn't return to the Dark-Angel until late after she had slipped out with Oda. She was curled up by the corner of the desk taking a nap while they waited, everyone else was too annoyed and sober by the situation to relax.

"I'm sure Drake has a good reason for not telling us." Kenny says trying to keep the peace.

"Yeah, he's a sadistic jerk who enjoys putting us in difficult situations." Cagalli says with barely contained venom, there was no love lost between her and Drake which is why it wasn't surprising she immediately went for the idea of firing Drake and replacing him with someone else. Shadow was angry but he wasn't that angry, so for the most part that probably wasn't going to happen.

"It could have just been an honest mistake mate?" Nick says joining Kenny in the peace corner but Jack counters.

"So he specifically tells me not to tell you guys anything about the S-generator and then forgets to tell you about it himself?" No one could argue with Jack there since she had a point.

"I see so Mr. Drake seems to have withheld information from you, would you mind giving me more details." Victor says having eased drop on the conversation, Joey was right behind him. Everyone, except for Roxas who was still sleeping, jumps in shock by the high level authority figures but that doesn't last long.

"That's right, we would like to make a formal complaint against our manager; he purposely withheld vital information from us regarding Gundams that could have ultimately caused us to lose our match." Cagalli having been in politics and used to talking to important figures is the first to recover and take charge. Victor looks at Cagalli and becomes visibly disturbed; his eyes open wide in pure shock as his skin pales, he trembles slightly as if seeing a ghost.

"Damn it Cagalli stop being a snitch, we agreed that we'd talk to Drake first before deciding to go over his head." Shadow snaps having gotten over his surprise moments after Cagalli. This distraction causes Cagalli not to notice Victor's reaction as she shifts her focus to her more annoying friend.

"God damn it Shadow stop acting like a child, this is a serious matter, Drake lied to us and since he represents the GFC it's only right that they answer for it!"

"You're full of shit, you don't like Drake which is why you want to get him in trouble with his bosses; you're the one who's no better than a child!" Shadow snaps right back which causes Cagalli to blush in embarrassment however before she can argue Kenny pleads to their sanity.

"Guys can we please not fight in front of a director and the head of Arianna's GFC's branch." This gets both Cagalli and Shadow to quiet down while Nick grins amused and Jack shakes her head embarrassed. Joey looks to Victor and is surprised to found the vampire still in a ghost like state, despite his own curiosity and the temptation this presented Joey nevertheless was a professional and loyal to the GFC.

Joey steps forward, covering his coworker's distraction and asks "Purposefully withholding vital information regarding Gundams is a serious claim, can you tell me what he withheld from you?"

Shadow looks very unhappy, and clearly doesn't want to continue this conversation but Cagalli on the other hand has no problem with further trying to push Drake under the bus. "He didn't explain to us how the S-generators really work and knowingly let us believe in the common misunderstanding and even told our mechanic not to correct us. This had a direct impact in our final fight against the Sharpshooters and almost cost us the match which is why I am requesting a heavy penalty against Drake and a change of managers."

"I don't approve of either one of those." Shadow says undermining Cagalli, although he couldn't argue that he wasn't angry at Drake for holding out on them. Upon hearing this Victor blinks finally clearing his head and regaining his senses. This was definitely an interesting and unique situation, most managers nowadays told their teams immediately about the S-generators in the hopes it would give them an edge, which wasn't always true.

"I see, tell me though has it occurred to you guys that Mr. Drake might have had a reason to withhold this information from you?" Victor asks taking over for Joey.

This catches everyone by surprise, Cagalli stutters out, "B-but what could possibly be the reason other than spite and a sick pleasure from watching us struggle?"

Victor sighs as he adjusts his glasses on his face, he was feeling old, when he had been their age he hated the older fighters who use to complain about "the good old days" and yet now here he was about to do the same. Perhaps it was human nature to long for the familiar cultures of their time. "Managers have the task of helping their Gundam team improve and reach their maximum potential and then beyond that. Every manager has their own way doing this, and one of those ways involves teaching their team through experience."

"Wait so you're saying he was right in hiding this from us?" Shadow asks with anger, he may not have wanted Drake to get in trouble with his bosses but that didn't mean he wanted to be told he was wrong for feeling angry.

"Are you serious, this is an outrage! Are you trying to cover for your employee's mistake!?" Cagalli accuses Victor. Victor turns his intense violet eyes towards Cagalli, and emits a strong killing intent to highlight his insult by Cagalli's statement. Kenny and Jack both immediately become very light headed and dizzy. They begin to stumble as their consciousness threatens to go out, Shadow grabs Kenny while Nick grabs Jack and helps keep them standing. Nick and Shadow glare at Victor but the glare is like that of a corner rat by a tyrannosaurus rex; beads of sweat begin to form on their faces as they try to stop their hands from trembling.

Roxas snaps awake in an instant and takes a very animalistic stance, with her back hunched, nails digging into the floor with her teeth showing. Cagalli being the focus of the killing intent was hit by the worse of it, for a moment her consciousness begins to slip however her stubbornness kicks in and she forcibly keeps herself conscious although she can't stop herself from breaking out into cold sweat and from shaking uncontrollably.

"Little girl, are you seriously suggesting that I, a director of the GFC would compromise it's values which millions of people have dedicated their lives to up holding just for the sake of reputation or for one man?" Victor speaks with enough intensity in his voice to split bullets; he was actually impressed that the fighters could still maintain their consciousness from this level of killing intent.

"Victor!" Joey's voice whispers loudly and angrily in his ear, the message was clear. Victor immediately switched off his killing intent, a skill not everyone could do, yet he still held onto his anger.

"You are Gundam Fighters, and Gundam Fighters often have to fight not knowing the full situation. I will tell you right now that there are things regarding Gundams that we in the GFC are not telling you, and there is a reason that we don't tell you this information. Some knowledge must be earned before you are allowed to see it. Regarding the S-generators yes they don't provide you the limitless amount of power that many believe but there isn't a set numeric value power like you're thinking right now. Thanks to the NS system the S-generator is directly tied into your physical and mental stamina, so naturally the longer you fight and the more energy you use the more tired and weary both your mind and body will feel."

"So that's what that was." Nick says, causing everyone to turn to him in surprise, with the killing intent gone they had all quickly gotten back to normal. Embarrassed by the sudden attention and for interrupting Victor Nick explains, "It's just that during my battle with my brother I noticed that after a while of shooting I was getting more tired than normal."

Victor nods his head, "Exactly, the S-generator ties into your stamina which is why fighters work to constantly improve their stamina so that the S-generator in turn will give them more energy."

Joey cuts in and adds, "But just because you're running low on power doesn't mean it's the end. The S-generator reacts to strong human emotion, similar to the way people can push their bodies to go beyond their limit during high stress situations."

"But how is that possible?" Kenny asks amazed by Victor who just shrugs his shoulders.

"There are a few unproven theories but the truth is no one really knows, it's one of those things that scientists have been trying to figure out for centuries now. Some people say that we simply haven't reached the ability to understand it yet, like trying to explain Gundams to cavemen." Victor explains.

"The point to all of this is that Drake didn't tell you about the S-generator because he's not training you to win against the Sharpshooters, nor is he training you to win this tournament; Drake is training you to reach A-rank and nothing is more demanding to A-rank pilots than adapting to situations or new information that you previously didn't have. Are we making sense?" Joey finishes up.

The Shadow Knights think this over for a moment but it's Shadow who is the first to answer, "Yea, Drake's got the right idea. What we're aiming for isn't to beat Blake, or win this tournament; our goal is much higher than that so our training should reflect that."

Everyone slowly nods their head in agreement with Shadow and even Cagalli folds her arms and reluctantly admits, "I'm not happy knowing that the GFC is keeping secrets from us, but if Drake was trying to train us to get used to finding out those secrets during the middle of a Gundam Fight than I guess he's doing a good job."

Victor and Joey nod satisfied and turn to leave, "Well we're glad we could help clear up this situation, if you guys ever need to talk about anything more my door is always open." Joey tells them.

"Ok."

"Thanks"

"Bye Joey" The team says their various goodbyes to the two bosses as Drake finally shows up.

"Ah good you guys are here, great let's get going I have a new training regiment I want to try out on you." Drake says as soon as he spots them.

"Awesome!" Shadow jumps up excitedly.

"What do you mean "good you guys are here"!? We've been waiting for you for an hour already!" Cagalli yells at him.

"Is everything alright Victor? You were acting unusual with the Shadow Knights" Joey asks with real concern once they were far enough away from everyone else.

"Yes...it was nothing…..the blond girl just looked like someone I knew." Victor's tone suggested he didn't want to talk about the subject anymore and Joey respectfully didn't ask any more questions.

####

_Location: Arianna's GFC's underground training city Time: The next day_

The wind was cool against her skin, Cagalli didn't know how but there was an artificial air current flowing throughout the underground city which was why the air didn't feel stale. She could feel the engines in her wings pushing against gravity to keep herself afloat, it was a pretty odd feeling as her body was still adjusting to the sensations of new limbs as well as the fact they came prepackage with muscles in a sense. Despite the tad discomfort Cagalli was confident that her wings could keep her afloat for at least an hour before she needed a break, the whole S-generator stamina thing she guessed.

Cagalli was free flying right now, and she could honestly say that nothing in the world could match the feeling of the wind rushing against her face and her body hovering in the air with nothing but her wings holding her up. When she was going fast and making sharp turns it was heart pounding exciting, and when she was going slow drifting through the air it was incredibly relaxing, she was almost tempted to take a nap, of course that meant the S-generator would turn off and she would fall and crash so that idea was out of the question.

La Rouge technically had six wings, three on each side of her body but Cagalli felt they were more like fingers rather than actual wings in themselves. Cagalli could right now only move her left and right wings as a single unit but she thought and Kenny and Jack confirmed that with time and practice she would be able to move each one of her wing fingers individually and hopefully that would also help her control the Dragoo-no the drones. She didn't want Shadow making fun of her again for using Earth terminology on Sora.

"Alright Cagalli, whenever you're ready" Kenny says which caused Cagalli to focus again on the real world. She was currently over the flying training area of the underground city, there were about seven hoops in the air in front of her, spread out to different degrees at different angles. As Drake had so kindly put it, she flies like a drunk bird on drugs, so practice was definitely important. Cagalli may love flying but that didn't mean she was good at it yet.

"Ok, here I go!" Cagalli says loudly to try and hype herself up as she charges the first ring. La Rouge was only going at about a quarter of its true speed but that was all Cagalli was capable of at the moment. The smashed up buildings in the area were proof that if Cagalli tried to go any faster she would just wipeout and even with this low level speed Cagalli still had difficulties making tight turns. La Rouge has to make several sharp turns and sudden stops in order to make it through all seven hoops. Even with her focus at its peak La Rouge still overshoots a few turns and fails to make a sudden stop and change in direction.

Cagalli supposed she should be happy that she at least managed to make it through all seven hoops this time with only a few bumps and bruises but she really wanted to be perfect when it came to flying. She shook her head to clear the gloomy thoughts and refocused her attention on her final objective, a Gundam sized stone boulder floating in the sky, thanks to some rocket attachments, with a target painted on it. Without hesitation La Rouge makes one final turn to straighten out and then hits the gas and flies full speed at the target. La Rouge pulls its arm back, clenches its hand into a fist and delivers a straight punch into the floating stone, but the punch doesn't do much damage and barely chips away at the stone.

Cagalli sighs as she sees the result of her attack, which was pretty much identical to all of her previous attempts. Khiêu vũ was extremely difficult to perform properly in the air while flying, it also didn't help that Cagalli was never taught any of the advance techniques or skills so she literally had to make up the next level of her fighting style by herself with no guidance from anyone, a task that was quickly beginning to look impossible.

"Nice punch and I hope you don't drive like that too." Shadow teases as he pops up on Cagalli's helmet screen. Nightwing was down in the city doing laps, and trying to improve its overall speed and coordination doing running attacks. Targets were set up all over the place with the goal being simple; Shadow was to hit those targets without dropping Nightwing's speed, something Shadow had discovered was a lot harder than it sounded.

"Look who's talking, I saw you trip at least three times on your last run and any time you didn't at least stumble you completely missed the target." Cagalli replies right back as she could feel her competitiveness take over, her rational side had given up trying to control these urges with Shadow and to be honest the competitiveness was actually refreshing and felt nice.

Shadow turns a shade red at his flying companion's words and snaps back, "At least I'm not crashing into things, besides I bet I get the hang of my training way before you get the hang of yours."

"OH is that so-" Before Cagalli could say anything else Drake pop's up on both of their screens.

"Hmmm I didn't realize my individual training assignments were so easy and boring that you guys had time to chat amongst yourselves. I guess I'll have to make the training regiments even harder and more brutal." Drake gives the two an evil sadistic smile that sends shivers down their spines. Drake basks in their fears for a moment before turning on Shadow like a viper, "Shadow what was up with that footwork?! How many times do I have to tell you to feel the ground with your feet, if you look down while moving you'll miss the target but if you're not paying attention to your feet you'll slip on the uneven ground?

Also you have to be thinking about your center of gravity whenever you're wall climbing or moving on uneven ground, your center of gravity is fixed so if you're not paying attention to it when you're wall climbing or making extreme turns you're going to lose your balance." Drake continues to point out all of the things Shadow did wrong, and all of the flaws in his run. Cagalli smirks as she watches Shadow get chewed out by Drake before continuing her training with little success.

"This isn't fair, how come Drake is always pointing out the mistakes I make but never corrects you?" Shadow complains after Drake finished going through a thorough breakdown of everything he did wrong.

"Shadow your feet are still spread too far apart, and lower your upper chest more to keep your center of gravity low." Drake continues to correct Shadow as he continues the training.

"Maybe because I don't make as many mistakes as you do." Cagalli says a little smugly, as she once again hits the flying boulder but does little damage, she normally wouldn't act this arrogant and cocky but she did like to pay Shadow back for the princess jokes whenever possible. Shadow glares at his smarter friend as Nightwing jumps off a building and hits its own flying boulder target. His punch was very similar to Cagalli's which wasn't that surprising since they often spared and trained together, and since he used a similar punch the result was the same as all of Cagalli's attempts. What was surprising though was Drake's comment.

"Wrong, all wrong; when you're punching in the air you need to pause just before you throw your fist otherwise your attack will lack significant power, you need to channel all of the energy you built up from flying into your fist. It's basically the same idea as doing a running punch only with no ground to support you against the feedback from your own punch, so it's harder to keep all of the energy going forward without wasting any."

La Rouge comes to a complete stop as Cagalli stares down at Drake in shock. "What, what the hell was that?!" Cagalli shouts with rage as La Rouge charges Drake's position. Drake was standing on the roof of one the taller buildings that overlooked the area where Shadow and Nightwing were training, dressed in his suit and tie. La Rouge comes at him like a speeding train but it manages to come to a complete stop hovering right before the building. La Rouge's wing engines roar at deafening levels to anyone outside a Gundam, and whips the wind around it into a frenzy causing the windows to tremble.

A normal person would be terrified facing such an overwhelming presence but Drake just looks up annoyed and straightens his tie which was flapping in the wind. "Is there a problem?" Drake asks calmly.

Cagalli quickly puts La Rouge into auto-pilot as she switches off the NS system and the zero-gravity bubble and walks out onto the cockpit door. "You better believe we have a problem!" Cagalli snaps as she hops out of La Rouge's cockpit up onto the roof and marches right up into Drake's face.

"Oh Cagalli and Drake are fighting again." Kenny tells Shadow, he was in one of the computer buildings with other programmers who were helping their pilots train.

"They'll work it out." Shadow replies in an uncaring voice, he had confidence that Cagalli and Drake would eventually work their differences out and be friends. In the meantime it was better to just let them work it out so Shadow turned back to his training while Kenny looked on with worry.

"I just did roughly the same type of punch as Shadow for about an hour now but you never said one single thing to me! You're training us aren't you, and isn't a part of your training job to point out mistakes we're making!" Cagalli demands as she stares unblinkingly into Drake's annoyed eye.

"You're wrong, while I am required to train you that simply means devising a training regiment for you, it does not mean babysitting you throughout the process. I don't waste my words on people who aren't serious about improving." Drake says in a cold voice as he stares unblinkingly into Cagalli's burning amber eyes.

"Not serious! I am serious! I'm taking this training just as seriously as Shadow and everyone else!" Cagalli screams right into Drake's face. Drake obviously not liking someone screaming in his face narrows his eye at Cagalli but keeps his cool.

"Talk is cheap, you're actions haven't convinced me that you're taking the fights seriously." Drake replies coldly as he turns around and begins to walk away from her.

Infuriated Cagalli clenches her fists so hard that they shake; she grits and grinds her teeth so hard they might shatter. "FINE! Who needs you anyway, I don't need your stinking training, I don't even like you! I've come this far without your god damn help or approval so don't act all high and mighty!" Cagalli roars as she turns around and walks away in the opposite direction, waves of intense anger are coming off her.

Without turning around Drake still manages to get the final word in, "I feel the same way."

####

_Location: Norz Café Time: One hour later_

"I knew there was a reason I didn't like that bastard, anybody who causes Cagalli's lovely bosoms to get stressed out is obviously the bad guy!" Roxas snarls as she smashes her hand onto the table.

Jack sips some of her lemonade before turning to the red head and asking, "I thought you didn't like Drake because he called you ugly when you first met him?"

"I'm still pissed off about that too, I'm keeping score of all the reasons I want to kick his ass so that way when I finally get strong enough to beat him in a fight I know how many times to punch him." Roxas says in an aggressive manner as she folds her arms and nods her head. Jack, Cagalli and Roxas were sitting in one of the Cafés spread throughout the underground city. Well they weren't actually in the underground city, an elevator connected the model café in the underground city to the surface one where they were currently at.

"Well I'm still pissed at Drake for lying to me, it's fine if he wanted to keep the S-generator a secret from you guys but he lied to me and kept me out of the loop. It's like the man doesn't trust me to keep a secret." Jack says while taking a bite out of the cupcake she had ordered.

"I hate him for not helping me get back to Orb, he has the connections so I'm sure he could get someone to verify who I am and then make the arrangements to get me home," a sad look crosses Cagalli's eyes as she stares into her cup of hot chocolate, "I hope everything's going alright, I hope Kira, Athrun and everyone else are doing well."

The atmosphere becomes a little dark with Cagalli's heavy words, especially since Jack and Roxas weren't sure if Kira and Athrun were real or not but Roxas decides to humor her possibly mentally ill friend. "Well why don't we go to Slyer, we have a traicioship now and five Gundams so I doubt we'll have any trouble kicking the Warden's ass, I mean he's got to have some answers for you right?"

Cagalli sighs, "I tried that already, well that was before you and Jack joined up with us. As much as Drake is an ass he's still responsible, Slyer's very existence is illegal so he reported it to the authorities but by the time they got there that place had already been cleaned out. So now I've got no choice but to continue the Gundam Fights and hope to meet someone important enough to verify who I am."

"Oh" Is all Jack and Roxas can say.

"Honestly though," Cagalli starts off as she grips her cup tightly with anger and grinds her teeth, "I've never met anyone who is so full of themselves, who's such a know it all, condescending, arrogant, ego maniac!" Cagalli shouts much louder than intended.

"Heheheh, that sounds like Diz but you forgot money stealer." Cagalli, Jack, and Roxas flip around to look at the person who just spoke, a woman with blue eyes and shoulder length brown hair. She sat at the table next to the Shadow Knights, wearing a plain almost forgettable combat dress shirt, and slacks; drinking a cup of coffee.

"Um who are you?" Jack asks the stranger when she sees that Cagalli and Roxas don't know who she is. The stranger turns around to face them; she gives them a sly mysterious but not unkind smile.

"Oh sorry for just dropping in like that, I couldn't help overhearing and throwing in my own two cents. I'm Jessica Shields a manager for the GFC." Jess says as she moves to get out of her seat.

"Oh um, ok" Cagalli says awkwardly still uncomfortable about this situation.

"Wait you know Drake?" Roxas asks as, smelling a chance for gossip like a blood hound. Jess gives them her unique smile again.

"Yup, me and Diz go way back although I'm surprised that old stubborn mule finally cave in and accepted a Gundam team application." Jess's blue eyes narrow as she rubs her chin lightly. Her studying causes Jack, Cagalli, and Roxas to fidget uncomfortably around in their seats.

"Then again there's something special about you guys, I can't put a finger on it but you're different from most teams. Not the same kind of different as my Gundam team but a difference none the less." Jess gets up from the table and wipes off her hands with a napkin. "Anyway I'm sorry again for disturbing you guys, I hope you have a nice day." Jess begins to move to the door but stops just before she gets to the exit and calls out over her shoulder to Cagalli, "Oh Cagalli, I saw you practicing flying today and I think the mistake your making is with your wing movements, you don't have to move them so much when you're making gentle turns otherwise you'll overshoot the turn and lose time and speed by having to correct your flight path." With that tip Jess leaves café.

"Ok that was a little weird." Cagalli says a little unnerved that someone was watching her practice without her knowing. Then again the underground city was pretty open so it's not like it would have been hard.

"Well Drake is pretty famous in the GFC so we shouldn't be surprised that some people are interested in us because of him." Jack replies as she wonders whose manager that was.

"She was pretty hot too for her age, I should have gotten her number." Roxas says bitterly, this Jess person had come out of nowhere and Roxas had just frozen up which was rare for her. Jack and Cagalli look at her slightly annoyed if not surprised before Cagalli gets out of her seat and stretches.

"I think that's enough of a break for now, time to get back to training. Hey Jack do you know where Shadow and Kenny are? I know Nick is spending the day with his brother talking about something private." Cagalli curious asks.

"Oh Drake sent them to the bank to learn more about how to deal with Gundam team finances." Jack answers as she pulls out her PDA and begins to jolt down some new ideas about a new gun for Cowboy to use.

"I thought that was Drake's job?" Roxas asks actually interested for once.

"It is but he wanted Shadow to know how to do it since he's the team leader but Shadow whined and complained about how he's not that great in math so Drake told Kenny to go with him to shut him up." Jack explains.

"Hmm well for once Drake actually did something good," Cagalli says reluctantly, "It's about time Shadow takes on some more responsibility. I swear that guy can be so childish sometimes, and to think he's our team leader."

"Hey Shadow's responsible when it counts, he's just a very relaxed and chilled leader." Jack says looking up from her PDA and instantly coming to Shadow's defense.

Cagalli doesn't look convinced, "Yea ok, I'll see you guys later." She says with a wave as she heads towards the elevator, Cagalli could make up the advantage Drake gave Shadow by having more time to train. She would show that Gundam junkie who was the better Gundam pilot.

####

_Location: Scamahorn Savings and Loan_

"This sucks! Why do I have to waste my time learning about GFC money stuff when I could be training in Nightwing?!" Shadow complained as he and Kenny walked to the bank. "I mean with automatic banking the GFC can just put our money into our account and then take out whatever fees and stuff we owe and whatever is left over we can take out with our debit card."

"I think it's a lot more complicated than that, I mean we have to pay the home country taxes on that money as well as the GFC, plus it's always good to know who has access to our account." Kenny says with a sly smile causing Shadow to shut up. He had a point, if Drake no longer ran their budget Shadow would have no idea what was going on with their money and that would probably be bad but the thought that Cagalli was getting closer and closer to perfecting her training regiment while he was off doing errands was driving Shadow insane.

"Sir you can't go in carrying that." Shadow blinks as he comes back down to Sora; they had gotten to the bank and walked in past some kind of fancy shiny scanner thing. A surprisingly short, skinny and bored security guard is standing in front of Shadow with one hand causally placed on the hostler to his gun. The scanner turned red the moment Shadow passed through it causing several people in the bank to turn around and stare nervously at him, the guard is nodding towards his sheathed sword.

"What, my sword? Don't worry I'm a Gundam Fighter." Shadow says confidently as he holds up his black Neon Gauntlet, but the guard doesn't look impressed.

"I'm sorry sir but our policy doesn't recognize a Gundam Fighter as an authorized person able to carry a weapon so I'm going to have to ask you to remove it before entering any further into the bank. If you like I can hold it for you while you enter and use the bank."

"Come on Shadow; just give him your sword." Kenny says as he sees the annoyed look on Shadow's face but Shadow doesn't listen.

"I can't give you my sword; a Gundam Fighter lives a very dangerous life with people constantly trying to kill him so I can't go anywhere unarmed. I mean what happens if someone comes in here to rob the bank and I'm defenseless?" Kenny groans and covers his face to hide from the embarrassing scene Shadow is making.

"No one is going to rob the bank sir, and if they try our security systems will take care of them with little problem." The security guards motions above as two automatic turrets drop down from the ceiling and lock on to Shadow in an intimidating fashion. "Now I'm going to have to ask you that you either leave your sword with me here or leave the building now."

Shadow grits his teeth annoyed as he stares at the security guard while Kenny glances nervously at the turrets. "Come on Shadow it's not worth it, just give him your sword." After another moment Shadow reluctantly pulls his sword still in its sheath out from the hook on his pants and hands it to the security guard. The turrets retract back up into the ceiling as the security guard takes Shadow's sword and leans it up against the wall by his small little desk next to the scanner.

"Come on Shadow before you get us arrested…again." Kenny quickly begins to push Shadow forward before he says anything stupid and gets them both in trouble.

"That only happened once, and how did that security guard even know I had a sword?!" Shadow snaps annoyed while Kenny laughs, grumbling Shadow finally takes a look at his surroundings. The bank was decent sized he guessed, nice and spotless walls and tiles, with good lighting.

"Well other than the fact it was hanging out in the open we walked through a weapons scanner, you see that blue hologram looking see-through wall that we just walked through? That's a weapons scanner, it's installed everywhere in Myrtus nowadays and when it turns red it means someone is carrying a weapon. Did you know it was originally called a metal detector, but since it scans for a lot more than metal now thanks to technology its name was changed?"

"Yea, yea, yea Mr. Know it all, let me guess you know this from the internet?"

"Of course." Kenny says with a smile while Shadow continues to look around. He could see the vault over the bank tellers' brown counter. Despite there being seven bank tellers at the counter there was still a long line of people waiting to either meet with a teller or one of the bank managers.

"Ahhh this is going to take forever!" Shadow groans.

"Don't complain Shadow, the bank tellers and managers are moving fast so I'm sure we'll be helped quickly." Kenny says to calm Shadow down, before walking over to the line. Shadow glares in annoyance at Kenny before sighing and accepting his fate. As the two Shadow Knights walk over to the line another group of people walk into the front entrance of the bank. They're dressed in costumes with masks as if it were Halloween, there are seven of them giggling, laughing and stumbling as if they were drunk. The security guard looking even more annoyed puts down his paper and gets up from his chair and walks through the scanner to confront these new people.

"Excuse me gentleman and ladies, I'm afraid you can't walk into the bank dressed like that." The security guard begins in annoyed voice as someone dressed in an over the top black suit, and tie with a top hat, red cape and a tragedy theater mask stumbles forward about a foot away from the guard. Suddenly he stops swaying and stands straight up as the mask turns to face the guard.

"Heh sorry." He says in such a warm friendly voice that it made the machine gun he pulled out and fired into the guard's face seem surreal. About twelve shots ring out and sink themselves into the body of the security guard but the first bullet had hit him in the face instantly killing him, he falls backward as blood gushes out and the first screams are heard. As everyone turns to the commotion and people start screaming the automatic turrets pop down from the ceiling, lock onto the guy in the top hat and open fire.

The girl dressed in a female superman costume steps in front of the man, standing directly between him and the incoming bullets, slaps her hands together to concentrate and shouts, "Force shield!" and spreads her palms out wide as a blue tinted bubble quickly covers her and the man in the tragedy theater mask. The bullets slam into the bubble at full terrifying force but bounce harmlessly off completely failing to penetrate the bubble. With perfect coordinated teamwork, two men dressed in identical gladiator costumes with matching helmets that cover their face move to the sides and raise their hands up high before swinging them downward

"Force smash!" A blue wave comes down from above the automatic turrets and rips them from the ceiling smashing them down onto the floor. Before the sparks start flying from the broken turrets the seven costumed figures move forward taking out automatic weapons hidden in their costumes. They spread out surrounding the unarmed crowd.

"NO ONE MOVE!"

"HANDS UP LET'S SEE THOSE HANDS!"

With several people screaming the civilians are herded together like sheep as they quickly move to raise their hands, while the man in the top hat as well as female superman rush the counter and bank tellers. "What do you think you're special?! No sudden movements and hands up!" The man screams at the teller as he hops up onto the counter to get a better angle to see their hands.

"EVERYONE SHUT UP; THE NEXT PERSON WHO TALKS WILL FIND A BULLET IN THEIR HEAD!" The man in the top hat continues to scream, but despite his words he does give the scared people a few seconds to calm down.

"Alright, over there with the rest of them, let's go my trigger finger is itchy!" Superwoman yells at the bank tellers forcing them to join the herd of people at the center of the bank. The man in the top hat still standing on top of the counter turns to face his unwilling audience.

"Listen up people because I'm only going to be saying things once before bullets start flying. If you want to live to see tomorrow you're going to do exactly what we say the first time we say it or else you're going to find yourself joining Mr. Security guard over there in the afterlife."

"Shit Shadow this is bad," Kenny speaks very quietly to his friend. They were both at the edge of the herd with their hands held high in the air. "What are we going to do?" he asks nervously.

"I don't know, if I had my sword I could just kick their asses but someone was convinced this bank wasn't getting robbed." Shadow replies looking very excited and happy despite the situation.

The episode ends with Kenny struggling very hard to maintain a whisper while still imputing all of his outrage and anger in his words, "SERIOUSLY?"

####

_Author's Note: Special thanks to Tristraim for allowing me to use Jacen, Titanic X for giving me the ideas of the United States of Ameros and Somera, Rain for allowing me to use Jessical Shields and Firesword for the name to the bank._


	82. Episode81Everyday life continues to suck

Episode 81 Everyday life continues to suck

_Location: GFC building_

The episode opens up with Drake kicking down the door to Joey's office. The door was actually unlocked but Joey had closed it so that he and Victor would not be disturbed by the noise outside while they discussed several new projects and mission requests. The door was made of solid wood with iron hinges, not that it mattered since the hinges are ripped out of the wall and the door is sent tumbling a good few feet inward. Drake walks in with barely contained anger; his feet grind into the ground as if trying to help relieve some of the stress directly into the Earth.

"God damn it Drake that's coming out of your paycheck!" Joey shouts annoyed, interestingly enough this wasn't the first time someone had broken down his door nor did he expect it to be the last.

"This is why I suggested you upgrade to coruimainly alloy automatic doors." Victor says completely ignoring the angry manager.

"But it doesn't look as nice as wood." Joey replies, plus he once had a bad experience involving a rogue AI locking him into a building back in his Gundam fighting days, so as a rule he always preferred doors he was able to break down if need be…not that he would ever tell Victor this.

Drake is in no mood for jokes as he marches over to Joey's desk and slams down a printed out email he received this morning. "Your concern has been noted and the circumstances of this situation shall be looked into as soon as it becomes possible," Drake reads off through gritted teeth "What the HELL is this?!" He demands.

Joey fidgets uncomfortably in his seat while Victor straightens his glasses unfazed. "It's an email addressing the complaint you filed." Joey replies evenly.

"Don't cut me that bullshit! This piece of crap email may be enough to fool the other managers who don't know better but it's sure as hell isn't going to fool me!" Drake roars, waves of sensitive energy which people call KI or killing intent come off him but Joey and Victor where on too high a level to be effected by it. They could still feel it, and Joey was made uncomfortable by it but there was no danger of them losing consciousness. "Physically harming a participant of the tournament outside a designated arena is grounds for an automatic review of the entire team!

At the very least you should be interviewing the Bloods and getting their side of the story and that should be done before the next round, to determine if you need to disqualify them, yet nowhere in this email is the word investigate used, and there's not even the stated promise to get to the bottom of this…..almost as if you already know they did it." Drake's eye narrows with the not so subtle accusation. His brownish red eye looks directly at Joey, not threateningly or accusingly but expectedly, the same kind of look an old general gives to his commanding officer to make the right decision, which only made Joey feel worse about the situation.

"Thank you Mr. Drake for telling us how to do our jobs although I wasn't aware that we had forgotten." Victor sensing Joey's weakness replies coldly instead. Drake turns his eye towards Victor and grits his teeth.

"Victor," Drake says with such a thick loathing that it feels like slime, "I thought your vampire ass was behind this. I knew that there was no way someone like you would come down to Myrtus just to see a tournament, but I never thought you would be able to talk Joey into purposefully ignoring a Gundam team that is threatening the lives of Gundam Fighters under his roof!"

"That is enough!" Victor declares with the voice of a king that demands his subjects to follow. A normal person would have been unable to meet his razor gaze but Drake was far from normal. "You're overstepping your authority Mr. Diz Drake; you are a simple, low rank manager who is only managing a single Gundam team. Mr. Joey Caster is the head of Arianna's GFC branch who is in charge of thousands of people; I am a director, I am in charge of overseeing ALL of the Gundam Fight Committee and everyone involved in it.

A number boarding in the millions if not billions; now ignoring the fact that we are your employers and don't have to give you any justification on any decision we make we are seeing a much bigger picture than you are right now and we are in charge of the safety of many more Gundam fighters than just yours! You have filed your complaint and this is how we have chosen to handle it; if you do not like it then you are always more than welcome to quit."

Drake grits his teeth so hard that they almost threaten to crack; after a moment he takes a deep breath and calms down. He replies "Fine, but know that the Shadow Knights will always defend themselves and their teammates when threatened!" With that Drake marches angrily out of the room.

_Location: Scamahorn Savings and Loan Time: Same as when we left off_

Shadow was actually having a good time; sure he was standing on the edge of a group of tightly packed people surrounded by bank robbers but that was all part of the fun. Going to the bank to learn about finances was boring, and Shadow would have much preferred to continue training with Nightwing but this was even better. Like the wise man once said nothing was better than real life experience; and what could be better Gundam Fighter training than stopping bank robbers? Still Shadow did have one problem, he was unarmed.

He knew it was a mistake to give that security guard his sword but nooooo Kenny had told Shadow to just let it go. _Heh, Kenny probably feels really stupid right about now, _Shadow thinks more proudly than he should. Anyway the important thing was that he had to get his sword back and preferably fast. The security guard left his katana in its scabbard leaning on the wall by scanner. It would probably take ten seconds at minimum for Shadow to rush over there, grab it, draw it and attack the closest robber.

Ten seconds though was too long of a time to risk, Shadow would normally have risked it anyway but things were different now that Kenny was back in the action again. If Shadow fumbled this he could end up costing Kenny his life so he had to practice safe tactics, something he hadn't done since Slyer. Looking to his taller friend Shadow and Kenny made eye contact and they exchange a silent message. They would wait for an opening.

Kenny was calmer now, after all being surrounded by people with automatic weapons wasn't new to him. He had spent almost a year in Slyer under much worse conditions so being out in the field wasn't unbearable to him…in a weird way it brought back some warm feelings. It reminded Kenny of the days before the Shadow Knights; when it was just him and Shadow up against impossible odds deciding to risk death rather than to just let things stay the same. Kenny was never a fighter like Shadow, even in Slyer, and to be honest he really didn't like physical fighting or violence, hell weapons like automatic rifles and even throwing knives still made him nervous.

So he held no regrets taking up the role of the programmer, the feel of the keyboard under his fingertips as his mind ran a dozen different calculations at once while he struggled to increase the Gundams performance. That place was where he was happy, in the same way Shadow was happy whenever he was in battle. What Kenny did regret though, was that feeling of closeness with his oldest best friend, being confident that he could read Shadow's mind and time his actions with Shadow's to create the impossible.

It had been so long since he and Shadow had done something like that, that Kenny had become afraid that they had lost something important but now in this situation such fears were proven unfounded. The bank robbers were still forcing them to be silent but that was ok, for a friendship as strong as theirs words were, to begin with, unneeded. Kenny could tell without looking that Shadow wanted to charge in and grab his sword so that he could fight these guys as quickly as possible.

By looking at Shadow Kenny knew that his friend did not want to risk a trigger happy robber accidently hitting Kenny and other innocent civilians in the confusion. Shadow needed a distraction, something to give him the extra time he needed to engage his opponent so for now they had to wait patiently for that something to happen. Kenny knew that he would be more of a burden to Shadow if he tried to engage in any fighting directly, but that was fine, he was a support type. His role was not to fight the enemy but to strengthen Shadow's own situation; and that was what he was going to do.

There were four bank robbers surrounding the hostages, these guys were no amateurs as they kept a hawk like watch looking for anyone moving to pull out a cellphone, or any hidden cops in the crowd. Superwoman dragged one of the better dressed employees to where the man in the top hat and another person was standing by the vault. "Here's the boss," Superwoman says as she throws the poor man to the ground in front of the other two.

"Excellent, well hello there good sir, if it's not obvious I would like to make a rather larger withdrawal." The man in the tragedy mask says in a rather quick voice, time was important.

The bank manager looks up frightened at the boss of the bank robbers, and stutters out "P-please don't hurt me, I-I can give you the code to get into the vault if you want."

"Don't worry friend, you won't have to say a word." The man in the top hat says as he begins to wave his fingers in the air like he was listening to music. The bank manager looks confused for a moment, then the pupils of his eyes open wide, before he slumps down falling unconscious. The man in the top hat stops moving his fingers and stands up straight, "Alright I got the code, sadly though the Vault is a GNE-2000, once the sentries pop down an inner lock clicks into place until they retract. C will have to break the lock first before we put in the access code."

The second man dressed as a frog nods his head and turns around; he puts his hand on the vault door and closes his eyes. After a few moments we hear a loud banging noise as something within the vault door snaps. The Frog removes his hand and says "Done." Without wasting a second the man in the top hat steps forward and types in the ten digit pass code, unlocking the vault door and opening it.

"Alright gentlemen and lady let's get started, we have three minutes left so grab all the loot you can." The man in the top hat declares as he and the other two bank robbers rush inside to get to the goodies, but no sooner than two steps in and they begin to hear sirens.

"H it's the cops!" One of the robbers guarding the hostages cries.

"What! That's impossible; they should still be at least five minutes out!" The man in the top hat shouts shocked as he rushes forward out of the vault to the glass door. Three white and blue cars have pulled up with flashing red and blue lights, the doors are open with the police officers seeking cover behind them. The cops have their guns drawn and pointed towards the door, there's no one on the street.

"This is the police, we have you surrounded. Let the hostages go and come out with your hands up!" A voice on the loud speaker sounds out throughout the area.

"Shit, H they've already setup road blocks!" One of the gladiators says as he looks left and right down the streets.

The man in the tragedy masks grinds his teeth, "How the hell did they setup so fast?" he mumbles frustrated, irritated, and nervous all at the same time. He suddenly snaps "G and J push them back, show them what we can do and let them know we have hostages and we're not afraid to start ripping off body parts!"

"Right!" The two men dressed as Roman gladiators say in unison as they move towards the bank door. Without hesitation they throw open the door and open fire on the cops, bullets fly out of their machine guns but luckily for the cops they missed. The bullets shatter the windshield and the car windows, the cops duck down and make themselves as small as possible. One of the gladiators stops firing and steps up, the strange gloves on his hand start to glow as he shouts "Force PUSH!" and shoves his hands forward. A large blue wave shoots out of the gladiator's hands.

The wave travels quickly across the ground and smashes into one of the open doors of the police car, which a cop was using for cover. The door push by the blue wave smashes into the cop, knocking him clean off his feet and into his car. The gladiator does this several times, the blue wave doesn't have the power to move the police cars more than a millimeter but it does have enough power to send the open car doors smashing into the officers using them for cover.

"Get back now if you don't want these hostages to die! If we see a cop we start throwing out bodies!" The gladiators shout out as they stop firing, allowing the police officers to get into their cars and drive away. Back inside the bank the man in the top hat and superwoman are by the widows watching what's happening. Shadow sees his chance, there was only one guard near him and he was distracted by the situation outside. Shadow turns to Kenny; they exchange a silent signal they've exchanged a hundred times before.

With a burst of rapid speed Shadow rushes forward, past the bank robber watching them straight towards his sword. "Hey, you stop!" The robber shouts startled as he moves to shoot Shadow, but Kenny moves like a slow breeze, to the point where he is basically invisible to anyone who matters, raising his foot Kenny trips the panicking robber. Shadow reaches his sword, grabs it; he now had every eye on him.

All eyes now shifted their focus to Shadow, this was what he was waiting for; this was his moment, his chance to show off all of the training he had been doing, all of his hard work. Pulling out his blade Shadow charges the man in the top hat, his form and movements hold no mistakes having been perfected by countless hours of training. In seconds he's on top of the man in the top hat with his sword raised high, there's no physical way for Shadow to be stopped.

With his eyes open wide in surprise, fear and panic the man in the tragedy mask grits his teeth and in an act of desperation raises his fingers and shouts "STOP!" To everyone else in the room the bank robber spoke normally but to Shadow it was as if the man had spoken through a loudspeaker. His voice echoes and vibrates in Shadow's head, muddying up the gears of his mind and suppressing any thoughts he might of had, by the time the furthest recesses of Shadow's mind realized what was happening it was too late.

The Gundam Fighter's blade stops in mid strike following the man in the top hat's command. Breathing hard from his near death experience the man in the tragedy mask takes a moment to recover before snapping "Q! How freaking hard is it to guard hostages?!" The man yells at the man Kenny tripped.

"I-I'm s-s-sorrygrahg" The man begins before Tragedy Mask whacks him in the face with the butt of his gun.

"Sorry doesn't mean SHIT if I get a sword slashed across my face! Next time it happens you'll find a bullet between your eyes!" Tragedy mask yells at his minion. Still fuming with anger from his fear he turns to Shadow who is still frozen in mid swing. "And you! Mr. Hero!" He says with barely contained loathing. The man in the top hat takes the sword out of Shadow's hands and then whacks the flat end across his face, blood shoots out as Shadow's lip gets cut but still the Gundam Fighter stands perfectly still, unable to move or even think without the bank robber's permission.

"Your execution is only being delayed because I don't want the cops charging in here thinking we've started killing people, but mark my words, before we leave I'm going to personally put a bullet in your head! Luck only goes so far though," the boss shouts out to the very scared hostages, "the next person who tries anything funny is going to find themselves with broken limbs! We don't need all of you mobile after all!" Turning back to Shadow "Now sit down on the floor so I can kick you a few more times," the bank robber orders so that he could make his point to everyone. Shadow doesn't reply but follows the commands without hesitation.

_A MSA user! _Kenny thinks with a panic as he's forced to watch his friend get stepped on violently. A mental spatial awareness user, capable of attacking people's very mind; he must have used some kind of psychic attack on Shadow to suppress his free thoughts and is now controlling him like a puppet! Kenny himself seems to have been overlooked, which was a good thing but there was no way he could take on all these bank robbers by himself in even the best circumstance. The MSA user didn't look that powerful, so hopefully something would come up and distract him, freeing Shadow. Until then all Kenny could do was wait for that moment.

####

_Location: A block away from the bank_

A crowd of reporters and spectators was quickly growing at the barrier the police had set up. There were already several police cars parked by the barrier or in some cases apart of the barrier. A large sixteen wheeler truck was serving as the command center and had the most traffic of uniformed officers coming in and going out.

A new police car pulls up, and comes to a stop; two men come out of the car. They're dressed in a different brown and orange uniform from the more traditional blue uniforms of the regular officers and one man was a good head taller than his partner. One man was black, had dreadlocks, and a friendly smile considering the situation. His taller partner was Indian with black hair and a more serious look on his face.

They walk towards one of the police officers blocking people from getting into the command center. "I'm Janardan Kaushal a level 3 detective," the shorter man replies in a friendly voice.

"And I'm Darrius Gul, same level." The taller man says as both detectives flash the police officers their badges; the police officer takes a minute to look at the badges and then steps aside waving them through.

"Ok, you're good." The two detectives nod their heads and walk onto the truck; the truck looks like a miniature office, with several desks and computer monitors. There are people moving around, typing on some computers and others answering phones, they're all dressed in police uniforms. The two detectives walk up to the person who looks to be the boss.

"So they will be alright? That's good to hear, thank you doctor." The person running the show says as he hangs up the phone.

"Are you in charge here?" Janardan asks already knowing the answer.

The officer turns to face them and holds out his hand, while several other people who were working around him look up, "That's right, I'm Sergeant Cronway. You must be Detectives Kaushal and Gul, the Chief told me you were on your way, it's a pleasure to meet you." The officers quickly shake hands.

"Can you tell us the situation?" Darrius says cutting straight to the point.

"Right, it's just like you guys told us; the SA crew of bank robbers hit a bank in this sector. It's a good thing we were watching for it, we were able to setup road blocks and get all of the civilians on the streets out of the way in minutes. I tried to get a couple of my guys in closer so that we could get some live eyes on them but the bastards opened fire on them."

"Was anyone hurt?" Janardan asks with real concern.

"Some cuts, bruises and a few broken bones but thankfully they're all alive. Moving on though, my programmers have managed to hack into the security cameras in the bank so we know they have twenty three hostages and that it's a crew of seven just like you guys thought."

"Are the cameras still operational?" Darrius asks.

"Heh you're going to love this, one of the KSA users created a SEMP charge."

"Semp charge?" One of the younger officers standing behind the Sergeant asks.

"A subatomic electrical magnetic pulse; think of it like an EMP charge that shorts out electrical equipment only a SEMP targets a specific kind of device, in this case the security cameras." Janardan explains, while Darrius looks up at him and says seriously.

"It takes a high rank KSA user to create a regular EMP charge."

"Unless that was their specialty, after all a person can master swinging a sword down relatively quickly but that doesn't mean they've mastered swordplay at all." Janardan says positively but Darrius doesn't look convinced.

"That aside, my hostage negotiator has made contact with them and is currently talking with them. The sniper teams are still looking for a good spot to set up but the building positions make it tough so it might take a couple of minutes."

"How far away is EDS?" Janardan asks.

"Three minutes out."

"Ok, once EDS gets here we'll breach here." Janardan begins to point on one of the monitors that has the bank's blueprints up but a different officer does not like this.

"Hold on a second, are you out of your mind?! You want to breach while they still have twenty three hostages in there?! They haven't shown the slightest intention of harming a single hostage, the opposite really, the guy I spoke to sounded like ex-military who's down on his luck. For god's sake all he asked for was a couple of pizzas for his men and he promised to release ten hostages, he's even given us an hour to get them for him; he's not some monster! I'm sure I can talk him down, without any more people needing to get hurt but if you guys go in there guns blazing you're going to get people killed!" The hostage negotiator shouts out.

"You're being deceived, that man in there has no intention of releasing the hostages now. The pizza gimmick is a ploy to buy time while his crew works on breaking through the floor of the bank into the sewer system down below. Once they do that they will set a bomb up in the bank and blow it, creating a distraction while they slip away. If we breach now we will have the element of surprise and the best chance of saving as many hostages as possible." Darrius says coldly.

"What's your DE level!" The hostage negotiator snaps.

"We're both level 3 detectives." Darrius responds calmly.

"Level 3!? Then why the hell are we even listening to you rookies anyway! This case requires at least a level 4 if not a level 5 detective; Sergeant you can't be seriously listening to these people!"

The Sergeant gets in the middle of Darrius and the hostage negotiator, turning to the hostage negotiator he says with clear and confident authority "I am listening to them because they are the ones who told me a bank on this sector would get robbed today by a team of SA users."

"We have been working on this case for weeks now! We were the ones who linked them to several other robberies all over the world! You want to know how we know they're planning on killing all the hostages, it's because they did it all three times they were caught still in the bank by police before!" Janardan screams out.

"We have the records to prove it, plus we know the identity of their leader, a Mr. Jaspher Yanze, the man you were probably talking to on the phone and I can assure you he has never served a day in his life in any military although he's been known for being a great con-man even without his MSA abilities." Darrius adds on, once again in a cold voice. The hostage negotiator looks uncertain for a moment in the face of their confidence and that's all it takes for the decision to be made.

"Sergeant EDS is here." Another police officer comes running in to him. The Chief looks up with grim determination, having made up his mind.

"Their actions speak louder than any words, tell EDS to get ready to breach."

"Right away Sir," the officer says and quickly runs off. Looking determined, Janardan gets up and begins to follow the officer.

"I'm going to suit up with the EDS and lead this breach personally." The detective says without turning back. The Sergeant just nods his head while he goes to coordinate with the other officers in the truck. Janardan walks out of the command truck and walks over to a new truck that has just pulled up; this new truck is a lot smaller than the command center truck but it also looks less like a truck and much more like a tank. It has very thick armor which is even covering the wheels to a certain degree, not to mention it has a cannon on top of it. Janardan quickly flashes his badge to the driver who nods his head and unlocks the door for him to get in.

A young officer on barrier duty notices the truck and looks at it in shock, "Holy shit, did they call in the military to handle this?"

A senior officer helping him out looks up to where the young man was pointing; "Oh are you talking about the EDS truck? No they're not the military, they're a form of law enforcement, like you or I, hehe believe me the military has a lot more dangerous weapons than just cannons."

"EDS?" The young officer asks his senior.

"Oh have you never heard of them before? They're Myrtus's law enforcement's pride and joy, the Extremely Dangerous Suspects task force. They used equipment that's on par with the military, with training that would make even coordinators cringe; they are sent to deal with the most dangerous suspects or the most dangerous situations."

Janardan quickly put on the EDS uniform; well to be honest it was more like lightweight battle armor. It was relativity easy to get the unit leader to agree to let him take point on this mission despite just being a level 3 detective; being Arianna's Gundam team's hero had its perks. Janardan finished putting on the gear, his body was now covered head to toe in the blue and white battle armor with EDS printed in big letters across the chest, and shoulders. The armor contains some kind of gadget that relaxed and stimulated muscles, increasing ones physical ability.

It was actually surprising considering the armor was very lightweight; it was designed for superior mobility against stronger and heavier armed opponents. That's not to say that the EDS battle armor was weak, it could block almost any ballistic round that wasn't piercing. Janardan switched on his helmet and readied his two handed automatic rifle, this baby fired .50AE caliber bullets, and could be switched to beam mode, where it actually fired beam bullets like Gundams…..if in a limited amount.

"Alright are you guys ready to go?" Janardan asks the team of ten people he was leading. They all quickly nodded their head. "Alright then let's move out!"

####

_Location: Inside the bank_

Kenny was relieved when the man in the top hat started kicking Shadow in the chest; Kenny was by no means an expert but Cagalli's punches were probably stronger than that weaklings kicks. Every now and then though he got in a good face shot, Shadow was now bleeding from a cut lip, and a broken nose it looked like but it could have definitely been worse. The man in the top hat lost interest in Shadow once the cops called; the good thing about being raised in an orphanage was that you learned quickly how to spot a conman and this guy was definitely one.

He hung up the phone looking really satisfied with himself, some of the other hostages began to feel relieved and a little hopeful having overheard him saying that he would release some people once the cops brought them pizza but Kenny highly doubted this guy was going to be releasing anyone willingly, there was too much movement from the other bank robbers, and the programmer could swear he heard digging noises coming from the vault.

The man in the hat was currently picking people for "release" to the police, but judging from the way their eyes were gazing over as he spoke to them and waved his fingers, Kenny was guessing he was doing more mind control techniques. That was a good thing though, the more people he had to control the greater the stress would be and the faster it would eat up his endurance, especially if the people were strong willed. The moment when Shadow would be back in play was coming soon.

Right now he had about six people under his control, counting Shadow. After talking with the sixth person the person in the top hat walked over to his partner, superwoman; Kenny immediately strained his ears to hear what they were saying. "You look tired, are you ok?" The woman asks the man.

"Yea, that moron who attacked me earlier has a strong will, most people would have submitted by now but he's still fighting, stubborn fool."

"How long can you hold him and is it a good idea to take control over more people while you have such a difficult person you have to control?"

"If it was just him by himself I could probably hold him for two hours, but with five other normal people it will probably only last a half hour. Give me ten minutes and then I'll have him suffocate himself."

_Oh shit! _Kenny thought with rising panic as he desperately tries to figure out how to save his friend. As fate would have it though, he didn't need too. The wall on the left side explodes causing several people to scream, all of the bank robbers look over there in shock as people in blue and white armor start storming in with their rifles raised high. Before anyone has time to think though, a window shatters as several smoke and flash bang grenades are thrown in and even more EDS officers come in through the front door.

The flash bang grenades blind everyone for a moment giving the smoke more than enough time to fill the room. The bank robbers and hostages all start coughing, "Damn, they're breaching, everyone scramble!" The man in the top hat says between fits of coughing. Raising his rifle the man in the top hat fires his gun at the nearest EDS officer with unusual accuracy considering the situation. "Get up, let's move!" He snaps at his brainwashed minions who all immediately get up and follow him out towards the second floor stairs.

The other bank robbers spread out and follow their leader's example by opening fire on the EDS officers, but unlike their boss they don't have anywhere near the same level of accuracy. The EDS officers waste no time in putting themselves in-between the bank robbers and the hostages, five EDS officers tap what looks to be wrist watches on their left arms. A series of metal plates rapidly expand outward forming a large rectangular shield which the officers use along with their bodies to form a wall between hostages and the bank robbers.

Despite having automatic weapons the bank robbers quickly figure out that their small caliber bullets can't even pierce the EDS body armor, let alone the shields. The EDS officers begin to return fire, with their high tech helmets and visors they could easily see through the smoke. The bank robbers realizing their out gunned and outnumbered turn tail and start running, using the bank desks as cover. Two EDS officers begin to herd the hostages out by the front door while the rest of the EDS officers including Janardan advance.

One of the gladiators abandons his rifle and pushes his hand out firing a blue wave, but the EDS officers are ready for this. The officer who is the target of the wave quickly gets on one knee; metal spikes in the knee shoot out and sink deep into the ground as the suction feature on the bottom of his feat actives at the same time.

The officer raises his shield so that it covers his entire body and head. The blue wave smashes into desks and lamps sending everything it comes into contact with flying but when it smashes into the EDS officer it completely fails to move the man an inch. Without hesitation the EDS officer while still crouching down returns fire, scoring a direct hit on the gladiator, the bullets easily penetrate the costume and body, nailing a second bank robber standing behind the man, both go down.

Over to the left Superwoman has surrounded herself in the blue bubble again, but the bullets the EDS officers are using were designed to penetrate such defenses. Cracks begin to appear on the bubble caused by the bullets which almost seem to explode on impact with the shield, superwoman desperately tries to back up and escape but it's impossible. The blue bubble shatters like glass finally allowing the bullets to hit flesh, and Superwoman falls. To the right the man in the frog costume charges one of the EDS officers. The man dressed as a frog tries to use his gun as a bat, a blue aura surrounds his gun seeming to make it more dangerous.

The EDS officer however doesn't bat an eye, holstering his gun he draws two weird looking metal police batons and easily parries the gun with his right baton and delivers a powerful hit with his left baton to frog man's face. The bank robber stumbles backwards from the blow; the EDS officer uses this opening to smash his baton against the bank robber's hand that's holding the gun. With a cling the gun drops to the floor leaving the frog man completely exposed to the EDS officer's merciless batons.

Janardan observes the entire scene being played out, as one by one the bank robbers fall it becomes completely clear that the bank robbers stand no chance against the EDS. "I don't see the leader here Darrius," Janardan says speaking into his helmet's comm, "I'm going up to the second floor to see if he's there."

"Janardan don't be reckless, wait until the first floor is clear." Darrius responds.

"If he has brainwashed some people then we don't have time to wait until the first floor is clear, I'm going up." Janardan says as he moves forward, nimbly jumping over desks. He quickly comes to a stop and pivots on his left foot dodging a blue wave fired from another bank robber to his left. Janardan with only just a glance opens fire on the bank robber who fired the blue wave and scores a clean hit. Without turning around Janardan rushes up the stairs to the second story and dives to the floor, expecting to be shot at, but no bullets come. Rolling on the ground the young detective quickly gets on his knees and points his gun forward.

"DON'T MOVE! I swear to god if you move I'll have these people here kill themselves!" The man in the top hat screams, his six brainwashed minions including Shadow stand in front of him like a human wall. They have their hands placed on their own heads and chins, as if to snap their own necks. All of them have dead fish like eyes except for Shadow whose electric green eyes glow fiercely….extremely pissed off.

"Great, now you've done it." Darrius says on the comm. Darrius, the sergeant and probably a couple more people were able to see everything Janardan could see through his helmet.

"Don't do anything stupid now; we have this place surrounded and the rest of your team in custody. There's nowhere else for you to go and there's no reason for you to die here today." Janardan says trying to talk the man down.

"The rest of the EDS squadron is finishing off the rest of the bank robbers now, you just have to buy some more time." It was the Sergeant's voice this time that spoke through the helmet. Janardan of course made no move, pretending not to hear anything.

"We'll see, now put your gun on the ground and slide it over here!" The man in the top hat shouts having not heard the Sergeant. Janardan sees his chance; with hands worthy of being called a magician's or escape artist hands, he places his rifle on the ground while simultaneously pulling out a small round object, like a miniature grenade and slides them both across the floor towards the bank robber.

The grenade is small and Janardan rolls it purposefully in his rifle's shadow; the man in the top hat doesn't see the grenade until it makes a popping noise. Instead of exploding into a fireball the grenade puffs out some kind of sparkling powered into the air. The man in the top hat stares at it confused, _glitter…..no it's a defracture grenade! _The man in the top hat realizes too late the real purpose of the grenade, light begins to come back to brainwashed people's eyes as the hold over their mind disappears.

The man in the top hat is so stunned by his mind slave's regaining their freedom that he doesn't see Janardan come flying right at him. Janardan tackles the man in the top hat, knocking his top hat off, as he grabs the gun pointing it away from the hostages. The rifle goes off in the struggle, causing the now freed hostages to scream and run. Feeling the officers superior strength the man in the tragedy mask let's go of his gun and jumps back. Like someone letting go of the rope in tug-of-war Janardan rolls backwards from the sudden absence of opposite force.

Sensing danger a disoriented Janardan flips his head around and tries to straighten up his body but it's too late. The bank robber has used the distraction to grab Janardan's gun, which he had slid across the floor, and now points it at the officer. Janardan freezes with the barrel of his own gun pointed at him. "Heheheh I got to say I'm loving you EDS guys' toys, I mean that armor is pretty impressive being able to block all of our bullets but I think I love your guns the best. My gun is like a toy compared to this baby hehehehe but I wonder, what's stronger, your gun or your armor? Hehehe shall we find out?"

Janardan grits his teeth wishing more than anything his armor was stronger than his gun….but he knew it wasn't. The bank robber and cop faced off, there so focused on one another that neither notice the single hostage who did not run away walk up behind the bank robber. The hostage wore black sneakers, black jeans, black T-shirt and a black jacket; he was bleeding from his nose and a cut on his face where he had obviously been beaten. The man in the black jacket taps the bank robber on the shoulder; the move is so startling and surprising that the bank robber turns his head around to see where it came from.

"Hey, asshole, those kicks HURT!" Shadow screams with barely controlled angered as he slashes downward with his sword. The man in the tragedy mask had just dropped Shadow's sword on the ground after he had finished beating Shadow. He had been so confident in his mind control that he failed to notice the warrior instincts in Shadow kick in and tell him to grab his sword, which he did.

Shadow is so angry that he doesn't even bother to pull his sword out of its sheath and instead swings both at blurring speeds. Shadow's sheath sword smashes into the bank robber's face so hard that it breaks his mask and knocks him unconscious in one hit. The bank robber is sent flying backwards, the EDS rifle falls from his hands to the ground. Not wanting to make the same mistake twice Janardan dives for his gun and quickly reclaims it.

"Heh, so that's what it feels like to be under MSA mind control, well now I know how much that sucks and will never do that again." Shadow says feeling much better about the situation after beating up the bank robber.

"Don't move! Slowly put the sword down and put your hands up!" Janardan says with authority, having gotten up off the floor. His gun is raised and pointed at the armed individual not sure what or who this new guy is.

Shadow looks at the EDS officer shocked, his memory was hazy after the bank robber did the who psychic mumble jumble on him but he knew who the EDS was and had a general idea of what was going on. It's not like he was expecting a thank you or anything…maybe a single praise or two but come on everyone wanted to get praised when they did something that required a lot of work, but instead he was having a gun shoved in his face and being told to drop his sword…AGAIN! Quite frankly it was really beginning to piss him off.

"NO GOD DAMN IT!" Shadow shouted catching Janardan by surprise. "I am a Gundam Fighter, my life is filled with danger so I can't just go walking around unarmed, that's what I tried to tell the last guy but nooooo everyone was all like "You're crazy Shadow, just give him your sword" but look what happened! I go unarmed and bank robbers take over the place, which would have never happened if people would have just let me keep my sword!"

Janardan isn't quite sure how to respond, while the person was certainly acting aggressively he wasn't acting threateningly, in fact he had already put his sword which was still in its sheath back on his pants loop. "Janardan come in, we've confirmed through visual that this is Shadow Zoomarey team leader of the Shadow Knights." Darrius informs him.

"Roger," Janardan responds back as he lowers his gun, "Ok you can keep your sword but you're going to have to come with me so that we can process you." The man had just been through a trauma with being exposed to bank robbers, and then again when the MSA user hijacked his mind. He was clearly scared and his sword provided him with a sense of comfort which if taken away might cause him to go violent, which was why Janardan allowed him to keep his weapon. It also helped the kid's cause that he was carrying around such an archaic weapon.

Shadow blinks, surprised that he won that argument so easily then smiles and replies happily "Sure," and begins to follow Janardan after the officer puts something that looks like beam handcuffs on the bank robber. Of course since the bank robber was still unconscious it fell on Janardan to carry the man out of the building, sighing with annoyance Janardan flipped the bank robber on his back and led Shadow outside.

Shadow looked all around the first floor with wide eyes; the place was a wreck with broken desks, bullet holes, and pieces of wall and glass everywhere. The Gundam Fighter could see several of the bank robbers lying on the ground dead; it was a clear that a battle had happen here. It was really weird, Shadow was awake when the EDS busted in but everything from when he was under the mind control until he was freed was all hazy, like it was just a dream. There were two EDS officers guarding the crime scene until the forensic people got there.

The guy leading Shadow removes his helmet for some reason, maybe it was damaged during his struggle with the bank robber, or it could have been the guy was just hot under that armor and stuff. As they walked outside Shadow saw the rest of the hostages by several ambulances. They were being looked at by the medics; no one looked seriously hurt and Shadow made eye contact with Kenny. Before the two friends could move towards each, cheering started to break out.

"Look, it's really him!"

"I told you I saw him go in there!"

"He's the one who saved the hostages and beat the bank robbers!"

"It's Arianna City's hero!"

Clapping starts coming from all of the people behind the police barrier, while the press tries to force their way in, but the police officers watching the barrier manage to push them back. Still flashing lights can be seen from their cameras. The hostages look up when they hear the noise and then start shouting out thanks, some are even crying because they are so thankful. Shadow looks around and blushes embarrassed by the praise.

"No, I didn't do that much." He says with a nervous laugh as he rubs the back of his head. The press finally manages to break free, as both they and the hostages surround their hero but the person they surround isn't Shadow, its Janardan.

"Thank you so much Mr. Kaushal."

"You really are Arianna's hero!"

"Mr. Kaushal can we ask you some questions on your heroic exploits regarding saving the hostages and defeating the SA user bank robbers." A reporter asks.

Janardan blushes from the praise and gives off a nervous laugh, "Haha you guys are giving me waaaay too much credit for this, I was just a small part in this operation. The real thanks should go to the brave men and women in the police force, especially the EDS officers who were with me on this case."

"But isn't it true that you apprehended the master mind behind these notorious bank robberies?" A different reporter asks, but before Janardan can answer Shadow cuts in.

"Um actually I'm the one who took down the boss and saved the day not that it's any big deal, I am a Gundam Fighter after all, team Leader of the Shadow knights." Shadow says with more than a little pride. All eyes turn to Shadow for a moment, until one of the hostages steps forward.

"You liar!" She shouts angrily, and she's not alone. Every single hostage except for Kenny stares at Shadow angrily.

"Yea, you didn't do anything except almost get us all killed!"

"You're just lucky those bank robbers didn't kill you."

"They did do a good job on his face though."

"Honestly, the nerve of that guy trying to take credit for Janardan capturing the boss, as if we would believe he was the one who captured him."

"He's just a want-to-be hero."

"He's so reckless; he didn't even give a damn to think about what his death would do to his family. I pity his poor mother."

"What a loser."

The negative comments keep coming as the hostages make their low opinion of Shadow known. It was getting pretty bad. Shadow digs his nails into the palms of his hands as he bites his lips, he wanted to say something, it's not like he wanted to be a hero or anything; he would be the first to admit that he wasn't a hero but no one liked being insulted. The worst part about it was that Shadow couldn't say anything back, sure if he had beaten up all of the bank robbers he could tell them to go screw off but he hadn't done anything except become a mind slave to those assholes. He didn't even really beat the boss, he just sucker punched the guy, so all he could do was just stand there and take those people's crap.

Kenny wasn't good at public speaking, unlike Shadow he really didn't feel comfortable talking to people he didn't know but nothing encourages people to exit their comfort zone like anger however this time there was no need.

"So that's where I know you're name!" Janardan shouts with recognition. He had handed the unconscious bank robber to one of his fellow officers while the poor rookie took the attention off him.

Shadow turns to face the EDS officer, a little confused. "Umm ok?"

Everyone has stopped talking and parted, letting Janardan walk up to face Shadow. "Oh your manager must not have contacted you yet; the next round matches for the tournament have been decided. You'll be facing me Janardan Kaushal team leader of Arianna's public servants!" Immediately chatter breaks out from the crowd.

"Shadow Knights? I've never heard of them before?"

"Oh yea those are the rookie E-rank team."

"Really those guys are still in it?"

"Talk about luck."

"Man this kinda sucks, I was hoping to see the Public Servants fight a strong team not a bunch of rookies."

"Hey at least it's an easy win."

The trash talk continues all around them but neither Gundam Fighter adverts their eyes from the other, it was as if they were standing in an open meadow all by themselves. "You know it's funny, I was planning on actually contacting the rest my team and telling them that I couldn't make it because of work but now with this case all solved I get to actually fight and who should be here but my next opponent." Janardan says with a competitive smile on his face, the reporters are soaking in every word of this.

Sadly though some of the other officers were looking at him annoyed by the press, "Anyway though this is a conversation for a different time, now ladies and gentleman of the press if you would kindly follow me out of the crime scene I will be more than happy to give you all a statement." With that Janardan walks away with his admirers' right on his heels.

Shadow just stands where he is watching his next opponent go. Kenny looks at his friend concerned, it was unlike Shadow to just stand there and say nothing. "Shadow?"

"There's nothing to say." Shadow says almost shaking from the humiliation, embarrassment and anger of this situation. Kenny could feel all of this from his friend, and he wanted to say something. He knew a ton of random facts from the internet but none of them were helpful at this one moment when all words slipped him. "There's absolutely nothing I can freaking say in this situation, but don't worry we'll do plenty of talking with our Gundams when the next match comes around." The episode ends with Shadow's declaration.


	83. Episode 82 Frienemies

Episode 82 Frienemies

_Location: Unknown Time: Roughly 30 years ago_

The episode opens up with a flashback. "Damn it, Damn it, DAMN IT!" A young man in his early twenties shouts as he begins to punch the ground with intense rage. "I can't believe I lost to that money garbling bitch!" He screams as he continues venting his frustration by punching the ground.

"Drake it's ok."

"Yea Drake it will be alright."

"Calm down Drake." His friends including a young Tim tell the distraught pilot.

Suddenly a new person appears around the corner, she stops and looks down on the sad little pilot. "Heh for a man with such pride you sure have a bad mouth." A young woman with shoulder length brown hair about Drake's age says with a cocky smile. Drake grinds his teeth like sandpaper as his face shakes with rage.

"Jessical Shields; out of all the mother freaking Gundam Fighters I had to lose to it had to be you!; a person who doesn't give a damn about pride, or spirit; someone who only cares about money!" Drake spits out barely containing his rage.

Jess looks down on Drake unimpressed, in fact she looks turned off by his behavior. "I won't argue with you that I'm only interested in money, I could less about pride or Gundam spirit but let me tell you one thing, do you honestly believe just having pride or spirit will let you win battles?!"

Drake's eyes open wide in shock; his body is still shacking, "What?"

"What are you fighting for?! You go around spouting shit about pride and Gundam Fighting spirit but you walk around without purpose, without a goal or dream and your fighting and training reflect this! My purpose is to make money and while you may not find that noble it's still more than what you have. Do you really believe you can progress in the rankings by walking around aimlessly? If you can't get serious about training, and Gundam Fighting than you should just quit!" Jess roars from a place high above Drake.

At that moment Drake felt it, there wasn't just a difference in skill and ability, there was a difference in character and beliefs as well. Jess was just on a higher level than he was in every category.

"Tis, I don't know why I'm wasting my time here when I could be making money somewhere else." Jess says bored as she begins to walk away leaving a stunned Drake behind.

"Jessical Shields I swear I will defeat you!" Drake shouts at her back.

####

_Location: GFC building Time: Present_

Drake was brooding over his desk, he had been reminded once again how much he hated politics; he had half a mind to go find the Tyke Devils' base and kicked their asses himself just to spite the higher-ups, however that would be a little too immature for a Gundam manager. "So I take it your talk with Joey and Victor didn't go well?" Tim asks as he sits down on top of Drake's desk.

"I don't want to talk about it." Drake says in a grumpy voice.

"Oh, well you know this reminds me of old times, right Drake?" Tim says in a nervous way. Drake looks up not getting what's going on.

"No not really? Why?" Drake asks suddenly getting a bad feeling.

"Oh, well nothing really it's just that I happen to run into an old friend and I thought I would invite her back here to say hi." Tim says in a really suspicious way.

"Tim, what did you do?" Drake asks seeing through his friend's trickery.

"Heh nice crappy desk you got their Diz, man I never thought I would see the day the god of knives would become an office employee. I mean talk about sad." Although she's grown older Drake could never forget nor not recognized her, his eternal rival and friend.

"Jessical Shields!" Drake shouts as he gets up. Jess just looks at him annoyed and then turns to Tim.

"So he still does that thing with shouting people's full names?" Jess asks.

"Yea, you know what they say about old dogs and new tricks." Tim says, embarrassed by Drake's behavior.

"So let me get this straight, out of everyone in this great big city we live in you just happened to run into Jess who also just happened to be in the city?" Drake says not even bothering to hide his accusation.

"You should stop being so paranoid Mr. Suit man, AND more importantly YOU OWE ME MONEY! I lost a thousand credits when the Shadow Knights beat the Valkyries!" Jess shouts and points her finger at Drake.

"I DON'T owe you anything and it's against the rules for managers to bet on their own team's fights!" Drake shouts right back, "and it's not paranoia when you're right!"

"Fine, if you must know Tim asked me here because he's worried about how you were treating one of the Gundam Fighters you were managing, a Cagalli Yula Athha." Jess says still looking annoyed by this entire situation.

Drake's eye narrows at his friend with clear anger, "Traitor," the one eyed man says with venom causing Tim to shiver. The rocker had forgotten how scary Drake's glare could be. Jess however is immune to the stare and moves in front of Tim in a challenging fashion.

"Eh get over it, I'm sure if you weren't being such a hard ass about the whole thing Tim wouldn't have had to resort to calling me! Honestly Mr. Suit you shouldn't let such little things like pride spoil your mood." Jess says in a superior voice with a little mocking laugh, just to piss Drake off. It works.

"SHUT UP you money hungry gold hunter, as if I would take life advice from you!" Drake shouts as he draws his knives.

"Oh, well I guess that leads me no choice but to beat advice into your thick skull." Jess replies with a wicked grin as she lifts her arms. In her arms are two tonfas, but the tonfas begin to expand and grow bigger as two VTP missiles almost seem to build themselves from the metal sticks. A thick battle aura fills the air as the two retired A rank fighters face off which draws the looks of everyone on the floor…well that and their weapons are out in the open for all the world to see.

####

_Location: An old bar, Time: An hour later_

"Done!" Jess shouts with victory as she slams down her empty beer bottle on the counter. "Hehehe I beat you again Mr. Suit man." Drake finishes his own beer and places it down on the counter looking annoyed.

"Drinking is a stupid game anyway!" After pulling out their weapons Joey had come down from his office and yelled at them for causing a racket, so he and Jess had decided to have a drinking match instead. In hindsight Drake realized that was a bad idea.

"Hahaha you're just a sore loser, anyway you got the tab." Jess says a little bit tipsy. Drake grumbles a respond, wishing he hadn't made that bet. The bar they were at was old, small, and dirty; but the beer was good and the place was dark and quiet, perfect for their type of conversation. "So tell me about this Cagalli who you can't stand."

Drake narrows his eye, "Don't think I don't know you're purposefully trying to get me tipsy so that I open up…..what has Tim already told you about her?" Drake asks as he signals the bartender for another round.

"He's brought me up to speed, as in I know she's a princess from Earth."

"Yea she's royalty from Earth, the political kind not the spoiled kind. Her moral high horse is through the roof, she's hesitant in battle, and to top it off she's not serious about the Gundam Fights. She's only agreed to become a Gundam Fighter so that she can get back home to Earth, honestly though if it was up to me I would have kicked her out of the team long ago." As Drake speaks the bartender gives him another beer, which he then drinks.

Jess gives Drake a sly smile, "Oh no, she has a reason to be in the Gundam Fights, how dare she," Jess says with heavy sarcasm. "As for a moral high horse, that's all a matter of perspective, after all to me your moral high horse is through the roof, and having someone around like that isn't always a bad thing. All Gundam Fighters, especially those who aren't used to fighting show hesitation at first, but that's just something that will correct itself through time and experience. Besides I've checked her out myself and I know she's already gotten over that.

Hehe and who are you trying to kid Drake? If you really thought she was bad for the team you would have just given her what she wanted, a plane ticket back to Earth; because that's the easiest and fastest way to get her off the team. The cold hard truth is that you recognized she is good for the Shadow Knights, even if it's on a subconscious level. I mean she did beat my Valkyries after all, Sesen sees her as a rival now so that's got to count for something."

Drake takes another sip of his beer, "Heh to be honest I was surprised she won that match too, I wanted Shadow to fight Sesen instead."

"Ah yes, I really wonder about what happen between them in Haben because I have never seen Sesen show any sort of respect or friendship towards a man before. Still don't try to change the subject; this is about you and your slightly creepy hatred towards Cagalli."

"She's still not serious about the Gundam Fights," Drake replies stubbornly.

"HA, now that's funny. You what to know what I think, I think you're projecting your own feelings about yourself onto her. I remember a young prideful Gundam Fighter, who walked around lost in the GFC after his girlfriend broke up with him; he wasn't taking the fights seriously but he changed after a certain someone kicked his ass." Jess says this in a joking, teasing way but Drake looks at the bottom of the beer glass seriously.

"I maybe projecting my own feelings about myself onto her but that doesn't mean I'm wrong. After all you were right, I wasn't serious about the Gundam Fights and it ended up costing almost my entire team's life."

Jess turns to Drake with the most serious look we have ever seen on her face, "That wasn't your fault! You were completely serious about the Gundam Fights at that point, and you did everything possible to keep them alive."

Drake gives a sad laugh, "Heh, I feel like we've had this exact same argument before and you've said that to me many times before."

"We have, and I will say it as many times as it will take until it gets through that impossibly thick skull of yours." Jess replies strongly and uncompromisingly.

Drake just flashes her a sad smile as he replies, "I knew there was a reason we no longer hung out together."

"That was your choice not mine," Jess sighs, "Look I didn't come here to drag up that stuff, I just wanted to remind you that after you lost to me you started taking the fights seriously. You would spend hours training; it got to the point where you used to sleep in your Gundams some nights when you were doing all day training sessions. My point is that people can change, they can become serious if you give them the right motivation."

"People don't change, Jessical, they just become more of who they truly are." Drake says in cynical voice but Jess just gives him a sly smile in respond as she gets up.

"But how do we know who a person truly is? She deserves to be truly looked at Diz before you judge who she is, not just what you read about in files or second hand accounts but with your own eye, you need to fully comprehend her." With those words Jess leaves the bar. Drake looks annoyed but he can't deny her words.

####

_Location: Arianna's GFC's underground training City Time: 1:00AM_

A large cracking sound can be heard throughout the area as La Rouge smashes its fist into the flying boulder. This time cracks appear on the boulder as a small section shatters from the blow; it was definitely an improvement from earlier Cagalli notes with satisfaction. The tip that Jess woman had given her was really helpful, and at the very least gave her a starting place she could improve from. "Oh my god, did I step into an alternate reality?" La Rouge stops moving as a small smile breaks out on Cagalli's face as she recognizes the voice and then the image of the person who pops up on her helmet screen.

"No, you're just running late Shadow." Cagalli replies keeping the joke going, normally Cagalli was the one who walked in on Shadow's training session. Nightwing was on the roof of one of the buildings looking up at La Rouge.

"Heh, well sorrrrry if the cops kept me busy for most of the day." After seeing each other La Rouge and Nightwing turn back to their respective training routes.

"I heard about that from Kenny. Are you alright? Why did they keep you so much longer?" Cagalli asks while she zooms through the hoops in the air. She was moving faster now, and was hitting the hoops less but it was still far from perfect.

"Other than looking like an idiot I'm fine, they called Price to come over and patch me up….once they made sure he was sober. You know now that I think about it that might be one of the reasons they kept me longer than everyone else, that and I had a weapon and attempted to fight the bank robbers." Shadow says simply while Nightwing runs through the course, the automated system kept putting out new targets whenever he destroyed one.

Cagalli sighs, "I guess it's pointless to tell you that you should be more careful."

"HA, like I haven't heard that a bunch of times today. I met our opponent for the next round."

La Rouge abruptly stops as Cagalli snaps her head to look down at Shadow, "You met someone on Arianna's Public Servants?"

Nightwing doesn't stop moving but its performance seems to drop slightly, "Yea, the team leader Janardan Kaushal, he showed me up pretty bad against the bank robbers." Shadow says letting out a moment of his own insecurity.

"Like someone making a fool out of you has ever stopped you before." Cagalli says while rolling her eyes.

Shadow stops moving for a fraction of a second surprised, then grins and takes off with a burst of energy onto the course. "Oh yea! Everyone maybe cheering for his name now but so what! I'm not fighting to get fans, I'm fighting to be the best that there ever was! So what are you doing still up, another nightmare?" Shadow asks with an unusual amount of insightfulness, Nick wasn't the only one who was aware that Cagalli was having trouble sleeping at night.

Cagalli blank out as Shadow hit the nail on the head, she remembered her dream; soldiers lying dead all around her in pool of blood, so much blood, and other things all around her like a scene straight out of hell. They were asking her why, why did they die, why didn't she save them, why didn't she try, they were reaching for her, some with disfigured limbs, demanding answers and then _he _appeared.

Like a plague or terminal disease that she could never be rid of, he raised his blade and then brought it down to finish what he started, and that's when Cagalli woke up still in bed and drenched in sweat with the covers wrapped tightly around her like a serpent.

SMACK! With a distracted pilot La Rouge smashes head first into one of the metal hoops, bounces off it and crashes into a building on the ground. "Owwww." Cagalli moans as she slowly sits up and rubs her head. That had been careless of her to get so distracted like that; honestly she was growing annoyed with herself by still having these nightmares. By now she should realize she's still in a dream whenever that scene plays out before her, considering how often it happens, but instead her brain just completely freezes in petrified terror. Well at least being that terrified had one good point, she was too scared to scream, god now that would be embarrassing if she woke up screaming three times a week.

"Cagalli are you alright?!" Shadow shouts concerned as he leaves his course and starts moving towards her.

"Yeah I'm alright, just annoyed I lost focus like that. Anyway no, I did not have a nightmare," Cagalli lies; she definitely did not want to talk about her nightmare with anyone, "I just didn't want to lose to you! It's bad enough you have that one eye jackass teaching you so at the very least I can't give you more training hours." Even though Cagalli didn't like Drake she could be objective enough to admit he was good at his job, when he choose to do it anyway. It irritated her extremely that a part of her wanted Drake to teach her, the man was that good at his job.

"HA, even without Drake I'd still be a better pilot than you!" Shadow replies confidently. He knew that Cagalli was lying about the nightmares, he didn't know how he knew but he knew; still if Cagalli didn't want to talk about it he wasn't going to force her.

"This coming from a man who can't even use a gun," Cagalli retorts as La Rouge gets up from the ruble and takes to the sky again. They both grin at each other as they return back to their respective courses and take off again, neither knew that standing on top of one of the buildings a little ways off was Drake. He had been standing there for hours; he had come here straight after he went to the bar with Jess. What could he say other than Jess was right, as much as he tried to deny it Drake had allowed his own personal feelings to influence his judgment on her.

Drake's own mentor had once told him that you could judge a person based upon how they took their training and so now that was what Drake was going to do. Cagalli deserved to be seen, not seen through the shadow of her upbringing, not seen from her past but to be truly seen with unbiased eyes as to who she was right now in this moment. So Drake stood there watching her as if this was the first time he had ever seen this girl before.

He watched with a bored interest as she clumsily moved through the air and turned her wings to get through the hoops, despite her best efforts she was still unable to move through the hoops at combat speeds without bashing into them. Metal hitting metal, like hammer strikes rang out every time she hit the hoops, each hit must have hurt like running into a desk but she pressed forward through the pain and just like that Drake's bored interest became mild interest.

She had talent, there was no denying that but her talent wasn't self-learning but rather quick understanding, therefore when she lacked direction her ability to progress became only a fraction of what it normally would be. Jess had told Drake the tip she had given Cagalli and in less than a day Cagalli had already figured out the most effective way to use that tip. It showed in the way she now paused slightly just before she threw her fist into the boulder, large cracks now appeared as pieces and chips fell off.

It wasn't perfect but it was a large improvement from earlier in the day. She kept punching that boulder, and flew back to beginning of the course to start all over again, never wavering nor hesitating. Whenever the boulder began to receive too much damage caused by multiple hits it would lower to the ground and be replace by another fully intact boulder, after all the point of this exercise was to destroy it in one hit, not several dozen over the course of days. She kept hitting that boulder again and again, searching for that one punch that would destroy it, if she had been using her bare hands the skin on her knuckles would have been scraped completely off.

Still the NS system would be making her feel the pain as if she were scraping off her very skin, but La Rouge's yellow eyes stayed fixated on their target and just like that Drake's mild interest became great interest. Despite her will power her body did have its limits which was reflected in the S-generator, soon the power began flickering on and off causing La Rouge to collapse onto the ground reflecting its pilot's exhaustion. She would rest for a little while but then rise again, run the course again until her body once more collapsed on her and then she would repeat the process all over again.

It was sheer determination that allowed Cagalli to keep going when everything around her turned against her…that and there was a clear if subtle rivalry between her and Shadow. Drake's keen eye easily picked it out, and while it wasn't quite as open and direct as Cagalli's rivalry with Sesen it was still just as intense and important. Eventually though as the sun began to rise in the above world both Cagalli and Shadow had reached their limit and passed out into the land of dreams; La Rouge and Nightwing leaned on each other back to back as both pilots slept soundly in the cockpit and it was at that moment when Drake's great interest turned into respect.

####

It was a new day but once again Cagalli found herself on the training range; she was growing a little worried by how much time she was spending here, like last night. That was the first time ever she had fallen asleep in a Gundam before, Shadow joked that Cagalli was finally beginning to act like a real Gundam Fighter. After waking up in the cockpit she and Shadow had headed back to the Dark-Angel for breakfast…or what the cook called breakfast, god they needed a new cook. After chilling with the rest of the team for a little while she and Shadow went back to training.

"Argh!" Cagalli cries as La Rouge's right foot catches one of the metal hoops in the air, causing it to completely lose its balance and start to spiral wildly downward straight into a building. Slowly getting up from the wreckage Cagalli groans as she shakes her head, "Great, just great." She could at least be grateful that Shadow was off doing some special training with Drake and hadn't seen her. Still she could tell that she was doing much worse than yesterday and it was really beginning to aggravate her.

"No, no, no all wrong. When you're spiraling out of control you need to spread your wings, arms and legs out to stabilize yourself not tuck them inward, that will only increase your speed and make it that much harder to straighten out." Cagalli blinks in surprise as she turns towards the source of the noise, Drake.

Drake was standing on the roof of the neighboring building once again using the button microphone to send his voice to the Gundam Fighter. "What are you doing here? I thought you were helping Shadow with his training?" Cagalli asks with just a hint of aggression. La Rouge stands up and walks over to the building where Drake is standing.

"Humpth I just left him doing his own specialized training…..would you come down here?" Drake asks with his regular annoyed at life mood.

"Why?" Cagalli asks in no mood to get into another argument with the one eyed asshole.

Drake growls annoyed at being questioned and snaps, "Can you just come over here." Cagalli looks at him hesitantly for a moment then exits her cockpit. Looking annoyed she walks over to Drake fully expecting him to insult her again.

"Ok I'm here, what do you want to complain about me now?" Drake just looks down at Cagalli with a stone like expression, then with snake like reflects he quickly reaches and grabs her arm, flipping her around so that her back faces him while he continues to pull her arm.

"What the hell?!" Cagalli shouts startled as she tries to struggle to break free but Drake's grip might as well have been iron.

"Relax, the reason why you're doing worse today on the course is because you slept in your Gundam causing your muscles to become sore and cramped so I'm helping you with your stretches. Honestly though why do you think I made you stretch every day before and after workouts when you guys did that one month training regiment before your first match? It's like you've never worked out a day in your life before." Drake says while he counted to ten in his mind, he then quickly switch to Cagalli's other arm.

Cagalli didn't want to mention that before coming to Sora she had never worked out before, well unless you call running around and doing a little manual labor in the hot sun a work out, but that was going on three years ago. Drake's sudden touching made Cagalli feel very uncomfortable, she would have cried out pervert had Drake not kept such a professional emotionless atmosphere as he bent her body in awkward directions….that and she immediately began to feel soooo much better. Cagalli had no idea how much those cramps bothered her until Drake worked them out of her muscles.

"There, you should do better now on the course." Drakes says as he releases her. There was an awkward moment as neither Drake nor Cagalli knew what to say next, this was probably the longest they had gone without getting into a shouting match. Suddenly Drake finds himself annoyed at himself, he was acting like a kid in high school, he was the adult in this situation god damn it "Also you're not using your feet right when you're flying; they don't just magically disappear when you get up into the air.

Birds have tails which they use as their rudder, but since you don't have a tail you need to use your feet to help control your direction. It will give you a finer degree of control then with just moving your wings alone, and it will help you make sharp turns at high speeds." Drake went on in his usual teaching tone of voice, something Cagalli had heard plenty of times before when he talked to the others but Drake had never talked to her before like this. Ok this was starting to creep her out; she looked on at Drake with suspicion.

"I don't get it, why are you helping me? Didn't you say before that you don't waste your words or time on someone who you don't believe is serious or talented or whatever insult you feel like saying to me this week?" Cagalli couldn't help the bitterness and anger that resonated into her voice; no even if she could help it she didn't want to. Since the day she had first met him Drake had treated her like shit, he insulted her, belittled her and most recently ignored her existence altogether. Never in Cagalli's life had she been treated like this, sure Yuna and his dirt bag father might have felt the same way about her as Drake but they were never bold enough to say it straight to her face.

Drake looks at Cagalli once again annoyed with her question but that was more out of habit then logic, taking a breath Drake says reluctantly, "After giving it some thought I realize that I've been unfair by judging you based on who you were and on second hand information." Cagalli blinks surprised by Drake's statement, but then she straightens up in a cocky triumphed manner having finally gotten Drake to admit he was wrong about her. She waits a moment expecting him to continue, and ask for forgiveness….but he doesn't.

Growing annoyed at the silence Cagalli asks, "Is that it?"

Now Drake looks down at her annoyed, he didn't have the best patience to begin with, "Look I still don't like you personally, but after getting over myself I have come to recognize that at this time you are currently serious about Gundam Fighting and since you're serious I have no choice but to teach you to the best of my abilities. Now listen closely, I am only going to offer to train you this one time, and if at any moment in the future I deem that you no longer are taking the fights and your training seriously then I will stop training you immediately.

My training is tough and without mercy, I will constantly point out your mistakes, I demand nothing less than perfection from my students, I will push you harder than you've ever been pushed before, to the point where you will know the Grim Reaper on a first name basis. If you don't want it tell me now." There was no sympathy in this old warrior's voice, but there was also no disdain. The words he spoke were the complete and absolute truth.

Cagalli wanted to tell Drake to go screw himself; if he thought that was a good enough apology to make up for the way he had treated her up to now then he was out of his mind. After everything he had said to her does he really thinks he can just walk up and act like his acknowledgement and offer to train her was that big a deal to her? Cagalli had half a mind to tell him to get lost, that she didn't need his training, she would manage on her own without him just like always…..

She couldn't do that though, because deep inside her pride didn't feel insulted, the opposite really. Cagalli felt tremendous pride and honor at having earned Drake's respect enough that he was willing to teach her despite not liking her personally. As much as Cagalli thought Drake was an ass she couldn't help respect the way he always told his honest opinion about her straight to her face. He knew exactly who she was and what that meant but that didn't matter to him, he had looked her straight in the eye and told her exactly what he had thought of her.

Anyone who knew who she truly was, well not counting Shadow, he was his own special weirdness; had always called her Lady Cagalli and spoke to her with the uttermost respect but the truth was they weren't looking at her but of their idea of Lady Cagalli, the princess of Orb. She could never stand that title, it was her one flaw, her one weakness that no matter how many people told her she should just grow up and stop acting like a child and accept it as who she was she could never accept that.

Three years ago, before the wars, before the Archangel, Kira and Athrun all she had wanted more than anything was for people to look upon her and see her for who she really was, she had been so determined to make that dream a reality…but then the first war happened and something inside her changed. A fear took hold in a heart, for the first time when she looked in the mirror she didn't like what she saw. That fear grew, what if the people didn't like the true her? How then could she run the country? So she had let the public and her cabinet continue to build upon the imaginary image they all had of her, because the lie was more comforting then the truth.

Drake was the first person though to shoot down that lie, he refused to accept that false idol and for good or for worse he choose to only see who Cagalli truly was and even though he didn't like what he saw it was her that he was seeing. Besides Cagalli had seen what Drake was capable of in terms of fighting, and with how much Shadow had progressed with Drake's guidance. Cagalli wanted that as well. "Fine then, this doesn't change anything between us, we're just putting aside our differences so that we can both reach our goals faster. Once we reach our goals though we're through and never talking or dealing with each other again."

"Heh I believe that's one thing I couldn't agree more with you on. Now get back in your Gundam, by the end of the day you're going to be wishing I wasn't training you." Drake replies as Cagalli turns around and walks back to La Rouge's cockpit. As the two turn their backs to each other a calm tranquil feeling fills the air, like the moment when a raging storm has finally ended or when two nations who were violently at war finally negotiate a truce. All of the thick negative emotions which had been floating around between them just left, leaving nothing but peace. With the burden of hatred suddenly lifted from their shoulder both the pilot and the manager let loose a genuine smile in secret.

####

_Location: The Dark-Angel Time: The next day, 2 days left before the 3rdround_

"_Look Roxas, to me sex is more than just about the raw carnal pleasure that people get out of it…..well ok the carnal pleasure is awesome too but there's more to it than that. When you get that intimate with someone, even without knowing their real name, you can connect with them on a level that normally would take years through the normal route. A person's body will always be more honest than a person's words, and that honesty that truth of the very soul opens a bridge between that person's heart and your own. So you see Roxas that's what sex means to me, the sharing of that one special moment."_

A ringing bell from Roxas's alarm woke the red head from her dream. Blinking a few times to help get over her dream daze Roxas slowly move to turn her alarm off, but she still didn't move out of bed. Roxas just stared up at the ceiling, today was the day; it was funny how fate worked sometimes, to think that she would be in this city of today of all days.

Lost in her thoughts Roxas wasn't even aware of taking a shower, getting dressed or walking to the lunch room. "I can't believe Drake threatened to tie me up to the bed if I tried training today." Shadow was currently sitting at a table with Cagalli, Nick and Kenny playing a game of cards while they ate lunch.

"Well he has a point, we have to rest up for the match and besides we can't use our Gundams anymore. Jack doesn't want to risk us doing too much damage to them that she won't have time to fully repair them for the next match." Cagalli comments with her head down on the table and her arms hanging limply by her sides. She couldn't feel her body at the moment, which was probably a good thing….Drake's training was harder than she had expected.

Shadow of course picked up on this right away and gave her an evil smile, "Awww is Cagalli too tired to do any more training today?"

She wanted to punch him, but then again considering he didn't call her a princess this time she could let him side this time…that and she wasn't confident she could summon the energy to throw a punch.

"Says the mate who took two steps and collapsed after getting out of his bed this morning." Nick says cutting into the conversation as he also proceeded to kick everyone's asses at cards. Cagalli wanted to hug the cowboy while Kenny laughs at Shadow. Looking for an excuse to change the subject Shadow spotted the unusually quite Roxas and called out to her.

"Hey Roxas, what are you doing over there. Why don't you come over here and play a hand with us."

Roxas turns to Shadow and gives a nervous smile as she walks over there. "Oh sorry, but I just came to grab a quick bite of something to eat before I head out. There's somewhere I have to go today." It took Shadow a minute to realize something was weird; Roxas was walking around on two legs like a regular human being.

"Oh where are you going?" Kenny asks while Nick starts to clean up the cards and put them away.

"Nowhere special, I just want to go and visit a friend." Roxas replied.

"Yea, me and Kenny should get going too. We're heading to the library today to wait online for the new Hexdos book that's coming out." Nick explains as he and Kenny get up.

"Well if I have to rest then I'm going to chill on the couch and watch some TV." Shadow exclaims as he also moves to get up but Cagalli stops him.

"Oh no you don't, we have to go grocery shopping today for supplies for the ship." Cagalli groans a little as she sits up to face Shadow.

"What!? Oh come on, do we have to do that today? Can't it wait until after the 3rd round match? I mean how low are our supplies?" Shadow complains.

Cagalli just stares at him for a moment annoyed and then says simply, "We only have three rolls of toilet paper left."

Shadow looks at Cagalli not understanding the problem, "Sooo, I mean between the seven of us we don't go through three rolls of toilet paper in a day."

"No, I wasn't referring to our bathroom, I was referring to the entire ship. There is currently only three rolls of toilet paper left on this entire ship….." Cagalli lets that hang in the air for a moment before Shadow finally concedes.

"Damn it, alright we'll head to Wal-Marts."

"It's Wal-Mart! No s at the end!" Cagalli snaps back unable to help one of her pet peeves. Shadow however just grinned back unapologetically.

"That's great, well I guess I'll see you guys later." Roxas says as she turns around and leaves the room. Shadow, Cagalli, Nick and Kenny all turn and stare at Roxas in shock.

"Did anyone else notice something weird about Roxas?" Kenny asks.

"By weird do you mean normal? She didn't walk around on all fours or do anything like any kind of animal that I know of." Nick adds on with his Australian accent.

"She didn't hit on me or mention my breasts in any way….do you think she's sick?" Cagalli asks concerned, say what you want about Roxas but she was still Cagalli's friend and when a friend acts out of the normal it's only natural to worry.

"Hmmm" Is all Shadow says as he watches her go.

####

_Location: On the streets Time: ten minutes later_

"And you wonder why I accuse you of having boundary problems." Cagalli comments as she creeps her head around the corner of a building she and Shadow were standing behind.

"You can always go to Wal-Marts by yourself if you want to leave." Shadow says quietly while he eyes a flower store he saw Roxas enter. He and a reluctant Cagalli were currently investigating Roxas's strange behavior by following her without telling her.

"It's WAL-MART!" Cagalli snaps unable to control herself, she wanted to strangle him. "And no, I'm not going to let you bail and leave me behind to order groceries for the whole ship. Although I don't think we should wait too long to bring back the supplies to the crew."

"Oh come on, you worry too much I mean what's the worst that can happen?"

####

_Location: Dark-Angel_

A large angry looking crowd was gathering in the hallways blocking Ciro into a corner. In his hand he held half a roll of toilet paper and what looks like a grenade. "Come on Ciro man this isn't funny!"

"Yea, give us the toilet paper; I need to use the bathroom man!"

"That's the last roll of toilet paper on this god damn ship!"

People in the crowd start shouting as they try to inch their way closer to Ciro, but the criminal's sharp eyes pick up on the movement immediately and begins to wave around the toilet paper strapped to the grenade threateningly. "BACK UP! BACK THE HELL UP or else I'm blowing this remaining roll of toilet straight to hell and then no one gets it! I will be damned rather than let you grunts use up the last of the toilet paper leaving me with nothing to use when I have to go to the bathroom!" Ciro shouts to the crowd.

"He's bluffing!"

"Yea if he blows it up then he won't be able to use it either!" People in the crowd start shouting, but despite their brave words they only take a slight step forward.

"You think I'm bluffing! Take another step forward and see if I'm bluffing! I'll take all of you bastards to hell with me!" Ciro screams as he continues to shake his hostage the half a roll of toilet paper in the air.

####

"I don't know, the crew doesn't exactly inspire the most confidence, especially the other day when a good number of them started bragging about how long their criminal records are." Cagalli says with obvious distaste. Shadow was fully aware that Cagalli didn't want to work with any known criminals, too bad she wasn't the one in charge.

"Actually having a long rap sheet only proves your incompetence or stupidity, after all the professional criminals try not to get caught and stay under police radar as much as possible or at least that's what Ciro was telling me." Shadow says.

Cagalli was going to point out the lack of wisdom in listening to such a sketchy person when Roxas walks out of the flower shop, carrying what Cagalli believed to be dandelions or whatever their Sorian cousin was and some kind of rich blue flower Cagalli couldn't even begin to guess at.

"She's getting flowers for someone! Is she on a date with someone?" Shadow asks with a mixture of excitement and jealously however Cagalli looks unconvinced.

"You normally would get roses for someone you're going on a date with, red roses do exist on Sora right?" Cagalli asks.

"Yes we Sorians have red roses but there's no rule saying you have to get that flower for dates; anyway let's follow her." Shadow says as he takes off after Roxas in what he believes to be a very stealth like manner.

"Yes, let's just completely ignore her right to privacy." Cagalli complains but nevertheless follows after Shadow.

###

Roxas was lost in a daze; there were a hundred thoughts, memories and feelings going through her head. This was the first time she was doing anything like this so Roxas was just going off what she had read in books or seen in the movies; of course that didn't help with how nervous she felt. Within the blink of an eye Roxas found herself standing in front of the black gates which led to her destination. She stood there for a moment, summoning her courage and then took her first step inside.

###

"That's a cemetery!" Cagalli says shocked. This was the last place she would ever expect Roxas to show up at…then again Cagalli didn't really know that much about Roxas's past. She was just like Shadow in that regard, both of them would always duck out whenever the conversation steered towards family or the past. Although Cagalli got the impression occasionally that Roxas didn't really get along too well with her family.

Still this was going a little too far, she might have been curious to see what guy or woman had Roxas acting so normal but she drew the line when it came to people visiting the dead. There are some privacy lines that you don't cross.

"Hey Shadow let's get out of here-" she begins but Shadow is already moving towards the cemetery. "Shadow what the hell, enough is enough," Cagalli says outraged as she grabs Shadow's arm preventing him from moving forward. "The fun and games are over now, Roxas has a right to her privacy especially in situations like this!"

Shadow however turns and stares directly into Cagalli's amber eyes with his intense electric green eyes, Cagalli still found herself having trouble keeping Shadow's gaze but her stubbornness combined with an inner instinct told her not to look away. "What if she needs someone to lean on?" Shadow asks seriously, his Neon Gauntlet starts to glow as the wind begins to pick up around him.

###

The cemetery was nice with freshly cut green grass, there were a few trees here and there and of course there were plenty of gravestones all around. This was Roxas's first time visiting this cemetery and she would have definitely gotten lost if she hadn't called and gotten directions ahead of time. Roxas was now standing in front of a gravestone, she wasn't an expert on gravestones by any means but Roxas felt that it was a good simple gravestone.

It was rounded with no decorations on it, and simply read Benkei Kuruma, the date he was born through the date he died, a loving father, lover, bodyguard and a good man. After Roxas placed the flowers she bought on the grave she stood there awkwardly for a few moments before she began to speak aloud. "Hey Benkei….I'm here, it took me a while but I finally made it here."

Roxas gestures with arms around the graveyard as she begins to pace around in circles around the grave. "I'm really sorry it took me so long to come visit you; my assholes of parents said that," Roxas's changes her voice in a mocking way, "visiting a lonely commoner's grave is beneath a woman of my status," Roxas's snorts in contempt, "What dicks, right? Sorry I know you don't like me talking bad about them but I'm done with them.

I left them, not that they cared…but you don't have to worry about me. I'm with some good people now, heh I'm a Gundam Fighter. Can you believe it? I know I didn't think I would be into it at all but it's really a lot of fun."

"Lady Nile?"

Roxas blinks surprised as she flips around to see where the voice came from. It was a man standing at 5'10" with grey eyes and shoulder length black hair wearing a pair of jeans and a blue t-shirt and a red and orange neon gauntlet. Roxas recognized the voice and confirmed it when she saw the surprised person behind her. "Kenshi!" Roxas shouts with joy as she runs up and hugs the person.

"Whoa" a still surprised Kenshi says as he catches the running girl.

"And you know I don't like to be called Lady Nile. What are you doing here?" Roxas asks.

Kenshi finally gets over his shock and smiles at his childhood friend, "Sorry, old habits die hard and yes why am I at my father's grave on the anniversary of his death?"

Roxas blushes embarrassed by the stupid question. She lets go of Kenshi and takes a step back giving him some space. "Oh yea I guess that was a stupid, but it's just amazing seeing you again."

Kenshi nods his head in agreement, "I know it must already be three years since we've last seen each other. You know it's noon now, and my father isn't going anywhere so how about we grab a bite to eat and catch up?"

"That sounds great." Roxas exclaims.

####

_Location: Blue Bird,Time: Forty-five minutes later_

"Oh god, please don't tell me my dad's the reason why you're so…..sexually active." Kenshi said choosing his words carefully. They were both sitting down at a table in a nice restaurant a little ways in the back outside the ear shot of most people.

"I honestly don't see why this is such a big deal, animals have sex all the time in the wild and no one cares about that; and besides your dad was a great man and I take pride in being similar in his beliefs about love." Roxas replies as she eats a hamburger.

"Don't get me wrong I love my dad, but he was a man whore with the way he was always going around town picking up women and out of all the awesome beliefs you could have taken from him you choose the one thing most people considered to be his only flaw?"

"You say flaw, I say perfection, I mean don't you remember that time we were in the park playing and your dad was the only one watching us?"

Kenshi smiles at the warm memory, "Oh yea, and then that attractive lady came up and started hitting on him and my dad being the man that he was began returning her flirtation."

Roxas cuts in and continues the story, "Right and it turned out that that lady was part of a team to kidnap me and they had heard how Benkei loved the ladies, so they were trying to lure him away and it looked like it was working. The partners came out of hiding and started to move towards us and then we all heard a loud shotgun blast."

"Yup, dad had hit one of them from a good 20 meters away, they're lucky he was only carrying sandbags but still those hurt like a bitch."

"Right, and then he proceeded to kick all of their asses, and you remember what he said afterwards? That just because he loves women doesn't mean he wasn't able to do his job."

"Heh, only he would say something like that…a toast, to my old man, a man whore and the best bodyguard around." Kenshi raises his glass of soda in the air.

Roxas smiles and raises her own glass in response, "I'll drink to that." The glasses ding as they both take a good gulp out of their drinks. There's a long minute of silence as Roxas looks down into her glass unable to meet Kenshi's eyes as she begins to say, "I'm sorry, if it wasn't for me-"

Kenshi immediately cuts her off, "Hey don't go there! My father was always very proud to be a bodyguard and we always thought of you like family. What happened wasn't your fault!" Kenshi says very strongly as his neon gauntlet begins to glow.

Roxas looks up feeling as if an enormous weight had been lifted off her shoulders, "Thank you….I always wanted to apologize to you and your sister but my parents wouldn't let me go see you-"

"It's fine, you didn't have to apologize to begin with anyway I can't believe we're both Gundam Fighters in this city now."

"I know it's crazy right, especially since this is the city where Benkei was born and raised." Roxas says excitedly.

"It's fate, it has to be fate, oh before I forget again what Gundam team are you on?"

"I'm with the Shadow Knights, you?"

The smile drops from Kenshi's face as he recognizes the team's name, "I'm with the Raptures."

Now it's Roxas's turn to freeze as she also recognizes the Gundam team's name, both friends stare at each other a moment frozen and then they burst out laughing. "HAHAHAHAH, now that's awkward!" Roxas shouts out.

"Heheheh, now I'm even more convinced that its fate."

They both calm down and stare at each other for a moment coming to an understanding, "Well, I guess we might be seeing you in the final round, if that happens I won't hold back just because you're a childhood friend."

"Heh, the same goes to you." Roxas replies with a very animalistic grin.

"Good, then until then I will be rooting for you. I have to get going now." Kenshi says as he gets up. Roxas gets up as well and gives him a farewell hug.

"It was nice seeing you again Kenshi."

"You too Roxas, I've got your number now so we'll definitely see each other again." Kenshi replies and then turns around and leaves.

Roxas sits alone at the table for a moment in total silence, and then she calls out, "You can come out now and don't play dumb, I know you're there."

Shadow and Cagalli awkwardly lift their heads out from a booth up front, "How did you know we were here?" Shadow asks.

Roxas smiles at them, scratches behind her ear with her foot and then walks over to them on all fours, "Dude I could smell you guys a mile away, I knew you were following me the whole time."

Cagalli looks at Roxas a little confused by the lack of anger at having her privacy violated. "Aren't you angry at us?"

"Why would I be angry at you guys for doing something that I would have done in your position? Besides that just means you care about me!" Roxas shouts with joy as she jumps up and hugs Cagalli from behind.

"Off you pervert!" Cagalli shouts as she struggles to throw Roxas off.

"Hey what about me? This was all my idea, I should be the one to get some love!" Shadow whines as he stares at Cagalli jealously.

"Sorry Shadow, you're still not attractive to me yet but I'll tell you what, how about I help you guys with the groceries?" Roxas says cheerfully as she lets go of Cagalli and begins to lead the way out of the store while still walking on all fours. Cagalli and Shadow look at each other for a moment then get up and chase after her.

_Word from the Author: The credit for Kenshi's character goes to Fear (screen name). Also I want to give a special thanks to my newest reader Revan and for his review of my entire story which can be found on the forum. I can't stress enough how important you guy's reviews mean to me, I can't tell which parts of the story you like, or which jokes you think or funny or getting old if you don't tell me. And when I receive a very negative review, it's the positive reviews that I go back and read to cheer myself up and to help take the edge off. _

_Never be afraid to point out mistakes, or things you don't like about a chapter, I seek to constantly improve and better myself. Don't think it's worthless or meaningless to tell me what you enjoyed about a chapter, if you found Drake being unusually jerkish, if you the toilet paper hostage was funny or were moved by Shadow's caring; I love hearing how you guys view my work and listening to what you think of characters and events in the story. Finally don't think there's no point in telling me what you enjoy about the chapter or GSS in general; if only one guy dislikes something about my story but no one has told me they like it then I'm more than likely going to consider changing it. That and I go back and read those reviews whenever I've had a bad day, to cheer me up._

_The whole point to this is that you're opinions matter to me, your reviews matter to me, YOU my readers, matter to me!_


	84. Episode 83 Crowd Support

Episode 83 Crowd support

**_Word from the Author: Hey guys, I just was to begin by apologizing to all of you about the time it's taking me to post an update. As most of you know I like to do an update once every two week but recently it's been more like one month. Sure I could blame real life, collage, and other shit but the truth is simple. This is a failing on my part, I the author have failed you and the story by taking far to long to get this out. If I want GSS to be a real anime then I need to be better then this, Naruto, One Piece, Bleach and many other animes and manga come out once a week with no problem and if I want GSS to be taken on the same level as them I have to hold myself up to the same standards. I am sorry._**

**_In other news my editor's computer has decided it hates fanfic among other websites and is refusing to let her log into the site, so until further notice you guys are all stuck with just me editing my own stories...yay. Please check the forum for further information on this._**

**_Finally I forgot to mention this last time but one of my fans Titanic X has decided to make a GSS side story; you can think of this like the Astray series to Seed. I will try to keep the two plots and all the details between the two stories as close to matching each other as possible however keep in mind that we are two different writers and people with different views on things. I would give you the link to look for it but fanfic refuses to cooperate so instead here's the title._**

**_ Gundam-SEED-Shadow-Dreams-of-Hope_**

_Location: Unknown_

He walked silently throughout the cold metal halls, his footsteps echoed in the cold dark empty hallway devoid of human life. This base used to house over a hundred thousand people at one point in time, or at least that was what he had overheard. He hadn't been a part of the original organization; he had been recruited later on after the restructuring when the majority of the old organization died. He supposed that made this place a ghost town but he felt nothing for those that had come before and die, the silence held no meaning to him.

"Heheheh, hey Mr. 4 are you in-between assignments HAHAHHA?" Mr. 6 laughs as he deactivates his cloaking device essentially appearing out of thin air in front of Mr. 4. Some of the other members of the organization like Ms. 3 find this habit of him sneaking up on people to be very annoying and childish but Mr. 4 didn't feel anything. He did not feel surprise, nor did he feel annoyance; Mr. 6 just appeared. If he attacked then Mr. 4 would respond accordingly, if he did not than Mr. 4 would do what he always did and ignored Mr. 6's existence.

After waiting a moment to see if Mr. 6 had anything else to say Mr. 4 walks around the man in the bone cloak. "HAHAHAHA, how cold man! Heheheheh you're not going to say anything to me?" Mr. 6 continues to laugh as he turns around and chases after Mr. 4. Mr. 4 continues to ignore the talkative coworker. He never understood the purpose of conversing with the other members of the organization outside of missions, and most of the time he only came out of his room for food.

"Hehehe ok so I guess I'll do all of the talking HAHHAHA! Ms. 3 is sending me on some boring ass mission, hehehehhe so I thought it would be fun if you came with me HAHAHAH!"

"No." Mr. 4 finally answered, his voice sounded more machine than man. He did not feel annoyance or hatred towards Mr. 6, he didn't feel anything involving the laughing person. Mr. 6 would often come up to him to engage in conversation, sometimes Mr. 4 would engage in the talk and other times he would not. There was no pattern or reason behind which times he chose to respond and which times he didn't, he felt nothing for Mr. 6 and therefor saw no reason to converse with him but at the same time there was no reason not to converse with him.

"HAHAHAH Oh, man seriously? Heheheh you finally say something only to shoot me down!" Mr. 6 laughs hysterically as Mr. 4 continues to walk down the hallway. He was aware of Mr. 6's voice as much as he was aware of the metallic steps his metal boots made as they struck the metal walkway, without feelings to put value on things everything blurred together and became equal value.

"Hehehehe can you at least tell me why not?" Mr. 6 asks but Mr. 4 didn't respond. This wasn't the first time Mr. 6 had wanted Mr. 4 to tag along with him on his missions, Mr. 6 after all frequently invited himself on Mr. 4's missions, and sometimes Mr. 4 would go along with Mr. 6 on one of his missions but today was not one of those days and Mr. 4 didn't see a point to answering Mr. 6 so he didn't.

"Heheheh the silent treatment huh hehehhe that's ok because I've got your number this time. It's taken me a while but I have finally found your Achilles' heel HAHAHHAHAHAH!" Mr. 6 boasts as he lets out what Mr. 4 suspected was his evil laugh. Mr. 4 ignores him again, this wasn't the first time Mr. 6 had tried to get an emotional reaction out of him, and he had never succeeded although it wasn't for lack of trying. Mr. 6 had said every kind of insult, nickname, and annoying thing at Mr. 4 in order to get a reaction but it always failed and Mr. 4 was sure it would fail again this time as well.

"Heheheh my mission is to do a little psych imprinting on some scientist guy hehehehheh, and that scientist guy happens to be in Arianna." Mr. 4 stops moving, he understands the meaning of the words within an instant. He could feel his heart begin to beat faster, despite not having done any physically demanding activity, he could feel adrenalin in his system as the value of Mr. 6's voice rose until it was the most important sound in the room…yes, this was the emotion anticipation he was feeling now so the laughing reaper had finally drawn a reaction out of him.

"Hehehe looks like I've got your complete and undivided attention now. Hehehehe Arianna is where that blond girl is right, hahahah from what I hear she's in the little Gundam tournament right now. Heheheh come on, I know you want to see her fight in person, heheheh not just read about it or see it from videos HAHAHAH! Together the two of us will be able to finish the mission in a snap hehehehhe and we'll have plenty of time left over to stop by and enjoy one of the fights hehehehe what do you say?"

Mr. 6's question was pointless to him, no it was not the question itself that was pointless to Mr. 4 but rather the act of asking the question. Mr. 4 already knew that Mr. 6 would ask him this, and the answer was already given the moment he stopped moving to his room. All other words were pointless. "What are the mission objectives?"

####

_Location: Arianna's GFC stadium Time: the 3__rd__ round_

The arena was pack full of people, anyone from above could easily tell that this fight was a sellout. Flags and banners with "Arianna's Public Servants" can be seen everywhere, venders are in full force selling everything from hotdogs, cotton candy, drinks, pizza to toy action figures of Janardan and the other members of Arianna's Public Servants. "Talk about the difference between night and day. With the turnout for the last two matches I almost thought people had stopped caring about the Gundam Fights." Tim says as he looks around the packed stadium through Kenny's monitor.

"I've never seen so many people show up to a Gundam Fight before." Kenny says in awe.

"Judging from the flags I'm going to say that those mates aren't here to root for us." Nick observes.

"Well what did you guys expect? Arianna's Public Servants is quite literary Arianna's home Gundam team, they have the largest fan base in Arianna so of course their fights are going to bring in a large turnout. The Valkyries and Sharpshooters weren't from this city so their fan base was relatively small, but Arianna's Public Servants is different, when you fight them you're fighting basically the whole city." Drake explains to the team in a very logical voice.

"You sure know how to give motivational speeches there Drake." Cagalli says sarcastically.

Drake just frowns at her annoyed, but before he could say anything Shadow cuts in and says in a confident voice, "Who cares what the crowds are saying now, they'll be cheering our name by the end after we beat those other guys!"

"Heh, do you really think it will be that easy?" Drake asks while giving Shadow a knowing smile.

"Why are you and Tim still here? Normally you guys would have already left to grab your seats in the stadium." Roxas asks as she lays curled up on the couch like a lazy kitten.

Tim smiles and says, "Well SOMEONE forgot to get our tickets in advance like I told him too, and now that all the tickets have been sold out we don't have any seats."

"So you figured you could get a free seat by sneaking in here." Jack asks with sly smile.

"I resent that, nowhere does it state that managers are not allowed to watch the fights in the team rooms…..it's just frown upon." Drake grumbles.

"Anyway we better get down to the hanger and get ready Roxas, the first match is about to start soon." Jack says as she begins to walk towards the elevator, she wanted to do another check on the Gundams again anyway, especially with those gang thugs hanging around.

"Finally, I get to show off my beautiful Quanlier's new toys!" Roxas shouts excitedly as she begins hoping up and down like a Kangaroo. "Make sure you're watching me Cagalli honey" Roxas says seductively as she joins Jack in the elevator. Cagalli just rolls her eyes and joins Shadow, Nick, and Kenny up front by the terminal to monitor what's going on. Zuke is in his usual place in the back appearing to be sleeping. Drake and Tim take a middle stance in the group and like always Tim appears nervous.

"I don't like this Drake, Arianna's Public Servants have a huge advantage with the crowd on their side. They've never fought in a situation like this before, and there's really no training to prepare you for an entire stadium rooting and cheering for your defeat, not to mention all the catcalls and such."

"True, the odds are stacked against them but I have a feeling that not everyone out there is rooting against them." Drake says with a crooked smile.

###

"God damn it if one more person bumps into me I swear to god I'm going to lose it!" Blake snaps as someone elbow him, it was like the fourth person in the last three minutes and they weren't even halfway to their seats yet. He enjoyed a full house for a Gundam Fight as much as the next Fighter but still this was going a little overboard. Blake wasn't by himself; his entire team was with him today to scout out the potential enemies. After all today's winner would have a fifty percent shot of facing the Raptures in the finals.

"Well if there's one thing those poser Gundam Fighters are good for it's getting this city all worked up. Seriously just because they have Arianna in their name and everyone on their team works in the city somewhere half this town shows up and screams their head off for them to win." Violet complains.

"I'm personally hoping the Shadow Knights win, it will be a nice change of pace since Arianna's Public Servants always lose to us." A short black man with an afro says in a cheerful voice.

"Tarry the Shadow Knights are not going to win, they aren't good enough to fight us," Blake replies stubbornly.

"Heh, how long are you going to keep saying that Blake?" Kenshi asks his friend. He hadn't seen any Shadow Knight matches before but he had heard from Violet and Kevin that they were pretty good fighters. Kenshi hopped that Roxas would fight today, it had been really nice to connect with someone from his past especially since recently he had begun to feel stuck in place.

Blake grumbles as they finally reach their seats and sit down but he refuses to dignify that with a response.

###

In a different corner of the stands a loud scream suddenly cuts through the air causing everyone to momentary stop talking and turn to see what the commotion is. A young gangster like man has his arm twisted behind his back at an obviously painful angle by a tall black woman with a dark red leather jacket. Six other women are standing behind her and are glaring at the man with intense looks of hatred.

"Let it be known to all you filthy male pigs out there that the Valkyries do not take kindly to gropers! Now get out of my sight before I decide to break your arm!" Sesen proclaims in a commanding voice as she kicks the unlucky groper in the chest in a random direction. Sesen looks down at her hand and makes an ick face as if she just picked up a used tissue off the ground and begins to wipe it on her pants vigorously.

"Disgusting filth!" Sesen complains, this is why she never went to places where there were large gatherings of men, especially men who were drinking; it only encouraged them to step out of their place.

"Why are we hear Sesen?" Angela asks. There had been a disagreement within the Valkyries on whether they should leave the city now that they had lost the tournament; most of the team had wanted to leave but Sesen had insisted on staying.

"We're here to learn. This is the quarter finals of Arianna's D-rank tournament which means that all the Gundam Teams that have made it this far are strong. We can benefit greatly from watching their matches and studying their moves, specifically the Shadow Knights.

"Why are you making such a big deal about the Shadow Knights, it was only luck that that blond girl beat you?" The Valkyries second in command Cailey says.

Sesen immediately stops and stares her subordinate down. "It was not luck that Cagalli defeated me; to say such a thing is not just an insult to her but is insult to me as well! She won that battle through her own skill and hard work and nothing else and to ignore her and the Shadow Knights who have defeated us would be nothing but pure arrogance and I will not have my team fall to such a male trait! Do I make myself understood Cailey!" Sesen's Neon Gauntlet begins to shine with power from her speech.

Cailey grits her teeth clearly unhappy about this decision but she bows in the face of her team leader, "Yes ma'am."

Sesen nods her head satisfied as she and the rest of her team sit down at their assigned seats. "I know Cailey isn't the only one with doubts but trust me ladies when I say we need to be watching the Shadow Knights closely, mark my words when I tell you that the Shadow Knights are going to be a strong team that we must overcome." Sesen tells her team as she waits for the match to begin with her heart rate slightly elevated.

###

Merick looks out on the arena from one of the VIP rooms in Arianna's stadium. The street trash boy who grew up on the streets, almost starved when he was ten, and first killed someone when he was twelve was doing very well for himself now. Merick took a sip of some red wine which he knew cost more than a Gundam. "I see you've made yourself at home Merick." Lucas says with a shark like grin.

Merick's cheeks twitch in annoyance at the rude enforcer but since he and Lucas were technically on the same rank within the pack he couldn't really say anything. "It would be a shame to let such delicacies go to waste, and it's not like I don't work hard. I deserve these fine items as much as those other rich people, and speaking of our wonderful donators how are they doing?"

"Heh, they are currently on a first class flight to whatever country there bank is in. It's funny how fast rich people can move when you pretend to be a representative of their bank and tell them that someone stole all of their money. Still I would have preferred to kill them, well after I had a little fun with the wife, hehe boy was she a hotty." Lucas grins like a starving jackal as he gets lost in his memory of the wife.

Merick frowns in disgust at the enforcer, he suppose it was only natural that they would be in conflict with each other since as a general he was in charge of keeping the gangs operations running smoothly and as much under the radar as possible while Lucas as an enforcer did the opposite, he was to hunt down and make a very violent and open message out of anyone who broke the gangs rules or tried to opposed them. Merick's solutions to problems were quiet and diplomatic while Lucas's were loud and brutal. "Don't be foolish, we are two rounds away from winning this tournament and making the Tyke Devils into the international organization it deserves to be and you want to risk blowing it over a quickie?"

Lucas just shrugs his shoulders as he drops onto a couch made out of white tiger fur, "You worry too much Merick, anyway who are you putting money on to win?"

Merick looks back at Lucas still annoyed by his lack of refinedness then takes a sip of his wine, "The winner of this match is irrelevant because we will crush either team in the next round."

###

The lights begin to dim as the screens set up all around the stadium turn on, signaling everyone to be quiet. The referee appears on the monitors, a wide smile spreads across his face showing off his perfect white teeth. "Good evenings ladies and gentlemen, before I get started today I have one simple question to ask you. Are you READY for a Gundam battle!?" The referee screams fueling the roaring tidal wave of the crowd. "I can't hear you!" The crowd screams even louder, like a thunder storm with their feet stomping, clapping hands, blowing horns, and vigorously waving their banners!

"I said I CAN'T HEAR YOU!" The referee repeats almost provoking the crowd into a full on riot like state as they scream there response even louder. "Hell YES! That is what I'm talking about folks! This is the third round of Arianna's D-rank tournament, which means after today's match there will be only TWO rounds left before we have declared a winner! Will this be the Arianna's Public Servants time to finally beat their dreaded rivals the Raptures," the referee pauses for a moment to build tension, "or will they be defeated yet again?"

"NO IT'S OUR TIME!" The crowd roars back in one voice.

One group of people however are not cheering with the rest of the crowd. "Keep dreaming!" Blake says annoyed, by now he was used to the Public Servants ridiculously huge fan base and the general mockery they tended to make out of Gundam Fighting, but that doesn't mean it was any less annoying.

The Raptures aren't the only Gundam team irritated by this obvious favoritism. "What the hell? Are we invisible or something!?" Shadow says deeply offended.

"Talk about bias announcing!" Tim says with a frown agreeing with Shadow.

"Once again, what do you guys expect? The team is called Arianna's Public Servants and we are in Arianna." Drake says annoyed by the whining of the team.

Back on the monitor the referee smiles, glowing from the energy the crowd was emitting, life was good. "Hahah but let's try not to get too far ahead of ourselves folks, after all the Public Servants haven't beaten the Shadow Knights yet." The referee gives the crowd a sly smile and wink, which causes a roar of laughter, most of the people here just think of this match as a formality the Public Servants have to go through in order to get to the real competition.

"Let's get this match started! Fighting for the Public Servants is the Queen of Arianna, the woman with the muscle, the beautiful construction worker Arianna Jones piloting her equally majestic Gundam Aedificator!" The crowd continues to scream and roar with the males screaming the loudest; even the Valkyries politely clap for the well-respected female.

A yellow Gundam with flames and black and white safety signs painted on it launches from the Public Servants Gundam catapult. Aedificator does a flip in the air and lands on one knee with a fist punching the ground, emitting strength and power. Aedificator doesn't have any distinguishing traits other than a barrel like item on its right arm. The crowd of course eats this up and goes even more berserk. Arianna a muscular woman with greasy pink hair, and grey eyes smirks upon hearing the noise and says "Told you they would love my new entrance Casey."

Casey, the Public Servant's programmer rolls her eyes. "Let's not forget that it leaves you completely open to any enemies, your showmanship will be lost if you loss the match for such a careless mistake.

Arianna just shrugs her shoulders and straightens Aedificator up, "You take this too seriously Casey, it's only a game so relax a little and have some fun with it."

Casey rolls her eyes, and mutters under her breath "And that's exactly the attitude that lets the Raptures beat us every time."

The referee lets the fans soak up the construction worker before finally getting to the Shadow Knights, "And fighting for the Shadow Knights is Roxas Nile in her Gundam Quanlier." The referee says in a completely flat and bored voice.

"Humpth looks like we're dealing with a showoff, well too can play it that way." Roxas says with a smirk. Quanlier launches out of the Gundam catapult and flips in the air like a dolphin before landing elegantly on all fours like a nimble deer. The crowd hates her.

"BOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"You suck!"

"Go back home you loser!" The crowd continues to boo and yell out insults and other taunts to Roxas, it didn't matter who she was, what she was going to do, or where she came from she was their enemy. She threatened their team, and as a result had to be beaten badly. The boos and insults continued to rain down, almost louder than the previous cheering. It is an ominous oppressive feeling as thick as a physical substance that weighed down on not just Roxas but all of the Shadow Knights.

Blake looks around uncomfortably, he was more than used to this type of reaction by the Public Servant's fans although his own fans would help balance things out a little but this was the first time he was experiencing this from an outsider's perspective. He personally didn't like Arianna's Public Servants and chose to study them through recordings rather than in person so this experience came as surprise. The underserve hatred and the intense harassment was a little overwhelming, and Blake actually felt a little bad for the rookies who had to go up against this.

"SHUT THE HELL UP YOU ASSHOLES!" Kenshi shouts infuriated by the crowd, he didn't like them to begin with but how dare they talk trash about not only someone he knew, but someone he cared about! The people sitting around the Raptures don't stop their catcalls or booing of Roxas and completely ignore Kenshi. Kenshi growing angrier begins to get up in an aggressive manner but Kevin grabs his shoulders and forcefully keeps him down.

"Don't be stupid Kenshi, nothing you say is going to get them to stop and fighting them is only going to get us all thrown out." Violet says calmly as she leans back in her seat.

Kenshi knowing that she's right settles down but he still looks upset, "This is bullshit, the Shadow Knights don't deserve to be treated like this!"

Blake just stares down at the lone Tiger Gundam in the arena, "That may be true but this is still something that Gundam Fighters have to deal with at some point or another and besides, if they can't beat the Public Servant's then they don't have a prayer of becoming professional Gundam Fighters."

####

Roxas felt a little bummed that no one liked her entrance, but oh well, can't make everyone happy. Feeling a little bored while she waited for the referee to start the fight, Roxas sat down in dog position and began to scratch behind her ear as she waited.

"Are you doing ok Roxas?" Kenny asks as he pops up on Roxas's helmet screen. Roxas tended to get easily distracted but that didn't mean she wasn't observant. On the country Roxas's senses were much stronger than the average person, thanks to her time living among the wild, so when focused Roxas could be hyper observant like now.

"I'm fine." She said simply. Roxas noticed that Kenny was fidgeting, and looking nervous.

"Ok good, because it's perfectly alright to be nervous. Did you know that some of history's greatest inventors and war heroes were laughed at in the beginning when they first started on their journey to greatness?" Kenny explains in a nervous fashion.

Suddenly it hit Roxas, "Wait are you worried about me?" Roxas asks surprised.

Kenny blushes embarrassed and stutters "I-I we-well you're my friend and I don't want you to let these idiots in the crowd get to you with their catcalls and stuff."

Roxas blinks surprised, growing up she was used to people not giving a damn about her feelings and such so it still caught her by surprise occasionally when she found out her friends did care about her. "Awww that's sooo sweet! I could totally just jump your bones." Kenny chokes on air at Roxas's teasing but she then gets serious. "You don't have to worry about me Kenny, I'm a highly sexually active bisexual who's so obsess with animals that I imitate them on a regular bases. I'm used to people constantly insulting, belittling and making catcalls at me."

Kenny's eyes open wide in shock and horror, "Oh my god Roxas, I had no ide-"

"It's ok, it's just something that comes with the territory but I learned a long time ago that the only person who needs to be ok with me is myself, their words stop hurting me a long time ago."

Kenny unable to find the right words to say just sits there and stares in awe of Roxas. "Heh sorry about the fans, you know how crazy and hyped up they can get. I hope they aren't bothering you too much?" Arianna asks as she pops up on Roxas's helmet screen with a smug smile. Quanlier turns to face the yellow Gundam which has just walked within fifteen meters of Quanlier.

Roxas smirks back at Arianna, "It's ok, it doesn't bother me. To be honest your name bothers me more, is it really Arianna as in the same name as this city or did you change it in order to get more attention?"

Arianna's smile twitches, _bitch_, "No, it's my real birth name, what can I say other than some people like the classics." Both fighters Neon gauntlets start glowing fueled by their owners killing intent as the two female fighters glare at each other.

While the two glare at each other the referee decides it's about time to start the match. "Alright Gundam Fighters are you ready! THREE! TWO! ONE! GO!" The crowd counts down with the referee building the tension until if finally snaps on one. On go Quanlier leaps forward like a shotgun blast and closes the distance between itself and Aedificator in the blink of an eye. Quanlier raises its front right beam claw and slashes downward aiming for Aedificator's head, trying to end this battle in one blow. Aedificator however isn't just a showoff and leaps back and up into the air.

Quanlier snaps its head upward in surprise at its prey taking to the skies and hovering a good sixty meters up in the air. Roxas blinks surprise "Kenny what the hell! You said that Aedificator couldn't fly!?"

Kenny looks panicked as his fingers dance on the keyboard, trying to pull up the information he had gathered about the Public Fighters and brief the team about. "It shouldn't be able too! The records show that Aedificator has never flown before."

"Until now," Roxas growls highly annoyed, Quanlier mimics its owner's frustration as it paws the city's street's roads with its claws with its tail wagging low to the ground in an agitated manner.

"Roxas starts this match off fast and aggressively like a tiger but Aedificator easily dodges this with a surprising take to the sky! Arianna you've been holding out on us!" The referee announces to the excitement of the crowd.

Instead of attacking Aedificator turns to the crowd and begins to wave and showoff to the crowd, who eats it up. The roaring of cheers sounds like a waterfall with a constant steady stream. "Arianna what are you doing! Your opponent is wide open, attack her now before she recovers from the surprise of you flying!?" Casey shouts annoyed and worried at the same time.

"Oh would you relax Casey, you said so yourself her Gundam can't fly and she has no long range weapons besides it's important to make sure are fans are happy." Arianna says completely unconcern. Happy with the crowd's reaction to her mech's new upgrades she looks down at Roxas with a sly smile. "So how do you like Aedificator's new upgrades? Ohhh I hope me flying does bother the poor little kitty."

Roxas releases a growl from deep within her throat that rumbles in her cockpit, "Roxas calm down, don't let her get under your skin." Jack says quickly as she pops up on Roxas's helmet screen. "I'm guessing this is just a quick upgrade they made in order to counter us since they knew only Cagalli has flight abilities at the moment. From the sound of the engine I say it's a Nel Hoverer, a cheap flight unit good for helping Gundams gain altitude and staying off the ground but not design for an actual battle in the sky."

Jack suddenly gives Roxas an evil knowing smile, "In any case since they showed us their upgrades let's show them Quanlier's new upgrades."

Roxas evil smiles back to Jack, "Oh I intend to."

The rest of the Shadow Knights overhear the conversation by Kenny's monitor but none of them know what Jack is talking about. "New upgrade? You didn't tell me that Quanlier got a new upgrade too?" Shadow says.

Jack just smiles on the monitor, "I said I upgraded all of your Gundams, did you think I left Quanlier out? Hehehe just wait until you see what she has now."

Back in the arena Roxas gave Arianna a very tiger like grin, "Heheh, don't worry your flying doesn't bother me, in fact I have a very special friend who helps me with flying opponents." Quanlier's back opens up as a large shiny purple nine barrel Gatling gun pops up. As the gun reveals itself Arianna's smile disappears as an actual look of worry crosses her face.

"A beam Gatling gun?" Shadow asks confused but Jack just gives him an evil smile.

"Who says it's a _beam_ Gatling gun."

"Say hello to my little friend!" Roxas shouts as Quanlier's Gatling gun opens fire on Aedificator shooting some kind of ruby red fuzzy bullets. Arianna reacts completely by instinct now as she moves backwards, cuts off her flight unit's engine and activates her energy shield on Aedificator's left arm and makes herself as small as possible in order to fit behind the round ring of yellow light. Despite not being a full body energy shield Aedificator manages to squeeze itself under its protection, but the energy shield does little as each individual ruby bullet slams into it like an iron baseball and then explodes like a grenade.

The first two bullets knock Aedificator back a good ten meters while the third shatters the energy shield like glass. If any more bullets had hit Aedificator the match would have ended then and there but luck saves Arianna as Aedificator crashes into a concrete building. Aedificator lands hard dead center on top of the building and punches halfway through it before finally coming to a stop. "Arrggh what hit me?" Arianna groans as she sits up, Casey is already on her helmet screen giving her a damage report.

"I have no idea but it took down your energy shield in three shots, your left arm's been heavily damaged so try to refrain from putting any weight on it anGET THE HELL OUT OF THERE!" Casey suddenly screams. While the two had been talking Quanlier had kept firing those ruby red bullets into the building and they tear through it with a vengeance. Arianna looks panicked and flustered, this is the first time she's ever seen a beam weapon cut so quickly through a building before.

"Damn it!" Arianna screams as the large barrel on Aedificator's right arm starts to rotate. Aedificator slashes its right arm to the left, the barrel starts to spit out some kind of grey cement pudding that absorbs the impact of the bullets and delays the hail storm temporary. That moment is all Aedificator needs as the yellow Gundam kicks off the ground and rams itself through the building in order to escape.

Aedificator lands with a bone chilling thud on the hard road on its right shoulder, if it had been a human there's no doubt that the shoulder would have been crushed by the impact. Arianna bites her tongue in pain but Roxas's isn't giving her a moment's rest and relentlessly pursues her with her new toy. Ignoring the pain Arianna rises to her feet and begins to wall climb, up buildings, and moves as fast as possible.

"Oh man, things are not going Arianna's way today!" The referee announces to the displeasure of the crowd.

"LET'S GO ARIANNA! LET'S GO!" Chants for Arianna and the Public Servants start breaking out all over the arena as well as less than friendly comments.

"Pussy cat sucks!"

"Go back home you poser!" Although not very large the ruder crowd is very vocal with their cat calls however very few can truly understand what is going on.

"Holy freaking shit, that's Anti-matter!" Violet shouts started.

Blake looks at her shocked, "Anti-matter? Are you sure?"

Violet looks at Blake, annoyed by being challenged "Who's the long range specialist and gun expert here?"

"Anti-matter?" Cagalli asks down in the Shadow Knight Team room.

"It's the meaner older brother of a positron blast, its normally some form of hyper charged exotic particles that basically destroy all forms of matter, hence anti-matter." Kenny explains.

"It's actually Niconal anti-matter to be exact, the most stable of all anti-matters, it's also the best type of anti-matter to use when you want to do a penetration type attack. I've coated the tips of Quanlier's Gatling gun's bullets with the Niconal anti-matter while the base of the bullets is made of a combination of beam and Tacion steel." Jack continues with great pride.

"Steel? So how many bullets does it have before Quanlier runs out." Nick asks fully aware of how many bullets Roxas is shooting per minute.

"HA, I built in a self-replicating bullet system, so as long as Quanlier doesn't run out of steel she can keep shooting those things until Quanlier's power runs out and before you ask it would take like three hours of straight shooting before Quanlier ran through the chuck of steel it has. I must say, I've created a monster." Jack says even more prideful then before.

"Don't you need a special license in order to work with anti-matter?" Kenny asks.

Jack shyly looks away. "Oh, um, look at how Roxas is kicking ass out there!"

Drake groans once he hears this, out of all the stupid things Jack could have done she had to work with anti-matter without first getting a license. "Tim," Drake says simply, yet communicating all he needed to.

"I'm already on it," Tim says pulling out his PDA, he figured he could challenge himself by hacking the weapon's safety commission with only a PDA. "We should make her take the exam just to be on the safe side, but from what I can see her theory and understanding of anti-matter is sound and that gun looks awesome."

Tim and Drake are taking quietly while the rest of the team remains distracted by the battle. "I'm not questioning her ability to handle anti-matter safely, if I had even a tiny doubt I would have already contacted the referee and cancelled this fight." Drake says with confidence as he continues to watch the fight unblinkingly.

Tim looks as Drake confused, "Then what are you questioning?"

Down in the arena Roxas was having the time of her life, laughing hysterically and seeming more like a villain then a hero. Quanlier who is running on the ground is continuing to chase after Aedificator who is hoping from building to building dodging the Gatling gun's overwhelming firepower. Arianna grits her teeth annoyed, this fight wasn't going her way and while this might just be a game she still didn't like losing.

Arianna did an assessment of her resources in her mind, she was piloting a noncombat type construction class Gundam. Piloting a noncombat type Gundam already put Arianna at a disadvantage since those Gundam's as the name would suggest were design for regular public service work rather than actual fighting, it was only thanks to a few custom tweaks by their mechanics that Aedificator was even able to fight other Gundams. The tweaks included enhancing the power of Aedificator's finger blow torches to actual combat levels, and they made a special mix for her concrete mixer.

Arianna did have one advantage though, as a construction worker she had made over a thousand of these buildings all around the stadium which meant she knew their design and blueprints better than anyone, and knowledge was power. "Ok, it's time to change the pace of this fight?" Arianna says with a sly smile as she activates her finger torches, a solid jet blue flame that could be mistaken for a pocket knife beam saber pops up from all of Aedificator's fingers. Aedificator begins to run weirdly on the building, up, spiral, and backwards while slashing at it with her torch fingers and then hops to the other building.

Roxas notices her prey switching its way of moving but is too caught up in thrill of the hunt to stop and consider the meaning behind the actions. Roxas was ok with guns, she was slightly below Cagalli's level with regular fire arms, which is why Drake suggested she work with automatic weapons instead. This was the first time though Roxas was using a gun in a combat situation, that and controlling a Gatling gun limb she didn't have in real life was even more confusing than trying to control an animal body so her aiming wasn't at its peak yet.

"HAHAHA, are you ready to give up yet?" Roxas shouts on a close communication link between her and her opponent.

Arianna pops back up on Roxas's helmet screen with a smile, "Why would I do that when I'm about to win? Oh, by the way you should watch where you're going."

Roxas blinks confused by the enemies confidence and then looks up just in time to see the buildings all around it begin to collapse and fall straight towards Quanlier. Roxas's eyes pop open wide with the impending danger looming quite literary over her head, for the first time in a long time Roxas was drawing a blank for the right animal that would be able to get her out of this situation but luckily Drake's training kicked in instead.

Roxas's feet were moving before her brain could even process what was happening, all those hours Drake had forced them to dodge dodgeballs was finally coming in handy as the body reacted faster than the mind. Quanlier stops for a moment, sidesteps, barrels and begins evasive maneuvers as it dodges the collapsing buildings. Roxas finally regains herself and grits her teeth in annoyance, "God damn it, how the hell are you doing that!"

"Did you already forget what I do for a living, its child's play for a construction worker like me to see the weak points on any building and cause them to collapse." Arianna boast as she continues collapsing buildings while running from Roxas. Quanlier continues to sidestep, barrel rolls and uses its Gatling gun to blast away the building pieces. With all the buildings falling around her it was impossible for Roxas to aim at Arianna so the best she could settle for was clearing a path to Aedificator although that was beginning to prove time consuming.

"So what, eventually you're going to run out of buildings to collapse on me; and when you do I'm going to blast you!" Roxas snaps feeling frustrated by all these buildings hindering her speed. Aedificator slashes at another building's weak points causing it to collapse but instead of jumping off to another building Aedificator continues to run on the collapsing building in a downward spiral pattern. Quanlier pauses for a moment confused, that's a mistake as all of the broke rubble, concrete bricks, steel beams and glass close the distance between itself and Quanlier.

"SHIT!" Roxas shouts as she dives forward, sidesteps, barrel rolls, and doing other drastic movements. Glass rains down on Quanlier as steel beams impale themselves on the road with boards and blocks of concrete smashing like meteors into the ground. In all of the chaos and confusion Roxas losses track of Arianna until Aedificator appears right next to Quanlier. While Quanlier was dodging for its life Aedificator had hopped from one falling debris to another and maneuvered beside the animal Gundam.

Roxas's purple Neon gauntlet begins to glow brighter as time slows down for a moment as Roxas sees Aedificator raise its finger torches high above its head and then bring it back down, it's fast, so fast but Quanlier is just a tad bit fast as it jumps back barely dodging the solid jet blue flames. The flames actually scorch a little bit of Quanlier's face turning the armor black, but not doing any serious damage. Time is still moving slowly as each millisecond can mean the difference between victory and defeat. The ball is in Roxas's court now as she readies her Gatling gun, the nine barrels of doom begin to spin.

Arianna sees this, Aedificator begins to move, frustratingly slow as Arianna becomes consciously aware of the agonizing ticking sound of the second hand, and how each time the barrels on the Gatling gun make a complete circle they glow a little bit redder. Arianna manages to get Aedificator's body out of the way but the red ruby bullets slam into its left arm, piercing right through it and taking the whole limb off. Still time doesn't return to normal, Arianna's brain ignores the pain of losing an arm as she makes a desperate play for victory.

Aedificator raises its remaining arm which has the mixer barrel on it. Roxas spots this and she immediately knows what Arianna is trying to do, that mixer contains a fast acting super strong cement mix that will harden and lock Quanlier into place if Roxas allows it to get on her. Quanlier begins to sidestep backwards while turning its Gatling gun while it's still firing in order to get a lethal hit on Aedificator. Roxas is confident in her ability to dodge Arianna's attack, every instinct in her body tells her that as fast as Arianna was Roxas was faster which is why it came as a complete surprise to her when Quanlier's left back leg slips out from under her causing Quanlier to stumble and trip.

_Quanlier's balance is off!_ Roxas realizes with shock, the added weight from the Gatling gun hit just the right spot to throw Quanlier's balance off but this knowledge comes too late. Time goes back to normal as the grey liquid slams into Quanlier knocking the tiger Gundam off its feet covering it from neck down in cement, the goo gets into every hole, crack and joint and instantly hardens restricting Quanlier's movements. "Uck, what the hell is this crap, it's like oil or glue. I'm into some kinky stuff but this is gross even to me!"

"Oh my god, Aedificator has just lost an arm, I repeat Aedificator has lost an arm! Using her brilliant mind Arianna causes the world to tumble around the rookie, leading to a lighting battle of speed and brilliance. Roxas wasn't going down without a fight though and unleashed hell with her Gatling gun taking out Aedificator's arm but in the end Arianna proved to be just better. Aedificator has just soaked Quanlier in its special instant hardening cement restricting the rookie's Gundam's movements by eighty percent at least. This battle is as good as over." The referee announces to the roaring screams and cheering of the crowd.

"ARIANNA! ARIANNA! ARIANNA! ARIANNA!" Chants start breaking out as everyone begins to prematurely celebrate the Public Servant's victory.

Down in the Shadow Knights team room things are not so happy. "NOO! Roxas!" Shadow moans.

"Roxas are you alright!?" Kenny asks in a voice full of worry as he begins to run a number of different calculations on his computer to check on the status of Quanlier.

"Just hold on mate, we're going to work this out." Nick says trying to comfort his friend.

"What the hell was that!" Cagalli asks in a demanding voice.

Jack was able to hear all of this through her monitor down in the Gundam bay but the noise just washed past her. She had seen what had happen, she knew exactly why Roxas wasn't able to dodge that last attack and that realization had left her frozen. The horror of what had happen was so great that Jack's brain had shut down rather than openly admit it.

"The new Gatling gun on Quanlier's back caused it to be off balance." Drake says stepping forward and answering the Gundam Fighter's question. He may not be a mechanic but Drake had been a Gundam Fighter for a number of years so he had the experience to know that the positioning of the Gatling gun looked off.

Drake's words and their meaning vibrated and echo in Jack's head forcing her to recognized the facts. "That's impossible; I built that Gatling gun from scratch and put it on myself!" Jack shouts in frustration.

Everyone looks towards the monitor surprised by Jack's strong defensive stance except for Drake. "Did you remember to test Quanlier's balance after installing the Gatling gun?" Drake asks calmly.

"No this is the first time I held a freaking wrench; OF COURSE I tested the balance after I installed it!" Jack snaps.

"But did you test it with the Gatling gun exposed and under extreme combat conditions?" Drake asks still calm in the face of Jack's anger.

Jack blinks surprised as she does a mental back log and realizes Drake's right, "You're right…..how could I forget to test it under combat conditions…..how could I have been so careless." Jack says in an emotionless tone of voice, once more in complete shock by her mistake.

Drake doesn't say anything further, Jack's anger and frustration was understandable considering how much pride and how much she loved the team. As long as she understood her mistake and learned from it then Drake didn't see the need to push the issue any further.

"I don't believe it! She's trying to get back up! Roxas Nile is attempting to stand back up despite being covered in Aedificator's cement!" The referee's voice cuts through all conversations drawing everyone's eyes back down to the arena. It was true, Quanlier was clawing and scratching at the ground attempting to get back up but its joints were locked in place by the cement and refused to bend the proper way making the whole scene look like a bird with its wings cut off trying to fly.

Up in the VIP booth Merick sips his cup of wine thoroughly savoring the scene with a look of ecstasy. "Look at that Lucas, is their anything so thoroughly wonderful as watching a cat that has had all of its limbs broken desperately struggle to wiggle away?"

Lucas doesn't look like he's enjoying the fight as much as Merick but he does have a sick smile on his face, "I would have preferred it better if a man had been the one to beat her but I still love it when a strong woman is on her hands and knees begging for mercy. I love the look in their eye when they finally snap and surrender to their fate." Lucas says with a psychotic gleam in his eye. Merick returns the gleam.

"For once my more violent friend, I think that's something we can agree on."

Although not as psychopathic as the criminals the rest of the crowd in the stands also would like for Roxas to give up already. No one wanted her to win, and the mere fact that she kept struggling to was beginning to annoy them.

"Just give up already you loser!"

"Yea it's time for the kitty to go home!"

"LOSER!"

Those and other catcalls and verbal harassments rain down on Roxas from all above. They show no mercy, and kick the tiger while she is down but not all are like this.

"Let me go! I said let me go, I'm kicking all of their mother freaking asses!" Kenshi shouts angrily as the rest of the Raptures hold him down and tell him to calm down.

"SILENCE you pathetic male pig scum, we the Valkyries will not stand by an allow such abuse to our fellow woman!" Sesen roars unleashing a strong KI blast which knocks out almost everyone around the Valkyries. The rest of the Valkyries were also emitting a dangerous aura, making it clear they would no longer tolerate catcalls within their sight.

Despite the two team's efforts to stop the crowd the harassment and verbal abuse continue on as loud as ever. Moments before Quanlier started to try and get back up Aedificator was once more showboating for its fans however now Arianna stands their looking uncomfortable by the scene, she knew what her fans were doing wasn't right but she felt a conflicted loyalty towards them and lacked the courage to do anything about it.

"This isn't right Arianna." Casey says on her monitor looking disgusted. "This isn't what the Public Servants are about."

"I know Casey, but they're our fans and they don't mean any real harm. What they're saying is out of love and a feeling of loyalty for our team."

Casey looks at Arianna appalled, "LOVE!? Are you even listening to what they are saying!? We don't need that kind of love, and we certainly don't need those kinds of fans, we need to stop them!"

"And how would you suggest I stop them?" Arianna asks annoyed by Casey reminding her of her own sense of guilt.

"Hello you tell them to stop, threatening to forfeit the match if you have to."

"FORFEIT THE MATCH! Are you out of your mind! I won this fair and square and I'm not going to just throw away victory because the rookies can't handle a few catcalls." Arianna snaps; what she doesn't say is that she's afraid of the fans turning against her if she tries to go against them.

"Winning like this though isn't right, you need to do-"

"Look the fight is over and you're no longer needed Miss. Programmer so you can just go back and hide in the dark corner and let us real Fighters handled the fans." Arianna snaps losing her cool and forcefully cutting the link with Casey. Arianna redirects her anger, frustration and fear towards Roxas as she opens up a new link.

"Look you, this fight is over so why don't you just give up already!" Arianna says then gasps when she sees her opponents face. While all this had been going on Roxas had continued to try and try again to get back up, her helmet was beginning to fill up and drown her in her own sweat; her breath was raged and her eyes were full of pain. Every warning light was going off in Quanlier, the pain sensors had long ago pasted the safety threshold and Kenny was begging her to stop but Roxas ignores it all.

"Shut…up…..this…fight…..isn't….over," Roxas let out between gasps of breath and then suddenly she lets out a barely human scream as she musters all of her remaining strength into forcing Roxas to stand. Her Neon gauntlet which was already glowing begins to shine like a flashlight, and Quanlier's S-generator beats like a heart as it becomes fraction of an inch bigger. The harden cement is ripped off from Quanlier's armor, taking metal plating with it; the NS system makes this feel exactly like ripping harden tar off from bare skin. Quanlier's joints snap and break from the pressure of the force movement vs. the restriction of the cement, for a pilot using the NS system this feels like breaking one's own bones.

Overwhelming pain assaults Roxas like a meat shredder and turns her brain to mush, Roxas literary blacks out for a moment from the pain but through sheer force of will she forces her body to stay conscious. With her dim and barely responding consciousness Roxas is aware of a red warning box on her helmet screen recommending she turn off her pain sensor but she ignored it. She needed the NS system to be at full operation if she was even going to have a remote chance of being able to move Quanlier. Still the pain was not for nothing, Quanlier was sparking and wires were sticking out with liquids pouring out of it like blood, Quanlier's legs were shaking and clearly barely holding the tiger Gundam up but Quanlier was standing.

"She's on her feet, SHE'S ON HER FEET!" The referee roars but it was clear to him and everyone in the stadium that this fight was over. They weren't even aware of how much pain Roxas was in, all they could see was that Quanlier was badly damage and barely standing. Really it was a miracle that the Gundam still operated. Aedificator might be missing an arm but it was nowhere near as damaged the tiger Gundam. No one believes she could win, in fact this fight was already becoming boring and dragging on. A new chant began in the crowd, louder than any other and filled with intense hatred and pleasure in it.

"FINISH HER! FINISH HER! FINISH HER! FINISH HER!"

The only ones who don't think this match is over are the two in the arena. Arianna looks at Roxas shocked, she didn't understand this crazy chick, was she suicidal or did she just get off on pain? "Why, why are you putting yourself through this? Why are you willing to go through all this pain just for the sake of victory? Don't you know this is just some stupid game, there's no reason for you to go this far!"

Roxas couldn't hear everything Arianna was saying since her consciousness and sense of reasoning were flickering on and off but she still got the jest of it. To bad she didn't have enough strength left to reply. S_omeone like her wouldn't understand anyway, _Roxas managed to think with her grey thoughts as she blacked out yet again from the pain.

Arianna didn't get a reply, instead she got a growl. The face she saw on her helmet screen was not the same woman she had traded insults with earlier in the match, no she wasn't even a woman anymore. Her purple eyes had narrowed into diamond slits, her lips were pulled back in a snarl as she foamed from the mouth showing off her jagged sharp teeth. This was a feral beast acting on pure animal instinct and would not hesitate to kill Arianna. A wild massive wave of energy hit Arianna increasing her sense of fright, she recognized it as killing intent or KI and while she would normally not be bothered by this level of KI there was something so wild and fierce about it that she couldn't stop herself from trembling.

She was scared, scared of this monster who was willing to rip her skin off, and break her bones to move in order to win. Aedificator takes a step back as Arianna tries to hide her fear, if it wasn't for the crowd support she would have already broken down and run away. Arianna's fear acts as the trigger which starts the final showdown. Quanlier lets lose a terrifying roar as it charges forward, at a much greater speed then it's broken and battered frame should allow. Arianna's terror was so great that her survival instincts kicked in, switching on her finger torches Aedificator raises its remaining arm in a desperate attempt to impale the charging tiger.

It all happened in an instant, a flash, a single second as Aedificator and Quanlier find themselves a few meters apart with their backs facing each other. Arianna frozen looks down to find that Aedificator is now missing its other arm, all that's left is a stump with wires hanging out and sparking. In Quanlier's mouth is the missing limb having been ripped off from Aedificator's arm, but the fates are cruel. With its finger torch still active the limb is inside Quanlier's jaw fingers first, the dark blue flames have pierced the back of Quanlier's jaw and have gone straight through the head. The noble purple and silver tiger manages to stay standing for one more moment before finally collapsing and crumbling to the ground.

"The match is over! Arianna has won! The victory goes to Arianna's Public Servants!" The referee announces to the crowd who go hysterical over the news. They all knew this was going to be the outcome anyway but it was still good to hear it officially, many people begin to laugh at the fallen Gundam's stupid attempt to fight again but others see the true value behind the action.

"She's a true Gundam Fighter." Blake says with approval as the rest of the Raptures' look on with sadness.

"Any woman can pretend to be strong when she has a thousand men behind her back, but a truly strong woman fights to her last bitter breath." Sesen says feeling proud to have Roxas as a fellow woman. The other members of the Valkyries nod in agreement.

"Tis," Merick frowns annoyed as his wine suddenly tasted bitter, "she didn't crack, all the way up to the end she kept fighting. What a truly foolish woman."

Down in the arena Roxas was slowly coming too, "Ro…..Roxa….ROXAS! Can you hear me!" Kenny's voice suddenly becomes crystal clear. Roxas's eye cracks open a little, she was in one of the safety pods, she couldn't remember the final moments of the fight but judging from her surroundings it was clear as to what happen. Kenny must have been really worried if he was using the helmet's emergency power pack to communicate with her.

"Ah…..I lost…..I'm sorry" Roxas says in a barely auditable whisper, even though the NS system was now disconnected Roxas still felt tired and like shit.

"What are you talking about Roxas, you did great out there." Shadow says gently to his friend.

"That's right mate, you did wonderful out there so there's no need for you to apologize." Nick says trying to hide the worried look on his face; Roxas was looking really bad, even for a NS after affect.

"It was an amazing fight Roxas, you were just incredible." Cagalli says but Roxas doesn't even appear to hear them as tears begin to stream down her face.

"I'm so so sorry, I wanted to win this one for you guys." Roxas says in-between sobs of tears, we can still hear in the background the laughter from the fans.

"Why?" A shocked Cagalli asks.

"Because, because I thought that if I won it would cause the crowd to ease up a little bit when you guys came on. I'm strong and I can take whatever they dish out but I didn't want you guys to go through what I had to go through, I didn't want you to experience the pain I felt, I'm sorry, I'm sorry that I let you guys down." Roxas says before bursting into even more tears, she begins to curl up into a ball and rocks herself back and forth.

"Oh Roxas." Is all Cagalli could say, this was possibly the sweetest thing she had ever seen Roxas try to do. Everyone was in shock over this revelation but time waits for no one as Jack now pops up on the screen unable to bare the guilt any more.

"It's not your fault Roxas, it's my fault! You would have won this fight if it wasn't for me, the only reason you lost was because of a mechanic error so I'm the one who let everyone down!" Jack shouts as tears begin to come down her face as well, her fist are clench and shaking from emotion. "I'm so stupid, I should have been more thorough and not have rushed the Gatling gun's design. I was so caught up with how powerful it was that I got sloppy and overlooked the balancing! I'm SORRY!" Jack cries as the tears continue to fall endlessly from her face.

Kenny, Cagalli, Nick and Shadow could only look on helpless to ease the pain off their friends. Drake just stands there quietly and observes the rest of the team, there would be time later for him to deal with Roxas and Jack. Drake sees Cagalli clench her hands into a fists, Shadow grits his teeth; Drake could see a fire burning in Cagalli's eye and a storm rising in Shadow's, both their Neon Gauntlets start glowing brightly. Shadow and Cagalli glance at each other, both instantly reading the others mind, and the episode ends with them saying at the same time "Let's kick some ass!"


	85. Episode 84 Cheers from the heart

Episode 84 Cheers from the heart

The episode opens up with Jack and Roxas down in arena's Gundam bay. They're near the main computer sitting down on the ground with red eyes and puffy checks, they're not crying any more but they're still emitting a depressed feeling around them, creating a heavy air in the place. "Quanlier looks pretty trashed." Drake's voice cuts through the air like a knife completely unaffected by this depression. Roxas and Jack look up to where the source of the voice is coming from, still with dead eyes. Drake is standing on top of Quanlier's back; the tiger Gundam looks just as bad as it did in the previous match only without the arm and flame torch in its mouth.

Drake has to watch where he walks as he walks on Quanlier's back, one false step and he was going to step in broken wires and that would probably hurt…..a lot. After inspecting the top Drake hops off and lightly lands on his feet, he begins to walk around slowly, observing all of the massive damage on Quanlier.

"It will be tight but if you work hard you should be able to have Quanlier up and running again by the time for the semi-finals; still you better hope that the other Gundams don't come back this badly damage or else you're going to be in trouble." Drake says, continuing to talk like nothing is going on.

"Have you come down here to mock us Drake?" Jacks asks bitterly, she definitely felt like she deserved to be mock for making such a stupid rookie mistake.

"Heh, that hurts, do you really think so little of me that I would kick a dog while he's down?" Drake asks in his attempt at a joke but the others don't laugh. Drake sighs, he wasn't used to this part of a Gundam manager's job. The whole encouraging the team after they took a tough lost, he wasn't the emotional type so this always felt awkward; still if he didn't come up with something to cheer them up with this depression would last for a while and might affect their performance in the following weeks.

"You lost, due to both overconfidence and a mechanical error; there's no getting around that but the important thing is to learn from your mistakes and make sure you don't make them again in the future." Drake's poor attempt to cheer the girls up fails…..miserably. Seeing this Drake scratches his chin embarrassed and then says slowly, "You know I'm glad we pilot Gundams, people call us the modern day gladiators and in a way they're right but if we were fighting human to human then you would have died today Roxas...but you didn't die and that's one of the reasons why I love Gundams."

Both Jack and Roxas stare at Drake surprised at the unusually idealistic comment, and then they suddenly burst out laughing. "HAHAHAHA, oh my god I can't believe he just said that." Jack says.

"HAHAHAH, I know; he and Shadow have a lot more in common than we thought HAHAHA!" Roxas says in-between laughs. Drake frowns as he hears the comments and quickly returns back to normal.

"Please don't compare me to Shadow, and now see if I try to cheer you up again the next time you're feeling depression." Drake says with just a hint of bitterness.

The girls calm down then look at each other before smiling and turning back to Drake, they still look sad but it's clear they're feeling a little better. "Sorry, but we really do appreciate it Drake." Jack says.

"Yea, it's nice to feel something other than crap." Roxas adds on.

"Humpth well, good, now get off the floor. The battle's not over yet, Jack Cagalli's up next and she's going to need you on your A game to help her win the fight and you Roxas should be in the team room cheering for her now come on." Drake says as he turns around and tries to hide the pleasure in his voice from successfully having cheered up two young girls. Roxas and Jack get up off the ground and dust themselves off. Jack goes off to check on La Rouge while Roxas walks off with Drake to the elevator.

Cagalli was already suited up when Jack arrives, "Jack," Cagalli says wide eye with surprised. Drake had told her and the rest of the team to focus on winning the rest of the matches while he dealt with them. Cagalli had felt a little worried about leaving them to Drake but although she didn't like the one eyed manager she was confident that even Drake wasn't a big enough asshole to make Roxas and Jack feel even worse about the situation and as Shadow had pointed out to her, winning their fight would probably be the quickest way to make the two feel better.

"Why don't you take a break, Kenny and I have got this fight under control." Cagalli says gently to her young friend but Jack just shakes her head.

"No, it's ok, I'm good now." Jack says. Drake was right, she had made a mistake and there was nothing she could do about that now except learn from it. She had to move on and focus in on the next fight; she would make it up to Roxas somehow after this battle was over. "Do we know who we're fighting next?"

Cagalli stares at Jack for a moment concern, Jack was as tough as nails but that didn't change the fact that she was still just a sixteen year old girl on the inside and from experience Cagalli knew how fragile tough sixteen year old girls really were….still it might be a good idea to just let her focus on the next match. Dwelling on a mistake too long only made things worse so it would only help to have her move on. "No not yet, the referee's about to announce it soon though."

Jack nods her head as she continues typing on a terminal hooked up to La Rouge, "Ok, I'm going to do another system's check real quick while you suit up. Let me know if you feel uncomfortable about anything in La Rouge's cockpit."

"Will do, and Jack…"

Jack stops typing for a moment and looks over her shoulder at Cagalli.

"Let's kick some ass, for Roxas." Cagalli says with a smile as she raises a fist in the air.

Jack's red eyes open wide for a moment in surprise then she bursts out laughing, "HAHAHA oh my god you're the second person today so far who's sounded like Shadow AHAHAHAHA!"

Cagalli blushes red embarrassed by the comment, "Jeez don't go comparing me to that moron…but he did have a point when he said it was time for someone to shut this crowd."

Jack gives Cagalli a wicked grin, "Then let's do this!"

####

Arianna walked unsteadily on her feet to the team room, she was still shaken from the fight. That feeling, that primal overwhelming oppressive aura; it was like she was fighting one of the Raptures' pilots only magnified by a thousand. Arianna had heard somewhere that you could tell the difference between an actor acting like a cowboy and a real cowboy by the air they emitted and the look in their eye…and that inhuman animal like stare, even now just thinking about it sent shivers down her spine.

"For what was supposed to be an easy fight you took a lot of damage Arianna." Darrius says with an unusual dry smile. Arianna puts on an air of composer; she wasn't the type of person who liked to show any weakness to anyone.

"Humpth for a detective you're not that observant, I was just playing up the excitement for the crowd. There was no real chance that I would lose."

Darrius doesn't bother dignifying that with a respond and simply lays back and relaxes on the couch, or as relax as an uptight person can get.

"Are you sure that you're ok Arianna?" Janardan asks with real concern.

Arianna glares at the perceptive man. "Yes, I'm fine, just worry about your own fight. Now if you'll excuse me there are reporters outside waiting to talk to me about my match." Arianna proclaims in a pompous fashion as she exits the team room.

"What a bitch!" Casey snaps as soon as Arianna leaves the room.

"She's certainly a character." Janardan says in his pleasant fashion not that bothered by her behavior.

"She's the type of person who loves fame and acts aggressive in order to hide her own fear." Darrius says in an objective voice.

"You guys are too easy on her! At least you get practice fighting in with your job but Arianna hasn't even been showing up to practices lately." Casey yelled at the rest of the team.

A new man with tan Spanish skin and black shaggy hair and green eyes walks over to Casey and puts a hand on her head and messes up her hair. "Chill Casey, we will have a talk with Arianna later about her behavior so there's no point in worrying about it now while we're in the middle of a match." The man says, he was tall and muscular and was wearing a white tank top and tan shorts with sandals.

Casey looks up at him grateful for his support, "Thank you Lon."

Lon flashes her a cool smile, "No problem, now if you'll excuse me I'm rather looking forward to getting my match started. It's been a while since I've been able to Gundam Fight."

####

The atmosphere in the stands was upbeat and cheerful; the team, the overwhelming majority of the crowd was rooting for, was winning so everyone was happy. Some people were talking about the previous match comparing how they thought each fighter did while others were speculating on the up and coming matches when the monitors started flicking signaling the referee's appearance. The chatter of the crowd died down as the referee appeared upon the screen, with a big smiling face as he looked at everyone.

"Now wasn't that an exciting match folks! Roxas managed to get our beloved Arianna on the run but the Queen managed to turn the tables and clench victory right out of her hand!" The crowd cheered proudly at the retelling of their team's victory, almost as if it was their own. The referee smiles and soaks in their applause, it was almost too easy to get people excited in a Public Servant's match, still this was just the warm up. "Will Arianna's Public Servants' win this battle with a blowout or can the rookie Shadow Knights bounce back and take victory!"

The crowd yells their obvious thoughts on the matter as the referee continues forward, "Well I guess we're about to find out! Oh boy do we have a treat for you folks today, rarely does he get a chance to see an actual Gundam Fight as he's always called to duty, a true hero to this city who puts his life on the line every day to save people, Arianna's pride firefighter Lon Tito piloting his Gundam Vigile!" The crowd gasps in surprise by this turn of events then the women start screaming their heads off and confessing their love to the man they've never met in real life, several cries of "have my baby" can be heard.

The referee smiles at the enthusiasm as he continues right on through, "Boy is it getting hot in here or is it just me? Hehehe and let us not forget about his opponent, fighting for the Shadow Knights is Cagalli Yula Athha in her Gundam La Rouge!" The crowd doesn't even hear this part of the information as they continue to cheer and scream for Lon.

Down in the Shadow Knights' Gundam hanger Cagalli frowns as she hears the lack of respond from her introduction, well she supposed that was better than them booing her. "Kenny I'm going to launch early and do a quick flyby of the arena. I don't want a repeat of what happen last time so let's keep an eye out for any traps Arianna might have set for this match."

Kenny popped up on her helmet screen and eagerly nodded his head, "That's a good idea, this Lon guy hasn't launched yet so you're all clear for now."

"Roger that." Cagalli says as she braces herself to launch, for a moment she ponder how comfortable and natural this now felt to her considering the way it felt a few months ago, but she quickly brush those thoughts aside as she focused on the match. "This is Cagalli Yula Athha, piloting La Rouge, launching!"

The lights on the Gundam catapult turned green as La Rouge is whipped out into the arena, head first into bright light and a gust of wind. Cagalli was momentary blinded by the light and thrown off balance by the wind, but her week long practice flying kicks in as she automatically spins around, flips open her wings and rapidly ascends. Blinking a few times Cagalli quickly regain her vision as she flew in the air. "You know Jack as much as I love the new fancy guns and such, would it kill you to put in something along the lines of sunglasses? It's really annoying to get blinded by the sun the moment I step foot into the arena, depending upon the time of day."

Jack pops up on Cagalli's helmet screen and responds back in a slightly annoyed voice, "There's actually a special camera lens that already does that, but the freaking guy wanted thirty thousand credits for it and I was like, I could make that part myself for half that amount."

While keeping one eye on the ground below and looking for traps Cagalli asks "And how are they coming along?"

"She underestimated the chemical portion of making the lens and can't get them to function right." Kenny says with a smirk.

"They work! Just a little too much….as in they turn really black under any light source. Look I'm reading books about how to make them, and there are a ton of directions on the net on how to make them so paying thirty thousand credits for them is just ridiculous!" Jack says defensively against Kenny. Cagalli smiles feeling relieved by Jack's behavior, _I guess that one eyed jackass does have his uses, _Cagalli reluctantly thinks as she soars to the air.

"Someone's got some confidence issues having to jump out early like that!"

"Look it's the birdy! I wonder if she's sober this time hahahah!"

"Go home bitch, luck's not going to save you this time!"

Big surprise the crowd was booing her; to be honest it was a little uncomfortable for Cagalli considering whenever she stepped out into public at Orb people always cheered for her. There was always a small faction that of course didn't like her and let their opinion be known, but they were always the minority. If Cagalli hadn't seen it from Roxas match and mentally prepared for it she would have been a little unnerved…that and she supposed that Drake's insults and belittles might have also help to toughen her up mentally…but she highly doubted that was his goal.

"Heheh hey could you try not to be as pathetic as that other bitch!"

"Yea, talk about what a loser that kitty was!"

"The cat should have stuck to what she was good at, sucking"

It was like a switch had been flipped on in her head, or a piece of straw suddenly bursting into flame as a great anger seized Cagalli. She hadn't felt this kind of anger since that time on the Minerva when one of the crew had simply said "Oh well" to earth being destroyed. La Rouge immediately comes to a dead stop and flips its head around trying to find the source of the sound. "Which one of you jerks said those things!" Cagalli snaps with clear anger in her voice.

"Cagalli calm down, don't do anything stupid!" Drake's voice cuts through like a knife, stern and commanding but not uncaring.

Drake's tone and voice caused Cagalli to pause for a moment, a feat very few could accomplish from an angry Cagalli. That pause is enough to allow the next person to speak before Cagalli did anything drastic.

"THAT IS ENOUGH!" Lon's voice cuts through the audience and everyone else in the stadium as he appears on the stadium's monitors. While the crowd had been busy booing Cagalli Vigile had quietly launched into the arena and made its way to the center of the fake city and climbed to the top of the tallest building. Vigile was a tall Gundam with broad shoulders; its head and face were shaped like a fireman's helmet and was painted a bright red. The rest of Vigile's body was painted a mud green color and had shiny yellow strips painted across it at several points. Talking in the crowd stops at once as everyone looks down at Lon confused by the fireman's anger.

"While I can say with complete honesty that I deeply appreciate all of my fans support and cheers this has gone too far! Don't get me wrong, I love when you guys cheer for me, it gets me all fired up to win for you but when you start insulting the other fighter, and bad mouth him or her then YOU HAVE CROSSED A LINE! Some of the things I've heard you saying are just horrible and the Shadow Knights have done absolutely nothing to deserve such abuse! Roxas Nile fought valiantly with everything she had and she should be praised and commended for her efforts not insulted! I am deeply ashamed of you, I expect more from the people of this great city Arianna, I expect more from my fans."

Lon's words hang heavy in the air as almost total silence grips the stadium but not everyone liked what he said. "HA a noble guy, what a freaking jerk, maaaan and just when we were about to see the blonde lose her cool!" Lucas complains bitterly.

Merick on the other hand calmly sips his glass of wine, "Fool," he directs at Lucas, "A man that can turn on the very people who are holding him up is a very dangerous type of person; if the Public Servants win we need to watch out for him."

After the pause Lon continues his speech by giving the fans the ultimate ultimatum, "I'm a representative of the people of Arianna, however I cannot and will not representative such mean spirited fans which is why if the catcalls, booings, and insults continue I will forfeit the match right here and now!" The crowd gasps at this shocking declaration, even Cagalli is left speechless.

"Holy shit is he serious!" Shadow shouts startled as he gets extremely close to the monitor in the team room.

"Now what will it be people of Arianna, will you continue on with this disgraceful behavior to a road I will not follow behind or will you be the kind hearted fans I know and love?" Lon asks his final question to the crowd. There's one final pause as everyone struggles to take in what Lon just said until finally the place erupts like a volcano into cheers, and applause from screaming fans.

"Well said Lon, you're so cool like always!"

"We're sorry Lon, please don't forfeit because of us!"

"We understand Lon; we'll only cheer you on from now on!"

The crowd continues to scream their love and undying approval for Lon, even the Shadow Knights down in the team nod their head in respect for him.

"So they aren't all assholes." Shadow huffs as he crosses his arms.

"Aww now how come that guy couldn't have been my opponent." Roxas whines, but Shadow could hear that her heart wasn't in it. It looked like she wasn't fully recovered yet from her defeat but the fact she was trying to get back to normal was a good sign.

"Stupid noble natural, he shouldn't have said anything and let the audience continue to wear down the blond natural's moral and spirit, she was seconds away from getting the whole team disqualified if he had only stayed quiet." Zuke voices his opinion full of a superior attitude as he looks down on the fireman.

Nick turns and glares at the geneist and replies, "This might be a hard concept for you to grab mate but some people want to win with honor and through hard work and effort rather than some dirty trick like psychological warfare."

Zuke finally opens his eyes and stares back at the cowboy in a condescending manner, "There is no such thing as a dirty trick in a battle, only a fool doesn't expect his enemy to do whatever it takes to win, which is why the biggest fools and the first to lose in battle are those with your so call honor."

Nick's glare only increases upon Zuke's words but before he can speak the referee voice cuts across everyone else's. "A great and heart filled speech from Lon, cooling the overly loyal crowd down, as we can expect from the person called the heart and soul of Arianna."

La Rouge continues to hover in the air as it looks down at its opponents; Cagalli looks down at her opponent slightly surprised by his help. "Thanks for that." Cagalli says politely.

Lon switches to a private communication link and smiles warningly at his opponent. "No, there's no need for you to thank me. Really I should apologize to you and the rest of your team for my fans behavior, they're good people they just don't think things out sometimes." Lon says as he scratches the back of his head in an embarrass fashion.

Lon gave off a good first impression to Cagalli, someone who wouldn't stand by if they saw something wrong being done in front of them, but Cagalli currently didn't have the best track record when it came to judging other people's character so she remained distant but not impolite. "You don't have to apologize for what you're fans were doing, they're their own people and you don't have control over them. Trust me when I say I have…unique friends who also do some embarrassing stuff too."

Lon laughs when he hears this, "HAHAHA boy do I know that feeling. Now don't think just because I got my fans to calm down that I'm going to go easy on you."

"Heh the same goes for me, so I hope you're prepared to lose." Cagalli says as she feels her competitive nature rise to the top; both pilots just grin at each other as they seem to come to an understanding.

"Alright ladies and gentlemen with that taken care of it's time for the moment you've all been waiting for," the referee says as his voice cuts over the two Gundams which continue to stare down at each other, "LET'S GET THIS MATCH STARTED! Both fighters are you ready! THREE, TWO, ONE, GO!" The crowd counts down with him, on "go" both La Rouge and Vigile act at once, like a bullet being fired from a gun.

La Rouge backs away from Vigile and ascends higher into the air, increasing the distance between the two mechs. "Why are you moving away? Was it something I said?" Lon asks playfully as he watches Cagalli move away.

Cagalli grins and responds "Not really, it's just that I know your Gundam can't fly so if I move out of your attack range then you can't hit me while I can easily open fire on you with my beam rifle."

La Rouge pulls out its beam guan dao and raises it up into the air preparing to transform it into the beam rifle but Lon just grins as Vigile raises its own hand to counter, "Clever but you should double check on what my attack range is." The top of the red Gundam's arm pops up revealing a cannon looking device. Vigil's right arm fires a highly pressure water cannon which shoots straight towards La Rouge but Cagalli dodges the liquid solely from instinct as she looks on confused.

"What the hell was that?" Before anyone can answer her question Vigile lifts its left arm and along with its right arm fires a continuous spray of highly pressurized water forcing La Rouge on the defensive and leaving Cagalli no time to switch her beam guan dao into her beam rifle.

"Whoa! Water! Seriously?" Cagalli asks feeling a tad bit thrown off by the odd choice of projectile, seriously who brings water to a beam and steel fight?

"Cagalli don't let your guard down, that's highly pressurized water so getting hit by that will feel like you just got nailed by a brick." Kenny quickly says after seeing Cagalli's expression.

La Rouge slides left descends and ascends in evasive movements but despite its efforts Vigile gets a lucky shot and hits La Rouge square in the chest with the water blast. The blast knocks La Rouge out of the sky and straight into a nearby building. "Oww" Cagalli groans as she sits up, Kenny hadn't been exaggerating when he said that getting hit by them would feel like getting hit by a brick.

La Rouge gets up slowly from the giant hole it made when it crashed. Vigile though isn't going to let La Rouge have even a second to breathe as it jumps down from a higher building with its beam fireman's ax raised high for an attack, but Cagalli senses the attack coming. La Rouge is still knee deep in the building which made dodging impossible, and the amount of force behind Vigile's ax along with the blade itself meant that blocking it with her guan dao was also a bad idea which left Cagalli with only one option, to attack.

Of course Cagalli didn't think of any of this on a conscious level, all she as aware of was an instinct taking over causing her to rapidly swing her beam guan dao upward with all her might. The two attacks collide in a shower of sparks and liquid flames as a booming noise sounds throughout the stadium. Both Gundams are knocked back by collision but in La Rouge's case this turns out to be more beneficial than harmful as the red, yellow and orange Gundam's legs are freed.

Cagalli was surprised that her arms didn't hurt unbearably after that strike but she didn't have time at the moment to worry about how her body was changing. She couldn't allow herself to get sucked into Lon's pace, she had to take to the sky again and continue on with the plan.

Vigile back flips in the air as it lands on the very edge of the roof of the building the two Gundams were fighting on, Vigile loses its balance and begins to tip over the edge. "Oh shit!" Lon says with panic as he begins to rapidly wave his arms in the air in order to regain his balance. Despite not being the most graceful of approach Lon is never the less able to regain his balance. "Whoo that was close," Lon breathes a sigh of relief as he turns to look at La Rouge who squats down slightly as its wings spread out. Quickly picking up on what's about to happen Lon shouts "Oh no you don't!" As Vigile sprints over to La Rouge and straight up tackles the other Gundam.

La Rouge is hit just before it can take off and the force of the tackle sends both Gundams off over the side of the building. "Argh damn it off!" Cagalli grunts, as she begins to punch the red Gundam that's hugging La Rouge so that she could break free from this free fall but Vigile holds on tight and causes both Gundams to crash into the ground like a meteor. The bone chilling impact sends a cloud of dust into the air temporary blocking the audience's view of the battle.

"Damn, just damn! Look at those two go at each other! Cagalli struggles to try and get some distance between herself and Lon but Lon is definitely not going to let that happen and he forces this into a melee range battle!" The referee announces to the excitement of the crowd.

"Come on Cagalli! If he wants to fight in melee combat then show him the blade of your beam guan dao!" Roxas screams in a very competitive spirit. Shadow's worry about Roxas eases when he sees her jumping up and down in an excited manner, he suppose he could forgive Cagalli from stealing Roxas's attention from him if it made Roxas feel better about herself.

"Humpth, it looks like the blond natural is already having difficulties fighting despite having such an overwhelming advantage over her opponent." Zuke says surprisingly; but his comment is directed more at Nick.

"If you weren't always napping throughout these matches mate you would know that Cagalli is always a slow starter, and besides that fireman is clearly acting desperately to stop Cagalli from using those advantages." Nick replies while glaring at the coordinator who in turn continues to looks down on him.

Kenny frowns over the noise the others were making, he could understand how this might be distracting to others but having grown up in an orphanage Kenny was used to this sort of commotion and phased it out as he continued to monitor Cagalli and La Rouge's progress while at the same time fine tuning La Rouge's programming. Fine tuning the programming in the middle of a battle generally didn't make that much of a difference, but all of those little adjustments added up and in a battle where every second counted those little adjustments could be the difference between victory and defeat.

"Hey Kenny, does Vigile's ax seem a little odd to you?" Jack asks as she pops up on his monitor.

Kenny frowns at the question as he thinks it over, "No not really, I mean other than the fact he's using a fireman's ax instead of a battle ax. Why?"

"Would you mind running an analysis program on it, I have a gut feeling something's up with that blade." Jack asks in a serious tone.

Despite her recent mistake Kenny still had complete and absolute trust in Jack's mechanical abilities which is why he didn't hesitate to say "Sure".

As the dust settles Vigile and La Rouge climb to their feet with both their respective weapons in hand. Cagalli shakes her head to clear the stun daze from her mind, ok this guy was starting to piss her off again, if he was so determine to make this a melee fight then Cagalli would give it to him. After all she didn't spend three hours a day sparing against Shadow with her guan dao for no reason.

Lon was also shaking his head in order to clear his thoughts. "Lon are you alright?" Casey asks as she pops up on Lon's helmet screen.

"Yea but I wish I had thought that a little more through." Lon grumbles as he rubs his sore back. "Anyway time to strike her before she recovers and tries to fly away again!" Lon says as he refocuses on the battle but to his surprise La Rouge makes the first move, swinging its beam guan dao for Vigile's head. "Shit!" Lon curses as he titles his head back attempting to dodge the blow but La Rouge's beam guan dao manages to nick Vigile's left cheek.

Vigile quickly steps back as La Rouge spins around and follows up with an upward left slash attack but with a quick flip of the wrist Vigile deflects the attack off his own beam ax. The two Gundams go head to head in series of rapid slashes, deflections, dodges and in La Rouge's case thrusts. La Rouge has the advantage of reach with the longer weapon, plus she's able to use the pole end both offensively and defensively. Lon realizes quickly he can't block all of La Rouge's attacks so he gives up on watching the pole end and focuses exclusively on the blade.

Vigile deflects most of the beam blade's attacks with its beam ax rather than dodge them, but La Rouge still scores several hits to Vigile's chest and knees, denting the armor but Lon tanks the hits relying on Vigile's armor to take the damage. In contrast though La Rouge is able to block all of Vigile's attacks, deflecting them off its beam guan dao, using both its blade end and the pole end. There are several close calls but it's clear that Cagalli has the edge.

"It looks like Lon got his wish of making this into a close and personal fight but Cagalli's no stranger to melee combat and is giving the firefighter a run for his money! Could this be Lon's lost?" The referee asks purposefully trying to raise the tension in the stadium, the crowd roars in support of Lon, crying words of encouragement and cheers to their hero but true to their word not a single negative comment can be heard about Cagalli.

"Don't give up Lon!"

"We believe in you!"

"You got this!"

Down in the arena La Rouge and Vigile charge each other in a head on attack; both raise their weapons high and slash downward with all of their might. The two weapons collide and lock against each other as both fighters begin to put all of their strength into their arms in an attempt to push the other back. The beam ax and guan dao shake from the effort and we can see both Gundam's feet dig into the black pave road, kicking it up, but neither one is being push back as this fight comes to a standstill.

Cagalli grunts with effort as she struggles to summon more power into her arms, her max bench was one sixty five she was proud to say but right now she really wished she had the arm strength to bench two hundred. "Heheh you're pretty good." Lon says as he pops up on Cagalli's helmet screen, a thin bead of sweat rolls down his face from the effort he was exerting in order to hold his ground against this girl. Some rookie fighters might have been embarrassed by having a tough time matching a woman in physical strength like this, but Lon had grown up with an older sister who had join the military and could kick his ass on a daily bases so he was beyond such stereotypes.

Cagalli blinks in surprises by the comment then smiles back at her opponent and responds "Thanks, you too." La Rouge suddenly stops putting pressure against Vigile and allows the red Gundam to push the wing Gundam like a door, La Rouge flows with the force and spins around in a balletic fashion swinging its beam guan dao upward. Vigile stumbles forward, surprise by the sudden absence of pressure, Lon twists his neck to see what Cagalli's up to before he even regains his footing and to his horror he sees La Rouge raise its beam guan dao high in the air preparing to strike.

Cursing like a sailor Lon fires a water blast from Vigile's arm while still off balance and twisting its chest. Still the point blank attack doesn't miss, and nails La Rouge squarely in the chest knocking it off its feet but because Vigile's footing was messed up when it fired the blast the recoil hits Vigile in the chest also knocking it off its feet. Both Gundams are sent a few feet back but they suffer minimum damage and are quick to get right back up. Lon still grinning continues to talk with Cagalli, "So not only are you loyal to you friends and good looking but you're also a good melee fighter. Heh what other tricks do you have in your bag girl?"

"I'll guess you'll have to come and find out," suddenly a new thought enters Cagalli's mind, "Wait are you flirting with me?"

Vigile advances towards a distracted La Rouge and begins its counter attack with a slashed aimed at La Rouge's neck. La Rouge stumbling backwards barely dodges the blow as a confident Lon continues to come on to Cagalli, "What if I am?"

La Rouge counter attacks with a thrust to Vigile's head but Vigile deflects the attack as it sidesteps, trying to attack La Rouge from the side. "Don't you think it's a little weird to flirt with your opponent in the middle of a match?" Cagalli asks feeling fluster, embarrassed and flattered.

Lon just laughs as Vigile slashes at La Rouge's chest, but the wing Gundam jumps back dodging the blow. "HAHAH maybe a little, but it's not like we're actually trying to kill each other and we're both adults here. So what do you say? How would you like to go out with me some time?"

The question is so surprising to Cagalli that La Rogue freezes up for a moment allowing Vigile to get some much needed relief from La Rouge's attack. Turning red Cagalli quickly snaps, "This is hardly the time for that!"

"Heheh, should I turn off my communication link so that I can give you two some alone time hehehe." Kenny asks while giggling, he knew it wasn't really the best time to tease Cagalli but this was just too good to pass up.

"Yea Cagalli sweetie, don't get me wrong I love you but this is your chance to bang a fireman, that's not something that comes along every day. You totally need to hop on this, and I admire the man's confidence." Roxas says adding her own two cents.

"True, not to mention the last few guys you've gone out with, how do I put this nicely, haven't been your best choices in life so far. So going out with a creditable fireman might not be bad for you." Shadow adds on his opinion.

Cagalli grits her teeth in anger as her nosey friends cross huge boundary lines, "MY LOVE LIFE IS NOT UP FOR DISCUSSION!" Cagalli screams in rage, scarring the shit out of her nosey friends. This latest distraction almost cost La Rouge's head as Vigile raises its beam ax high and swings it downward. Cagalli grunts in annoyance as she raises her beam guan dao, preparing to deflect the attack when Jack's voice rips out on her helmet.

"Cagalli don't let your beam guan dao touch that ax!" Jack screams in desperation. There's no time to think, but Cagalli trust Jack completely on a subconscious level and her instincts take over. Yanking her beam guan dao back La Rouge's wings blaze to life in scorching heat, shooting La Rouge upward like a rocket but the wing Gundam isn't quite fast enough and the beam ax lands a good hit on La Rouge's leg, leaving a large gash in it.

"AHHHH!" Cagalli screams in pain, but the pain only encourages her to put even more power into her wings thruster in order to escape danger. La Rouge ascends higher into the air, out of Vigile's reach.

"Ohhh I'm not really sure what just happened, but it looks like La Rouge changed tactics in the middle of battle and ended up getting nailed in the leg for her hesitation. It's going to hurt to walk on that." The referee announces to the excitement of the crowd, happy that their favorite is now winning.

Cagalli is breathing heavily, trying to slow down her heartbeat which felt like she just jumped in front of a moving train. "Cagalli, are you alright!? You took some major damage to your left leg!" Kenny asks in a voice full of worry.

"Yeah I'm ok, but I don't think I'm going to be doing much more walking on La Rouge's leg for the rest of this match. Jack what's going, why was it so important that I not let his beam ax touch my guan dao?" Cagalli asks feeling just a tad bit annoyed by suddenly losing her advantage in the fight.

"Because it's not a beam ax, I had Kenny run a bunch of different scans and other things and the materials in the ax don't make a beam, it makes a Sceyam." Seeing the question forming on Cagalli's lips Jack quickly goes on to say, "Sceyam is a high intensity and special type of magnetic field, it looks and tends to feel like a beam saber but the big difference is that its blade not only cuts objects but also causes the atomic bonds in structures to weaken the overall frame work itself!"

"Jack, in Earthonian please!" Cagalli asks not fully understanding what her mechanic is saying, but nevertheless not liking where this conversation was going.

"The more hits an object takes from that Sceyam ax the weaker it will get until it breaks apart and because of all the hits La Rouge's beam guan dao has received from it, it can't take any strong impacts or else it might break apart." Jack sums up.

"WHAT!" Cagalli screams stunned.

"If these Sceyam blades are so useful how come we don't have them?" Shadow asks Jack while Cagalli panics about her situation.

"Sceyam blades need to be very small or else they can't work, so you can't make a sword out of them. The fireman's ax he has is probably the maximum size you can get it to be and they're really a pain to take care of and keep maintain." Jack explains to Shadow.

Down in the arena Vigile spins its Sceyam ax in a slow almost carefree way. "Hehe so I take you've figured out about my ax." Lon asks as he pops up on Cagalli's helmet screen.

Cagalli glares down at him with clear disapproval on her face. "You know for someone who is supposed to be a noble fireman don't you fine a weapon that weakens the structure of other objects to be detestable and a dirty trick!" Cagalli demands an answer.

Lon frowns when he hears her words but a strong determine look fills his eyes as his red Neon gauntlet begins to glow. "You know if you have asked me before I became a Gundam Fighter if I would ever use this kind of weapon I would have said never, hehe but do you know the number of people that died in a fire that I responded to? Forty seven, and of those forty seven people who died twenty died right in front of me because I couldn't move a heavy object out of my way, or cut through it with a regular beam ax in order to reach them. If I had a Sceyam weapon though I would have been able to save them. Since then I stopped caring about if a weapon is dirty or if the way it works can cause someone great harm, if I can use it to save lives then I will; a weapon isn't good or evil it's the person who wields it that decides what it can do!"

Lon roars as his red neon gauntlet glows brightly and the S-generator in his Gundam grows just a fraction of an inch bigger. Cagalli pauses when she hears Lon's cry and realizes she had been too quick to judge him, it was funny when she stopped to think about it. She hated weapons like the Sceyam which could be used to greatly hurt people, and wished they never existed, but what did it say about her that she could only see the evil in such weapons while people like Lon and Shadow could see the good? Still this wasn't time for such thoughts, she could worry about that stuff later; right now she had a match to win.

"Jack what about the Wing system, is La Rouge's beam guan dao still strong enough to support it?" Cagalli asks quickly while she had the chance.

"Yea, the UMDs will stabilize the beam guan dao and hold it together so it should be fine once I have Kenny make some adjustments to the programming."

"Already on it!" Kenny cuts in as his fingers race across the keyboard already reprogramming the drones.

"Ok!" Cagalli says as La Rouge begins to climb higher into the air, out of Vigile's water blasts reach. Vigile quickly runs up and on top of a building extending its range, and opens fire on La Rouge. Vigile is only able to get about five shots off before La Rouge is out of its range.

"Darn it!" Lon says as he clicks his tongue against his teeth.

"Well if you hadn't been busy flirting you would probably have been able to hit her before she got away." Casey says, feeling a tad bit jealous.

Lon, oblivious to Casey's feelings, shrugs his shoulders; "It's not like she can do anything from that distance, if she wants to win she'll have to move in closer and once she does I'll finish this match."

Up in the sky La Rouge finally stops moving and looks down at its target. "You got a plan Cagalli?" Shadow asks his friend excitedly.

"Yes, the Wing system has a beam sniper as part of its arsenal that I intend to take full advantage of." Cagalli says trying to hide the pride in her voice from coming up with the plan. Cagalli immediately begins sending the mental signals to try and have her guan dao transform into the beam sniper.

La Rouge holds up its beam guan dao as the tips of its wings break off and fly around to attach to the spear. The attachment causes a transformation to happen as the beam guan dao turns into…the beam rifle!

"What the hell!" Cagalli screams in shock and aggravation. "Why did it transform into the beam rifle instead of the beam sniper?"

Kenny also looks confused and clearly doesn't know what to tell Cagalli; in the background we can hear Drake sighing, "amateurs."

"Hmmm well I've run a scan an everything is working equipment wise, so any problems you're having must be….user error." Kenny cautiously informs Cagalli.

It has zero effect as Cagalli rages, "What the hell do you mean user error! I imagine a freaking beam sniper, what more do I have to do to get this freaking NS system to work!"

"Have you been practicing switching between the different weapons in the Wing System?" Jack asks Cagalli suspiciously.

Cagalli looks back at Jack a little dumbfounded, "Um was I supposed to? I mean I kind of got the hang of using the beam rifle so I figured the other two would just work-THIS IS STUPID! Stupid NS system! If I was back in a regular Earth cockpit I could just have hit a switch and got it to work on the first time!"

"Hey! Don't go insulting my Gundam's NS system just because you can't figure out how to use it correctly!" Jack snaps back.

"Arrrrr" Cagalli growls annoyed, as she concentrates again and tries to force her guan dao to transform into the beam sniper…..and fails. "AGRH!" Cagalli screams in frustration. She could still hear the cheers of the crowd, encouraging Lon onward to victory, and despite Cagalli's best efforts to block them out it was beginning to affect her on a psychological level.

"Cagalli calm down!" Shadow says strongly, he felt there was something seriously wrong when he had to be the one to tell Cagalli to calm down. "You haven't been practicing using the Wing system, that can't be helped now so you're just going to have to use what you got, your beam rifle instead."

"I can't use my beam rifle! It has the same range as his water blaster which means if I can hit him he can hit me!" Cagalli says quickly growing into full blown panic but Shadow's voice rings out like thunder pulling her back.

"No he won't! What have you been practicing this past week!" Shadow demands.

Cagalli blinks surprised by the question, "Nothing really, I've just been working on my flying."

"EXACTLY, you've been practicing fling, dodging, weaving in and out, and evasive maneuvers in mid-air! You can dodge these blasts! I know you can!" Shadow boldly proclaims, his confidence in her was so overwhelming, so absolute that Cagalli caught herself believing it. She looks down not just at Vigile but at the whole battlefield itself. She tried dodging Lon's water blasts before, and still got hit but Cagalli hadn't been moving at her fastest comfortable speed. She had finally managed to go a whole day without smashing into anything at that speed the other day, and she had never tried to dodge actual fire yet but maybe, just maybe her fastest evasive speed would be enough.

La Rouge grips its beam rifle more tightly and glances at it; this wasn't a position Cagalli wanted to be in, nor did she have the equipment she wanted to have; Cagalli was outside her comfort zone. In short, this was the standard Sora situation Cagalli continued to find herself in since the moment she woke up on this planet, one year ago Cagalli would never have imagine herself constantly getting in situations like this yet strangely each time she did Cagalli grew more used to it. "Heh, now I know something is wrong when Shadow starts making sense."

"HEY!" Shadow whines in protest causes a small smile to break out on Cagalli's face.

"Anyway I'm going in!" Cagalli roars as she folds La Rouge's wings inward and soars down towards her opponent at rapid speeds.

Lon smiles as he sees Cagalli make her move "See told you she would come to me." Vigile raises its hand and takes aim, then fires but to Lon's surprised La Rouge, without breaking pace, barrel rolls to the side dodging the attack and returns fire. Vigile drops to a knee, barely dodging the sudden surprise attack. The beam bullet instead explodes into the roof a few feet back. Raising both arms this time Vigile starts firing everything it has at La Rouge but La Rouge is moving much faster this time around and zips through the air, weaving in and out and performing sudden stops and turns.

It doesn't help that La Rouge is returning fire, beam bullets rain down all around Vigile as pieces of cement and steel are sent flying up into the air as the beam bullets collide into the building but Lon stands his ground and continues to fire on La Rouge. Lon instinctively knows that if he gives ground here La Rouge will have gain the upper hand in this battle and that was something he couldn't let happen this late in the game.

"Look at those two go, raining a storm of death down each other Lon and Cagalli both are currently trying to overwhelm each other through sheer volume of attack! Who can take this much punishment before making a mistake!" The referee screams at the crowd, encouraging their cheers and getting them even more fired up.

"I don't understand, why is Cagalli missing so badly, she's normally a really good shot?" Roxas asks without peeling her eyes away from the monitor.

"Cagalli hasn't practiced shooting while in motion, let alone while flying at those speeds. Really it's surprising that she's getting even that close to hitting him." Drake informs Roxas as he continues to watch the match. This was it, this was the end game, the victor would be decided in the next ten minutes.

Lon was lost in the zone, despite the intense situation his heart beat was calm and steady, his sense felt much sharper than usual. He can smell the smoke in the air from the flames the beam bullets were igniting, he could taste the ash on the tip of his tongue, he could feel the occasional beam bullet singe his skin as it passed by so close that it melted some of his armor, each time a beam bullet hit the building he was on it sounded like a bomb was going off that threaten to leave him permanently deaf but his eyes never left his flying foe, constantly tracking its movements through the sky.

It was weird, Lon normally never got like this outside a fire but something about this match was causing him to focus and get serious with all of his might. No more clowning around, no more flirting, it was time to win this thing. Unknowingly to Lon, his red Neon Gauntlet was beginning to glow even brighter.

Cagalli was soaring through the air with not just speed, but precision. Shadow had been right, Cagalli had spent almost every day last week practicing her flying, from sun rise to sun down and sometimes through the night itself. She lost track how many times she had zipped through those rings, weaving in and out and making all of those evasive maneuvers, Cagalli hadn't hated it, on the contrary Cagalli loved flying and everything to do about it and now thanks to that training she was able to dodge Vigile's attacks. There had been several close calls but for the most part Cagalli had been able to move far out of the way of the water blasts.

Cagalli wouldn't lose, she wanted to win! Not even having a second to pay attention to it Cagalli's Neon Gauntlet begins to glow brightly in respond to her will.

A circuit in Lon's mind snaps, as he finally locks onto La Rouge. Lon knew this was it; a single mistake now could cost him the match. Focusing on the point where he believed La Rouge was going to fly to Lon fired a foam grenade, these were special water foams that were meant to put out a fire and didn't have the same sticky and hardening quality as Arianna's cement but it could be used to blind someone.

Cagalli saw it, like the moment of calm in a storm when everything just seemed to line up. Cagalli couldn't miss now; a mistake right now could cost her the match. Raising her beam rifle Cagalli takes a deep calming breath and while corkscrewing in midair La Rouge opens fire.

The beam bullet soars through the air and smashes directly in front of Vigile seconds after the Gundam fired its foam grenade. The bullet comes so close that Vigile finally stumbles backwards, but while it didn't hit its intended target the beam bullet is the final straw for the building Vigile is standing on. Snapping and groaning screeching sounds can be heard as the building begins to collapse downward. Vigile is off balance and can't escape as the roof caves in along with the rest of the building.

Up in the sky time slows down as the small round grenade moves perfectly into La Rouge's path. Cagalli's eyes are open wide in shock, there's no time to move out of the way, no time to think, this is it yet her arm begins to move, almost as if it had a mind of its own. No, it was more like that instinct again, only now it was even taking control of her body. As the arm holding the beam rifle began to rise a single thought pierced Cagalli's very consciousness, a single word she imprinted on the rifle, commanding it to be and completely and fully believing it to be it. _SHIELD!_ The two bottom wing tips discount from La Rouge's wings as the beam rifle quickly transforms back into the beam guan dao.

The old wing tips move back to reconnect with the main wings while the new wing tips quickly move to connect with the beam guan dao however Cagalli doesn't see if they make it in time as the grenade explodes covering her field of vision completely white with the foam. Moving at such high speeds and unable to see La Rouge crashes head first into a skyscraper, almost like a cannonball. The structure barely holds from the impact but a jet of glass is sent shooting outward and steel is bent out of place.

The crowd goes quiet as an absolute silence grips the stadium. Smoke and dust from the collapse building block the people's view of what happen to Vigile, while the weird angle in which La Rouge hit the skyscraper not to mention the depth in which she entered it equally blocks people from seeing what happen to her. "Unreal folks, in the chaos and confusion of that tidal wave of attacks it appears that both fighters have hit one another, possibly taking each other out. Right now we can't tell if either fighter is still conscious or standing"

As if they were waking up from a dream the crowd suddenly roars, louder than we've ever heard them. They scream at the tops of their lungs words of encouragement towards Lon, as if their willpower alone can bring him back from defeat and keep him standing.

"COME ON LON, GET BACK UP!"

"DON'T LOSE LON, WE'RE WITH YOU!"

"YOU CAN DO THIS LON!"

The smoke begins to clear as the dust settles around the collapse building, but this only intensifies the crowd's fear as they don't see Vigile anywhere yet rather than making the crowd quieter this only serves to make them scream and cheer even louder. The dust settles finally revealing the entire rubble from the collapse building but no Vigile. Gasp of shock can be heard from the crowd as the referee holding back tears says, "It, it looks like Vigile didn't make it out and has been buried alive."

The crowd roars in respond to the referee's words, screaming even harder for Lon to make it, letting him know they're here and they still believe in him. Suddenly, a section of the rubble begins to tremble, encourage the crowd yells even louder, threatening to make everyone in the city deaf. The rubble begins to rumble and shake violently until a hand finally pushes out through. Screaming and crying tears of relief the crowd watches as Vigile begins to drag itself out from the wreckage.

Lon was in bad shape, he could tell that Casey was trying to talk to him but he couldn't really focus enough to make out her words. Lon's body hurt and ached all over, it felt like he had fractured or broken almost every bone in his body and a dozen or so warning lights were going off by his head. His consciousness kept going in and out, like a broken light, and only a small fragment line of thought kept him going. _I can't lose, I have to win for the people of Arianna who look up to me as a hero. Their voices called to me when I was trapped and alone under that rubble, they gave me the strength to stand back up_. Lon looked up at the direction where La Rouge crashed. He felt a little pity for the girl, _You were very strong, one of the strongest fighters I've had to fight in a long time, but with over a thousand voices holding my tired and wary body up you alone and by yourself can't possibly-_

"She's STANDING BACK UP! It's not just Lon but Cagalli is also still standing! This battle isn't over!" The referee screams. While everyone had been paying attention Vigile, no one had noticed that La Rouge had limped, and dragged itself to the front of the hole it had made when it smashed into the skyscraping. On the outside surprisingly La Rouge appears to not have taken much damage from the crashed, but on the inside Cagalli wasn't doing so hot. The G-force from slamming into the skyscraper at that speed had almost knocked her out, as it was Cagalli's helmet screen was cracked and she had a nasty gush on her head allowing red blood to travel down her face and into her left eye.

Vigile on the other hand has clearly taken massive damage from the building collapsing on it; with most of its armor looking like it went through a meat grinder. Lon grunts in annoyance, like a man just being unable to find a place to sleep. _How is she still standing, no how the hell is her Gundam still in that decent of a shape?_

Cagalli ignores the blood getting into her eye, and lifts up her helmet screen, she spits out blood that had pooled into her mouth when she bit her tongue. Her mind was hazy at best; even with the zero gravity bubble she still should have been knocked out by that crash but yet Cagalli was still standing. She lowered her cracked helmet screen, _it's true, I don't have thousands of fans yelling and cheering me on and lifting me up but I have eight irreplaceable voices kicking my ass forward._

"Cagalli you're so close you've almost got this!" Kenny screams.

"CRUSH HIM! Come on sweetie, he's almost done just a little more!" Roxas roars.

"You can do this Cagalli!" Tim cheers.

"You better win this and not make me look bad!" Drake warns with just a hint of worry.

"You've got this in the bag mate!" Nick says with his Australian accent.

"Kick his ass Cagalli!" Jack shouts.

"Humpt you've already come this far, to lose now would make this who experience nothing more than a waste of time." Zuke says in his usual tone.

"Cagalli WIN!" Shadow says simply but strongly.

Eight voices, away from all those she had ever known and loved these eight voices were all she currently had in the world. _These eight voices give me strength, they give me courage; they fill my spirit with immeasurable power. I don't need thousands of voices cheering me forward when I've got those eight pushing me forward, I'll win for them and because an instinct inside me is telling me to win! _Cagalli's Neon Gauntlet shines even brighter as the S-generator in La Rouge grows just a fraction bigger.

The two Gundam Pilots stare at each other; both knew that this next attack would be the last and ultimately decide the winner of this fight. For a second nothing happens, then BOOM! La Rouge's wings burst to life and shoot it forward like a freight train. La Rouge isn't playing, and is coming straight towards Vigile in a ramming attack.

Lon grits his teeth, his water blast arms had been damage in the buildings collapse but that didn't matter, he still had his Sceyam ax and he could track La Rouge. He would nail her just before she hit him and direct her into the ground, he would still get hit but it wouldn't be anywhere near as bad if she directly hit him going at that speed.

Time slows down for a moment as La Rouge slowly comes closer and closer to Vigile. Vigile raises its ax up high with both hands and then brings it down with all of its might. La Rouge corkscrews in midair and finally reveals its secret weapon, an energy shield. The wing tips this time had placed themselves at the very top and bottom of La Rouge's beam guan dao, and emitted a blue color full body oval energy shield which La Rouge had been holding in its hands, secretly keeping it out of Lon's line of sight.

Lon quickly connected the dots, La Rouge must have pulled out that energy shield just before it got hit with the foam grenade and that's what protected it when it crashed into that building. It's too late though for Vigile to change its course, the Sceyam ax hits the blue energy shield and harmlessly bounces off seconds before La Rouge slams into Vigile and rams the Gundam into the building next door. The area before Vigile's cockpit has taken too much damage causing the safety device to activate, encasing Lon in a protective case.

The dust settles from the smash attack, there's a huge dent in the steel building where La Rouge smashed Vigile. The wing Gundam stirs after a moment and with a very obvious limp steps back, away from Vigile. The wall helps to hold the red Gundam up for a moment but then Vigile drops to the floor with a clang. A person could hear a pin drop in the stadium as no one speaks.

"Lon…..Lon is down, I repeat Lon is down. Cagalli has won; the Shadow Knights have won the second match." The referee says in a stun voice, not believing what his eyes are seeing. It was total silence in the arena as no one had expected Cagalli to win, but that was fine for Cagalli as she closes her eyes she could hear the only cheers that truly mattered.

"YEA!"

"You were freaking awesome Cagalli!"

"CAGALLI WHOO, WHOO, WHOO!"

"VICTORY!"

The episode ends with the Shadow Knights celebrating Cagalli's win in the team room.


	86. Episode 85 A Cop vs A Fighter

Episode 85: A Cop vs. a Fighter

_Location: The Dark-Angel's Gym Time: Two days before the third round match_

A single bullet rings out in the quiet gym, which had been turned into its gun range mode. The bullet soars through the air spinning as it flies; the air is split before it as if it were water until finally it reaches the end of its journey. The bullet smacks into some kind of gel pad which slows it down to a stop, there are several rings on the gel pad and the bullet manages to hit the second one from the middle. "DAMN It!" Cagalli shouts from down the range, she was standing up holding the mosquito sniper rifle.

"Now calm down mate, that was a good try." Nick says encouragingly.

Drake was technically the one that was teaching Cagalli her marksmanship but Nick normally gave her lots of tips and advice when Drake himself wasn't there. Drake had started Cagalli off with learning how to fire a sniper rifle from the lying position, and Cagalli had gotten pretty good at it, she was able to hit a target from four hundred meters away but given how the Wing System work and the fact that most battles didn't allow her to take a lying position Drake decided it was time for her to learn to fire a sniper rifle from the standing position.

At first Cagalli thought it would be easy to pick up firing a sniper rifle from the standing position, of course now she understood why Drake and Nick had smirked at each other when she showed them her confidence. The first time she tried firing her first shot with her sniper rifle in standing position, the gun recoil back right into her face chipping two of her front teeth, at that moment Cagalli realized that she couldn't have been more wrong. It was no wonder that Sora medical science was so much more advance then Earth, if it wasn't the death rate would probably be tripled and people like Shadow would be walking around with missing and broken teeth and a crocked nose.

Eventually though Cagalli was able to fire the sniper rifle without visiting Dr. Price afterwards, still she just couldn't quite get her aim right. "I haven't hit the bull's-eye all day." Cagalli says with a depressed sigh, she would rather be practicing her flying right now then her marksmanship but Drake had said that an hour working with guns over flying wouldn't kill her.

"But that was still the best form I've seen you use so far; you are improving." Nick tells her in his familiar accent.

Cagalli just sighs as she reloads her rifle, as she was reloading her sniper rifle a random thought enters her mind. Turning to Nick Cagalli asks, "Hey do you ever wonder what Shadow does when we come down here to practice shooting?" Roxas was working with Jack at the moment with some upgrades to her Gundam but normally it would just be the three of them down here on the range while Shadow would always disappear somewhere else.

Nick scratches his chin and tips his hat back as he thinks it over, "Hmmmm that's a good question mate, all I know is that he goes off to do some kind of special training Drake assigned him since he's so terrible with guns."

####

_Location: The beach near the Dock where the Dark-Angel is staying Time: Same_

Shadow had his eyes close as he steadied his breath; he had learned through trial and error that taking that extra moment to focus would drastically increase his results. He opens his eyes and quickly takes in his environment. In front of him was the metal rig that Drake had made for him, it didn't look pretty, in fact it looked more like a bunch of scrapped metal thrown together than anything else but it was easy to setup and it did its job. The rig was design to swing multiple bull's-eye targets, while at the same time fire paintballs at him.

The goal was simple, to hit the bull's-eye on every target. Like lightning Shadow steps forward and throws his first knife at the first target, his arm is fluid and moves at a good fast pace as it pulls the knife from his pocket and throws it. The knife soars through the air, almost as if by magic it passes by each moving object just as the object moves out of its way, and sinks dead center in the red zone of a moving bull's-eye. Shadow doesn't stop there though as he quickly steps forward, and throws two more knives, each one also hitting the red circle.

Waving in and out of obstacles, Shadow throws another knife at a target to his left before dropping down to dodge several paintballs fired at him. Rolling on the grown to move forward Shadow is forced to jump up to avoid getting hit by a rather large plastic bat. Once on his feet though Shadow throws three move knives at moving targets before finally stepping outside the rig.

Breathing hard Shadow turns his head to look at how he did; every knife hit the red zone on the bull's-eye. "HA! HELL YEA! Third freaking perfect score today!" Shadow jumps up and down in triumph at his accomplishment, he had started off just throwing knives at a single non-moving target several months ago and now he could do this. Shadow loves his sword, and he loves fighting with swords but it made him feel good about himself that he could master another weapon too.

"Heh, not bad. It's nice to see that you've been practicing your knife throwing even while you were in Haben. Of course this just makes the question about why you can't use a gun even more mysterious."

Surprised Shadow turns his head to the sound of the new voice and clapping, Drake. "Thank you, I'm awesome I know." Shadow says as he takes a dramatic bow.

"Don't get cocky," Drake says even though he knew that Shadow was only kidding around, "There's still a lot of work ahead of you before you can truly master the knife." Drake switches off the obstacle course and slowly walks through it, examining each target and where the knife hit it.

Shadow frowns at having his ego busted, "yea, yea I know."

Sensing Shadow's mood drop Drake decides it's time to give his student the good news. "Still I think you've reached the point where you can use knives now in actual combat."

Shadow's eyes almost pops out of his head as his chin drops to the sand beach below. "…..wait, what?"

Drake ignores the star dazed Shadow and begins to walk away while talking at the same time, "I'll talk to Jack about having the Gundam knives we've talked about installed onto Nightwing for your next match. Considering your opponent is going to be strong I suggest you take full advantage of them."

Shadow is left standing on the beach wide eyed in shock, until he finally shouts at the top of his lungs, "HELL YEA!"

####

_Location: Arianna's GFC stadium Time: Present_

La Rouge's footsteps echo in the Gundam bay as the yellow, red, and orange Gundam is parked into place. As the mobile suit turns off and Cagalli could feel her feet on the ground she lets go of all the tension in her body. _I need a shower,_ is the first thought that enters her head. Shadow would have made a joke about how unusually girly that was for Cagalli but so help her god if she didn't want to walk around feeling and looking filthy.

Her pilot's suit was sticking to her in a sweat form goo, her normally perfectly white teeth were stain red with blood and she didn't even want to think about the way her sweat was making her smell. Cagalli just heaves a tired sigh as she exits the cockpit, and takes off her helmet. She flinches from pain as the helmet rubs against her really big cut. It was no longer bleeding but without a mirror Cagalli had no way of knowing how bad the cut was. She should put a bandage on it for now and then have Dr. Price look over it after the fight.

"CAGALLI!" A voice full of worry shouts and echoes in the metal Gundam bay. Cagalli turns around just in time as Jack slams into her in a full blown hug. "You god damn asshole, I was so worried about you." Jack cries into her chest. Cagalli confused by the sudden hug isn't sure how to react to the crying mechanic.

"Hey there, there, I'm alright, and look your Gundam came back in really good condition just like you want so I thought you would be thrilled?" Cagalli says as she gently pats Jack on the back, but this fails and only serves to get her slapped by Jack's wrench. It wasn't the normal gentle love hit she did either, this one actually really hurt.

There's a deep fury in Jack's red watery eyes, "MORON! I couldn't care less about that!" Cagalli blinks in surprise, considering how much hassle Jack gave them about keeping their Gundams in good condition her remark was really strange. "Look I work really hard on building and maintaining our Gundams so of course I don't want them to take too much damage but the number one purpose, the very first directive I gave each Gundam was to PROTECT its PILOT.

It doesn't matter if the Gundam comes back in perfect out of the factory condition if the pilot has even a single scratch on them that means it failed its main purpose and I failed as a mechanic! I would rather have the Gundam come back completely trashed like Quanlier and the pilot like Roxas be completely fine then to have it come back in great condition like La Rouge and for its pilot like you to be hurt every single time!"

Cagalli's amber eyes open wide, she had no idea that Jack felt this way…..no that was untrue, these feelings had been as obvious to Cagalli as the sun in the sky, those were the feelings of someone who had lost their entire family and was absolutely terrified of losing the new one that they had gain. It's just that she didn't consider those feelings while she had been fighting. "I'm sorry Jack," Cagalli says as she quickly embraces the young mechanic, "I'll do better next time. I'll come back with not a single scratch on me or La Rouge."

After a moment of taking comfort in Cagalli's warmth an embarrass Jack breaks the hug and steps back, she then coughs awkwardly and says "You've been spending way too much time with Shadow, his overconfidence is starting to rub off on you. Anyway come on; let's go up to the team room where everyone is waiting."

####

"HAHA! Take that you showboats!" Kenshi cheers in victory, happy that Roxas's defeat was avenge. He receives some very angry glares from the people around him but the Raptures while not as popular as Arianna's Public Servants were still just as well known so the people instantly recognized him and knew not to do anything other than glare.

"Lon was also really on his game in that match, heh what do you know there might be a Gundam Fighter in him yet." Violet says pleasantly. While the rest of the team begins to talk about the match Kevin remains silent, which was pretty normal. Kevin didn't really talk much, some might think of him as anti-social because of that but the truth was that Kevin just to prefer to listen and watch others, he loved to listen to the sounds around him and to see the colors and all the little things that often went unnoticed by other people. To the beauty that was all around him, his own words often felt insignificant so he only spoke when it was necessary.

Kevin wasn't interested in the conversation about the previous match; he was much more interested in Blake and the up and coming match. This whole thing about Shadow Zoomarey was still stuck in Blake's head, Kevin was sure. From the moment Blake had heard about Shadow defeating Fachtna something inside of Blake changed. Kevin knew that Blake still greatly respected and admired his old team leader, and was venomous in denial about anything he could have done wrong, which is why his defeat most likely came to him as a shock. But perhaps it wasn't just the fact that Fachtna was defeated that had shocked Blake, after all Fachtna's history as a Gundam Fighter was far from undefeated, but rather maybe it was the person who had defeated Fachtna that had shocked Blake the most.

This Shadow person was a previously unheard of Fighter before the Haben incident and to make matters worse he was a letter rank below Blake. A lot of people were pushing for Blake to go and sign the team up for the C-rank exam; they were warning him that if he stayed in one place like this for too long, fighting opponents who weren't above or on his level he would never improve and eventually people would begin to pass him by. Kevin imagine that when Blake found out that his hero Fachtna, was defeated by Shadow a combination of complex feelings hit him, but the most dominate of them was fear. Not the terrifying fear but the nervous fear, a silent pressure that made him want to run faster, be better in order to escape it. That fear had left Blake the moment he had crushed Shadow in their first match, instead it was replace by anger and annoyance at what Blake had perceive as gross exaggerations and unjust rumors.

Yet it didn't end there, like a rising darkness Shadow arose again even stronger than last time and he kept growing stronger, every fight he fought in only served to increase his strength and highlight his progress and as Shadow kept rising closer and closer to Blake's level Blake's insecurities once more began to rise as well. Now as Kevin sat there and observed the silent Blake who was undeniably awaiting Shadow's match he wondered what was going through his friend's mine.

Kevin's train of thoughts was interrupted by the referee who like always appears on the monitors spread throughout the arena. "Unthinkable, unbelievable, that Lon Arianna's heart and soul, would lose." The referee says with a teary face, almost as if his dog had just died, and the majority of the audience looks exactly the same, some of them were still crying. "It's clear now that despite being an E-rank team the Shadow Knights came here to do business. With Cagalli's win the score is now all even, which will mean we will have a final battle! And what better way to end a final battle then to make it a battle with the team leaders!" The crowd perks up when they hear this, brimming with anticipation.

"That's right folks, as the saying goes when it rains it pours and guess who also managed to squeeze out a day off from work? The Arianna's Public Servants' team leader Janardan!" The crowd goes wild, cured of their depression, once more screaming their hearts out with cheers and applause. A simple but all consuming chant starts up, before when the other Public Servants came out there were many different chants but this time there's only one chant, one single chant that the entire audience rallies behind giving it much more power and weight than we've ever seen.

"Janardan, Janardan, Janardan!" It vibrates on every plank, on every nail and screw, it echoes within hallways and even within the VIP rooms. A name that has left it's marked within the minds and hearts of the people.

####

"OWWWW!" Cagalli shouts in pain. When Cagalli walked into the team room, and everyone saw the wound on her head still bleeding Nick, Tim and Kenny had all insisted she go to the medical bay immediately to get it checked out, but Cagalli would sooner bleed out then missed the last match, especially after the hell she went through to win the second match. After a little bit of arguing a compromise had been settled, which was why Drake was standing over her pointing some red laser thingy over her wound.

"Oh quit you're whining you big baby, if you wanted the non-painful way you should have just gone down to the medical bay." Drake replies with his usual annoyed and unhappy tone.

Cagalli wasn't sure what the hell kind of Sora medical equipment he was using, and quite frankly with the burning sensation and the little puffs of smoke she could see, she wasn't sure if she wanted to know. "SCREW YOU! This freaking hurts worse than when I even slammed into that god damn building!" Cagalli screamed in order to help relieve some of the pain, not that it was working.

Drake manages a dry smile as he says, "Why do you think people always tell you to rip a Band-Aid off quickly rather then slowly?" However Drake finally decides to take some pity on the girl and offers her some helpful advice. "It's almost over, just take some deep breathes and try to focus on something else."

Cagalli just grunts annoyed, but she takes Drake's advice and forces herself to take deep breathes of air as she looks around. She and Drake were towards the back of the room on the couch, once Drake had told everyone that he could treat Cagalli's wound with little problem as long as they didn't distract him they all went back to preparing for the final match. Cagalli could hear the crowd chanting Janardan's name, all the data they got about the Public Servants had told them that Janardan was the most popular fighter. Many people viewed him as the modern day superhero, which he sort of was considering his impressive record so far as a cop. Without moving Cagalli strained her ears to listen to what Kenny was telling Shadow through the monitor.

"Remember Shadow, unlike the others Janardan has a job that actually involves and teaches fighting and his Gundam is one of the two Gundams on the team that isn't a noncombatant type that has been modified to fight."

Shadow's voice comes out through the speakers, "Yea, yea, I know he pilots an Emergency type Police class Gundam."

Kenny frowns at Shadow's attitude, "Ok Mr. Smart guy, do you remember what Emergency type Gundams are normally used for?"

"Oh, OH, OH; I know this!" Roxas chimes in but Kenny cuts her off.

"Don't answer it for him Roxas!"

Shadow blushes in embarrassment as he struggles to remember what Kenny had told him about Emergency type Gundams. "Um, they, um, help in emergencies?" Shadow offers weakly.

Kenny just grins as he takes pity on his old friend, "Close but no cigar, Emergency type Gundams are what many consider the first responders if a rogue Gundam starts going nuts in the middle of the city. They're design to fight in a city or other largely populated area so they're highly agile but they don't pack a large amount of firepower and normally only hold off the rogue Gundam until the GFC or military get there. The Police class has the highest amount of firepower in the Emergency type series with its TY37-Precision assault rifle which can switch between ballistic and beam bullets."

Shadow just gives Kenny a cool grin, despite the hassle he sometimes gave his friend Shadow was well aware that Kenny's support made a huge difference in a fight, and that he was a better Gundam Fighter with Kenny as his programmer. "It's not like Nightwing has some specialty armor or anything where ballistic or beam weapons do more damage than the other. Anyway just so I'm clear not only does he have the crowd on his side, has years of experience with police style fighting; his Gundam has been design specifically to fight in the type of arena we're about to fight in."

"Yup." Kenny answers simply.

"Heh, well at least I'm better looking than him."

"Actually I think that can be argued." Kenny just couldn't help himself when Shadow left himself so wide open.

"Shut up Kenny! Whose side are you on!" Shadow snaps, which only causes Nick, Tim and Roxas to chuckle.

The referee's voice suddenly cuts in on their conversation, "Janardan Arianna's proud warrior who fights against corruption, and for justice all over the city as one of the fine blue police officers in this great City! Why just the other day Janardan lead a squad of EDS officers into a bank being robbed by KSA users and saved countless lives, including his very opponent who he will now fight." A large chuckle spreads through the crowd as they laugh over the idea of the rookie who needed to be saved by their hero, even having a one percent shot out of a hundred of beating Janardan. If they didn't think of Shadow as a joke before this match, they sure do now.

Shadow grits his teeth extremely annoyed, "Yea, rub it in why don't you."

"As always Janardan will be piloting his equally heroic and proud Gundam Serpico! And his opponent, representing the Shadow Knights is also their team leader Shadow Zoomarey piloting his dark Gundam Nightwing." Shadow's introduction is only heard by those with extremely good hearing as Janardan's chant cancels out pretty much all other noise.

"Great, not only is the referee bias against me but the fans are ignoring us." Shadow mumbles to Nightwing, he didn't have to speak loud since Nightwing had excellent hearing considering he was a Gundam...some people…ok everyone thought Shadow was weird for talking to his Gundam and basically treating him like person rather than a machine. Of course Shadow just ignored them all, after all he knew he wasn't crazy as long as Nightwing didn't talk back to him.

"Well whatever, this isn't a popularity contest this is a Gundam Fight! Kenny I'm going to launch, it's about time the audience realizes that Janardan isn't the only Gundam Fighter in this fight!" Shadow says in a way that Kenny knew left no room for questions. Nightwing moves and steps onto the catapult, time seemed to slow down to Shadow as he waited for the countdown on the catapult to reach zero, but that was normal. In a way this was his pre-battle ritual, he could feel his heartbeat slow into an almost steady trace like state.

He could feel the air flowing in from the arena on his skin; it was a nice day to him at around eighty degrees. Shadow's mind was racing in a thousand directions as he visualize millions of ways this battle could go down, his heart was full of anticipation and excitement while his body was perfectly calm and at peace. Finally the countdown hit zero, allowing Shadow to snap into action. "Shadow Zoomarey in Nightwing, now let's kick some ass buddy!" Shadow screams as Nightwing is rocketed forward, he closes his eyes just before Nightwing went flying into the arena.

It wasn't fear that made Shadow close his eyes but rather he just didn't want to get blinded by the freaking light the moment he stepped foot into the arena. Shadow concentrated as he tried to expand his sense of touch, to feel the area around him so that he could react if his opponent decided to attack. Of course whether or not that actually worked is up to debate since his opponent never attacks. Nightwing lands easily in the arena and Shadow slowly opens his eyes, having grown accustomed to the lights. "Well, well it looks like Shadow has grown tired of waiting for this match to start, and I can't say I blame him so let's start this battle already. Gundam Fighters are you ready!? FIGHT!"

The referee announces to the excitement of the crowd who have been waiting for this moment since he first told them that Janardan would be the one to fight. Their screams are so loud that it wouldn't be surprising for all the city to hear them, Shadow just grumbles unhappily and blocks them out. "Stupid fans, anyway Kenny can you tell me where Janardan is?" Shadow asks while Nightwing walks slowly and cautiously through the city with its beam saber raised high.

"I've got a message stating he's launched already but other than that your guess is as good as mine." Kenny says which causes Shadow to roll his eyes.

"Hide and go seek it is." He says very annoyed.

Meanwhile three buildings away what could only be Serpico walked just as cautiously and carefully. Serpico isn't a very big Gundam, roughly the same size as Nightwing if not smaller. Serpico looks to be wearing riot gear and its head looks to be the matching gas mask. We can see what could only be police sirens on each shoulder but they have been turned off. Serpico is painted blue and black and has the word "POLICE" written in big white letters across its back, chest and arms. Like a police officer clearing a room Serpico walks with its gun raised up to its eyes, it walks cautiously around corners, squatting sometimes and rapidly moving the point of its gun checking all corners.

Of course this has been drilled so deeply into Janardan that he's not even doing it on purpose, it's just second nature to him. In fact he was much more relax then he normally would be if he was actually entering a building with a potential dangerous criminal in it. "Casey how is Lon doing?" Janardan asks concern for his friend.

"You don't have to worry, I just talk to the medics and they said Lon is fine, just a little banged up, so you can focus on the match." To be frank, Casey was the one who looked much worse with worry written all over her face, in Janardan's opinion.

"You know it would be much easier on you if you just told Lon how you feel about him, because in all honesty, Lon is a good guy but the man can be as thick as a brick." Janardan says.

Casey blushes deep red as she stammers, "H-h-how did you do know?"

Janardan just gives her a large smile, "Hello, I'm a detective-"The smile freezes on Janardan's face as he rounds a corner and spots Nightwing. Janardan hadn't expected to run into Nightwing and Shadow so soon and it catches him off guard. The sudden surprise causes Janardan to revert back to his police training, raising his gun to eye level he shouts out on the open comm. "FREEZE! POLICE!" before he opens fire.

Nightwing is facing away from Serpico when Shadow hears Janardan's voice. The moment Shadow hears Janardan's voice he dives right, with time to spar as metal bullets slam into the building Nightwing had just been standing in front of, completely shattering windows but not doing much damage to the structure of the building itself. "Whoa, well I guess I don't have to play hid and seek any more." Shadow says happily as he licks his lips with excitement.

"Shadow he's directly behind you and is using ballistic rounds right now!" Kenny quickly tells him on his helmet screen.

"Thanks Kenny, now why don't you tell me something I don't know." Shadow responds sarcastically as Nightwing's back hugs a building inching its head out and looking in Serpico's direction.

Janardan silently curses at himself as he also quickly moves to take cover in case of return fire, he was in an arena fight right now which meant he didn't have to announce who he was which also meant he just blew a great chance to do some serious damage to his opponent right at the start of the match. "SEE, this is why you need to be paying more attention on your fight rather than my love life!" Casey comments getting back at him for earlier.

"Not the time!" Janardan replies as Serpico moves forward, from cover to cover, while laying down a heavy barrage of bullets at the building Nightwing is using for cover, trying to keep the midnight black Gundam in place. The crowd loves every second of this and eats up this whole event and continues to chant Janardan's name cheering him on.

"Janardan not surprisingly gets off the first shot but his chivalrous prevents him from ambushing his opponent to finish this in one hit; still even with the warning Nightwing has been pinned down by Serpico's superior skill." The referee announces with obvious burning excitement, as he leans out of his seat almost pushing his face against the screen to see the battle better.

Down in the arena Serpico was closing in on Nightwing, but the police Gundam's gun lacks the firepower needed to penetrate the building Nightwing is using as a shield. Shadow grits his teeth, the referee was against him, the crowd was against him, and now Janardan just got the dropped on him which was horrible for a person like him who only had a melee weapon; he should be feeling frustrated, he should be feeling annoyed but the only feeling he had was pure unfiltered excitement. Shadow thrived under pressure; he thrived when all the cards were stacked against him.

Shadow's brain raced forward in a thousand different directions, constantly reaching higher, constantly thinking up crazier and crazier plans. This was it, this was his moment and what he lived for. "Aren't you going to read me my rights Mr. Cop?" Shadow asks his opponent, buying time as he looked around the area. They were in a residential area, so the buildings were packed close together, making a nice wall climbing area.

Janardan grins when he hears Shadow's comment, so this guy was a talker, this didn't really surprise Janardan since Shadow had appeared like a talker the last time they'd met. That was fine; Janardan could be a talker too, nothing like interrogating someone while fighting them. "Haha, very funny, you know that's almost as funny as becoming someone's mind slave."

Serpico inches its head out, it was one building away from Nightwing now. After not seeing a reaction Serpico shots forward, and this time opens fire first as it rounds the corner of the building Nightwing is using for cover. The metal bullets fly forward but hit nothing, because Nightwing isn't there. Janardan's years of experience as a police officer doesn't allow the surprise to even phase him, his eyes narrow in focus as his navy blue Neon gauntlet starts to glow. In less than a second Serpico checks its side and then looks up to spot Nightwing wall running on the side of the building and coming straight at him.

"HA got you!" Shadow cries with pride on his face as Nightwing slashes downward without breaking pace in a smooth and fluid manner but Serpico is agile, and quickly jumps onto the same building Nightwing is wall running on, backflips and then pushes off the building with its hands and lands on the side of the building next door with its feet causing Nightwing to hit nothing but air.

Janardan laughs at the stun Shadow, "HAHAHAH, seriously dude, you want to fight an Emergency Type Gundam in a test of agility IN a CITY!" Serpico raises its gun and once more opens fire on Nightwing. Nightwing jumps backwards higher up the side of the building, upon reaching the top of the building Nightwing starts to run away from Serpico, hopping from building top to building top, but Serpico has him in its sight now and continues to chase after the black Gundam. "I might be busy with my real job but I still managed to do my homework on you, you're a straightforward melee fighter who has no choice but to run away when a skilled range unit has managed to put a good amount of distance between you and him!"

Shadow grits his teeth annoyed, this was the first time he had heard anyone doing research on him before a fight, everyone else just thought he would be so weak that it was unnecessary. In hindsight Shadow should feel flattered that Janardan of all people thought he was enough of a threat to do some actual research on beforehand but right now it was just annoying. "So you think you know me Mr. Big shot?" Shadow asks as Nightwing drops down from the top of the building it was running on, to the street below.

"I wouldn't go that far, but" Serpico comes to the edge of the building that Nightwing dropped down from but rather then also drop down Serpico performs a running high jump. Soaring up in the air Serpico turns slowly and spots Nightwing standing directly below the building, obviously having tried to lure Serpico into a trap, "I'm an experience police officer, so little tricks like hiding behind a corner, WON'T WORK ON ME!" Janardan shouts as he opens fire on the now exposed Nightwing while Serpico remains in the air.

"SHIT!" Shadow shouts as he raises his arms to cover his arms head. Serpico scores a direct hit as a tight group of bullets hit Nightwing's arms, piercing armor and causing some damage, but Nightwing's cross armed guard is effective enough to protect its vitals as Nightwing dives around a corner away from Serpico who lands flawlessly. Neither fighter had bothered to change the communication link to a private one so the whole audience is hearing their conversation. They are responding positivity to Janardan's comments.

"That's right Janardan!"

"You tell him this is the big leads!"

"His stupid tricks aren't going to work anymore!"

The referee chuckles a little before deciding to cut in and take control, he wasn't sure if Janardan would honor Lon's promise to forfeit the match if the crowd started bad mouthing the opponent but he wasn't going to take the chance with the way this fight was turning out. "As Janardan has so kindly pointed out, Shadow Zoomarey is going to have to up his game. The standard of this fight has just been raised, now can this rookie E-rank rise up as well or is the difference between a fighter and a cop just too great?"

The crowd cheers its obvious opinion as Serpico walks slowly, confidently, and proudly towards the place Nightwing choose to use as cover. Shadow's eyes were close and he was breathing hard as Nightwing leaned on a building for support, having been shot before he had to admit that the NS system did a pretty freaking good job in making it feel like he really just got shot with bullets. It hurt, it was painful, but it wasn't the first time he had been shot, and Shadow knew it wouldn't be the last time so he just grits his teeth and takes it as he stands back up again. He wasn't using his body, he was using Nightwing's body and Nightwing's body could take a few bullets to the arms and still stay in top condition.

"Shadow, are you ok!" Kenny asks worried.

"This isn't good mate; he's reading you like a book!" Nick adds.

"You've got to come up with a new game plan Shadow, your old one isn't going to work this time around." Jack says from down in the mechanic's bay.

"If you're going to lose like the pathetic natural you are, could you please do so quickly and stop wasting my valuable time." Zuke says, which despite being completely insulting is still progress.

"I can see why chicks dig him." Roxas says distracted by Janardan's looks.

Shadow grins an evil knowing smile as he says simply, "Don't worry guys, I've got an ace up my sleeve." Everyone looks confused at Shadow's confidence as Nightwing gets up off the wall and begins to brace itself, we can see Nightwing flex its fingers as it reaches towards what looks to be a large square coming out of its hip.

"Wait that's new," Nick says spotting what could only be a bag on Nightwing's hip, he hadn't noticed it on Nightwing earlier but that square had definitely not been there before. "Jack, what's in the bag?" Nick asks in his Australian accent.

"I don't know, Drake just told me to equip it to Nightwing." Jack says with a shrug of her shoulders. All eyes turn to Drake who clearly is listening to their conversation while still working on Cagalli, but his stone face makes it just as clear he has no intention of telling them what's in the bag.

Meanwhile down in the arena Shadow was pumping himself up while talking to his Gundam in a low voice so that others couldn't hear. "So Nightwing buddy these people want us to elevate our skills, fine let's take this to a whole other level!" Although Shadow doesn't speak loudly his words are brimming with determination and excitement. Turning back to the crowd Shadow gives a small, almost demonic chuckle.

Shadow's chuckle can be heard on the open communication link, which throws off the audience and sends warning signs going off in Janardan's head. Nightwing moves from behind the cover of the building to confront Serpico. "Heheh so you think my only weapon is my beam saber, so you think I don't have any range weapons huh, well I hate to break this to you but you're WRONG!" As Shadow shouts this Nightwing in one fluid motion reaches into the metal rectangle attached to its hip and pulls out a Gundam size throwing knife. Nightwing pulls back its arm as it spins the knife between its fingers; the throwing knife itself expands outward as yellow beam energy completely covers it.

Nightwing releases its arm, like a catapult but doesn't let go of the physical metal knife. The beam energy coating however still shoots forward as if Nightwing did let go, the knife made of pure energy flies throw the air just like a regular knife straight towards Serpico. Janardan blinks surprised, he had been expecting Shadow to pull out a gun or something, but not a knife, still Serpico had already been diving to the ground before the attack and that was just as effective against a thrown knife as it was a bullet. The beam knife flies right over Serpico's head missing it by a mile but that doesn't stop Nightwing.

Finally sensing weakness the midnight black Gundam charges forward, reaching back in to its pocket Nightwing pulls out a second one of those beam projecting throwing knives. Armed with two beam projecting throwing knives Nightwing displays its skills, its movements are elegant and exact and just emit the feeling of perfect form. Serpico with its belly still on the ground rolls to the left, dodging several beam knives which cut through the road like butter. Hopping up to its feet Serpico tries to point its gun at Nightwing but Nightwing doesn't give it the chance and keeps attacking forcing Serpico onto the defensive.

Back in the Shadow Knights' team room a bandaged up Cagalli looks on puzzled; "Throwing Knives? Since when does Shadow know how to use throwing knives?"

"Those aren't just any throwing knives, those are the Infinite Energy Beam Knives; they produce a special kind of energy beam around the knives, which slips off really easily despite someone still holding the actual physical knife, essentially giving the person a huge number of energy beam knives at their disposal." Jack informs Cagalli in awe at seeing such mastery crafted weapons and annoyance at having not been the one to make it for Nightwing and Shadow.

"Um, ok that's great and all but that doesn't answer my original question of When does Shadow know how to use throwing knives?" Cagalli says not appreciating the tech aspect as much as Jack.

"Since I taught him." Drake finally answers. "What did you think he was taking a break when you guys were practicing with your guns?" The team takes this in but it's still shocking and hard to accept and they're not the only ones, the audience and the referee are just as surprised by this turn of events as the Shadow Knights.

"What is this! Nightwing has just revealed it can use throwing knives, I haven't seen a Gundam use throwing knives since the time of the God of Knives! As shocking as it seems this weird choice of weapons seems to be throwing off Janardan and putting him on the defense!" The crowd is left speechless as they watch Serpico struggle to dodge Nightwing's beam throwing knives.

Janardan had thought he had seen it all while working on the force, but he could honestly say he had never gone up against someone with actual training and skill at throwing knives. Sure on occasion if he was busting someone who happen to be in the kitchen or who had a knife nearby they would throw it at him and be done with it but never someone who made it a point to use knives as his primary weapon. The odd choice of weapon was now throwing Janardan off, the timing of his dodges and all the things he looked for when dodging a gun were completely wrong now and it showed. Serpico is definitely and unmistakable being pushed back as Nightwing keeps up the pressure of moving forward while throwing its beam knives.

Serpico either over dodges causing it to be open for an attack, or under dodges causing it to get hit. In a matter of minutes Serpico is cover in cuts with sparks flying out. Serpico continues to try to get a lock on Nightwing but just like Janardan Shadow also knows what to watch out for and how to dodge gun attacks, his timing is perfect and his dodges are flawless. "You're doing great Shadow! Keep up the pressure!" Jack tells him on his helmet screen.

Shadow however doesn't look happy, something was off here. Not off as in his opponent was trying to lure him into a trap or something, but off, like, Shadow didn't know how to describe it but there was just some kind of feeling that Janardan lacked and it was ruining the mood of this battle. Serpico dives and rolls to the right dodging three more knives, but Nightwing's arms, while still visible, are fast and two more beam knives go flying right at Serpico's position. Serpico jumps backwards a second too late and gets nick by the second beam knife. Stumbling backwards Serpico struggles to put its gun in front of itself; the beam energy coats Nightwing's throwing knives but this time Nightwing lets go of one of the physical knives.

The knife spins like a wheel in the air, wide of Serpico, this finally gives Serpico the chance to straighten up and open fire on Nightwing. Its shots sail over the Gundam's right shoulder, coming within inches of hitting it. Nightwing though doesn't flinch or hesitate as it throw its second beam knife, this time still holding onto the metal portion. Like before the beam energy slides right off the knife effectively becoming its own beam knife but this time the beam throwing knife is aimed for the second knife that Nightwing had spun wide of Serpico.

The energy beam knife hits the metal knife coated in beam energy just as it points at Serpico, setting off a reaction. The metal knife shoots its beam coating out like a gun, and sends it flying right at Serpico from behind. Luckily for Serpico Nightwing's aim isn't perfect and the beam knife hits its gun instead of its head. Unluckily for Serpico, it was firing the gun at Nightwing when the beam knife struck its rifle, causing Serpico's gun to explode right in its face.

The explosion knocks Serpico on its ass but Nightwing pulls back instead of going in for the kill. "Janardan is down! Janardan is down! I repeat Janardan is down, pulling out some fancy knife throwing trick Shadow has managed to destroy Serpico's weapon!" The referee screams, freaking himself out. The crowd reacts in much the same way.

"NO! Janardan, get back up!"

"You don't need a gun to beat this loser!"

"Get back up Janardan!"

While down in the arena Shadow is getting yelled at by Jack, "What do you think you're doing Shadow! Finish him while he's down!" Shadow wasn't sure why he held back, but he was definitely sure something was wrong with this match; it left a bad taste in his mouth.

"Janardan are you alright?" Casey asks in a voice full of concern.

Janardan groans but quickly flashes her a white smile, "Yea I'm ok, well as ok as someone can be after their gun explodes right in their face."

Suddenly Shadow pops up on Janardan's helmet screen, on the same open channel they've been using to talk to one another and boy does he look pissed. "Are you taking this fight SERIOUSLY?"

The question catches Janardan off guard, "What?"

"So far throughout this match I haven't been able to feel any passion in ANY of your attacks! I don't want you pulling your god damn punches, I want you to come at me with your strongest moves so that way when I defeat you no one will be able to say it was because you went easy on me!" Shadow doesn't just look pissed off, he also looks insulted to.

Janardan blinks for a moment surprised, it wasn't every day your opponent pulls back on a clear opening and demands he uses his strongest moves on him. "HAHAHA!" Janardan laughs, he liked the guts on this kid, this Shadow guy was refreshing, "Ok dude, you caught me; I kinda felt bad for your E-rank team and wanted to give you a chance at winning while working on a weapon I hadn't fully mastered but if you want my A game, you've got it."

Serpico rises to its feet and pulls out from behind its back what appears to be two sets of stainless steel Gundam size handcuffs. Serpico puts one set in each hand then releases a cuff each and whips them forward like a whip revealing a blue energy like cable. "OHHHH, things just got real! Janardan just pulled out his signature weapons the Order Keepers!" The referee shouts as he almost jumps out of his chair. The crowd roars even louder in respond to the weapons and the show as Serpico begins to spin both handcuffs almost like they're nunchucks and takes up a stance.

Down in the arena Jack beats Kenny to reminding Shadow what those weapons are, "Those are the Order Keeper police handcuffs, one of the strongest types of Gundam restraints in the world, they use a combination of beam, magnets, and Tyfany metal rope. It's almost impossible to break those puppies once they got you."

"Heh then I guess I better not let him catch me, now let's get this started!" Shadow shouts as Nightwing pulls out another beam projecting throwing knife and starts throwing more beam knives at Serpico but this time Janardan is ready. Serpico whips its Order Keepers around smacking away the beam knives with relative ease like a professional rodeo cowboy and as a result no beam knives come near it.

"It took me a while but I am a detective so I was eventually able to figure out your rhythm and pattern with your beam throwing knives, and now with my main weapons I can block this kind of attack all day!" Janardan shouts as he snaps one of the Order Keepers towards Nightwing. Nightwing quickly drops its beam projecting knives and pulls out its beam saber in a fast upper slash, deflecting Serpico's attack.

"Then I guess I've got to use my best weapon too!" Shadow cries as he charges forward. The two Gundams are evenly matched, Nightwing is able to deflect Serpico's Order Keepers but Serpico manages to keep Nightwing outside of melee range which draws this fight out. Metal sparks fly each time the metal cuffs and Nightwing's beam saber hit and create a sizzling sound like something cooking. The crowd's volume goes up each time Serpico comes close to hitting Nightwing and goes down when Nightwing looks to be making progress into getting into range of Serpico.

Shadow could feel his body working up a sweat, it felt twenty degrees hotter in his pilot's suit right now and his arm muscles were getting sore and beginning to scream for a break but he ignored them and pressed forward….still something didn't feel right! Something vital was missing from this match that would make it fun and it was beginning to drive Shadow insane.

Because of this distraction Shadow misses a deflection and allows one of the Order Keeper cuffs to lock onto Nightwing's right hand. Shadow's eyes immediately pop open once he feels the steel on his wrist and the sound of the cuff lock into place, "Oh SHIT!" Shadow shouts.

"Got you!" Janardan cries as Serpico quickly twists its wrist and pulls on the beam chain. Nightwing's arm is yanked forward, locking it into place and preventing it from gripping its beam saber with two hands like it's used to. Smelling weakness Serpico presses its attack forward with its second Order Keeper; Nightwing with only one hand on its beam saber desperately deflects the cuff that tries to lock onto its body but it's clear that the midnight black Gundam is struggling.

Janardan grins sensing his victory near at hand and says, "You're doing pretty good for someone who's not used to fighting with one hand, but let's see how you handle this!" Serpico pulls on the Order Keeper connected to Nightwing's right hand with all of its might and lifts the green eyed Gundam up off the ground and spins it around in midair so that it smashes right into one of the buildings nearby head first. Windows instantly shatter as cement crumbles and the very steel frame of the building bends inward.

"SHADOW!" Cagalli screams with worry when she sees this on the main monitored, she knew very well that Shadow wasn't in any real danger as long as the safety systems were still working but still when she saw how hard he hit that building, and heard the sound of metal groaning and snapping, that little part of her that would always worried triumphed over the rest of her brain.

"Ohhhh owww talk about taking a hard hit; in the face of Janardan's signature weapons the Order Keepers Shadow is losing ground fast. This could be a sign of the end." The referee announces to the crowd, but it's unclear if anyone heard him as all eyes are still locked onto the battle.

The cloud of dust dissipates revealing the ever sturdy Nightwing slowly rising back onto its feet, but Serpico isn't even giving Nightwing a moment to rest as it continues on with its attack. Serpico jumps over Nightwing and lands feet first on the side of the building Nightwing smashed into. Serpico begins to run upward while still pulling on its handcuffs which in turns, drags Nightwing upwards as well. The force of Serpico's pull smashes Nightwing back into the side of the building again, only this time Nightwing is being drag upward with its face still rubbing the building. Even more glass is shatter as concrete is broken, sparks fly out from the armor on Nightwing's face getting worn down by the dragging and a screeching sound like nails on a chalkboard is audible throughout the arena.

Serpico reaches the top of the building but doesn't stop, Serpico runs across the building's roof and jumps off it to the next street over while swinging its Order Keepers down with all of its might, this combined with the momentum Nightwing has built up from being pulled results in Nightwing launching wide over the top of the building and being smashed into the ground below like a meteor.

"Ohhhh now this is just getting ugly, Serpico is putting Nightwing into a world of hurt out there." The referee announces to the crowd, some people look away unable to take seeing such a brutal hit. Serpico lightly lands on the ground as the dust begins to settle, revealing the large crater Nightwing made from its impact with the ground. Serpico throws the two cuffs it's holding towards two separate buildings on the sides of Nightwing. The cuffs rocket forward clearly powered by an engine of some kind, and pierce into the buildings with relative ease and begins to pull on the cable attached to Nightwing's arms.

The beam cable drags a dazed Nightwing up onto its feet by its arms, taking advantage of the situation Serpico pulls out two more Order Keepers, spins them around on its fingers for a minute then throws them. The cuffs fly right towards Nightwing's legs and easily clip on, locking tightly in place, while the opposite ends are propelled forward by the engines in them and pierce into two more buildings near Nightwing. Finally Serpico pulls out its last Order Keeper; this one has the biggest cuffs we seen so far, as big as a Gundam's chest which makes sense when Serpico throws it at Nightwing's chest.

Like a horse shoe the cuff hits Nightwing's chest, swings around and locks into place while the other end rockets forward and crashes into the ground like a wrecking ball. The cuff burrows deep into the ground so that only the chain attached to Nightwing is visible. "And Janardan has just used his ultimate move, Prison seal! Five Order Keeper chains now lock and bind Nightwing, sealing his movements. These chains sink deep into ground, and wrap all around the buildings so that there's little chance of anyone being able to break them. Caught now like a fly in a spider's web what will Shadow do?" The referee asks but the crowd's overwhelming victory cheers clearly state what they think.

####

In the VIP room the Blood's calmly analyzed the situation. "Heh so it appears our next opponent will be Arianna's Public Servants." Merick says as he finishes his cup of wine.

"That's fine by me; it's time someone took those goody two-shoes down a notch." Lucas replies as he gets up from the couch and stretches, preparing to leave.

####

Up in the stands Violet pouts, "Damn it, I really wanted the Shadow Knights to win. This sucks." The rest of the Raptures have the same depressed look on their faces, except for Blake whose gaze never wavers from the fight.

####

In another corner of the stadium the Valkyries look on with disinterest, "It looks like that stupid fighter Shadow is about to lose, so can we please go Sesen? I've grown tired of watching the male pigs fight each other." Cailey says in a rude way, but it's clear that she speaks the rest of the team's opinion.

Sesen however flashes her a stern gaze with her blue eyes, "This fight isn't over yet Cailey, now watch carefully because you're about to see what our future rivals can really do."

Cailey blinks in surprise, but then frowns as she crosses her arms and turns to look back at the match.

####

Down in the arena Serpico begins to wave at the crowd, acting as if victory is already his when Nightwing finally begins to move. Shadow was in pain, his face still stung from being dragged around the building, his arms felt like they got yanked out of their socket, and the cuffs were chaffing at his wrists. His body felt sore from all the hard blows but none of that mattered to him right now. "Are you taking this match seriously at all!" Shadow screams, he was pissed, and felt deeply insulted; a clear anger could be seen in his electric green eyes which was very unusual for the fun loving Gundam Fighter.

Shadow of course hasn't change the communication link so everyone in the stadium heard him; his comment is so weird and comes so far out of left field that the crowd is stunned into silence while Janardan looks back at him confused. "Of course I'm taking this fight seriously, dude I took out my Order Keepers which are my best weapons and to be honest you're really not in a position to be asking those sorts of questions." Janardan says looking puzzled, this was the first time anyone caught in his Prison Seal talked back at him like this.

"Then why can't I feel anything from you! Throughout this entire fight so far I haven't once felt any passion from any of your attacks, the only explanation I can come up with is that for whatever reason you're still holding your punches back!" Shadow says not caring about the people giving him the crazy guy look.

Janardan just shrugs his shoulders, "Sorry dude I don't know what to tell you; since I pulled out my Order Keepers I haven't held any of my punches back against you. I've been taking this match as seriously as I can."

Now Shadow blinks surprised, "As seriously as you can?"

"Well yea, I mean come on as exciting as this stuff is at the end of the day it's still just a game. There's no chance you're really going to die and there's no chance that I'm going to die if I lose. I'm a cop, every day I put my life at risk when I go out into the field, where one screw up can not only cost me my life but the life of my fellow officers. Compared to that, I can only take a game like this so seriously. Not that it matters anyway, you're trapped right now with no way out. I could just deal an execution move right now, but I don't like unnecessary violence so how about you just save us the trouble and surrender." Janardan wasn't trying to be insulting, this was just his honest opinion and he saw nothing wrong with it.

A deep, almost unnatural silence grips the stadium upon Janardan's announcement, some of the people probably understood where Janardan was coming from and agreed with him but others like Shadow didn't. A burning raged grips Shadow, he had never, EVER in his life felt so offended as he did now; "You think this is just a game? You think being a cop makes you better than us regular Gundam Fighters? SCREW YOU! It might be just a game to you but I put my heart and soul into these matches, I spend hours upon hours training to be a better Gundam Fighter!" Shadow's black Neon Gauntlet begins to shine with light at the power of his words. Nightwing lungs forward and only the beam cables are capable of restraining it from attacking Serpico

"My skin has been scraped off before during my Gundam Fighter training, I've broken bones training, my blood sweat and tears have all gone into my training to be the best and to fulfill my dreams and it's not just me! By treating the Gundam Fights as nothing more than a silly game that you do in your past time when you're not being a cop you insult not just me but Cagalli, Nick, Roxas, Zuke, Kenny, Jack, Sesen and the Valkyries, the Sharpshooters, and Black and the Raptures! You insult every single person who works hard in these Gundam Fights, who fight for dreams and reasons they would push themselves to the very edge of death and beyond to achieve! So SCREW YOU you freaking COP!

I won't let anyone insult my friends, my rivals, the GFC and my dream like that! So prepare yourself because I'm going to show you THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A COP AND A GUNDAM FIGHTER!" Shadow screams with burning passion, releasing a wave of energy so strong that Janardan can feel it. Shadow's Neon Gauntlet shines even brighter as the S-generator in Nightwing grows significantly bigger. Power surges throughout Nightwing's systems as its green eyes flash brightly. Nightwing begins to pull aggressively on its chains with all of its might; a loud screeching noise can be heard as the beam cables are pulled tight. The cuffs on Nightwing's wrists and ankles begins to dig into Gundam's armor, making it appeared that Nightwing might cut off its own hands and feet to get free.

But the most dangerous cuff is the one located on Nightwing's chest, just outside the cockpit. The moment it begins to sink into the armor a warning sign pops up on Shadow's helmet screen warning him of the danger and the chance the safety pod might activated. Shadow responds by screaming "Nightwing disengage safety systems!" A green light flashes signaling the command confirmed.

"Shadow what the hell are you doing! You put the safety system back on right this freaking minute!" Kenny screams in a separate window but Shadow ignores him and pushes forward. Freezing cold rage fills his veins; he was beyond pain or worry at this point. The chest cuff sinks deeper and deeper into Nightwing, circuits overload in the cockpit causing explosions of sparks and metal. The very metal walls in the front start bending inward, the safety pod would have long since activated and taken Shadow out of there if it hadn't been turned off.

"This isn't good Janardan, he's going to escape you have to finish him now while you have a chance!" Casey screams at Janardan through the helmet screen but Janardan was frozen, unable to comprehend what was happening.

"What are you doing, stop that, you can't break free you're just putting yourself through pain for nothing! Stop it you don't have to go that far…this is just….a game." Janardan says but his words sound weak even to himself.

Shadow continues to scream his anger, and determination evident in his roar until finally something gives. The buildings attached to the other end of the Order Keepers explode as the cuffs are violently pulled, through steel beams and concrete. The Order Keepers themselves are still intact but the buildings begin to collapse due to the beam cables being pulled right through key support pillars. A huge dust cloud is kicked up from the collapse buildings as the final Order Keeper cuff attached to Nightwing's chest, rips out a huge chuck of the very road it had sunk into.

This event is so startling to Janardan that he forgets to move, which is a huge mistake. Freed, for the most part, from its bindings Nightwing shots forward like a purebred race horse and closes the gap between itself and Serpico in less than a quarter of a second. In one fluid motion Nightwing puts all of the momentum and emotions it's been building up into its fist as it punches Serpico dead center in the middle of its chest. The force of the punch feels like a cannonball and knocks Serpico right off its feet and sends the police Gundam flying right into the building behind it.

Serpico smashes into the building shattering all of the windows and making a huge crater as it sinks into the concrete. Nightwing on the other hand stands tall and proudly, the Order Keepers are still attached to Nightwing's wrist, ankles, and chest but the beam cables now hang loosely and uselessly on the ground. Shadow's eyes are still sparking with passion and anger, and he shouts out at Janardan, "I won't ever, EVER surrender to ANYONE, especially not to someone who doesn't put their heart and soul into their Gundam Fights! That's why you can't ever beat the Raptures, that's why you will always lose to Blake!

But I'm different, my dream is to be the best Gundam Fighter this world has ever seen, which is why I hate losing, and why I want to win at all costs!" Nightwing turns to face the audience and points a finger up into the crowd, in the very direction Blake is sitting. "I WILL beat you Blake Grendal! I don't care how much people may laugh at me, I don't care how many times you beat me, I'll keep getting back up and challenging you again and again and again, and again, and again until I finally beat you even if it takes me until the very end of time and space!" It was a bold declaration of war, filled with unwavering determination.

Surprised and confused the referee spins the cameras around to the direction Nightwing is pointing in and is even more surprised to find that Blake really was sitting their; compelled by a force he didn't fully understand the referee zooms in on Blake awaiting his respond.

Suddenly finding all eyes on him Blake had nothing but conflicted emotions. He didn't like Shadow, and he absolutely refused to acknowledge him as a Gundam Fighter, because to do so would also mean he recognized Shadow as someone capable of beating Fachtna. Still he couldn't just sit here and do nothing when an E rank Gundam Fighter so openly challenges him in front of a packed stadium. His teammates look at him in worry as Blake slowly stands up, his shoulder length blond hair flaps in the wind as he shouts out to the rookie, "If your team makes it to the final round to fight us, I'll be the fifth seat fighter and I will personally crush your dreams if you do dare challenge me again!"

Blake's voice is carried over by the wind, and the cameras and speakers catch every word broadcasting it for all to hear. In a stadium with over several thousands of people in it there's dead silence as everyone takes this in, then laughter followed by cheers.

"Heheheheh you're insane!"

"Hehehehe he's going to beat Blake no matter how long it takes HAHAHAH!"

"Heheheheh I've never heard anything so crazy, ah screw it I can't help but root for the underdog. You go get him Shadow and show him what you can do!"

"Yea, if you think you can be number one then show us what you've got Shadow!"

It was an odd cheer, a combination of disbelief laughter and admiration but it fit perfectly for such a weird fighter. "I've never seen anything like this, an E-rank Gundam Fighter, challenging the best Gundam Fighter in the city while still in the middle of a match where he had just been getting his ass kicked. Hell I can't tell if the crowd loves him now, or thinks he's a clown….maybe both but in any case this is something I wouldn't miss for the world!"

While this is going on Serpico climbs out from the building it crashed into. Janardan was still hurting; he wouldn't have been surprised to hear his ribs had been broken. Serpico takes two more steps before collapsing to its hands and knees as Janardan struggles to regain his breath, he looks up slowly at his opponent, just in time to meet Nightwing's bright green eyed gaze. Shadow's face pops up on his helmet screen, his eyes may be human but they hold the same unwavering conviction that Nightwing's steel eyes seem to project. There was no hatred and no pity in his eyes, they simply held one all-consuming thought, "I want to win."

Janardan could hear how the crowd was divided between their loyalty from him and their new found respect for Shadow. Part of Janardan, the part the crowd was cheering on, wanted to keep fighting despite losing his gun and now all of his Order Keepers. Janardan even tried to rise back onto his feet, but the moment he met Shadow's electric piercing eyes he knew it was pointless. This was simply a battle he could never win, for the same reason he could never defeat Blake. Victory to him and Victory to Shadow was not the same thing. Shadow wanted to win, much more than he did and was willing to go farther than Janardan was willing to go for victory.

"Heh, there's no point in continuing to fight any longer. You're not only the better Gundam Fighter, you're the more worthy challenger for Blake as well. I surrender." Janardan says simply.

A gentle breeze blows through the stadium, before the entire place erupts into applause, cheers, whistles and cries. "The Shadow Knights are going to the semi-finals, the Shadow Knights are going to the semi-finals, the Shadow Knights are going to the semi-finals! Unbelievably Janardan has surrendered to Shadow Zoomarey locking in their win! This E-rank team has now defeated THREE, THREE D-rank teams in a row and are now only one fight away from challenging the best Gundam team in this city! Can it be done? Can the weakest rise to defeat the best?" The crowd roars in response, loving a good underdog story.

####

In the Shadow Knight team room everyone except Zuke burst to life, in a waterfall of cheers and screams of victory. Even Drake does a fist pump in excitement before regaining his calm neutral composer.

####

Out in the stadium everyone on the Raptures cheers, "YES, we won't have to fight those showboats now!" Violet cries with joy.

"No matter who wins the semi-finals we'll be fighting someone new." Tarry the programmer says.

"Fresh meat is always good." Kenshi says just barely containing the joy of his childhood friend's team winning.

Kevin like always remained silent, but he had a smile on his face signifying his agreement with the rest of the team, however he quickly noticed the one member of the team who wasn't rejoicing…..Blake. The team leader simply got up, and almost angrily walked away.

####

In the other corner of the arena the Valkyries were already up and walking out of the stadium, ahead of the male pack so that way they wouldn't have to be surrounded by their foul stench later. "So do you now understand why I wanted to show you this match?" Sesen speaks to her team in a friendly upbeat tone, clearly influence by the outcome of the match.

Casey is the one who replies, "Yes, that Shadow Zoomarey….is different from any type of fighter I've ever seen before. His dedication, and heart towards Gundam Fighting is very evident…..however he's still a man, a slimy disgusting evil man!" Casey's prejudice oozes out of her like a backed up kitchen sink.

Upon hearing her words Sesen pauses for a moment on the stairs, her beliefs and her emotions were in complete contradiction with each other. "…..yes so he is." She says before continuing down.

####

In the VIP room Merick gazed down at Nightwing with unfriendly eyes, "A man capable of breaking the fighting spirit of a veteran Gundam Fighter and swaying the crowd to his side is not someone I want to openly challenge in the arena. Something must be done about him…..and a few others on the team."

"Heheheh I call the women, hehehe boy do I enjoy making a strong woman scream for mercy." Lucas says with a laugh as he lets lose a predatory grin.

####

_Location: Somewhere in Arianna Time: Present_

As the sun begins to fade after a long day and the land lies in that brief time of twilight a lone ship seems to just come into existence over the water. The ship is blurry, unnaturally blurry, to the point that it's shape is unrecognizable and that if anyone were to look at it from the shore line it would be impossible to tell if it was really there or if it was just the light playing tricks on their eyes. A lone platform descends from the ship as it opens up and immediately two cloaked figures begin to walk out. One figure's cloak was decorated with wolf's fur while the other had many different bones on it. The man, for the voice could clearly only be male, in the bone cloak laughed and the episode ends with him saying "HAHAHAHAH so this is Arianna, hehehe I have a feeling that we're going to have a lot of fun here HAHAHH!"

_**Author's note**: _Wow am I out of shape. I had every intention of writing this chapter in two weeks but as you can see it took me double that time to get it done. All I can say is that I'll try to do better next time, I've got to retrain myself to write again now that I'm out of collage. Anyway I hope you guys enjoy the chapter.


	87. Episode 86 Children

Episode 86 – Children

_Location: Riger's family restaurant Time: An hour after the third round_

"OH my god, you said yes to going out with Lon!" Shadow says barely containing laughter.

"NO…..I said I would have coffee with him sometime." Cagalli defends weakly as she quickly drinks her soda to hide from further questions. They were currently at this family restaurant which was supposed to have the greatest burgers ever, according to Roxas, to celebrate their victory in the third round. After the match Cagalli had run into Lon, and once again he had tried asking her out on a date. Cagalli had had every intention of saying no, but that man was a smooth talker and so help her god if she was influence by his overwhelming good looks! She was only mortal after all!

"Interesting, how very interesting." Roxas comments as she eats her burger while at the same time writing on a pad.

"What are you writing down Roxas?" Jack asks curious as she munches on some French fries.

"I'm documenting all the things that successfully cause Cagalli to agree to go on a date with someone." Roxas says quite proudly.

"Ok first of all its NOT A DATE!" Cagalli says strongly although she wisely chooses to refrain from telling her friends that she didn't drink coffee, ick that stuff tasted horrible. "And second did you remember to put down that I'm only attracted to GUYS!"

Roxas flashes Cagalli a mischievous smile, "Don't worry, that's already being taken care of. There's nothing like subconscious suggesting and hypnotism to change someone's sexual preference."

"Wait what! What did you do!" Cagalli demands as she lunges over the table trying to grab Roxas but Roxas moves like a fly and dances just outside of Cagalli's reach. The whole thing just caused Shadow as well as everyone else to laugh their butts off. Shadow of course knew that Roxas was just messing with Cagalli and would never stoop so low as using hypnotism; she had too much pride in her powers of seduction for that.

Still it was funny as hell to watch the two go at it, it almost made up for the lack of booze in this place. Shadow had wanted to go to the bar and drink for their celebration but Drake had veto that request on account of the fact that they had already crossed their weekly drinking limit so this burger place it was. All the little kids running around though was beginning to bother him, but Shadow could tough it out.

"Um hello, excuse me, are you guys the Shadow Knights?" And of course right as Shadow was thinking that an embarrassed older woman with a small six year old in hand comes walking up to the table. Everyone turns around and looks at her and the child surprised, but Shadow is the first one to speak.

"Yea that's right, can we help you?"

"Oh I'm so sorry for troubling you," The woman begins clearly embarrassed, "But it's just my daughter saw your match just now and when we saw you in the restaurant she insisted that she had to come see you."

"You guys were so AWESOME today!" The little suddenly girl suddenly cuts in as she bounces around the team, looking up at them with big round eyes. "I've been a Shadow Knight fan ever since daddy took me to see your first match against the Gargoyles! You guys are so awesome, and I don't care what anyone says Roxas you were amazing today with the way you got out of that Gundam cement."

Roxas blinks surprised by the child's attention and then breaks into a huge smile as she scoops up the child into a big hug. "Awww you're so adorable our number one fan!"

Nick, Cagalli, Jack and Kenny also come around the table to personally see the child. "Cagalli's been doing super great in this tournament, the best she's ever done. What's your secret?"

Roxas puts the child down as she turns her focus to Cagalli who also squads down to meet her eye level, Cagalli has a smile on her face as well and seems to be shinning. "Hard work, I'll let you in on a secret, I'm not a very good Gundam pilot but thanks to a lot of training and hard work I was able to overcome that." Cagalli tells the girl.

The others and the girl continue to talk for a while. Shadow alone stood away from the group next to the mother. The conversation itself wasn't very interesting to him, it was like any other conversation you would have with a six year old. Shadow did notice that the child was looking up at them with big round eyes full of wonder and excitement, as one would expect of a kid meeting her heroes. Nick, Kenny, Roxas and Jack were treating the kid like a little sibling and had kind smiles on their faces but Cagalli was the one who seemed to be having the greatest time and had on the largest smile.

Finally the woman spoke up, "Lucy that's enough now, let's leave these Gundam Fighters to their celebration."

Lucy looks at her mom with sad eyes but knows better than to argue, "Okkkk mommy….but can I at least get their autographs!" Lucy asks with big round hopeful eyes.

The mother hesitates for a moment but Cagalli cuts in and says politely, "It's really no trouble ma'am, we don't mind at all."

"Well, ok then but make it quick. We don't want your dinner to get cold Lucy." The mother says with a sigh as she gives in to her daughter's request.

"YESSSS!" Lucy shouts with joy as she pulls out a little diary with a pen attached to it by a little plastic chain. Afraid that her mother might change her mind, Lucy as quick as the Flash gets Cagalli, Nick, Roxas, Jack and Kenny to sign the cover of her diary before finally turning to Shadow. Lucy fidgets a little, aware that Shadow is the only one who hasn't talked to her yet.

Abruptly Lucy steps forward, bows her head and holds out her diary, "Will you please sign it."

Shadow blinks, feeling awkward as replies, "Um sure." He takes the pen and quickly signs his name in the book.

The mother reaching the limit of how much embarrassment she can take says "Ok that's enough Lucy." Taking Lucy's hand Lucy's mom begins to lead her child away while quietly saying to the Shadow Knights, "Thank you so much and sorry for interrupting your dinner."

Once everyone gets back to their seats all eyes turn to Shadow. "It's ok Shadow; she's gone now so you can relax." Roxas, as perceptive as ever, catches onto the fact of Shadow's discomfort around children and mocks him for it.

"You know for someone who acts childish so often I thought you would get along better with children." Cagalli comments with a smirk on her face, clearly having fun at Shadow's expense.

"Hahaha very funny," Shadow says slightly annoyed. "What can I say, I don't like little kids." Shadow adds on simply.

"How can you not like little kids? Don't you plan on one day starting a family, and having some kids?" Jack asks.

"Nope, I never ever want to have children. I also have no intention of getting married." Shadow's respond causes everyone except for Roxas to gasp out in surprise.

"How could you not want a family? Don't you want to experience the joy of raising a child or being a father?" Cagalli asks, shocked by the idea that anyone would not want to have children.

"HA, change diapers, have to constantly keep an eye on what's the most fragile thing in the world, yea that sounds like a lot of fun." Shadow counters. "I mean seriously they are so annoying, you can't reason with a baby or little kid, because they're not old enough to really understand, so you just have to take their whining. I don't understand why anyone would want to go through that for god knows how many years until they can be reason with."

"Um because of love, there's more to child raising then just listening to your kid complain, there's also getting to teach him or her things, like how to hold a wrench correctly or how to properly build an engine from scrap metal." Jack says siding with Cagalli.

Cagalli looks at Jack surprised by the support, "You've thought about having children?"

Jack blushes embarrassed, "Well yea, I mean I don't want one any time soon but someday I would love to have three children, one boy and two girls with me running one of the largest Warehouses in Junk City."

Kenny giggles slightly at Jack's detailed dream and says "What about your husband?"

Jack glares at Kenny but shrugs uncaringly, "Eh, I haven't given much thought about him, as long as I loved him and he loved me he could be anyone for all I cared…well as long as he was muscular. Skinny guys don't really last long in Junk City….no offense Kenny."

Now it's Kenny's turn to glare at Jack, "Hum that's fine, unlike some people looks don't really matter to me. I don't care if she's as skinny or as weak as a leaf, as long as she knows computers she's good enough to be my wife; and I would like to have three children too only two would be adopted."

"HAHAHAHA, adopted huh. Interesting choice mate, but me personally I want a large family, maybe with six or eight kids and of course after I buy a large property to build my ranch on." Nick says joining the conversation; he didn't want to talk about the woman who he envisioned with this family so he moved right along. "What about you Roxas?"

"I'm with Shadow, I have no intention of ever having children or getting married. I'm just not the type to settle down, but unlike my child phobic friend I do still love children, they're soooo cute and adorable, I just never want to have some of my own. What about you Cagalli sweetie, what's your family plans?"

Cagalli lights up when Roxas asks her that question, almost as if she was waiting for it. "I plan on having two kids, a boy and a girl; I also already have names picked out for them but I'll refrain from showing my list to you guys, after all its only right that my husband gets a say in the naming. My husband will be, strong, smart, charming, and good with kids and we'll all live in the Athha instate back in Orb." Cagalli gets a dreamy eye look on her face as she dreams about her future family, she left out some details like the fact she envision Athrun as her husband, and that she would be back leading her country as Chief Representative Athha.

Cagalli wasn't stupid, she knew that raising children while being Chief Representative would be hard and that not everything would turn out all sun shine and rainbows but still it was good to have a goal for the future, to set an objective and go out to try her best to achieve it. Plus it gave her hope for the future; that she would one day get home, far away from this crazy fighting filled world, and be with Kira, Lacus and Athrun again.

"Blah, how could you want such a boring life?" Shadow asks with a sour face as if he just tasted rotten eggs.

Cagalli narrows her eyes at him and replies back, "Well sorry if some of us have regular normal boring dreams. Seriously though Shadow, what are your plans for the future, even you should know that you can't be a Gundam Fighter forever and do you really plan on not getting married or having children?"

Shadow looks uncomfortable for a moment, and chooses to drink some of his soda first in order to buy time to compose himself. After a minute Shadow answers Cagalli's question, "I don't know what you're talking about, I never want to retire from Gundam fighting. I plan on dying young in a blaze of glory inspiring the next generation of Gundam Fighters. As for the family, I suppose if I meet the right woman I might change my mind about getting married but it's not like I'm going to waste my time trying to find her. If I'm meant to find her I will, and if I'm not then I won't but I still do not now or ever intend on having children. Even if we ignore the fact I dislike little kids, could you even imagine me as a dad? I'm horrible with handing kids, so there's no way someone like me could be a dad."

Cagalli reluctantly nods her head, Shadow had a point by saying he would be a bad father. She didn't want to be too mean to her friend but hell he was already twenty but he still had the maturity of a teen and not an ounce of responsibility. Being a parent not only required both maturity and responsibility but also patience, something else Shadow wasn't good with. Suddenly a blast of flames interrupts Cagalli's thoughts.

"Whoa, what's up with the fire!" Jack shouts startled as one of the servers brings out what looks like a plate of fire. Cagalli's eyes dilate and her heart rate begins to accelerate to dangerous levels, almost as if she was having a panic attack however she begins to do some incredibility subtle deep breathes in an effort to control her heart rate. Only the most advance observers would be able to tell that the open fire greatly bothered Cagalli.

"Hm? Oh that's just their special, flaming fire burger; they cook it in an open fireball in front of the guest." Roxas, being the only person to have come to this restaurant before, explains.

Without drawing notice from anyone Cagalli causally puts her hands under the table and on her lap. Her fingers, and toes begin to twitch uncontrollably as Cagalli's heart rate continues to rise despite her best efforts. _Come on Cagalli keep it together, this is ridiculous you've been in two wars already and are the leader of a country, a little open fire shouldn't bother you and if it does just look away from it, it's not like someone is putting a gun to your head and forcing you to stare at it;_ Cagalli tells herself but despite her best effort she couldn't stop her eyes from wondering back onto the fire.

"That's so awesome!" Shadow shouts excited.

Cagalli's eyes stay stuck on the fire, almost like they were superglue to it. She unwillingly watched as the fire danced in the air, as the different flames weaves in and out of each other, and twirled around as they rose upward, as the yellow turned orange, then finally red. Cagalli's heart rate was so fast now that she could feel it beating painfully in her chest, her fingers and toes were now shaking uncontrollably, moister began to build up on her face and back as it rolled down. Cagalli tried to take a bigger breath of air, to steady her quickly deteriorating situation but found she couldn't swallow.

Even greater panic struck her soul as she felt her throat begin to tighten and it took all of Cagalli's self-control to force herself to breathe through her nose. Despite her collapse inside Cagalli was still putting up a perfect cover of composer to everyone around her, but her eyes are still locked on the fire. Time comes to a stop for one single moment for the girl, as the fire seems to turn and look at her.

"We should totally order one!" Shadow says to his friends.

Suddenly Cagalli gets up from her seat, drawing the attention of everyone at the table. "I have to go use the restroom." She says to the group as she quickly turns around and walks away without leaving time for respond. Almost breaking into a run, Cagalli is barely able to keep her composer as she makes it to the restrooms. There were two single room, single person bathrooms, one for boys and one for girls. Finally some good luck seems to come to Cagalli as the girl's restroom was empty. Without a second thought Cagalli enters the ladies room, and without even turning on the lights slams the door behind her and locks it.

With her privacy secured Cagalli is finally able to drop the front she's been putting up and collapse to the floor. Cagalli crawls over to the corner of the room, without turning on the lights, and hugs her knees as she rocks herself back and forth. The rational part of Cagalli was angry and embarrassed with herself for acting like this. _ Calm down you idiot, flames don't look at things, they aren't human nor do they have a mind or will of their own, they just burn; _Cagalli tells herself, but try as she might she couldn't fully convince her mind that the fire didn't just look at her now. For the leader of a country who had seen friends die in front of her a little fire shouldn't cause her to have a panic attack.

But it did, Cagalli could no more stop her panic attacks which were triggered by open fires any more then someone else with a compulsion to clean could leave trash lying around. Cagalli didn't always have this ridiculous phobia, sure ever since childhood open fires have always made her nervous and put her on edge but it wasn't until after the first Bloody Valentine's Day War that the mere sight of an open flame, even a god damn candle, caused her to have a full blown panic attack.

The first time it happen was during a birthday party for one of the staff at her mansion; the moment she saw the flames on those candles she had broken out into cold sweats and probably would have collapse if the candles hadn't been blown out so quickly. It was then that Cagalli had discovered that her discomfort had grown into a full on phobia, any open flames she saw, no matter how small, induced a panic attack in her. With this new found embarrassing problem Cagalli immediately began to try to correct it and through her trials discovered two things about her condition.

One, it was the fire itself that caused her to freak out; the heat and smoke had nothing to do with it. Two, Cagalli had no problem with seeing fire through a TV screen or even a picture of a fire, but windows were still a no go. This phobia that the leader of a country had develop was humiliating for Cagalli, like having a rash on her privates and because of that she hadn't told anyone about it, even Kira and Athrun, and she was incredibility determine to solve this problem on her own. Sadly everything she tried failed; the techniques she picked up like controlling her breathing and imagining her happy place only served to delay the attacks from happening but didn't actually stop them from happening.

The only thing that Cagalli had accomplished from all of her attempts at curing herself of this phobia was getting really good at hiding her panic attacks from others, which she supposed was better than nothing. Truth be told Cagalli could have developed worse phobias, after all it wasn't like she was around open fire all the time so for the most part she could just pretend she never had it. Back on Earth the only time this phobia had affected her in public was during the Armory One incident, luckily Athrun had been there to keep her grounded and moving, plus he had passed off her unusual submissive behavior as stress from watching the battle break out all around her.

Of course that had been a factor too, but all of the fire burning around her had also been a big stressor and distraction. She had breathed a deep sigh of relief the moment she had stepped into that mobile suit, Cagalli didn't know what it was but as long as she couldn't see the fire directly she was fine. The only other time Cagalli had to deal with her fire phobia issues was when she had to travel with Shadow and the others to Junk city, and they had to set up camp fires. Cagalli had actually looked forward to that part of the camping trip as yet another chance to cure herself of this ridiculous phobia, she had managed to get herself within ten feet of the fire without freaking out. Of course not getting closer to the fire had been tricky to explain to the others without telling them about her phobia but Cagalli had gotten by.

Sighing Cagalli finally feels her panic attack subside and regains complete control over her body. With nothing but her dignity injured Cagalli gets up from the floor and finally turns on the lights in the bathroom, she then walks over to the sink and splashes some cold water onto her face. Hopefully that would be the last fire burger she would see for the night.

####

_Location: Arianna's General Hospital Time: Six days left until the fourth round_

Joey walked uneasily down the white clean hallways. Victor had tried to get him to stay away, the Director had told Joey that no good would come from him coming here but Joey knew that he had to come. He had to see with his own eyes what his actions had caused. Any man could give an order or sign a piece of paper and just count off a list of numbers of those they saved, and of those they lost but it takes someone who truly seeks justice and the right path to see and meet with the ones he had hurt.

This was not the first time Joey had been to this hospital, and he had no doubt it would not be the last, so it was relatively easy for him to find the room he was looking for. As he walks right up to the door, the door opens from the inside as a nurse steps out. Blinking in surprise by the sudden visitor the nurse asks, "Oh, are you here to see the Steel Dragons?"

"Yes…..this is my first visit and I haven't seen them yet….could you tell me how their condition is?" Joey asks with just a bit of strain in his voice.

The nurse's eyes grow dark with sympathy as she says gently, "The surgery was successful, and thankfully they're all out of the danger zone now but they'll all face a long road of recovery ahead. Still all things consider it's a miracle that the paramedics arrived just in time to treat them, if they had just been a few minutes late we might have lost one or two of them."

Joey already knew all of this, the Steel Dragons' medic report was lying on his desk back at the GFC, still to hear it first hand from one of the nurses already added several levels of realism to the situation that mere words on paper could not. "Thank you…..would you mind if I went in and spoke to them?" Joey asks.

The nurse hesitates for a moment, "It's actually an hour past visiting hours…but it should be alright. Please just keep it short, they're very tired."

"Of course, thank you." Joey says as he steps past the nurse and enters the room. Inside the hospital room were four people lying in hospital beds, each person was wrapped head to toe in bandages and casts, with several of their limbs held up at certain angles and several different IVs and other medical equipment plug into them. This sight was certainly unusual in this century, medical technology has come a long way since the day when people had to wear casts for weeks if they ever broke a bone, now a broken bone could be healed within a couple of hours. The fact that the doctors were using casts could only mean that the damage these people had suffered was that extreme.

They were all asleep which could only be expected considering their condition. Part of Joey was happy about this, it was painful just seeing them like this and he wasn't sure he could talk to them.

"Joey?" No sooner than that thought enters his mind then one of the patients wakes up and notices him.

Joey rushes to the man's side and quickly takes a knee so that he was at face level with him. "Easy there Gery, don't strain yourself." Joey tells the Gundam Fighter. Gery's face was heavily bruised, with purple and black spots clearly visible; half his head was covered in bandages including one eye.

Gery grins, or at least tries to before flinching in pain, "I swear if I hear one more person tell me to take it easy I'm going to go nuts." Gery's voice was raspy and weak; it pained Joey to hear this. Gery and the rest of the patients in this room were all Gundam Fighters for the Steel Dragons. The Steel Dragons had been the Blood's third round opponents. Early in the week they had reported the Blood's harassment and increasing threat to their safety but Joey had buried the reports.

The Blood's violence outside of the arena had been increasing since the first round but as of yet Joey had done nothing about it. He could blame this all on Victor, after all this plan was all of his idea to begin with and he had talked Joey into following it but the fact was that Joey was the head of the GFC in this city and he was responsible for everything involving the GFC that went on in it.

Gery, unaware of how much Joey truly knows continues talking; "They say it's going to be at least a month before we can get up and moving again, then another month of rehab, possibly more depending upon how quickly we recover…I'll have to talk with our sponsors once I get a chance, we might need to take another loan from the bank." Gery's mumbles might not have made sense to an outside but Joey instantly knew what he was talking about.

Gundam Fighting was expensive; Gundams need constant maintenance and storage; not to mention there was also living expensive to deal with as well as actual payment to the workers. In short, anyone under C-rank had to be constantly fighting or taking missions in order to make ends meet so for a D-rank team to be forced onto a two or more month medical leave, it was like a death sentence. Sponsors often dropped the teams, moving on to the next rookies who were able to fight, and banks were less likely to give out increased Gundam loans to any team that had suffered serious injuries and hadn't competed in a while. To make matters worse, the medical expenses would also pile up. With bills continuing to rise all around them the pilots were forced to do the unthinkable; sell their Gundams to pay off their debts.

Once a Gundam team starts to sell off its Gundams, the team was almost always dead. Very rarely are the pilots able to buy back their Gundams let alone reform the same team again. Joey had seen this happen many times before, not all dreamers are able to continue flying. So even if Gery didn't say it aloud they both knew that this could very well be a career ending medical leave. "I'll do the best I can to help you but if there's anything you need now, don't hesitate to ask." Joey tells the injured pilot gently.

It's unclear if Gery heard Joey or not but suddenly his eyes narrow in anger, "It was the Blood's! They did this to us! They threaten us at the beginning of the week, and then they jumped us on the way to the arena. We were caught by surprise and were heavily outnumbered, we never had a chance! You have to stop them Joey…..before they destroy another team." The anger filled rant seems to have exhausted Gery as he slumps down into sleep once again.

"Don't worry, the Bloods will answer for their crimes," Joey vows, "now just get some rest."

With Gery once more asleep Joey gets up to leave, his guilt and uncertainty threatening to strangle him. As he gets to the door Joey looks back once more at the four pilots lying on the beds, he knew that they would most likely never pilot a Gundam again and that this was the end of the Steel Dragons, the end of four dreamers and he was responsible for it. Victor would have simply shrugged his shoulders and passed it off as acceptable causalities, after all what are four lives vs. a thousand lives but Joey couldn't, no he refused to simply see things in numbers. With a heavy heart the head of Arianna's GFC leaves the hospital.

####

_Location: A street in Arianna Time: Five days left until the fourth round_

Shadow walks along the cold dark streets looking up at the night sky. He always enjoyed watching the stars every night and tonight was no different. Street lamps illuminated the sidewalks as cars continued to go on by even at this late hour. Of course the light doesn't really help someone who isn't looking straight, but that's what Cagalli was for.

"You just thought that my only reason for being here was to stop you from running into people didn't you?" Cagalli asks slightly irritated as she yanks on Shadow's windbreaker to steer him out of a couple's way. If it wasn't for her Shadow would have already walked into several different people.

"I refuse to answer that question." Shadow replies as he finally looks away from the sky. To be honest he was surprised by how many people were even out this late. The only reason he and Cagalli were even out was because Jack had accidently left her PDA at Riger's the other day. The loss of the PDA triggered a two day manhunt with Jack quite literary taking apart everything in her path rampage to find her PDA. Finally Kenny, most likely from fear of what Jack would do if she couldn't find her PDA, hacked the GPS and found out where Jack left it.

By the time Kenny found the PDA it was really late at night, but after finally finding out where her PDA was Jack wasn't about to wait until tomorrow to go get it. Jack wanted to go get the PDA herself but an issue with the Dark-Angels toilets prevented her from leaving in time to make it to Riger's before they closed, so instead Shadow volunteered to go get it and Cagalli with nothing better to do decided to tag along to keep an eye on him.

"You see its thinking like that that would make you a lousy father." Cagalli comments causing Shadow to roll his eyes, ever since they had the whole family talk Cagalli has been constantly pointing out "flaws" that Shadow has that would make him a bad father.

"You know when I told you I didn't ever want to have children because I would be a bad father, that wasn't an invitation for you to correct my behavior into a more father appropriate behavior." Shadow informs his friend.

Cagalli frowns at him and responds, "I'm trying to help you, while it's noble for you to realize you wouldn't be a good father and therefore not have children, everyone, even you, should be able to have children."

"I think you're forgetting the part where I said I DON'T want children, not just because I think I would be a horrible father but also because I can't stand being around children, they're so annoying not to mention a leech that constantly sucks out your time, energy, and money."

"Sure you feel that way now, but eventually when you get older your opinions will change and you'll want children however it will be too late then for you to change your habits to those of a good father." Cagalli explains.

"I'm not going to change my opinion on children! Oh my god if I had a nickel every time someone told me I would change my mind about having children when I got older I would be the richest man on the planet." Shadow says greatly annoyed and irritated. "Seriously, is it that weird that I honestly don't want children?"

"Yes it is! We are biologically programmed to want children, which is why the sooner you start acting with the responsibility and manners of a parent the better." Cagalli argues.

"Well I guess I'm a mutant, and what about you then? Are you saying that you are always acting with the requirements of being a parent?"

Cagalli puffs her chest out with pride, "Of course, I've always wanted children ever since I was little so I've always strived to become parent ready."

"Really" Shadow asks with obvious disbelief.

"Ok I'll admit that I've done things that haven't always been qualities of a good parent, if not downright childish; but the point is that I've matured since then and are closing in on reaching the requirements of a good parent." Cagalli says elegantly, after all part of being a good parent was to be able to tell your children of your own past mistakes and show them how you take responsibility for it.

Shadow frowns easily telling what Cagalli is thinking from the smug look on her face, but before he can say anything he stops and looks away, sniffing the air. "Do you smell that?"

Cagalli looks at Shadow confused by the sudden random comment when she sniffs the air and smells what Shadow smells. "Smoke."

Shadow and Cagalli had been so engross in their conversation that they didn't notice it earlier, but now as Shadow looks up to the sky he can clearly see deep dark smoke. Shadow and Cagalli make eye contact; they both knew that this could only mean one thing. Without saying a word the two turn and race across the street around a corner. Just as they suspected, a burning building greets their sight as they round the street corner. Judging from its shape and size it was probably an apartment building, further suggesting this are the dozens of residents standing in the streets watching helplessly as their home burns down.

Some of the people were in their PJs while others huddle their children close to them as they tried to comfort their kids, there was two police cars at the scene attempting to keep the civilians back as they waited for the fire department. The building itself was pretty big in Shadow's opinion, the fire had already consumed the top floors, the flames spilled out the windows and raced up the side of the building spewing smoke up into the night.

"Wow, talk about having a rough night." Shadow says feeling bad for the poor people whose home was burning down. He knew his comment wasn't the most sensitive and was expecting Cagalli to say something about it but to his surprise she doesn't. Shadow turns to his blond friend to see what's going on and notices Cagalli's unusual facial expression. Cagalli wasn't even looking at him, she kept staring at the burning building with her eyes wide open; Shadow would even go so far as to say she looked hypnotized by it.

"Yo? Hey anyone home?" Shadow asks as he claps and waves his hands in front of Cagalli. Cagalli blinks and shakes her head as she forces herself to refocus, it's been a while since she's ever seen a fire that big in person and it caught her by surprise. Luckily she was far enough away that her anti-phobia techniques should be enough to get her through this, as long as they didn't stay to long.

"Yes, sorry I got distracted, anyway there's nothing we can do here so let's go-"

Cagalli is interrupt by a loud familiar shriek, "LET ME GO! MY DAUGHTER IS STILL IN THERE!" Turning their heads both Shadow Knights spot a familiar woman struggling with police officers and concern neighbors as she tries to force her way back into the burning building.

"Hey, isn't that Lucy's mother, the little fan we met the other day?" Shadow asks. Cagalli also instantly recognized her and upon hearing her words she looks towards the burning building.

"It is." She says simply as conflicting emotions battle within her.

Shadow looks on at the mother losing against the police, "The police aren't going to let her back inside that building, and for good reason, that place is going up in smoke and its going up hard, it's completely unsafe for anyone who's not a firefighter to be in."

"Yup."

Shadow looks towards the building itself now, "The fire department is on its way, they could be here any moment and rescue the kid assuming the kid is even alive."

"They could."

"Or they could be too late." Shadow sighs in an annoyance as he looks over himself, checking to make sure his sword and knives was still properly equipped. The police were distracted by holding back the mother, which meant that another person could slip inside before they could react if he was fast enough. "And this is why I dislike children; you've got to go get them when they get themselves in trouble."

Cagalli knew what Shadow was planning, she could tell instantly but the real question was what she was going to do about it. Cagalli knew she had a phobia of fires that could compromise her, but her maternal instincts were screaming at her to get in there and rescue that child. It was actually an easy decision to make, she refused to allow such a stupid irrational fear control her especially when it came to matters dealing with children. After all hadn't Cagalli just told Shadow that she always strived to act with the responsibility and traits of a good parent? And one of the most important traits of a good parent was that they always rescued their children from danger.

"Let's go." Cagalli says strongly as she tries to focus her mind to a single all-consuming point, blocking out all other surroundings and objects.

As if a silent gunshot goes off both Shadow and Cagalli run towards the burning building, moving around the crowd they burst forward catching the police officers currently restraining Lucy's mother by surprise. Before anyone can stop them they rush through the front door into the burning building. Deep smoke greets them as soon as they entered the building causing both fighters to begin coughing uncomfortably. Shadow and Cagalli just as quickly move their arms over their mouths in order to prevent this to little effect, to make matters worse the smoke begins to get into their eyes causing an itchy sensation that makes them tear up.

Ignoring these things though they both press forward, fully aware of how little time remained. "LUCY!"

"LUCY WHERE ARE YOU!"

They begin shouting Lucy's name as they continued onward down the entrance hall, there wasn't any actual fire down here yet but the place was still covered in smoke. Coughing they reached the first floor apartment room, without hesitation Shadow shoulder rams the door and burst inside the single room apartment still shouting Lucy's name. Cagalli is right behind him and in seconds they clear the room. The coughing is beginning to get worse as Cagalli stumbles to the door; Shadow however spots the refrigerator and has a light bulb moment.

"*Cough, Cough, Cough* Cagalli wait, *Cough, Cough, Cough*" Shadow shouts in-between a coughing fit as he rushes over to the refrigerator. As quick as lightning Shadow opens the fridge and spots what he needs, a large two liter bottle of water. Shadow pulls out the bottle of water before taking one of his throwing knives out and ripping two pieces of cloth off his T-shirt. Shadow then soaks both pieces of cloth with the water from the bottle. He quickly puts one piece of cloth over his mouth and nose and then tosses the other one to Cagalli. "I read about this in Path to Truth; put a wet cloth over your nose and mouth to help filter out the smoke."

Cagalli nods her head and quickly does the same with her own cloth. Finally able to breathe again the two races forward.

###

Shadow wasn't sure how long they had been inside this burning building, considering they were still alive it was probably only ten or so minutes but it felt like forever. In hindsight Shadow realized that he probably should have asked Lucy's mom, first her name, and then what floor they lived on before he went charging into a burning building. Luckily there was only like three apartments per floor so they were making decent progress, Shadow just hoped they find the kid before the fire department shows up and saves all three of them. After all the difference between a hero and a jackass was success.

Currently they were on the third floor but conditions were beginning to get worse. The fire was very visible now, orange yellow red flames were all over the walls and ceiling. Visibility was about the same, and luckily raiding the fridges for water to soak their breathing clothes was working better than expected, still Shadow was finding himself jumping over sections of the floor more often now as the fire began to compromise the structure of the building.

As if reading his mind a flaming section of the ceiling above Cagalli breaks and begins to fall straight towards her. Shadow was able to hear the ceiling cracking and beginning to break before it fell, something that he figured Cagalli would also be able to hear and move out of the way, but to his surprise she didn't. "WATCH OUT!" Shadow screams as he tackles her out of the way, a piece of burning debris hits him on his shoulder igniting a small part of his jacket but Shadow quickly smacks the flame out with his palm before it becomes an issue. The broken ceiling punches a hole right through the floor as it continues its way down, adding its fire to the already growing fire all around them.

"God damn it this is my favorite windbreaker, you're definitely going to buy me a new one-" Shadow begins in his usual joking fashion but stops when he sees the condition Cagalli was in. Cagalli hasn't gotten up from off the floor; she's collapse on the ground on her hands and knees and is shaking uncontrollably. Shadow also finally notices how pale she is, almost ghostly pale. "Cagalli?" Shadow asks full of concern, not since they first met has he ever seen her like this.

Cagalli looks up at him, tears forming around her eyes as she finally burst out sobbing; "I can't do it! I just can't do it! I thought that I could handle this but I'm sorry but I just can't." Cagalli now on a full scale panic attack breakdown folds her knees into her chest and begins to rock back and forth while sobbing controllably. "This sucks, this sucks so bad I'm just so god damn scared!"

Shadow blinks unsure of what to do, he was feeling the pressure of the building burning down all around him, not to mention he had never been good with dealing with crying people. Squatting down Shadow begins to roughly shake Cagalli's shoulder shouting "Cagalli calm down, calm down and listen to me! What are you freaking out for? We've been in much scarier shit then this!"

Shadow forcefully lifts Cagalli up onto her feet, but Cagalli shakes him off and screams, "Because I'm scared of fire you DUMBASS! It scares me so god damn bad; don't you think I don't know we've been in worse situations then this but I just can't stop trembling!"

Shadow blinks as he finally puts two and two together, "Wait you have pyrophobia?"

"YES! Wait how do you know what it's called?" Cagalli asks momentarily distracted from her fear by Shadow's surprising demonstration of knowledge.

Shadow frowns at her annoyed and says, "I read, more importantly why would you GO INTO A FREAKING BURNING BUILDING IF YOU HAVE A FEAR OF FIRES!" Shadow screams at her highly annoyed, he was supposed to be the one to do stupid shit.

"Because there's a child that needs to be rescue and I thought I could handle it!" She shouts back. While the two yell at each other another section of the ceiling collapses near them.

Shadow curses under his breath, they had to keep moving or else this wasn't going to end well for anyone. "This whole place is coming down; we have to keep moving if we're going to find Lucy! Can you walk?"

Cagalli shakes her head, her rational mind losing against her fears, "I don't know, I don't think so I'm justOW!" Cagalli suddenly snaps as Shadow delivers a powerful kick to her rear end causing her to move a few feet forward.

"In case I didn't make this clear before, I don't carry people, now you are going to stand on your own two feet and keep moving forward even if I have to kick your ass all day long! NOW MOVE!" Shadow shouts to a surprise Cagalli as he delivers another hard kick to her butt. Shadow wasn't trying to be mean, but the place was on fire and if they continued to stay in one place for too long they were going to die so this was how he choose to fix things.

With Shadow's "encouragements" Cagalli slowly starts moving again and they continue their search for the little girl. "So have you seen like a doctor or talked to anyone about this yet?" Shadow asks as they move onto the stairs and start to climb to the fourth floor. It was starting to get hot even by Shadow's standards, the orange flames were all around them now lighting the place up not in a good way.

"No, you're the first person I told about it." Cagalli tells him, whenever she felt her body begin to freeze up and refuse to move Shadow would kick her hard in the rear, like restarting a motor, and force her to continue moving forward. He was careful though, the part of Cagalli's mind that wasn't being consumed by fear recognized that whenever she stumbled and looked like she was going to fall forward after being kicked Shadow would always catch her by the shirt and pull her back onto her feet before once more pushing her forward, although he was trying to hide this.

"Well congratulations today's the day you're going to work through this phobia, now have you always been afraid of fire?" Shadow asks as he stays close behind her. Shadow didn't actually think he could help talk her through her phobia but if he could keep her distracted she might be able to function again.

Cagalli felt like she should argue with Shadow over something he just said, or question it but her mind was just too tax at the moment for that so she just answers his question. "No, I mean sure as a little kid I was always a little weary and nervous around fire, but nothing like this. This, this god damn embarrassment didn't start until after the first Bloody Valentine's Day war."

This caught Shadow's attention, "When exactly did it start? What trigged it?"

"I don't know, I first noticed it at a Birthday party when the candlesOW" Cagalli is interrupt by Shadow's "encouragement", not that it mattered, Shadow was already shaking his head.

"No that doesn't make sense, when was the first time you had an actual issue with fire, the very first time it didn't just bother or annoy you but scared you?"

Cagalli rolls her eyes, "If I knew that I could have solved my phobia by myself already."

"BULLSHIT!" Shadow screams even louder than normal catching Cagalli by surprised. "People don't just suddenly develop phobias overnight! Something happens to them, something so traumatic that it scares them on a subconscious level so whatever caused you to become pyrophobia it's definitely inside that memory of yours! Don't think about, it's a part of your soul so just let it flow right out of you. Now describe to me the first time fire scared you, when its terror burned itself onto your very soul, when it hurt you the most."

Cagalli was about to respond back with a snide comment when a small piece of burning debris hits her on her shoulder. Cagalli had been smart enough to leave her very flammable leather jacket back on the curve before entering the burning building but her T-shirt still manages to catch on fire. She goes to slap it out with the palm of her hand in a very panic expression but that's when it happens, the fire turned around and looked at her. As it gazes into her eyes and she gazed into it she saw the image of her father, Uzumi burning again.

It came back to her in a flash which was fitting since the whole incident had happen in the same amount of time, traumas don't need a large amount of time to scare someone, in fact all it takes is a single moment. "It was back in Orb, after the first wave invasion when my dad ordered everyone to abandon the island and go into space. I asked what about him, and, and he said he would stay behind in Orb as was duty. I don't know how I knew but I instinctively knew that he was planning on blowing up the mass drive by himself."

Cagalli's voice trembles as she tells the story while continuing to watch the fire grow and burn away at her T-shirt; however her body is continuing to slowly climb the stairs. "I-I beg him to come with us, I beg him not to leave me alone and of course at that moment he tells me I'm adopted; like the biggest freaking jackass in the world, before shoving me into the ship!" Cagalli suddenly snaps, "AND HE DIED FOR WHAT! HONOR! A FUCKING COUNTRY THAT DIDN'T GIVE A SHIT ABOUT HIM! WHAT ABOUT ME, I NEEDED HIM!" Cagalli screams into the blazing building, but the fire doesn't answer her back, only her Shadow silently listens.

With tears in her eyes she continues, "I watched him burn, I was glued to that port side widow like iron, not even the gods themselves could move me not that there is a god or at least not a just god because if there was they wouldn't have watched my father burn and do nothing. We must have been close to orbit when he pushed the button, in theory far out of sight range to see but I don't care what anyone says, I saw it! I watched as the explosion consumed the mass drive base, I watched as the man who raised me, who taught me right from wrong, who cared for me when I sick, who told me bedtime stories when I was little, who sang to me when I was scared, who loved me when I only caused him hardship, who was the only father I have ever know burn! It must have taken only a moment, but to me it was as if a life time had passed, I was born as I watched that fire, I grew up as I watched that fire, I grew old as I watched the fire, and then I died watching that blaze. And when it was over, the fire, the FIRE LOOKED AT ME! It ate the strongest man I have ever known like he was nothing and then it LOOKED AT ME!"

Cagalli screams before she starts coughing again from the smoke, she's having trouble catching her breath even with the wet cloth over her mouth and nose. Shadow finally takes action at this point; the fire on Cagalli's shoulder had spread beyond the point of being able to put out with ones bare hands so Shadow quickly rips her whole t-shirt off before she suffered serious burns, startling the crap out of Cagalli. To his relief Cagalli only had light burns, a part of Shadow wanted to take this opportunity to check her out but the overwhelming majority of Shadow denied that request on account of making him feel like a sicko. Instead Shadow takes off his windbreaker and hands it to her. "Sorry about the shirt but why don't we call it even for my jacket?"

"Yeah." Cagalli says as she blushes in embarrassment from being shirtless and about her outburst, she had never told anyone, not even her closest friends and family about that story. As Cagalli puts on Shadow's black windbreaker and zips it up Shadow tries to think of something to say in respond to her story and for the first time in a long time he curses himself for being stupid. At that moment he would have given almost anything to be smarter, to be good with words and poems and other language so that he could try to take away her pain, to make her feel better, and if nothing else to make her laugh.

"Mommy!"

It was at that moment they both heard the voice, a cry filled with so much fear that it was almost heartbreaking. Shadow and Cagalli look at each other then turn and cry at the same time "LUCY!"

"Mommy! I'm in here!"

The Shadow Knights hop up the last two stairs onto the fourth floor and head towards the direction of the voice. They enter into an apartment and quickly make their way to the bedroom where they find the form of the small child Lucy cowering in the corner of the bedroom. The floor was almost covered in flames and burning debris and only the bed appeared safe for now. Frankly it was a miracle the corner where Lucy was hadn't also caught on fire yet, but that miracle wasn't going to last long.

"S-Shadow, Cagalli?" Lucy says clearly confused, tears were streaking down her face.

"You didn't know we were good for other things besides Gundam Fighting right?" Shadow says in an attempt to make her smile, it works for a moment but another piece of piece of collapsing ceiling puts a stop to that. Lucy screams in surprise and then starts crying. Shadow takes one step into the bedroom to go get her but stops when he hears snapping noises under his foot. "Shit, the floor's not strong enough to hold our weight anymore." Thinking fast Shadow looks around and quickly comes up with a plan. "Hey Cagalli, do you-" Shadow stops talking when he sees the look on Cagalli's face. She was deadly pale again and trembling. It was clear that the sight of all the fire was getting to her and that the only thing she was capable of doing at the moment was putting on a brave face for Lucy.

This wasn't good, Shadow wasn't good with children and he had been counting on Cagalli to handle Lucy but that wasn't happening now. There was no more time to think, Shadow had to act, he had to get the girls out of this building now! "Lucy, Lucy calm down. It's going to be ok."

"Shadow I'm scared!"

"No, no don't be scared, just focus on me. Let everything fade away….now let's have some fun instead." Shadow says in a gentle voice putting on his smile.

"Fun?" Lucy asks as she focuses completely on the calming presence which was Shadow.

"Yea, fun that's right. Now tell me, have you ever jumped on a bed before?"

The comment is so random, so out there that it makes Lucy giggle, "Of course I've jumped on a bed, silly."

Shadow smiles back, "Well excuse me Ms. Bed Jumper, now how high can you jump? I bet you could jump really high right? Why don't you show me?" Shadow gestures towards the bed.

Lucy looks at the bed then the fire spreading all around her uncertain.

"Hey what did I say? Focus only on me, geez the fire gets all the attention and everyone just completely forgets about the Shadow?" The comment causes Lucy to once again giggle relaxing her. "Good now come on, jump on the bed." Lucy slowly gets up onto the bed and begins to jump. The floor groans in respond but Shadow's voice overlaps it, "Come on you can jump higher than that can't you?" Lucy frowns and responds to the challenge by jumping really high on the bed. The floor groans again and cracking noises can be heard. "NOW JUMP TO ME!" Shadow shouts.

The command is like a lightning bolt and is so startling and sudden that Lucy instantly follows it. She leaps off the bed towards Shadow, just in time as the bed and the entire floor of the bedroom collapses and falls downward. Reaching out Shadow catches her and pulls her into the hallway into a tight hug. "Good job Lucy, good job, you're such a good girl!" Shadow gently places her down, but before Lucy can look around he grabs her face and focuses it on his own. Shadow gets on his knees and bends his back so he's on eye level with Lucy. "God how many times are you going to make me repeat myself, I'm beginning to think you don't like listening to me," Lucy giggles at his joke, "forget everything around you and focus only on me. Now let's play another game, oh this one is called chase the star flies."

"Star flies?" Lucy asks confused.

"They're magical beings, like Santa Claus or the Tooth fairy, only they're around you all the time you just have to believe in them and you'll see them. Now do you think you can believe in them?"

Lucy shakes her head up and down.

"Ok good, now let's go-"Shadow stops for a moment surprise as he looks down at Lucy. The little girl was tightly gripping his hand with her own, her hand was so small, so fragile, yet it had so much potential. It was something that was worth protecting and dying for. Shadow gently squeezes it back then turns to Cagalli who had been watching the whole thing in her petrified state. Without hesitation he grabs her hand and begins to lead or in Cagalli's case drag, both of them to the stairs.

"Come on Lucy, you're going to have to run faster than that if you want to catch the Star flies!" Shadow shouts encouragingly as he leads the little girl on. "Can you see them Lucy? Can you see the star flies?"

"Ye-yes, yes I can!" Lucy shouts, and she really could see them. The most beautiful bright firefly like creature all around her, she begins to chase them reaching out with her other hand to grab them but they keep slipping away.

Lucy begins to laugh and giggle as Shadow occasionally picks her up and swings her around holes on the ground or out of the way of falling debris as she continues to chase after the star flies. In no time at all they're down the stairs and are heading to the exit when a loud crashing sound overhead is heard. Following his instincts Shadow let's go of Lucy's hand and kicks her back while he tackles Cagalli forward again.

Everyone is move out of the way just in time as a burning steel beam smashes onto the first floor hallway, dividing the group. "LUCY!" Both Shadow and Cagalli scream as they get up, the steel beam hit the floor and walls at an angle, only allowing a little gap at the top and bottom, too small for either of them to get through.

"Shadow, Cagalli!" Lucy cries, broken from her spell she begins to cry again.

"DAMN IT!" Shadow shouts, this really was not his day. The exit was in their direction and of course there was still no sigh of firemen, and to make matters worse he couldn't cut steel with his sword. _NO, dismiss the impossible and focus only on what I can do. Remember, absolute victory at all costs!_ Shadow thinks as he quickly forms a new plan.

"Ok listen to me Lucy, we're going to play a new game now."

"NO! No more games Shadow," Lucy sobs, "I'm not like you, I'm not fearless!"

Shadow blinks surprise when he hears this, he gets down on his stomach so he can see through the little gap and make eye contact with the girl. "Me fearless?"

Lucy nods her head as she coughs, "That's right; you do things no other Gundam fighter does. You ignore all danger and charge in unafraid, even in your last match against Janardan you turned off your safety systems in order to break free of his chains. No one does that. I can't be like you, I'm afraid!"

Shadow unexpectedly smiles at the child, "Would you like to know the secret to my fearlessness?"

Lucy looks up at him surprised but she slowly nods her head and inches a little closer. This also catches Cagalli by surprised and for a brief moment her curiosity overrules her fear as she leans closer to Shadow.

"My secret is that I'm always afraid." Shadow says as he stands up tall. "Everything scares me, being burn scares me, dying scares me, losing scares me, being alone scares me, I'm scared of making my friends cry, I'm scared of them dying, but my biggest fear is that I'm a nobody and that I'll always be a nobody, a background character that can never be the best. You see I figured something out when I was little. Fear isn't our enemy, he's our friend, he wants to help us but he doesn't know how and if we don't tell him how he bumbles around and ends up making things worse most of the time. Heh, in a way he's a lot like me.

Now in minute this steel beam is going to be lifted out of the way, I don't want you to fight against your fear I want you to embrace it. I want you to listen to it and then tell it how it can help you. The trick to the whole thing is simply asking it what at that moment are you most scared of?"

Lucy stares in the direction of Shadow's voice, in awe at his words which went against everything anyone had ever told her. On the other side of the beam Cagalli too was looking at Shadow in awe. That had been the most personal, the most intimate thing Shadow had ever shared with her. It was something deep, something person, a part of Shadow's soul that he just laid bared for her to see. It most have been incredibility embarrassing and unpleasant for him to share that with them and Cagalli wanted to say something to make him feel better when suddenly she had a bad premonition.

"Shadow what do you mean when you said the steel beam is going to be lifted up?" Cagalli demands.

Shadow doesn't answer Cagalli right away, he just stares at the steel beam and then says, "Once the steel beam is up grab Lucy and carry her to safety."

"What me? B-but I can't, I might freeze up!" Cagalli shouts scared to death of letting her phobia harm a child.

Shadow flashes her his usual overconfident smile, "Don't worry, I believe in you." With that he turns to the steel beam, it was time for him to walk what he preached. He didn't want to get hurt, he was afraid of pain, afraid of being burned but there was an even bigger fear inside of him at this moment. He was afraid of Lucy and Cagalli dying, Shadow let his fear know that was the most important fact and guided it to help him. Shadow's black Neon gauntlet begins to glow as he opens his eyes and grabs the flaming steel beam with his bare hand.

It wasn't the steel itself that was burning but the material on the steel, not that it mattered. Pain, overwhelming unbearable pain assaulted Shadow's mind, _it hurts, _just from touching the steel beam but he couldn't stop there, _it HURTS._ Shadow roared a fierce battle cry as he put actual pressure against the steel beam, _please make it stop,_ and slowly the bottom gap grew bigger as the steel beam was lifted up, _I can't do it, please don't make me keep lifting it._ No words could begin to describe the pain that hit Shadow, _oh god it hurts so much make it stop_, he could feel the flesh on his hand begin to melt away exposing the pink muscle underneath, _it hurts, it hurts, it HURTS, _his brain was definitely misfiring as it tried to process the overwhelming pain, _AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW_. Despite this Shadow holds the steel beam over his head, his fear gives him strength and helps him hold on.

As the steel beam rose off the ground, and assault of fear hit Lucy. She was scared of so much that it paralyzed her, _what are you scared of most right now?_ Shadow's question enters into her mind like a storm and blows away all the fears until only one was left standing, the most important one. At that moment, Lucy's biggest fear was dying, and her second biggest fear was disappointing Shadow. With those two on top all the other fears went away for the moment, and Lucy's body began to move, guided by fear. She ran and ran with all her might under that flaming steel beam.

"SHADOW!" Cagalli screamed completely and absolutely stunned. It was at that moment when her fear kicked in, at that moment what scared her the most was not the fire but of being a bad mother. Mothers were supposed to protect their children and if she couldn't even protect this one child right here and now how could she hope to protect her own future children someday? Guided by this fear Cagalli runs up to the flaming steel beam and bends down and catches Lucy who throws herself at Cagalli.

Cagalli hugs her tightly as she turns around and begins to run towards the exit, but not before stopping as her surprising second biggest fear rushes to the surface, her fear of Shadow dying. "Shadow!" She screams.

Shadow finally and thankfully let's go of the steel beam and pulls back his hands. Shadow then begins to violently hit his hands on everything around him that isn't burning in order to put out the flames on his own hand. While Shadow does this be he begins to scream every single curse word in the human language and some curse words he just made up. The smell of melted flash hangs deeply in the already impossible to breath air. Another piece of the ceiling collapsing brings Shadow back to the present as he turns towards Cagalli. "GO!" Shadow screams as he quickly hides what remains of his hands behind his back, his primary fear canceling everything else out.

The Shadow Knights and Lucy race to the exit and burst outside at a full sprint. There are fire trucks and ambulances outside, and firemen appear to have been just about to go into the building for them. "LUCY!" Lucy's mother screams as she finally breaks free of the police who have been holding her back and runs up to her daughter.

"Mommy!" Lucy screams right back as she lets go of Cagalli and jumps into her mother's arms. Both mother and daughter begin crying.

"Thank you, thank you so much!" Lucy's mom says in-between sobs.

With his job done Shadow finally begins to collapse but Cagalli just as quickly catches him now and starts screaming, "Medic! I need a doctor!" The rest seems to happen in a flash as both Shadow and Cagalli are loaded into one of the ambulances and are rush to the hospital. "You stupid moron, what were you thinking lifting up that steel beam with your bare hands!" Cagalli yells at Shadow on the car ride to the hospital.

Shadow turns to look at his friend, to be honest Cagalli looked worst then he did. She was covered in black soot and still looked ghostly pale, not to mention her own burns they had to be taken care of. "Shadow." Cagalli begins more softly this time around.

"Yea."

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry I was useless in there." Cagalli says with great shame and guilt.

She looks so sad, an overwhelming instinct in Shadow made him want to make her laugh. "Don't worry about it, you'll do better next time but be warned I'm not saving your butt again." Shadow's bad joke fails to make her even smirk, she just nods her head still looking depressed. Upset at his failure Shadow decides to cheat, "O-kay…time to get up" Cagalli looks at Shadow confused but the man in black doesn't move. "Yup, gotta get up right now." Shadow still doesn't make a move to get up. "Yessir-reedy-deedy-do…..up and at 'em."

"What are you doing?" Cagalli finally asks.

Shadow smiles at her, clearing waiting for her to ask that question, "Fooling myself."

Once Shadow said that it hit her, "Wait are you quoting a Garfield comic?" Cagalli knew that Shadow was a big time Garfield fan and this quote was from one of the few Garfield comic strips she had actually read.

"Yup, Garfield's the best, you can't beat the orange cat of laughter, now feed me." Shadow says proudly.

The joke was so stupid, so nuts, so Shadow that Cagalli finally laugh, she laughed like she hadn't laughed in years. She rolled back onto the bed she was sitting on in the ambulance and laugh for a ten minutes before finally calming down. There was a smile on her face as she turns back to look at Shadow. "You know we were both wrong."

Shadow blinks surprised and confused, perhaps it was the pain medication the first aid people had him on but he had no idea what Cagalli was talking about. "About what?"

"You would be an awesome dad." Cagalli says with complete honesty as she remembers how Shadow had handle Lucy in that situation.

Shadow blushes at the comment and turns away. The episode ends with him stubbornly saying, "Even if that is true, and it's not, it doesn't matter because I still don't ever want to have children."


	88. Episode 87 The Bloods make their move

Episode 87 – The Bloods make their move

_Location: A street corner in Arianna Time: Four days left until the fourth round_

He stood on the street corner motionless; a large part of the population would be unable to tell the difference between him and a statue. There were people packed all around him, some moving further down the street while others stood with him at the street crossing light. Occasionally people would glance at him and give him the crazy guy stare. He supposed that compared to the T-shirts, jeans and suits his dark black cloak with wolf's fur was quite different but that didn't really matter to him. From a pure logical stand point he knew that the crazy stares some people gave him should have arouse some kind of emotion but he felt nothing.

He did not feel embarrassed, nor did he feel shame, he did not even feel anger towards the ones who looked at him disapprovingly. Really the only reason he registered their stares at all was to gauge how much notice he was getting. All tactical decisions and plans he devises were directly affected by how many people were aware of his presence, the less people that were aware of his presence the more he could get away with. Of course making himself invisible in a crowd of people, despite his unusual clothing was simple basic training which only required observing everyone around him and standing in the right position where bind spots intersected and the background matched his clothes.

In this case he used the shadows of the people and newspaper stands all around him to blend in. He was not standing on this corner like the majority of people waiting for the light to turn green, he held no fear of cars or crossing a busy intersection, if a need were to arise for him to go across the street he would, regardless of the light. He was gathering intelligence for the mission he had to complete; while this was nothing new to him it had been some time since he had to do it. Most of the missions that were assigned to him were pretty straight forward and simple, get to point A from point B, kill this person while following these rules.

He supposed that Ms. 3 might be mistaking his lack of feeling as incompetence in the fields of subtly and espionage, not that it matter to him. "Heheheh, are you still here 4ry HAHAHHAHA?" Mr. 4 sense the psychic influence descend upon the crowd around him, well sense was not the right word, after all one of his unique qualities was that he could not feel psychic influence at all however he could still see its effect on other people. Subtle almost unnoticeable twitches of the eye, as well slight changes in the tone of their voice and the fact they failed to notice the man in the black cloak with bone decorations walk right in front of them.

Mr. 6 was the organizations strongest and most powerful MSA user, it was said that he could stop everyone within five hundred kilometers with just his mind provided they didn't have high levels of MSA resistance training. Even right now it was nothing for him to simply cause the people all around them to not notice their presence through psychic influence. "Hehehehe geez how long are you planning to stay out here hHAHAHHAHA?" Mr. 6 asks in-between bursts of psychotic laughter.

Mr. 4 did not feel the need to answer him, so he did not.

"Hehehehe this certainly is a tricky mission we've got HAHAHAHA, our target is a high ranking scientist heheehehhe part of a team of scientist trying to find Protos hehehehehe, the first planet to ever be created in the entire universe, HAHAHAHHAHA the center point or beginning of everything. I have to get close enough to him heheheheheh to "suggest" psychically some ideas for the project HAHAHAHAHAHAH! Too bad that's a lot harder said than done hehehehe, given the nature of this project the man's under strict guard hehehehehe. The guard itself would be no problem for me to kill by myself hehehehee but sadly at the first sign that the scientist has been compromise they'll remove him from the project HAHAHAHAHHAH!"

Mr. 4 had read the briefing report, and already knew all of this but he didn't see the point of interrupting Mr. 6 and stopping him, after all Mr. 4 did not feel any annoyance by this retelling of information. While Mr. 6 was talking Mr. 4 continued to constantly scan an analyze his surroundings, he heard every word that people were saying within a twenty meter radius, a boyfriend and girlfriend arguing over what movie to see, a child playing with a toy ball while the mother talks on the phone about a meeting, friends discussing school work, he heard and understood it all.

His hood may cast a shadow over his eyes covering his face but that didn't weaken his vision at all, he saw everything, even the tiniest pieces of their clothing like the make and brand of their wristwatches, the type of suitcases and backpacks people where carrying and the shoelaces on their shoes. He wasn't just observing the people though, he was also observing his environment, every car that drove by, every window that was within his almost superhuman sight and even the occasional bird that flew overhead. Mr. 4's senses were keener then most animal's senses and for a good reason, he needed all that data in order to formulate the simulations in his mind.

"Hehehhe so we have to get close to this scientist guy hehehehe without anyone noticing HAHAHHAHAHA! It's a lot harder said than done, heheheheh, with some nice MSA magic HAHAHAHAHA I could easily slip past the human guards at the house without them being any of the wiser heheheheheh but you can't use mind control powers on a machine heheheheheh.

My invisibility cloak hehhehehe can get me past the cameras but the house is loaded with a bunch of invisible trip wires heheheheh and other electronic security measures, hehehehe that are constantly being switched and updated HAHAHAHHAHA, to detect unwelcomed visitors heheehehe. To make things even worse heheheheh, the security systems at the house aren't even being controlled at the house HAHAHAHAHH, they are being controlled remotely from a completely different site in a completely different city."

Mr. 4 ran over a thousand different calculations in his head per minute while Mr. 6 talked, he ran every possible battle scenario he could think of, from the various positions snipers could appear and shoot at him, to the person standing in front of him turning around and trying to stab him with a poisonous knife, the child playing with that toy ball could have a bomb on him set to explode, Mr. 4 even calculated what he would do if a Gundam were to suddenly appear and open fire on him with a beam rifle. There were over a billion people living on or near Sora so it was only logical to assume that at least one person if not more were stronger than Mr. 4 and might have been sent to kill him.

Even if such a person did not exist or hadn't been sent to kill him Mr. 4 was still mortal, he would bleed when cut and a bullet would still kill him if you hit him in the right place so there was always a need for preparing for the worst. He supposed that other members of the organization would not be worried about any normal person, or an unknown fighter who might have been sent to kill them but arrogance and overconfidence had been programmed out of him by the training he went through. That and Mr. 1 was living proof that someone stronger than him could appear at any time and attack.

"Heheheheh the scientist isn't married, he has no children and no friends HAHAHAHAAHAH, all food and supplies are delivered to the secured house and are heavily checked over by both people and machines HAHAHAHAHHA. The only time he leaves the secured house is when he's driven to work, hehehehe and the place where they're doing the research is even more heavily secured and guarded then the secured house heheheheh. That just leaves the car ride to his work, heheheheh, his car is heavily forfeited with armor; it's as strong as a tank and is as fast as a race car heheheheheh. Even assuming we could get into the car heheheheh the thing has been equipped with high tech sensors HAHAHAHHA so they'll know the moment someone breaks in their heheheh and of course that would mean they would remove our target from the project HAHAHAHAHA!"

Mr. 4 didn't mind Mr. 6 talking, the simulations he ran was all done on a subconscious level, it had been a combination of programmed and drilled into his mind during the early days of his training. Mr. 4 was more than capable of engaging in conversation while running the simulations at the same time. Most people wouldn't even be able to tell that Mr. 4 was running these calculations in his head, probably because of the assumption that if he was doing these simulations he would do everything in his life in the most efficient way possible.

While it was true that he did know the most efficient way to do tasks it was an incorrect assumption that he would use it, people do tasks efficiently or quickly because they feel a sense of urgency and Mr. 4 did not feel anything, including urgency. That was one of the main reasons why Ms. 3 always included a time limit on his assignments, otherwise he could literary spend months or years doing it. Today though was different, today for the first time since before his training Mr. 4 felt a sense of urgency, his heart rate was elevated and he felt nervous and twitchy. Cagalli's next match was in four days, and if they did not hurry this mission up he would miss it.

"Heheheheh and getting the driver out of the car won't be an easy task either hehehehe, the driver has been trained and given instructions to only stop the car at red lights, or stop signs, hehehehe and to run everyone over at the first sign of trouble HAHAHAHHAHA, seriously if he hit someone he would continue to drive straight back to the complex before reporting the accident HAHAHAHAHAH! So to sum up, hehehehhe this could turn into a very annoying mission HAHAHAHHAH so there's no point in standing out here waiting for good luck to come hehehehe."

Mr. 6 may have referred to it as good luck but in truth it was all calculated by Mr. 4. While the driver changed up the routes he took from the work back to the house, there were only so many possible roads he could chose to take. Human beings were creatures of habits, and patterns, even if they weren't often aware of them, a fact that Mr. 4 had exploited several times before and this driver was no different. Although his routes may appear random there was a subconscious pattern to them, a pattern that Mr. 4 had figured out. This was not special though, Mr. 6 had also figured out the driver's patterns and as he said the hard part was getting in unnoticed.

What was special was that all the variables were lining up this time, one thing Mr. 4 discovered by doing these simulations for so many years is that variables were always constantly changing, and that if you were constant, patient, and observant they would line up to achieve your objective. As the driver rounded the corner the light for the crosswalk turned red, informing walkers not to cross the street while at the same time letting cars go by. Mr. 4 looks down at the small child he had observed earlier with cold unfeeling eyes, even children could not bring about an emotional respond from him, he did not feel a parental instinct to protect this child; in fact he did not understand why he should treat this small young creature any differently from an adult.

He did not understand how age made a difference with anything, and he never understood why he would use less than his full potential on anyone that had less experience or intelligence them himself, then again he did not understand why he should use his full power against anyone that did not pose a threat to him. Still this wasn't the time and place for him to wonder about things, for the first time in a very long time he actually cared about doing something perfectly the first time, it actually caused him to feel nervous and made him slightly hesitant. Mr. 4 quickly crushed those flickering doubts, something he hadn't had to do since the very first days of his training. He ran the calculations in his head again, it was basic physics, he calculated the velocity of the car, and then the force and angle he would need in order to get the projectile to hit the car just right.

As the car drew closer Mr. 4 made his move, he walked fluently through the crowd, almost like a shadow or ghost, and stood right behind the boy and then he kicked the child. The ball the little boy was playing with flies right out of his hands into the street while the force of the kick itself picks the little boy up and sends him flying right into the path of the black limousine their target was riding in. The child hits the windshield of the limousine, making a terrible cracking noise and leaving blood smears as he rolls over top of the car and then hits the tar road behind it hard.

"SAMMY!" What could only be the mother screams as several other people scream at the same time.

"Oh my god!"

"Someone call 911!"

"What the hell happen!"

The limousine comes to a screeching halt as does the rest of traffic as a whole herd of people, including the mother rush into the middle of the street and surround the child, making a barrier around the kid. Suddenly gasp of surprise and hope are heard from the crowd surrounding the child.

"Oh my god he's still breathing!"

"SAMMY, SAMMY, SAMMY!"

"Is anyone a doctor! We need a DOCTOR here RIGHT NOW!"

"Where is the ambulance!"

Mr. 6 blinks in surprise. It was so sudden, and so brutal, that it even caught him by surprise. Mr. 6 was a psychopath who enjoyed torture and psychological warfare so when something was brutal by his standards you knew it was serious.

"What are you waiting for?" Mr. 4 says in an emotionless voice. "I've created an opening, now complete the mission." Mr. 4 stood motionless, his gray black cloak slightly waved in the air.

"Right." Mr. 6 says, still feeling slightly unnerved by this tactic, call him old fashion but not even he would use an innocent child in a battle plan. Still what was done was done, and he would sooner cut off his own tongue then show weakness now. Mr. 6 activates his invisibility cloak and disappears from the view of eyes and most technological equipment.

Meanwhile as the crowd continues to swarm around the child the driver in the limousine clenches the steering wheel of his car tightly. The car was made as strong as a tank, and was completely undamaged from the accident, it could drive away now fine and dandy but the driver was reluctant. As a professional safe driver he had seen a lot of crazy shit in his day, but this was the first time he had ever hit a child that young before. For a second he wondered if this was all a trap, but there was no mistake that the blood on his windshield was real.

Still, to make sure the driver reached out with his mind to what he could easily tell was the "parent" of the child. Being a MSA user certainly made his job easier, being able to spot threats or check people with just his mind sure came in handy in this line of work. The driver was easily able to enter the woman's mind and immediately was able to tell that she was in fact this boy's real mother and very, very, very distraught. The driver expanded his mental senses from a single point, the mother's mind, to a wide area around the car. He didn't sense any threats; just a large amount of worry and concern for the child but it was hard to get an accurate reading doing an area scan.

The driver was trained to keep driving and deliver his passenger to the destination no matter what, and that very strict training was now screaming at him to continue driving but he just couldn't leave the child on the street like that. There didn't seem to be any threats and his MSA abilities might be able to help relieve the child's pain.

"Sir-"The driver begins to ask the passenger in the backseat.

"Go, see if there's anything you can do to help." The scientist says to the driver who smiles and nods his head as he quickly steps out of the car. The door was open no more than a few seconds, or at least that's what the driver thought. As soon as he stepped outside he felt his concentration slip for a moment, similar to when people loss their train of thought or get lost in thought. He immediately slams the door to his limo shut and begins to look around scanning the crowds, an ordinary person wouldn't even have noticed the incident much less knew what it could mean but the driver was not an ordinary person. He was a high ranking MSA user, easily the best in Arianna and ranked in the top ten in Myrtus so he knew what the aftereffects of a psychic attacked looked like.

The driver reached out with his mind again, looking for a hostile target, but once again he found nothing. He hesitated, he could have sworn that those were the aftereffects of a psychic attack but he had his mental defense up. There's no way a MSA user should have been able to break through all of his defenses so cleanly and alter his mental state without him noticing at all.

"Hey you!" One of the bystanders shouts out, clearly thinking the driver was about to run from the scene of the accident. No longer having a choice the driver holds up his hands in peace and quickly moves towards the crowd to see if he could help the boy. There was another possibility to explain the aftereffects that he had pushed from his mind, and that was the MSA user who attacked him was on such a higher level than him that it was like a giant simply breathing on a child to knock him down. However the idea that anyone could reach such a high level was in itself scary.

###

This was always Mr. 6's favorite part, it had been unexpected that the driver would also be a MSA user but compared to Mr. 6 the guy might as well be a lighter fighting against a military grade flamethrower. It had taken almost no effort from Mr. 6 to bypass his mental defenses and alter his sense of time so that two minutes, the amount of time Mr. 6 needed to slip past him into the open car door, would feel like a second to him. Mr. 6 was still wearing his invisibility cloak and as such was invisible to the naked eye, which was why the target didn't see him despite the panel blocking the passenger and driver's seat being down.

Mr. 6 let out a chuckle "Heheheh".

His target looks up startled, obviously having heard him. "Who's there!" He shouts clearly nervous.

Mr. 6 almost pitied him; the poor guy had no idea what was about to happen to him, too bad for him Mr. 6 got off on the terror he inflicted on others. "Heheheh, don't worry about that, after all you're not going to remember any of this anyway HAHAHHAHAHAHAHAH!" Mr. 6 laughs evilly as he turns off his invisibility cloak, revealing himself to the target and jumps at him.

####

_Location: Arianna's GFC building Time: One day until the fourth round_

Mac walked into the office with a spring in his step and smile on his face, he and his husband Bob had been approved by the adoption agency thanks to Drake's connection and later today would begin to look for their child. It was so exciting that Mac thought he would burst with joy, which was why when he rounded the corner and saw the entire Rapture team sitting around his desk it was like a punch to the face. He immediately knew that this wouldn't be a pleasant conversation, he could tell it by the serious looks and glaring eyes on everyone's faces.

"Hey guys, what's going on? Is everything alright?" Mac asks cautiously.

"No Mac, everything is not alright. Have a seat; we need to talk, now." Black replies with burning blue eyes. Mac had worked with Blake long enough to know when the young man was barely suppressing his anger. Still Mac followed Blake's command and sat down in the chair to his desk.

"Ok, what's on your mind?" Mac asks in a friendly fashion, despite already having a feeling what this was going to be about.

"What's on my mind, I'll tell you what's on my mind friend. You see I got tired of waiting for you to find out who screwed me over with this new rule so I had Tarry hack the GFC and guess what he found?" At this point anyone could tell that Blake was just barely containing his anger.

"Blake, I can explain." Mac begins before Blake cuts him off.

"I found THAT YOU SCREWED ME OVER!" Blake screams as he slams his hands down on the table. "YOU, you're the one who recommend the new rule change!"

"Now, Blake just calm down, just let me explain." Mac tries again but is once more cut off by Kenshi this time.

"Explain what? How you went behind our backs and betrayed us?" Kenshi spits out with clear venom in his voice.

"NO! I did not betray you guys!" Mac snaps back, desperately trying to defend himself against the multiply accusations coming at him from all sides.

"Oh sure, because locking us out of the tournament so that we couldn't compete until the final round and blocking us from getting any live Gundam Fights in thereby rusting us up so that we're weaker against the final and toughest opponent isn't a betrayal." Violet says sarcastically with a hint of disgust.

"There's more to it than that, just listen to what I have to say first before you rush to any judgment." Mac once again tries to get the others to listen but once more fails.

"I can't stomach to listen to any more of your lies." Blake says as he turns around, preparing to leave with the rest of the team and that's when Mac finally snaps.

"GOD DAMN IT, I only did this because YOU FORCED ME TOO!" Mac screams as he points a finger directly at Blake. This catches everyone by surprise; Mac had never yelled at them before, in fact no one could ever remember hearing Mac yell once before.

"Because I forced you too?" Blake responds back as he turns back around to stare Mac down but Mac isn't backing down either.

"That's right, if you would only have taken the C-rank exam then I wouldn't have had to do this!"

It was as if a giant elephant had walked into the room, it was an issue that everyone knew about but only Mac could face Blake about it. Blake tries to speak but Mac isn't letting go now that he has everyone's attention. "Do you think I liked going behind everyone's back and doing this! Do you think I wanted to give you guys a hard time and jeopardized your chances of winning the tournament because I didn't! But god damn it Blake you didn't give me a choice!

I've tried everything I could think of getting your confidence up so that you would feel comfortable taking C-rank exams but you're like a freaking mule digging its heels in the ground and refusing to move forward no matter what! So yes I did recommend the new rule, but I only wanted to just make you uncomfortable enough so that you would take the C-rank exam."

Blake grinds his teeth as he's forced to listen to Mac's words, his anger building with each sentence. After Mac finishes Blake has to take several deep breathes so that he didn't just start screaming at the manager, he was aware that the entire team was looking to him right now to respond to this challenge to his authority. Of course Blake was lucky to have teammates who were his friends, more than friends they were like his brothers and sisters so he didn't have to worry about a coup d'état if he handle this situation badly but it would still affect moral.

That and just knowing that his team would follow him into a burning sun made Blake want to be a better leader even more. "As I've told you several times before, I will enter the C-rank exam when I feel the team is ready AND NOT a SECOND SOONER! And I don't appreciate you challenging my decisions in front of the rest of the team!"

"Then when would you like me to challenge them! Because trying to talk to you in private about this is like trying to open a freaking pickle jar with your bare hands! And when I do finally managed to sit you down and talk about it nothing I say gets through to you!" Mac shouts, as all of his frustration that's been building up for months finally gets out.

"Nothing gets through to me! You're the one that's not listening! I've told you over and over again that I'll sign up the team for the C-rank exam WHEN I SAY we're ready!" Blake shouts right back.

"But you're as ready as you're ever going to be! Even if you go to the C-rank exam and end up failing at least you'll have an idea on what to work on for next time but just standing still isn't good for you! You're the best Gundam team in the city, there's no question about that, but if you don't start fighting stronger opponents other rookie teams are going to come along and pass you by and if you stand still too long it will be the end of the team!"

"No rookie team is even close to beating us! Our biggest threat is the Blood's and they're just a bunch of thugs that bully other teams into dropping out!"

"What about the Shadow Knights?" Mac for the first time since this conversation began, asks in a calm voice.

Blake visibly twitches when Mac says this, every ounce of self-control and restraint he has goes out the window and he explodes. "THE SHADOW KNIGHTS AREN'T ANYWHERE NEAR OUR LEVEL AND THERE'S NO WAY IN HELL THAT WE'LL LOSE TO THEM IF BY SOME MIRACLE THEY MAKE IT TO THE FINAL ROUND!" Blake screams out at the top of his lungs.

Time seems to stop for a moment; Mac doesn't look at Blake with anger or frustration anymore, instead he looks at him with pity. For the first time he realizes that Blake's self-delusion is so strong that it's like a full scale body armor, and something as small as making him unable to fight against other opponents for a month wasn't going to pierce it. "Blake" Mac begins gently but Blake is too far gone to listen to anything he says.

"No don't bother Mac, I'm tired of you not listening to me, you're fired." Blake says, but he almost sounds possessed. There's stun gasps from the rest of his team, although they were angry with Mac for going behind their back it was clear that he still believed he was acting in their best interest. Mac had been with them since they first started the team, he had been with them through some intense and sticky situations, he was family.

"Blake" Mac begins, in shock but Blake has already walked past him towards the exit.

"Tomorrow I'll talk to Joey and we'll get a new manager, now come on guys I've made up my mind." With that being said Blake, and his uneasy teammates leave a frozen Mac standing next to his desk.

####

_Location: On a sidewalk in Arianna Time: One hour before the fourth round begins_

Shadow was running, ever since he was a little kid Shadow liked to run. It helped to relax him and calm his nerves and stress although Shadow would have liked to have also been looking up at the stars. There was a lot to be stressed about, their fight with the Blood's was in an hour and it would determine who would go up against the Raptures in the final round. Personally Shadow was looking forward to kicking the snot out of the Bloods for all the crap they had been done to his team and the other Gundam teams but this fight was going to be different from all the ones before it.

For starters they had absolutely no information on any of the Bloods' Gundam Fighters or Gundams, other than their names. The Bloods had won every round so far in the tournament by default due to their opponents dropping out from a number of different issues. Also the Bloods had replaced every single Gundam Fighter and Gundam on the team just before the tournament so there was literary no information about these people anywhere, while all of their fights, all of their techniques and Gundam's tech all the way through the tournament was public record.

To make matters worse Shadow's hands hadn't fully recovered yet from the fire a few days ago, they were at eighty percent strength which basically meant that it still hurt like hell to grip anything, which was a bad thing for a sword fighter. It also meant that his sense of touch with his hands was slightly off, which occasionally resulted in him having the placement of his hands on the hilt of his sword wrong. Dr. Price had, reluctantly, given consent for Shadow to fight but Cagalli had immediately protested against it and demanded that Shadow sit this one out. This of course led to another argument between the two.

Shadow would have normally just ignored her and fought anyway but Cagalli had made one damn good point. As team leader of the Shadow Knights he had to act in the team's best interest, more so than anyone else since he was the leader and had to set the example. Now was him fighting in the next round really in the team's best interest or was it just him being selfish? Cagalli's words had struck a blow within him, which was why he was currently so nervous and stressed out. Shadow loved Gundam Fighting, he loved it with every fiber of his being and he always wanted to fight when given the chance but was him fighting right now, given his injury and how little they knew about their opponents really the right call?

Shadow normally didn't have a problem with being selfish, he wasn't a saint, he wasn't living his life for others he was living it for himself, to be happy, to have no regrets….but at the same time he didn't want to hurt his friends. Cagalli needed to win in order to get back home, Nick needed to win so he can have access to the resources he needed to find his girl, Kenny needed money and a lot of money for reasons he had never told Shadow, Jack and Drake's reputations were at stake and despite having never fought himself Shadow was confident that Zuke needed the team to win as well.

With everyone's reasons for fighting beginning to weigh on him Shadow felt a sense of responsibility that he wasn't used to, he was more conscious than ever that he was the team leader and that the choices he made affected everyone and not just himself.

With unresolved feelings and doubts Shadow finally slows down, it was only then that he realized his chest was heaving and sweat was raining down his face. Great so now he was tired too in addition to all of the other reasons he shouldn't fight today.

While catching his breath Shadow looks around as his surroundings and notices a Gundam café, Gundam cafés were places with elevators to the underground training city. They were sort of like rest stops for pilots who were in the middle of training with their Gundams. Although Shadow wasn't training in the underground city with a Gundam he could use a drink and as an official GFC pilot he got a discount here. With that being decided Shadow walks into the café.

###

_Location: A different street in Arianna_

Cagalli was annoyed, there were several things that were causing her to feel annoyed but they were all centered around Shadow. They had less than an hour left before the match and that moron had to go run off, although Kenny was confident that he would return before the start of the match Cagalli had decided to go look for Shadow and bring him back by force if need be. So here she was, running on the sidewalks looking for that idiot.

Cagalli was also annoyed with herself; she hadn't meant to upset him during their argument with who should fight. Shadow had looked like he had just got slapped when she accused him of being selfish and not putting the team's needs before his own desire. Honestly she had accused him of being selfish a bunch of times before and he had always just shrugged it off and bickered with her some more so what the hell made this time different! The fact he mumbled "maybe you're right, I need to think about it some more" and just ran off only added to her worry.

Which brings Cagalli to the most annoying thing, the fact that she was worried about Shadow. That's really what caused all of this, the real reason Cagalli didn't want Shadow to fight was because she was worried about his hands, even though he was cleared by Dr. Price she was still concern he might further injure his hands if he fought today. While Shadow being injured was nothing new, seriously all the nurses at the local hospital knew he by name now, Cagalli couldn't help be feel responsible for this injury. If only she hadn't been so stupid as to rush into a burning building despite her fear of fire, if only she hadn't succumb to her fear in the first place Shadow might not have gotten hurt.

Of course instead of just telling Shadow straight up that she was worried about his injury she had to be a coward again, and hide behind a bunch of political BS that only made things worse. If she had known that Shadow would have taken her words so hard she would have never said anything to begin with and just let him fight.

With a heavy heart Cagalli rounds a corner hoping to see a familiar face, which she does but not the one she was expecting.

###

_Location: Another street in Arianna_

Nick causally walks around Arianna's streets in a halfhearted attempt to look for Shadow. While Nick trusted that Shadow would show up in time for the match Cagalli had asked him to help her look for him and it was part of his code to always help a girl when asked if he was able. Nick couldn't help but chuckle a little at the two of them, always watching each other but never fully understanding what they were seeing, mirror images. As Nick walked down the street he casually whistle a tune, he wouldn't say he grew up in a rough area in New Australia but all of New Australia was rough considering the land and environment.

That's why Nick quickly caught on to several people following him although they tried to be sneaky about it. Their clothes were what gave it away, they weren't wearing matching outfits but they all had the same feel to them, as if they had picked out their outfits at the same place, plus they were all wearing long jackets…as if they were concealing weapons. Nick continues to act as if he was unaware of their presence as he changes course towards a nearby Gundam café.

They were too many people around him right now, if a fight started right here a lot of innocent people would get hurt so he had to lead them away somewhere less crowded and where there might be allies. The fact he might find allies at the Gundam café was just a passing thought to Nick, he really just needed to get to an area with little people, and the few people who were there would be able to take care of themselves but as he became aware of more and more of these mysterious people following him Nick realized that he might need allies if he was going to make it out of this fight alive.

####

_Location: C-23 Gundam café_

Blake was having coffee by himself at a table in the corner of the café. He was in a foul mood because of last night, he hadn't gotten around to talking to Joey yet about getting a new manager and the rest of the team was on edge with his drastic decision. Blake just needed a break, a chance to empty out his thoughts and regroup so that he would be better able to put at ease the concerns of his team. Which was what he was doing by training in his Gundam, the other members of his team had gone ahead to the stadium to watch the fight between the Shadow Knights and the Bloods to see who would be their opponent in the final round. Blake had refused to go on account of he knew who was going to win the fight, there was no way those weak ass Shadow Knights would end up being their final opponents.

As soon as Blake thinks this Shadow walks into the café, there weren't a lot of people in the café to begin with so the two fighters immediately spot each other.

"Blake!"

"Shadow!" Shadow was the last person Blake had wanted to see, just seeing him brought back all of his anger from yesterday with his dealings with Mac.

It was completely opposite for Shadow, he had been wanting to talk with Blake for a while and now that the chance had presented itself and no one was around to stop him Shadow intended to do just that. With a smug smile he walks right up to Blake's table and sits down much to Blake's distaste.

"Don't you have a Gundam match to get to?" Blake asks in a rude manner.

Shadow believing Blake's rudeness is because he feels threaten by him replies smoothly, "I've got plenty of time still to make it to the match, so I saw you watching my last match, what did you think?"

Blake grumbles unhappily as he holds his head up high and replies, "Don't misunderstand, I didn't see the match for you. I watched the match because Arianna's Public Servants are normally who we end up fighting in the final round hehe but it looks like they've gotten weaker since we last fought."

Shadow narrows his eyes insulted by Blake's comment, "What did you say?"

"You heard me. What did you think I would complicate you and say I was impressed by your performance? Please, the Raptures have beaten Arianna's Public Servants in a total shutout eight consecutive times already so you aren't hot shit Mr. Really Janardan must have been overworked or just out of shape because he was fighting a lot worse than normal."

Shadow slams his hands down on the table spilling Blake's coffee as he stands up angrily. Sure Janardan may not have taken the Gundam Fights as seriously as Shadow did but that didn't mean Shadow was going to sit back and let someone else bad mouth his opponent, who he knew fought with all of his might, just to diminish the hard earn victory his team got. "Shut the freak up! You know what I think, I think you're scared, you're scared because you know I'm better then you now so you're just trying to belittle my opponents in a sad attempt to make yourself look better and you know what, it's pathetic!"

Now Blake shoots straight up and gets in Shadow's face, his rage pouring from every fiber of his body. "Well it looks like someone's ego has gotten back to normal, don't forget you little punk I kicked your ass before with little trouble but if you're so anxious to get your ass kicked again then I'm willing to go right now!" Blake shouts as he reaches for the curved blade attached to his utility belt.

"HA, I suppose I can get a warm-up fight in before the match with the Bloods, I'm sure it won't take me long anyway to beat you." Shadow replies with a smile as he sends daggers at Blake with his eyes. Shadow also begins to reach for his katana on his belt without removing his eyes from Blake.

Just when both fighters are about to attack each other a new voice breaks into the mix, "Knock it off you stupid men!" Suddenly a metal staff swings right in-between the two forcing them to jump back and away from each other. "Honestly this is why women are the superior gender."

Surprise both Shadow and Blake turn to see a tall black woman, with a dark red leather jacket, white T-shirt, short black hair, blue eyes, brown pants and black sneakers. "Sesen Omolara." Blake says evenly, although he knew of Sesen by reputation this was the first time he had met her in person.

"Sesen! You're still in town! Awesome, do you want to settle our match now!" Shadow asks in an excited friendly fashion.

"Blake Grendal." Sesen replies coldly before turning to Shadow. Sesen couldn't help but give Shadow a small smile, she didn't know what it was but something about him was different from others of his filthy gender. Sesen couldn't help but laugh a little on the inside from his upbeat respond to her cold approach. "Of course I'm still in town, we women know that even if you don't experience things first hand you can still learn a great many things from watching others. As much as I would love to settle our match now I'm afraid we can't, remember if any Fighter still in the tournament engages in another Gundam Fight his or her team will be disqualified or did you forget?" Sesen asks.

Shadow makes the "oh right" face while Blake simply refuses to acknowledge the statement. Sesen grins smugly as she puts her metal staff away and takes a seat at the table the two team leaders were sitting at. "Foolish men, forgetting such an important fact however I will not allow the team that beat the Valkyries to lose in such a pathetic manner. You're both just luckily I happen to take a break from training to get a drink."

"Heh, it's interesting to see you act all high and mighty considering you lost in the first round." Blake replies challengingly as he too sits down back at the table.

Sesen eyes him coldly and replies, "To lose is to be human, although I would have liked to have gotten further in the tournament it couldn't be helped that we fought a strong opponent in the first round. There's no shame in losing against a strong opponent, regardless of what round. Still I'm surprised by you Blake, while it's expected that Shadow would lose his cool and forget about the no fighting police of the tournament, for a season veteran like you to come within an inch of just throwing your title away, despite being a man I expected more from you."

Blake fidgets uncomfortably before finally reluctantly saying, "You're right, my behavior was unacceptable, I apologize…..to both of you. I recently had to fire my manager yesterday so I'm a little stressed out."

Shadow blinks surprised while Sesen continues to emit her cold aura towards Blake. "You fired your manager, why?" Shadow asks already forgetting about wanting to clobber him a minute ago.

Before Blake can answer though the bell to the café rings as a large number of people step inside. They wore tattered gang clothes and where visibly armed with guns, chains, swords and other weapons. They were oozing out an intense hostile energy which quickly scared off the small number of people in the café, including the person manning the cashier out. The pack of thugs walks directly to the table Sesen, Blake and Shadow are sitting at. The experience team leaders just casually look at the gang in a calm relax manner, refusing to be intimidate.

"Well, well, well looks like we just hit the jackpot boys!" The pack leader says as he steps forward from the rest of the group. The minions shout their approval.

"Can we help you guys with something?" Blake asks as he narrows his eyes.

The pack leader turns his attention back to the table as he gives Blake a sleazy smile and replies, "Yes, hehe you see we originally came here to kindly ask Mr. Zoomarey here to drop out of the tournament. We weren't expecting Arianna's reigning champion to be here as well, but since you are here we might as well kill two birds with one stone and ask you to drop out as well."

"Like HELL I'll drop out!" Shadow immediately snaps back as he glares at the pack leader unafraid.

"I couldn't have said that better myself." Blake says for the first time ever, agreeing with Shadow.

"Tsk, members of the Bloods, so the rumors of them forcing their opponents out were true. Even for men that's despicable." Sesen replies.

"Oh please don't misunderstand. We're the Tyke Devils, and we are in no way, shape or form, affiliated with the Gundam team the Bloods." The pack leader responds with a smug smile.

"Yea, and I'm a virgin." Blake replies right back, calling them out on their obvious BS.

The pack leader ignores Blake for now and keeps his attention focus on Sesen. "Now little girl we don't really care about you so why don't you just run away now, hehe unless of course you rather stay and play with us?" The pack leader says as several of his minions make perverted gestures towards Sesen.

Sesen scrounges up her noise in disgust, while the pack leader quickly turns his attention back to Shadow and Blake. "As for you two, well I would highly recommend you think about your answer a little more carefully because you see if you don't agree well we're just going to have to start breaking bones, and peeling off your skin until you do agree. Hehehe we might even rape your friend here a couple times in front of you too just for good measure." The rest of the minions cheer clearly liking this suggestion.

"Filthy male pig, I'll rip out your reproductive system and feed it to you to avenge all of the women you've disgraced." Sesen says with venom.

Shadow openly laughs at the man, "HAHAHAHHA, you can go ahead and try but I'm betting right here and now fifty credits that Sesen makes you her bitch in three seconds flat instead. You're going to need a lot more guys," Sesen glares at Shadow, "Oh come on you know what I meant," Sesen continues to glare at Shadow, who rolls his eyes and says, "Fine, you're going to need a lot more PEOPLE, there happy, if you plan on taking even one of us down."

"So that's a no from Shadow, a hell no from Sesen and a go ahead and try it from me. I think we're all in agreement." Blake says as Shadow and Sesen nod their heads in agreement.

"So we're doing things the hard way." The pack leader says as he licks his lips in anticipation.

###

_Location: An alleyway in Arianna_

"Zuke!" Cagalli shouts as she runs up to her geneist teammate. She was surprise to see Zuke hanging around in a dark alleyway but then again it's not like she ever hung out with Zuke so this could be completely normal for him. The proud coordinator looks over his shoulder when he hears her call his name but upon seeing who it is turns back around and continues to walk away. "HEY! Don't just ignore me your asshole!" Cagalli shouts as she runs faster to catch up with him. Zuke was definitely on one of Cagalli's top ten hated list and quite frankly she didn't want anything to do with him but Shadow was still missing and the more people looking for him the better their chances of finding him where.

"Are you heading to stadium right now?" Cagalli asks as she finally manages to catch up to Zuke. It wasn't that difficult since he was walking and she had been running.

"Obviously." Zuke replies in a condescending voice.

Cagalli bites her tongue and resists the urge to say something back, instead she takes a deep breath and says, "Look Shadow's missing and we can't find him, would you help us look for him?"

"No. I'm not that natural's keeper nor is it my responsibility to know his whereabouts." Zuke replies simply as he continues walking towards the stadium.

"Oh right because you have better things to do at the stadium like stand in the corner and wait for us to finish fighting!" Cagalli snaps back at Zuke.

Zuke finally stops and turns to look down at the blond natural; he was a good head or more taller than Cagalli so literary looking down on her wasn't that hard for him. "If you have something to say to me then please just say it, or is forming complex sentences too hard for your slow natural brain?" Zuke asks in his usual condescending manner.

"Ok, I HATE YOU! You represent everything that's wrong with the world, with people judging others for something as trivia and stupid as genes and that person you're refusing to look for, that natural is the only reason you're still ON THIS TEAM! Everyone else, myself included, would have kicked you off the team a long time ago!" Cagalli screams at him, having finally lost her composure.

Zuke looks on at her rant in boredom. "I could not care less what any of you naturals think about me, and you're completely incorrect about genes being trivia and a stupid way to judge someone. Genes are the building blocks of our beings, they literary determine everything about ourselves from hair color, gender, skin color, texture even our overall shape so it is perfectly valid to judge someone by their genes."

Cagalli screams in frustration as she makes strangling motions with her hands towards Zuke. "You freaking jackass! Talking to you is like talking to one of those nut jobs who believes we should let all the old and disable people stare to death to keep the population down!" Zuke notices some movement out of the corner of his eyes as Cagalli continues yelling at him. "Why are you even here! I mean you obviously don't like us and think we're inferior so why don't just LEAVE! I'm sure there's an all coordinator team you would be happy to join, so why the hell are you still here! Is it because you're such a big asshole that no one but Shadow is crazy enough to keep you on their team!"

For the first time Zuke shows a flicker of annoyance and anger, Cagalli finally seems to have hit a nerve. "I don't have to explain my actions to you or anyone now would you please shut up."

"NO! Why should I shut up! I'm a member of this team who actually participates so why should I be quiet?" Cagalli demands while screaming in Zuke's face.

"Because we're surrounded." Zuke says simply. Cagalli blinks surprised by the statement, before turning around and taking in her environment. Zuke's words are true as a large number of people armed with a colorful variety of weapons had surrounded them while she had been yelling at Zuke, although Cagalli could easily tell these guys weren't military or any sort of professional group they did seem somewhat organized. Both the blond natural and the geneist coordinator turn so that they're back to back facing off against their opponents.

###

_Location: In front of D-12 Gundam café_

"I don't suppose I could help you mates with something?" Nick asks the party of thugs that had surrounded him. He had managed to get to an area with no civilians so if a fight broke out, which was starting to look very probable, he didn't have to worry about hitting any innocent bystanders still considering the number of opponents he was going up against he would have liked to find some allies at the Gundam café but that wasn't the case. You can't have everything go your way sometime.

"Sure, you can drop out of the tournament right now and we let you walk out of here in one piece." The spokesperson of the gangs replies.

"Heh, so I guess that's a no to talking things out." Nick says in his accent as he tips his cowboy hat up and slowly unclicks the straps on his guns.

The episode ends with the gang surrounding him letting out a battle cry and charging straight at him.


	89. Episode 88 Everyone vs The Bloods

Episode 88 Everyone vs. the Bloods

_Location: Alleyway_

Zuke was annoyed, he didn't understand what was going on today but it was just one interruption after another. First his contact had to cancel their meeting due to an unforeseen incident which wouldn't have been as annoying if Zuke hadn't been already at the meeting spot waiting for him when he called to cancel. Next as he was leaving the meeting spot and heading to another tedious Gundam Fight that was beneath him who would happen to stumble upon him but the blond natural. In some ways she was even more annoying than the stupid natural, at least he didn't try preaching to Zuke with a flaw argument about why his beliefs that coordinators were superior to naturals was wrong. And now he was surrounded by these thugs, even by natural standards they were trash, which made them the trash's trash in his eyes.

Zuke did spot a few coordinators in their ranks, but given their associates and clear lack of any battle training whatsoever they might as well have been naturals, Zuke was actually a little embarrassed that these people were fellow coordinators. Suddenly Zuke felt the blond natural's shoulders and back tense, and that's when he became aware that he was back to back with her. He flicked himself mentally, it's not as if he cared about her, one does not care if someone else stepped on an ant across the street, it had just been instinct to go back to back with whoever else was being surrounded, in order to remove as many blind spots as possible.

"Who are you people, and what do you want." Cagalli demands causing Zuke to roll his eyes. Yes who were these people dressed in obvious gang attire, it wasn't like they were about to fight a Gundam team with gang ties and if they were what on Sora could these minions want.

"Heh, we're the Tyke Devils," the leader of the gang group says, "And we want you to drop out of the tournament. Of course you're going to say no, because everyone says no, so we'll threaten but you'll still say no and that's when we do things the hard way." The leader says with a bored sigh, he's clearly done this whole song and dance many times before.

"That seems to sum up things nicely." Cagalli replies as she braces herself to fight.

"This is beneath me and a waste of my time." Zuke cuts in as he drops his defensive stance and begins walking away in the opposite direction from the leader, completely unconcern with any of the thugs surrounding him.

Cagalli looks at Zuke annoyed but not surprise, after all this was exactly the douchebag thing he does. It looks like she'll just have to get out of this situation herself, Cagalli had to admit though she wasn't looking forward to fighting about forty to one but if she could just get a chance to call Drake on her Neon Gauntlet she could get GFC backup.

"Good choice Jelly, just keep walking." One stupid gang member calls out to Zuke in a smug voice; it would later come to be his greatest mistake in life.

Zuke stops walking and turns to face the gang member, he doesn't look angry or offended; he just looks confused. "Jelly?"

Cagalli blinks in surprise, "Oh wait I actually know this one. A Jelly is a slang term for someone on a Gundam team who's registered on the official paperwork as a pilot but never actually fights in a Gundam Fight. Apparently some teams who are just starting out can't find enough Gundam pilots for their team so they just hire someone to pretend to be a pilot so that they can be recognize officially by the GFC. The hope being that they find an actual Gundam fighter from another Gundam team that disbanded. The term Jelly originates from the Jelly filling in a donut, hence someone who is only filling the position in the team rather than being a part of the team. It's normally used in a derogatory fashion." Cagalli explains, she might have went on a little more than necessary but this was the first time she had ever known a Sorian term that someone else didn't know, all that research blogging on the GFC forum had been worth it.

Zuke nods his head in understanding as he thinks about this. "I see, I don't normally waste my time fighting trash but by doing this it appears that I have inadvertently gained an incorrect reputation as a person who is incapable of fighting. Clearly this is a matter that I must correct right away." While talking Zuke has walked right back to Cagalli's position, he looks at the girl for a moment with a thinking expression on his face before finally saying "Stay, S-T-A-Y" He speaks slowly, as if Cagalli was an animal who couldn't understand simple human words.

"I'M NOT A DOG!" Cagalli snaps back angrily but Zuke has already left her and is walking towards the leader.

"Although flies are insignificant creatures not worth the average person's second of time, when they buzz around your face it becomes necessary to smash them. I alone will be your opponent." Zuke proclaims as he stops directly in front of the leader's face.

It doesn't take a high school degree to know that Zuke is insulting them. With great anger the leader shouts out as he swings his metal pipe with one hand straight at Zuke's head, "That's pretty big talk from someone who's out-numbered and out-gun!" Zuke casually lifts up his arm to block the attack. The metal pipe makes a direct hit on Zuke's arm and a loud scream is heard but it isn't Zuke who's screaming. "AWWWWWWWW!" The gang leader screams as he drops the metal pipe. Searing pain shoots through his body causing him to drop to his knees as he clutches his wrist in pain, he wasn't a doctor but he was confident he had seriously hurt his wrist somehow.

Suddenly he hears gasps of surprise from all around him, confused he slowly opens his eyes and sees what everyone is shocked about. The metal pipe which he just swung at Zuke's arm was now bent. A shadow glides over the gang leader causing him to look up at the towering unscratched Zuke. No Zuke was less then unscratched, he was bored, there had been no doubt in his mind that his bare arm could block that attack and now the leader knew why. They had awakened the Shadow Knights' sleeping monster. "Everyone target him and FIRE QUICK-" The leader doesn't get another word out as Zuke delivers a lightning fast kick into his chest, instantly breaking four ribs while sending the gang leader flying backwards like a cannonball.

The gang leader smashes into several of the thugs that were standing behind him, knocking them down. Waking up from their shock every gang member redirects their attention to Zuke. Those with guns open fire on the coordinator while people with melee weapons try to rush him. Another man swings a bat at Zuke's head but before he can even swing the bat forward Zuke grabs him by the scruff of his neck and swings him around, turning the man into a human shield blocking bullets from the Zuke's left side. Zuke rushes forward and begins to take out the ten closest people to him, take out being the kind way of describing them getting brutally run over and overwhelm. He punches and kicks, breaking ribs, and shattering arms and legs within the blink of an eye; all while flipping around the dead body to block bullets.

With five lighting punches to critical organs and bones, the coordinator takes out the next person who tries to come at him with another blunt metal pipe before he even realizes that Zuke is upon him

Without missing a beat Zuke's left foot shoots up and smashes into the head of a gangster coming at him with a sword, snapping his neck in an instant. Zuke quickly sidesteps left as he swings his human shield around blocking more bullets from gang members on the fire escapes shooting at him. He throws his now very dead human shield at the people shooting at him on the fire escapes, knocking them over. Another gang member with a metal thick car chain whips the chain at Zuke, in an attempt to keep pressure on the enemy but Zuke catches the chain with ease and yanks it forward sending the gangster straight into his waiting fist. The truth was that Zuke was actually still bored, he had been breed to fight the most elite of naturals, train since birth to be superior to any natural military unit under the most extreme of circumstances so fighting this bunch of trash was a walk in the park for him.

Zuke observes the perimeter of the area, focusing on the rooftops in case of snipers, and that's when he spots a group of gangsters on the rooftop of the building directly to his left, carrying human scaled anti-matter and beam weaponry. This was so outrageous and ridiculous that Zuke had to zero in on it to make sure, while Gundam beam weaponry was common place human scaled beam weaponry was a completely different story. Most countries had laws that made it illegal for anyone but the military or in specialized police forces to carry human scaled beam weaponry, never mind that anti-matter was definitely a military grad weapon regardless of scale and highly illegal for any non-military member to use. The fact that these incompetent morons held such weapons should be a point of great concern for the police but that wasn't Zuke's problem, after all he wasn't going to give the gangsters a chance to use them on him.

While the black coordinator had been analyzing this he had mowed down the people stupid enough to try to charge him and was in the process of taking out the gangsters with mid-range weaponry that were trying desperately to keep a distance between him and themselves. With superior speed Zuke grabs the wrist of one of the few female gangsters, that's holding a pistol. Zuke snaps her wrist, while simultaneously taking her gun out of her and with inhuman like precision he throws the pistol at the anti-matter rifle. It didn't hurt that the anti-matter rifle they had was an older model, which meant that it was almost as big as a Gatling gun, hell it still had that huge box like pack that the shooter had to put on his back.

Anti-matter weapons were highly illegal for two reasons, the first being the enormous damage output they were capable of and the second was because they were very fragile if handle improperly. The pistol Zuke had thrown hits the anti-matter rifle head on, causing the pistol to discharge the round in its chamber. Started the gang member holding the rifle drops it, the anti-mater rifle smashes hard into the ground causing the rifle to begin to spark and start glowing snow white. "Oh SHIT!" The rifle's owner shouts as he begins to struggle desperately, to take off the pack on his back that the anti-matter rifle was attached too. The people equipped with beam weaponry look over at him when they hear the shouting and that's when they see the gun.

With total fear and panic they turn around and begin to run, but it's too late. The anti-matter rifle explodes, taking out half of the roof, half of the top floor and the gang member's entire beam weaponry squad. There was no fire or smoke, just a sudden boom of bright white light and a snow white cloud of smoke and like magic half the roof, half of the top floor and the gang members just disappeared. Almost everyone turns to look at the sudden loud noise and gasp in surprise at the damage, everyone that is except Zuke. Zuke took in the situation like everyone else but he didn't even stop his attack for a single moment. Without mercy he broke the limbs of anyone foolish enough to take their eyes off him in battle.

He smashed skulls in the pavement, he used his enemies as human shields and then threw them at their allies, and he single handy crushed every single one of them, allowing none to escape. Cagalli watched the seen unfold in shock and awe, to be honest she didn't think Zuke was this strong. Sure he had beat Shadow, but Cagalli just thought that was just because of the difference in a coordinator's and natural's strength. After all if Shadow had tried to fight Athrun there was no doubt in Cagalli's mind that Athrun would win, simply because he was a coordinator. It was only now that Cagalli realized Zuke's true strength, and he made Athrun look like a little girl scout. Zuke wasn't just strong, he was overwhelming, almost to a frightening extent. Cagalli could also tell that Zuke's fighting style was ruthless, he stopped just short of killing most people but there was definitely no question that everyone would need immediate medical attention after this.

Zuke stops as he surveys the battlefield, there was only one gang member left standing. He was not only smart enough to stay away from Zuke but he was also athletic enough to out run the other smart gang members. He held a mid-range BZ-assault rifle that was pointed at Zuke, but they both knew who would win in this fight. Zuke takes a step forward, clearly not going to show mercy; the gang member takes a step back, just as clearly frighten of Zuke. The gang members hands and gun are shaking from fear, he knew that this man wasn't going to let him get away, and that he was about to get beaten to within an inch of his life. Well if he was going to die anyway he was going to at least complete the mission, defeating this monster hadn't been part of the original plan after all; their original assignment was to prevent one specific person from competing in the Gundam match today.

"SHIT! If I'm going down I'm at least finishing what we started!" The gang member shouts as he swings his rifle away from Zuke and points it towards Cagalli and pulls the trigger.

This was the first time in this entire battle that someone had targeted her and due to her shock at Zuke's overwhelming performance Cagalli had dropped her guard. _Crap!_ Cagalli thinks to herself as she begins to try to move out of the way, but she knows it's already too late. Panic starts to set in as the bullet leaves the barrel of the gun and flies through the air straight at her but Zuke's left arm seems to appear out of nowhere and blocks the bullet, interestingly enough Zuke's Neon Gauntlet, which hadn't glowed throughout the whole fight, is shining its silver light brightly now. Blood splatters through the air as the bullet tears through flesh but despite its large caliber it doesn't make it all the way through the arm. Before the gang member has time to even realize his shot never hit its target Zuke is on top of him, with his non-injured arm Zuke delivers a powerful open hand slap to the man's face, breaking his nose and jaw while also knocking him clean out.

The force of the blow knocks the man off his feet, spins him in the air once before he finally crashes to the ground leaving only Cagalli and Zuke standing. Zuke's Neon Gauntlet has just as quickly returned to normal as it began to shine. Blood trails down Zuke's injured arm and drops on the ground, the wound caused Zuke to grow visibly angry. "Unbelievable, to think that such trash actually wounded me! This is unbelievably humiliating; as if this day could not get any worse!" Zuke roars at the heavens and that's when a soft but warm voice spoke behind him.

"You saved me." Cagalli says in awe as she stares at Zuke with new amber eyes.

Zuke turns around and looks at her with his condescending dark brown eyes. "Do not be mistaken blond natural, I did not save you, I stopped that trash from completing their objective, as much as receiving a wound from these low grades is humiliating it would have been even more humiliating if they had still managed to complete their objective while fighting me."

Cagalli slowly shakes her head, Zuke was still the most geneist person she had ever met but now…now she knew there was more to him. "No….you're the one that's mistaken."

"Excuse me?" Zuke asks with a raise eyebrow.

Cagalli begins to walk slowly towards him, "I saw it, it was less than a quarter of a second but just for a single moment you had the look of a protector."

Zuke rolls his eyes at her, "Typical stupid natural, you're over thinking this and seeing things that aren't there."

"No I know what I saw, you're the one that's trying to reason away your actions but what the real truth is that in that moment it was your instinct to protect first rather than defeat your enemy!" Cagalli says with supreme confidence. Cagalli wouldn't say that she was now friends with Zuke or that the man didn't still piss her off…but she didn't hate him anymore, in fact she now understood how Shadow was able to tolerate him.

"Believe what you want blond natural, in any event if we do not leave now we'll be late to the match against the Bloods." Zuke replies as he turns around and begins to walk away but Cagalli jumps in front of him and blocks his path.

"Are you crazy! You've been shot! We need to get you to a hospital!" Cagalli states firmly.

Zuke pauses for a moment, surprised that she would even care about his wellbeing, before replying. "That is unnecessary; unlike fragile naturals I am made off much sturdier materials so this wound is nothing to me."

"To hell it is! You still need a doctor to look at you." Cagalli insists.

"No I do not you hard of hearing blond natural, now move inside or I will make you move." Zuke replies growing annoyed by this hassle.

Cagalli however stubbornly spreads her arms and feet out as she replies, "I'm not moving until you agree to be looked at by a doctor! I don't care how tough you're supposed to be made you're still human, you bleed just like the rest of us when you're hurt!" Her yellow, red and orange Neon Gauntlet begins to glow slightly, a sign of her determination.

Zuke would have normally just pushed her out of the way and kept walking, in fact he was just about to do that when the sun reflected off her face and into his eyes. For a brief moment Zuke saw another woman's face instead of Cagalli's…..it brought about unpleasantness in him. "Fine, will you at least consent to me being looked at by the doctors at the arena?" Zuke asks with a sigh as he rubs his temple.

Cagalli smiles as she realizes that's the closest thing she's going to come to a win against him. "No problem, now we better hurry before we're late to the match. We don't want to give the Bloods even that accomplishment." Cagalli says as she turns around and begins walking in the direction of the stadium.

Zuke walks behind her and replies, "Indeed…by the way I didn't think I had to say this but given that you are a natural with inferior intelligence, I will only be looked at by a coordinator doctor."

Cagalli rolls her eyes but strangely this comment didn't bother her this time…she wondered if this was how the others felt when she started talking about being from Earth. "Of course you do."

####

_Location: C-23 Gundam café_

The leader of this group hadn't even finished licking his lips before the Gundam Fighters make their move. Blake kicks the table, sending it flying into a large number of gang members knocking them down. During this commotion Blake runs to the right, Shadow runs to the left and Sesen boldly runs straight ahead, right towards the gang leader. In one fluid motion Sesen pulls out her metal poles in her sleeves, and connects them together. She spins as she twirls her metal staff and then makes a powerful upward swing, nailing the leader right in his male genitals. The force of the blow is powerful enough to lift the man straight up into the air a few feet before Sesen pulls back her metal staff causing the gang leader to fall to his knees.

His eyes have rolled back into his head and his tongue now sticks out of his mouth causing drool to pour out. "I'd like to see you try to ever rape another woman ever again now." Sesen says with scorn, her magenta Neon Gauntlet starts to glow, as she shows no mercy and whacks him in the face with her metal staff knocking him all the way to the ground. This entire event happens in three seconds flat.

"HA! I told you so; you guys owe me fifty credits!" Shadow screams as he draws his sword and goes at the remaining gang members from the left side, his midnight black Neon Gauntlet begins to glow as well. The gang members have recovered from their surprise at this point and open fired on Shadow. Bullets fly over the sword fighter but Shadow is fast and he's fought a lot better marksmen then these people. He slashes his sword left and right, ducking down, sidestepping and dodging chains, pipes and even blocking other swords. In no time he's already take out ten gang members, forcing them to either pass out or retreat due to lose of blood from their sword wounds.

"Don't get cocky!" Blake snaps as he pulls out the curved blade which unfolds into his chakram, like the others his crystal green Neon Gauntlet begins to glow. Blake smashes his foot into the ground emitting power as he throws his chakram into the gang members on the right, the spinning bladed wheel of death dances in the air and takes out a dozen gang members in the first strike before returning to its owner. The gang members try to shoot Blake but the experience Gundam fighter makes excellent use of his surrounding, using tables and pillars as shields as he moves around. Due to Blake's renown in the area no one even attempts to challenge him in melee combat.

"Fifty male scums, this is for all of the women you have harassed over the years!" Sesen roars as she continues to charge straight through them, mowing Tyke Devils down with relative ease. Sesen only moves to dodge bullets, and instead blocks most of the attacks made by the gang members with her metal staff. The metal pole dances around her arms and shoulders as Sesen blocks and attacks from impossible angles, breaking limbs left and right. In the same amount of time as the others she's taken down ten people as well.

Within two minutes the Gundam Fighters have taken out over ninety percent of the gang members. There are only five guys left and they're slowly retreating away from the three Gundam Fighters. Blake steps forward and says, "You guys may have numbers on your side but that's it, and numbers don't mean squat against fighters with actual skill."

The Tyke Devils turned to one another and then smile, "Hehehe, well actually we also have the superior weapons on our side, NOW!" One of them shouts as he and the rest of the gang members' dive to the floor. Immediately after yellow and white beam like bullets explode through the front window and wall coming straight towards the Gundam fighters.

"Oh shit!" Shadow shouts as Sesen and Blake grit their teeth in surprise and annoyance. All three of them dive out of the way and seek cover behind thick objects. Sesen and Blake get behind the support pillars while Shadow jumps behind the store counter. The yellow bullets melts through thin objects like the tables with little problem and passes right through them but can't seem to make it through thicker objects, especially those made of metal. The snow white bullets are different; they cut through everything like butter including the metals and sail right on through the back wall.

"Freaking beam weaponry, you've got to be kidding me!" Blake howls over the screaming of the bullets, smoke was beginning to fill the place as several of the beam bullets set wooden objects on fire.

"It seems there is more to this gang than we originally thought." Sesen calls back to Blake, human scaled beam weaponry was not something anyone could get their hands on. She also noticed with disgust how they didn't even bother to watch out for their injured comrades, several had been hit on their way to flee through the front door. Just like a man to cut down his own comrades in order to achieve victory.

Blake was about to suggest moving forward so that he could get them in range of his chakram when one of the white bullets flies right through the pillar he is standing behind and takes out some of his hair. "Holy crap!" Blake gasps as he drops down to the floor in surprise, he almost had a heart attack from how close that was. Three more of those snow white bullets fly right through the pillar again and pass through the place where his head used to be. As those bullets pass by Blake notices that they aren't plasma at all, but rather they have a powder like feel to them. The color drains from Blake's face as he realizes what they are, without hesitation he turns to Sesen and screams, "MOVE! They've got ANTI-MATTER BULLETS!"

Blake jumps up as he screams this and begins to run deeper into the café. Sesen snaps her head towards Blake when she hears this but she doesn't hesitate to follow Blake's lead and run further in the café. Shadow pops his head up over the counter and looks at the two panicking Gundam Fighters confused, "What's going on?"

"NO time, quickly get to the training city elevator!" Blake shouts as he tries to make himself as small as possible so as to not get shot. Shadow still looks confused but he nevertheless hops over the counter and runs to the elevator as fast as possible. All three Gundam Fighters are neck and neck as they bend down trying to make themselves as small as possible; there was no sense in zigzagging if the enemy was just shooting blindly at them anyway. The yellow and white bullets fly all around them and although there were some close calls the three manage to dive into elevator unscratched.

Sesen quickly uses her metal pole staff to hit the down button, causing the elevator doors to close. The elevator begins to descend downward at a rapid pace as the three get back up onto their feet, luckily the elevator hadn't been hit at all by any of the beam bullets or anti-matter…which was really good luck. Blake frowns but before he can think further on that Shadow asks, "Why the hell are we running away! We were winning!"

"They had anti-matter weaponry; if we had stayed any longer we would have become Swiss cheese." Blake replies annoyed as he puts away his weapon.

Shadow scratches his head confused as he also puts away his sword, "Anti-matter?"

Sesen explains to the new fighter, "It's a special substance that destroys any type of matter it comes into contact with making it incredibility dangerous. Only a beam shield can block it and even that won't hold for long against multiply anti-matter attack. Normally only high ranking military fighters are allowed to carry anti-matter weaponry though."

"That's another thing that's bugging me! How the hell do gangbangers get a hold of anti-matter weaponry in the first place!" Blake says loudly annoyed, he didn't like retreating any more than Shadow did.

"Cleary there's much more going on here than meets the eye, I thought that it was strange that a GFC Director would oversee a simple D-rank tournament and it looks like my suspicions were right." Sesen replies confidently, there was no way that anti-matter weaponry in the hands of thugs and a GFC Director appearing in the same city was a coincidence.

"Well I don't care what they've got going on the Bloods are still going down in our match today!" Shadow says confidently, this triggers his memory to look at the time. In panic Shadow quickly looks down at his Neon Gauntlet and brings up the clock. "Holy Shit I have to go, like now to get to the arena or else I won't make it in time for the match!" Shadow shouts as the elevator finally comes to a stop inside an abandon warehouse in one of the designated non fight zones in the training city.

The pilots exit the elevator and begin to walk outside the warehouse, "I can give you a ride on my Gundam over there if you want. I was heading there myself." Sesen tells Shadow but before he can reply Blake cuts in.

"Yeaaaa Shadow I don't think you're going to make it to your match on time today."

Annoyed, Shadow turns to Blake to ask him what he means and that's when he sees what Blake is looking at. Outside the warehouse standing directly in front of them were at least a hundred different Gundams, all looking down at them. The elevator being conveniently undamaged finally dawns on Blake, _stupid, they weren't trying to hit us they were herding us down here!_

"Well, well, well so nice of you to join us Shadow Knight and friends." A voice says from the speaker of the Gundam standing directly in front of them.

Shadow, Blake and Sesen quickly tense up as they take battle stances, "Really, you guys are actually going to try to challenge us to a Gundam Fight." Shadow says with a smile as he prepares to call Nightwing but the speaker stops him.

"Oh I wouldn't be so quick to call your Gundam. Remember GFC rules clearly state that all participants in the tournament may not engage in any other Gundam Fights while the tournament is still going on; unless of course you don't care about getting your team disqualified." The voice says smugly. Shadow and Blake grit their teeth as they stop and hesitate, unsure of what to do.

_So this is how these gangbangers managed to defeat D-rank Gundam Fighters,_ Blake thinks angrily as he tries to come up with a plan.

"How typical of a man to not check his facts before making threats." Sesen says as she steps in front of the others. "I'm no longer a participant in the tournament so there's nothing stopping me from kicking all of your asses in a Gundam Fight!" Sesen declares proudly.

The voice on the speaker openly laughs at her and asks, "HAHAHAH, you think you can take all of us on by yourself?"

Sesen had to admit that she had never fought so many opponents at one time before, but she would just have to hold out until the rest of her team shows up to back her up. "I've got this under control; you guys get out of here and head for the arena." Sesen whispers to Blake and Shadow. The two guys look at each other and then they both step forward to join Sesen.

"Screw you! I'm sick and tired of getting blue Gundams, there's no way in hell I'm backing down from a Gundam fight now!" Blake tells her.

"You just want to hog all of the fight to yourself Sesen; well it's not going to work! Besides I think if we beat these guys up enough they won't go tattling on us to the GFC." Shadow says with an evil smile however he did feel somewhat guilty. _Sorry guys, I don't think I'm going to make it on time to the match._

Sesen looks at her fellow team leaders in surprise then smiles. "Typical males, not thinking a woman can handle this by herself." She says with warmth before turning her gaze back to their opponents. "Let's do this!" She shouts as all three of their Neon Gauntlets begin to glow brightly.

####

_Location: Arianna's underground training city, section D-12_

"Well that wasn't my most successful plan ever." Nick says with a whistle as he tips his hat back and looks up at the numerous Gundams looking down at him. Nick wasn't stupid, when that gang had surrounded him he had seen and recognized all of their very serious guns and knew that his chances of successfully beating them all were slim, especially given that he wasn't carrying enough bullets to take them all down. So he had fought a defensive battle, trying to get to the elevator within the deserted Gundam café, another unlucky break for him, and just managed to get in there in one piece only to walk into a trap. If these guys were trying to make him miss showing up to the match in time they were doing a pretty damn good job of it.

"Heheh, why don't you give up? You're out number a hundred to one, and you can't use your Gundam or else we win anyway. Now if you be a good little cowboy we promise to only break your legs." One of the Gundam's speakers blurters out.

Nick however doesn't answer him, instead the cowboy just looks at the clock on his Neon Gauntlet; he was definitely going to be late at this rate. Nick wanted to call the others and tell them he probably wasn't going to make it to the match in time; it was part of his code to always show up on time. When you make a promise or agreement with someone to meet them somewhere at a certain time you should be there and if something was physically preventing Nick from going he had to at least call that said person and informed them that he could no longer make it on time, but he doubted that these gangbangers were going to let him call someone now.

"I agree mate, this certainly isn't a very fair fight but then again life's not always fair." Nick says as he braces himself for battle, he wouldn't summon his Gundam no matter what. It went against his code to break a rule that would hurt others, especially his friends. At the same time surrendering wasn't an option either, his team was counting on him to show up to the match today and fight so as his code dictates he must do everything within his power to reach them, even if that meant fighting an unwinnable battle.

"HAHAHAHAH you can't be freaking serious! You're going to fight a hundred Gundams by yourself, without a Gundam HAHAHAHAH." The voice on the speaker openly laughs at Nick and he's joined by all of the other Gundam pilots. Nick ignores them as he pulls out his own gun and takes aim, it wasn't the first time someone had laughed at him and it certainly wouldn't be the last.

"I wouldn't expect you to understand mate, but a true MAN never lets his friends down when they need him!" Nick shouts in his usual accent, he wisely chooses to leave out the fact he was also running low on ammo too. Nick's grass green Neon Gauntlet begins to glow.

The voice coming from the lead Gundam stops laughing, "…..heh actually I can understand that, however that doesn't change the fact that what you're trying to do is suicidal. I hope you made your peace with whatever god you believe in." The lead Gundam says as it draws its own beam rifle and points it at Nick.

It was comical, the giant with his giant gun vs. the ant with his ant sized gun; there was no question who was going to win this shoot off yet Nick still replies, "Sorry but I have no intention of dying mates, I've got friends waiting on me, family that loves me, and a woman I need to save so as a man I can't die here today!" Nick shouts causing his Neon Gauntlet go glow even brighter.

Once again there's a pause, then almost in a sign of respect the lead Gundam replies, "When you die, be proud that you died a man for not many can say the same." With that there was no more talk; both Nick and the pilot slowly begin to move their trigger fingers. Nick had a plan, he was hoping that he might hit an important wire on the beam rifle with his bullet causing it to explode….he didn't say he had a good plan.

Just as Nick and the pilot are about to pull the trigger the lead Gundam's head explodes, shot clean off by a blue green tinted beam bullet causing its body to drop to the ground, luckily for Nick it falls backwards away from him. All of the Gundams, and Nick, look wildly around for the shooter drawing their weapons. They easily spot him, it wasn't hard since the new Gundam blitzes right through their line so that it can pull up right next to Nick. The force of the wind created by the Gundam's sudden appearance pushes Nick back slightly, forcing him to grab his hat and cover his eyes. When the wind dies down Nick looks up to see a Gundam with a winter camouflage color scheme; Pistol Pete.

"Now I know you mother F-ers aren't messing with my little bro!" Max Mu, team leader of the Sharpshooters and Nick's older brother says as his Gundam seems to glare at the gang Gundams. His hunter green Neon Gauntlet glows angrily, reflecting its wearer's mood.

"Max!" Nick shouts surprise, "What are you doing here bro?"

Pistol Pete looks down at Nick, "Saving my little brother's behind," Max says with a smile, "Although when we agreed to this job I didn't know it would be you we were saving."

"Job?" Nick asks confused, but his confusion is quickly cleared when a new voice enters the conversation.

"Attention all members of the Tyke Devils, my name is Darrius Gul and on behalf of Arianna's police force I have been authorized to put you all under arrest for conspiracy to engage in lethal assault, and threatening to use a Gundam within a strictly defined safe zone as well as several other crimes! I do not know why the GFC has chosen to ignore your crimes but the Arianna police department will hold you accountable for you actions if no one else will! Now have your Gundams slowly lower your weapons and exit out of the cockpits with your hands up!" Darrius shouts from inside his cockpit.

His Gundam Eliot, which stood on top of a tall warehouse overlooking the Tyke Devils' Gundams, was identical to Serpico, appearing to be wearing riot gear and a gas mask, it's police sirens shoulder pads were going off, lighting the place up with blue and red lights. "Darrius be careful, there's a lot more Gundams down there than we originally thought and backup is still twenty minutes out." Janardan, his partner, informs him.

"Arianna's Public Servants are here too?" Nick says even more surprised, from what he could tell the Sharpshooters had been hired by Arianna's police department.

Nick isn't the only one confused; the Tyke Devils' Gundams look at each other completely caught off guard. They were here to simply prevent Nick from getting to the match today, but no one had told them that the cops or another Gundam team was going to show up to question them. Unfortunately for Darrius the lieutenant of the group emerges and strengthens resolve. "I hate to break this to you "officer" but there are more of us than there are of you, and I don't see your backup anywhere." This causes a bit of laughter and nodding amongst the men, causing them to relax a little.

"Failure to follow a police officer's orders, threatening a police officer, and attacking a police are ALL very serious offenses and know that I have been given authority to not only take you out but commission others to assist me as well!" Darrius says with passion as Eliot readies its assault rifle.

"He's talking about us mates." Max informs them as Pistol Pete readies its own beam pistol.

The lieutenant however isn't backing down, "Well I guess we have a conflict here, because we've been given orders to prevent that Shadow Knight from making it to today's match; of course if the Shadow Knight doesn't mind standing their waiting with us until the end of the match than I have no problem surrendering to you afterwards." This causes some disruption within the forces since many of the gang members didn't want to get arrested but the lieutenant quickly shuts them up by shouting, "Would you rather face the enforcers for failure to complete our mission!" This causes everyone to shut up, the police were scary but the enforcers were the devils themselves.

This creates a conflict of emotion within Nick but before he can answer his older brother cuts in. "That's not happening!" Max growls with his thick Australian accent, his Neon gauntlet glows even brighter.

Darrius nods his head in agreement, "The Arianna Police department does not negotiate with criminals! Also Nick Mu, just so that you are aware, this is a special circumstance situation which bypassing the guidelines of Arianna's D-rank tournament, meaning that I will personally see to it that your team will not be penalized for you using your Gundam in this situation!"

It was like a pressure bomb, with more and more pressure being added until eventually something breaks. Everyone knew what was going to happen next, they were all just waiting for a signal.

Nick smiles when he hears this and says loudly, "Then what are we waiting for, I've got a match to get to!"

####

_Location: Arianna's GFC's arena_

Cagalli bursts into the Shadow Knights' team room out of breath, she and Zuke had made it in time for the match. "Sorry for us being late but you wouldn't believe what-"

Cagalli is interrupted by Jack almost tacking her into a hug, "You're alright!" She shouts with tears in her red eyes and she's not alone. Kenny and Roxas rush over to her as well with faces full of relief.

"I was so worried!" Roxas says in-between tears, Cagalli knew that something was wrong when Roxas didn't mention her breast or make a perverted joke of or gesture of some kind.

"Do you know where Shadow and Nick are?" Kenny asks eagerly.

No one pays any attention to Zuke, but the proud coordinator was perfectly fine with that; he would rather not let anyone see his injury until after the coordinator doctor Price, that the annoying blond natural called, came and healed him.

"Hold on, slow down, what's going on?" Cagalli asks.

Kenny is the first to recover and he quickly informs Cagalli of the situation, "You know the rumors of the Bloods attacking Gundam Fighters before their match? Well when you Shadow, Zuke and Nick didn't show up we just assumed the worst."

Jack finally lets go of Cagalli and starts to look around, "Wait where are Shadow and Nick, aren't they with you and Zuke?"

Cagalli shakes her head as her own worry and concern begins to build, "The worst did happen, Zuke and I were jumped by those freaking criminals and that's why we were late but Shadow and Nick were never with us!"

"WHAT!" Kenny, Roxas and Jack exclaim as the elevators doors open to reveal Drake, Tim and Dr. Price. Dr. Price immediately walks over to Zuke and begins to treat him while Drake and Tim walk over to the rest of the group.

"Drake Cagalli and Zuke just got back and they were attacked by the Bloods but they don't know where Shadow or Nick are!" Roxas says with growing panicked.

Drake has a very serious look on his face, "I see, are they still not answering your calls?" Drake asks Kenny. The programmer runs back to the computer terminal in the room to double check but he shakes his head.

"No, nothing, I've tried calling them both over a dozen times already and speaking of not answering the phone." Kenny says as he glares at Cagalli and Zuke.

Cagalli blushes in embarrassment and explains, "I thought you guys were calling just to yell at me for not showing up to the match a half hour early like normal."

"I don't answer to naturals." Zuke says simply.

Drake however isn't in the mood to joke around, he hadn't expected a gang of thugs to be a big enough challenge for anyone on the Shadow Knights to be blocked form showing up to the match; then again Victor wouldn't have come all the way to Arianna if this was an ordinary gang. Drake silently curses himself, he had gotten sloppy, he should have investigated more into the Tyke Devils and what made them worth Victor's time and then trained the Shadow Knights to be more prepared to fight them. Well he wasn't going to let this situation spiral any further out of his control. "Ok, enough games. Kenny log into the GFC direct central system and use the Shadow Knights team access code to activate the tracking beacons in Nick and Shadow's Neon Gauntlets."

Kenny, Jack, and Roxas gasp in shock, and even Zuke looks up in surprise by this action. "Drake are you sure?" Kenny asks cautiously.

"Yes I'm sure, don't worry I'll take full responsibility now do it," Drake orders. Kenny nods his head, turns around and begins typing on his computer.

Cagalli looks around not getting the seriousness of the situation. "Wait, why didn't you guys use the tracking beacons before this, I mean isn't that why they're in these Neon Gauntlets in the first place?" Cagalli asks.

"The tracking feature for Gundams can only be activated freely by the corresponding Neon Gauntlets otherwise you have to go directly to the GFC central system, and the tracking feature on the Neon Gauntlets can only be activated by going to the GFC central system. Although there's many benefits to having every pilot and Gundam equip with tracking beacon there's also a serious potential for harm which is why the GFC doesn't just give access to the tracking systems like it's no big deal. Basically you can think of it like calling 911, you can only use it in emergencies and if you try to use if for a nonemergency the GFC will arrest you." Tim explains to Cagalli who nods her head in understanding.

"What in the world, I'M LOCKED OUT!" Kenny shouts in shock.

"What! What do you mean you're locked out!" Drake asks caught off guard.

"I mean the Shadow Knights' security clearance code has been rejected." Kenny explains.

"That's not possible, move aside I'm putting in my security clearance code." Drake says as he pushes Kenny out of the way and types on the keyboard.

Tim walks up beside him Drake and asks optimistically, "Maybe it's a glitch in the GFC's HQ's servers?"

"Doubtful," Drake replies, suddenly his eyes open wide, "My access code has been REJECTED!"

Cagalli turns to the others and asks, "So I take it that's not normal?"

"Drake's GFC security clearance is one of the highest in the GFC; there are not many people who have the authority to lock him out." Tim explains to the others.

Drake smashes his fist into the wall, punching right through the metal. "VICTOR!" Drake growls with absolute venom and hatred. Waves of destructive energy pour off Drake like acid, threatening to destroy everything around him. This was so unlike Drake that everyone takes a step back, in shock and fear but no one is given much chance to take this in as Jack's PDA starts beeping loudly.

Jack quickly pulls out her PDA and hits a few button on it and reads the message on it, "Guys! Cowboy and Nightwing have both activated and have entered the Gundam elevator to the underground training city!" Jack shouts to everyone.

"That must be where Shadow and Nick are!" Roxas exclaims connecting the dots.

"Wait doesn't that also mean we're disqualified from the tournament if they're engaging in a Gundam Fight outside the tournament?" Cagalli asks.

"Uh-oh, guys I hate to bring even more bad news to this mess but the refs just contacted us. The Bloods are demanding a summons with us, no surprise they're claiming that some of our Gundam Fighters didn't show and we no longer have enough for the match." Kenny adds on as he types at the computer terminal, doing his best to ignore the hovering Drake standing right behind him, who was still clearly pissed off.

Panic in the Shadow Knights' team room is at an all-time high, too many things were happening all at once and everyone felt like they were drowning in a rising tide of bad luck. Drake however takes a deep breath and swallows his rage and hatred, he was the adult and teacher here, if anyone was supposed to be clam and in control it was going to be him. Drake straightens the tie on his suit and then states, "Take care of the summons and focus on the match for now, Tim and I will track down Shadow and Nick." The episode ends with Drake turning around and walking to the door with daggers in his one reddish brown eye.


	90. Episode 89 Unleash the Beasts

Episode 89 – Unleash the Beasts

_Location: Outside Arianna's GFC arena Time: Fourth round of the D-rank tournament_

He surveyed the arena from a tall tree forty-seven meters west of the arena's entrance; the tree's shadow hid him from everyone's view. The arena's security was low and would be relativity easy to get around however the real threat was the thousands of cameras and phones people were bringing with them into the building. Most people had no idea just how many times a day their picture was taken without their consent, even more so at sporting events. After surveying Arianna's GFC arena he had determined that observing the match from the roof held the lowest percent chance of them being recorded by any electronic equipment.

"Heheheh Hey 4ry, I've got snacks HAHAHAHH!" Mr. 6 laughs as he turns off his invisibility cloak and appears right beside Mr. 4. He was carrying hotdogs, popcorn, cotton candy and a large soda drink. "HAHAHAHH this is great, it's been like forever since I've seen an official Gundam Fight HAHAHHAHAH." Mr. 4 felt nothing from Mr. 6's loud and sudden appearance right next to himself; he simply processed the new information and adapted his calculations accordingly.

"I take it you used your mental powers to procure your food?" Mr. 4 asks in one of the rare moments he made conversation with Mr. 6. Mr. 4 felt nothing from Mr. 6, he felt no anger, no annoyance, and no irritation at the laughing jackal of death so he saw no reason to not engage in conversation with the man, after all new data could often be gain from random pieces of information freely given during a conversation.

"Heheheh, well I did "convince" a couple to buy me the chow HAHAHAH, it's the best way to stay out of sight with all these cellphone cameras flashing about hehehe." Mr. 6 snickers as he eats his hotdog, he offers Mr. 4 some Cotton Candy. "HAHAHAH, I wasn't sure what you wanted so I got you some Cotton Candy hehehhe."

Mr. 4 eyes the Cotton Candy but he doesn't take it, the food failed to trigger any type of reaction in him, he felt no hunger, no pleasant memories of days long since passed, nor any satisfaction or dissatisfaction in the taste itself. "I do not need to eat." Mr. 4 says simply as he turns back to his watch.

Mr. 6 looks at him confused, "Heheheh, what do you you don't eat? HAHAHHA, you were standing on that corner waiting for the car to come by for days hehehehe, and I know you didn't eat anything then so come on HAHAHHAHAH it would be embarrassing if you collapsed because of starvation."

Mr. 4 does not answer Mr. 6 anymore; he felt nothing for Mr. 6, no joy, no warm sense of friendship, and no happiness, so he saw no point in continuing the conversation further, after all there was no point in a conversation if it failed to stimulate you. Mr. 6's confusion was understandable though, all humans needed to eat something to live but when Mr. 4 had said "he did not need to eat" he didn't mean he was not hungry; Mr. 4 had meant quite literary he did not need to eat. The consumption of flood was not require for Mr. 4 to continue living, although Mr. 4 was capable of eating the same food as other humans he would not die if he stopped eating. Of course Mr. 4 had never tested if he could survive indefinitely without food, but the longest he had gone without consuming anything was seven months and at no point did he feel his strength, skill or mental abilities lessen so he assumed that what his trainers had told him was true.

Suddenly Mr. 4's thoughts are interrupted by an abnormality, it was a simple flicker of a coat which in itself would have meant nothing but the coat disappeared into the crowd without leaving a sign of its owner. Mr.4 recognized the technique instantly, after all he used it himself every day, it was called shadow stepping, the art of walking without being seen by anyone…well at least that was the goal. While shadow stepping was an excellent skill, like all things it was not perfect, and someone trained could spot it being used even if they could not spot the user. "Did you see that?" Mr. 4 asks Mr. 6; Mr. 4 was not perfect, he made mistakes like everyone else and this could have been one of those mistakes.

"Hehehe, what, the person shadow stepping just now? Heheheh yea I saw him, it's probably just a Gundam Fighter or manager showing off HAHAHAHAHHA!" Mr. 6 confirms the sighting but simply laughs it off as no big deal.

Mr. 6 had good reason to laugh it off though, shadow stepping was hardly a secret technique and many people outside the organization knew it…..still it was as if a system error had popped up in Mr. 4's mind. It took Mr. 4 a minute to realize it but he was experiencing another feeling! It was more difficult to notice this time because it was a more subtle type of feeling, a negative feeling…yes Mr. 4 remember it now, this was the type of feeling that was associated with people having bad premonitions about and upcoming event or suspiciousness about someone without any concrete evidence.

"Hahahah, the match is about to begin so we better head inside if-hey!" Mr. 6 shouts in surprise as Mr. 4 suddenly leaps off the tree branch and begins to head in the direction of his new target. "HAHAAHAHA, where are you going!" Mr. 6 calls out to him but Mr. 4 doesn't response back.

People underestimated how important feelings were in determining whether or not something had meaning and should be investigated further, many times data could be passed off as either irrelevant or relevant and it was only one's feelings that decided which it was. The data about this shadow stepper was such data, by itself it could be considered irrelevant but because he had a feeling about it it became relevant, which made it worth investigating further.

####

_Location: Inside Arianna's GFC arena_

Cagalli was relieved that she had read up on what a summons was the night before, unlike a certain individual who wore a black windbreaker Cagalli thought it was important to know in full detail all of the GFC rules and procedures. From what Cagalli had gather a "summons" was basically one Gundam team calling another Gundam team out on cheating, both teams and a ruling referee are brought out on hover platforms to the center of the arena in front of the crowds where the issue is discussed and a ruling decision by the referee is made.

"Surprise, surprise the Bloods have called for a summons against the Shadow Knights, who could have image that." The referee on the screens throughout the stadium announces with heavy sarcasm and displeasure. Cagalli, along with Kenny, Jack, Roxas and Zuke were on a hover platform heading towards the middle of the arena.

Roxas paced back and forth on the hover platform, moving like an agitated tiger on her hands and feet. She had wanted to attack the Bloods here and now, the match be damned, and force them to tell her where Shadow and Nick were but the others had talked her out of it….for now. As they moved towards the middle of the arena Roxas looks around and notices that the stands were once again filled with people, another sellout match, and they seemed to share the referee's annoyance. Clearly this wasn't the first time the Bloods had demanded a summons.

Roxas could smell those bastards now; they were coming from the opposite direction of the Shadow Knights. She could clearly see that they had seven people on their hover platform but Roxas only recognized Lucas and Merick from the very limited intel they had on the Bloods. Immediately upon being visible to the audience a thunderstorm of boos come flying down towards the Bloods, it was even worse than the boos the Shadow Knights got when they fought the Public Servants.

Coming from the left side was another hover platform with a single person on it, the ruling referee. "Tonight's ruling referee will be Joseph Gram." The referee on the speakers announces. The three hover platforms meet and connect in the middle of the arena, several unmanned flying video cameras and microphones begin buzzing around the Gundam teams and the referee, recording and projecting everything up onto the monitors throughout the whole stadium.

"Ok, let's try and keep this discussion civil now. I want to remind you that there're children watching this." The referee Joseph begins as he steps forward.

"What's there to even discuss," Merick replies as he steps forward, "as everyone can clearly see the Shadow Knights are missing two fighters one of which is their team leader. Failure to bring a full team to a Gundam Fight is grounds for instant disqualification, case close."

"We're only missing members of our team because you had your goons jump them on their way to the stadium!" Roxas roars as she takes an aggressive step forwards, her slit pupil eyes glare at Merick as her back hunches like she's about to pounce at him.

"Better calm down their little kitty if you don't want to get hurt, hehehe of course you could always play with me if you're that full of energy." Lucas cuts in as he takes a defense stance by Merick's left side while making lewd gestures at Roxas.

Roxas was not in the mood to flirt, plus this Lucas guy smelled dirty. "You're that asshole that threaten Cagalli and Jack!" She snaps as she takes another step forward.

Lucas gives her a crazy smile, "Oh a fighter, I'm going to enjoy breaking you kitty." However before he can take a step forward Merick intervenes.

"What my associate means is that that is an unjust comment. The Bloods have no knowledge of any of this "Jumping" that they claim of. Do you have any proof backing your claims or are you simply just spitting out whatever excuses pop in your head first?" Merick asks with a sly smile while he plays with one of his diamond rings.

However his smugness is quickly dash when Cagalli steps forward, "I'm the proof! Zuke and myself were jumped on our way to the stadium and only just managed to make it here on time after we barely managed to defeat your goons!"

Mr. Gram turns to Zuke looking for confirmation of this claim, Cagalli crosses her fingers as she hopes Zuke will choose for once to corporate and help them. Zuke doesn't move for a moment, but then he slowly nods his head and states "It's true, you can check with police reports to confirm what we're saying."

The smile leaves Merick's face as he frowns, this was the first time the crew he had sent out had failed to delay their target from arriving to the stadium on time….he would have to have a word with them later on this failure but for now he had other things to deal with. Luckily he was prepared for just such a case, "I think I can speak for all of the Bloods when I say that we're deeply relieve to know that you were able to walk away from such a horrible situation unharmed. As for your accusation, you can't possibly blame us for what is ultimately a random and unfortunate incident? I mean, just because something unlucky happen to you doesn't mean someone is out to get you."

"Please, those guys told us they were members of the Tyke Devils and that they didn't want us fighting in the match today." Cagalli responds right back with heavy eye rolling.

Merick sees an opening and quickly seizes it, "Tyke Devils you say! Did everyone hear that? She said they called themselves, not members of the Bloods, but rather members of the Tyke Devils! As we the Bloods have stated on multiple occasions we are in no way, shape, or form affiliated with the Tyke Devils, and you can't possibly hold us accountable for the actions of another organization."

Cagalli mentally flicks herself; it had been a stupid mistake to mention who those criminals had said they were with. While Cagalli rethinks her argument Jack steps forward and counters with, "That's BS! Do you really just expect us to accept that it's just a coincidence that all of your opponents just happen to get attacked by the Tyke Devils on their way to their match with you?"

Merick just shrugs his shoulders as he looks down upon the little girl, "I find it terrible that the crime rate in our beloved city has risen so much, but you can't possibly blame that on us. After all we've been attacked too on our way to the arena; you can look up the statements we've given to the police, thankfully though we were strong enough to defeat our attackers."

"Heheheh, perhaps if your friends weren't such weak ass bitches they wouldn't probably be getting the snot kicked out of them right now!" Lucas adds with a cruel laugh.

"Say that again and see if I don't rip your freaking month off!" Roxas snaps aggressively as she takes another step forward while growling threateningly. Lucas grins at her and is about to take a fighting stance when the referee Gram intervenes.

"Alright that's enough! I'm sorry but unless you have solid proof that connects the people who attacked you with the Bloods I have no choice but to rule against your complaints." The referee is booed by the crowded by this ruling and none of the Shadow Knights look happy but there was really nothing they could do. Referee Gram continues, "This brings us back to the original issue of you not having your full team with you."

Merick smiles believing his victory to be secured but Cagalli has one last ace up her sleeve, "Actually I found the Blood's complaint against us to be in itself, groundless."

"How can you say it's groundless? You clearly don't have five Gundam Fighters." Merick asks, the smile was now gone from his face. This was a line of questioning he hadn't prepared for, and he was getting a bad feeling about it.

"True and if this was a normal Gundam Fight your complaint would have merit, but it isn't. This is a special three on three Gundam Fight and we have, as you yourself pointed out, three Gundam Fighters." Cagalli says smoothly.

Merick's mouth opens slightly in shock, her counter argument wasn't just solid, it was flawless. Merick desperately struggles to think of something to say in response but he's unable to and the ruling referee takes this as a sign of submission. "The Shadow Knights make a valid point, since this is a three on three matches only three Gundam Fighters are necessary which makes the absence of their two Gundam Fighters irrelevant. Therefore I rule against the Blood's complaint, the match will go on as schedule!" A roar of approval is screamed by the crowd as the thundering of clapping and the stomping of feet is heard. This was the first time that the Bloods were being forced to fight, and no one had wanted the semi-finals to be won through default.

Referee Gram turns around and walks away while pulling out a cell phone to confirm a few things before they parted. The cameras and microphones recording turn off and leave the stage leaving the Gundam Fighters completely unwatched and unobserved for a moment. Merick is deep red in embarrassment with his right hand on his face rubbing his temples; he lowers his hand revealing his glaring burning amber eyes staring directly at Cagalli. "You're going to pay for making a fool out of me!" Merick spits out as his gold Neon gauntlet begins to glow.

It was funny, at one point in time Merick's venomous threat might have actually bothered or scared Cagalli but now it was simply another punch thrown at her, which she had to either dodge or reflect. "You made yourself look foolish so don't try to blame me for your lack of common sense." Cagalli replies back strongly. Compared to Sesen, Zain and the other Gundam Fighters Cagalli had fought Merick wasn't that much stronger, his only dangerous quality was his complete disregard for rules and morals.

Merick's glare intensifies as does his anger but before he can say anything Lucas laughs. "HAHAHAH she got you good there Merick but are you bitches sure you want to be insulting us?"

This catches Cagalli off guard; she was suddenly getting a bad feeling "What do you mean?"

Lucas snickers at her as he shows off his own smug smile, "Well this might be just me but I was thinking that if I suspected someone of having attacked and or kidnapped my friends would I really want to insult them? I mean if I was the attacker I would be very pissed at that little bitch having the nerve to insult me, so instead of having my people simply break their friends' legs I'd have my minions really hurt her friends. I might even tell my minions to kill them, and it would all be those bitches fault for not backing down when they should of! At least that's how I think the attacker would act, so are you Shadow Knights really sure you want to fight us?"

Paralyzing fear grips Cagalli, how could she have been so stupid! The Bloods still had Shadow and Nick at their mercy so if she said something to really piss them off the Bloods might kill them in retaliation. Cagalli couldn't move, she couldn't breathe, she had no idea what to do now. Lucas was definitely telling them that if they fought the Bloods the Bloods would have Shadow and Nick killed but they couldn't just surrender. There must be something that Cagalli could say that would let them fight the Bloods without having the Bloods kill Shadow and Nick in response! Suddenly Cagalli had a flashback to the beginning of the Second Bloody Valentine's Day War, she had had a chance to stop that war from even happening, all she had to do was come up with the right words to say to both sides to help them see why war would be a horrible idea.

Cagalli must have spent hours thinking about what to say, she had even started looking through the dictionary trying to figure it out and god knows she hadn't slept…but in the end she failed, the Second Bloody Valentine's Day War had happen because she had failed to stop it. _DON'T THINK about that! I won't fail this time, I can't fail this time!_ Cagalli commands herself, but despite her resolve the words once more weren't coming to mind and as the second hand tick more and more Cagalli finds her own heartbeat beginning to speed up as the pressure begins to steadily build. Looking to her sides with the corner of her eyes she could see that Jack and Kenny appeared to be in a similar situation while Zuke yawned bored.

One person though knew exactly what to say to Lucas, "Shadow and Nick wouldn't loss to your sorry excuses for lackeys so you can kiss our ass!" Roxas growls aggressively as she takes a step forward towards Lucas, her iron claws were already on and digging into the metal platform.

Lucas looks down at the animalistic person not at all threaten, "If you don't watch your manners little kitty I'll do more than that, heh but then again someone like you would probably enjoy that." Lucas replies with his disgusting smile.

"Sorry but I don't sleep with men that have a small package, it's hardly worth the effort of paddling out to sea on your surfboard when the wave only bobs you up and down a little." Roxas says right back with a smirk; Jack, Cagalli, Kenny and even the three unnamed Bloods laugh at the joke.

For the first time so far in this meeting Lucas's smile drops from his face as he turns red in both embarrassment and anger, "You little BITCH!" Lucas begins to move forward preparing to attack but it's at this moment referee Gram finishes his call and turns around to see what's happening.

"Stop it right now BOTH of you before I disqualify your teams from this tournament! Now move back to your respective platforms while we separate!" Referee Gram shouts with authority.

Roxas and Lucas continue to give death stares to each other as they slowly back away from each other. "You've lucked out this time but I won't forget your insult, the referee won't be there to save you next time!" Lucas threatens but Roxas isn't backing down.

"I'm not scared of you you disgrace of a man! I'm going first in the lineout so I'll see you in the arena if you're not chicken!" Roxas replies right back.

Lucas clenches his fist so hard that it causes his arms to shake in rage. "I'll be their little kitty, and you're going to regret challenging me to a fight!" Lucas vows, both his and Roxas's Neon gauntlets begin to glow.

The hover platforms separate and begin to head back to the team's respective team rooms. Once the hover platforms gets far enough away that the others could no longer see the Shadow Knights Cagalli turns to Roxas, she didn't want to doubt Shadow and Nick's ability but if they weren't able to beat the Bloods…

"What do we do now?" Cagalli asks. It was a simple sentence yet it seemed to sum up all of her fear and worry. If Cagalli was honest it felt nice for a change to let someone who was more confident in the situation take charge and lead, it was a privilege that she normally didn't get to have as Orb's Chief Representative. As Orb's Chief Representative everyone was always looking at her to lead, to take charge, to know what to do and Cagalli couldn't ever be wrong or show any uncertainty or weakness.

It had been a long time since Roxas had felt this angry, although her behavior wasn't what most women would call respectable Roxas still had her female pride which is why she loathed anyone who was degrading towards women, with a burning passion, especially rapists! Then they went ahead and threaten her FRIENDS! NO ONE, threatens her FRIENDS in front of her and walks away unscratched! So when Cagalli asked what do they do the answer couldn't have been any more clear, "We CRUSH THEM, we make them regret the day they decided to pick a fight with the Shadow Knights!"

####

_Location: Arianna's underground training, Section C-23 Time: Roughly twenty minutes earlier_

Without hesitation all three team leaders summon their Gundams. "Descend from the heavens like an arrow to punish all these filthy men ARTEMIS!" Sesen shouts into her Neon gauntlet, immediately Artemis descends from the skies and smashes into the ground like a meteor creating a temporary smoke screen that Sesen takes advantage of so she can enter her Gundam. Without missing a beat Sesen climbs up Artemis's bent knee and hops into Artemis's cockpit. Artemis stands back up while Sesen quickly changes into her pilot's suit.

"Slash and cut like a wind of death Laconia!" Blake shouts into his Neon gauntlet as he takes off running forward. Laconia nimbly jumps over the top of the building behind Blake and rushes towards its pilot at a full sprint. Laconia catches up to Blake and in one fluid motion Laconia drops down and barrel rolls on the ground while Blake jumps up and into Laconia's open cockpit. Laconia's cockpit door closes as the Gundam quickly jumps back up onto its feet, luckily Blake had been in his pilot suit to begin with so he only needed to put on his helmet and he was ready to go.

"AWESOME, alright it's time we kick some ass too Nightwing!" Shadow shouts into his Neon gauntlet….nothing happens. Shadow blinks confused then looks down at his Neon gauntlet to make sure he summoned Nightwing right, "Ok this isn't funny when it's happening to me!" Shadow comments under his breath as he tries to figure out what's going on.

Sesen finishes changing into her pilot's and activates the NS system, she blasts Artemis's thrusters causing the dust cloud to suddenly dissipate revealing Artemis's purple and blue color scheme for all of the enemies to see. At the same time Laconia straightens up and stands tall next to Artemis signifying Blake is also ready to fight.

The Tyke Devil soldiers finally seem to realize that these guys are going to fight them and start to act, "SHIT, don't just stand there you morons! Quickly open fire on them now before they can get sync up with their Gundam!" The leader of the group shouts far too late, the Gundams on top of the buildings unleash a hail storm of missiles upon the two Gundams and the unlucky human. The sky is literary darken for a second from the sheer number of missiles before they blitz straight towards the three lone fighters.

Blake looks up unimpressed with this display of firepower; he wouldn't be the best Gundam Fighter in Arianna if such a bland attack could hurt him. Still Blake did wish that Tarry, his programmer, was on so that he could identify what kind of missiles these were just to be on the safe side. Oh well, no sense crying over what you don't have and speaking of things people didn't have Blake glances over at his allies and realizes Shadow doesn't have his Gundam yet.

"Your Gundam will be at your destination in ten minutes." Shadow's Neon gauntlet tells him in a dull robotic tone.

"What the freaking hell Nightwing, are you stopping for donuts somewhere or something!" Shadow screams at his Neon gauntlet.

"Oh you've got to be kidding me!" Blake complains as he rolls his eyes, if it had been anyone else he would have been more understanding, after all Shadow's Gundam had been all the way at the arena, but since Blake didn't like Shadow he wasn't. Still Blake had more pressing concerns at the moment, two round disks detach themselves from the back of Laconia's hands; three curved blades extend outward from the disks and connect with each other forming a perfect circle and revealing themselves to be chakrams. The beam coating activates and covers the steel blades in yellow plasma. Laconia's beam chakrams hover in front of Laconia's hands for a moment and then begin to spin. The bladed beam wheels of death spin round and round, faster and faster like a propeller on a jet plane.

The chakrams spin so fast that they create a powerful gust of wind aim straight at the incoming missiles. Sadly the gust of wind wasn't strong enough to overcome the missiles engines but it was strong enough to alter their course, the missiles waver and because there are so many of them so close together they begin to fly into each other's flight paths. The missiles begin to hit each other and explode in a huge burning ball of fire which only causes even more of them to explode harmlessly far out of range from Laconia, turning the whole sky yellow with flames. The few missiles that survive the massive explosion are outliers that were never going to hit the Gundam Fighters to begin with, although they do make some nice new holes in the warehouse.

The Tyke Devils stop for a moment shocked that their overwhelming missile attack had been defeated so easily, as if it was nothing. "Yeaaaaa turns out firing all your missiles at the same time wasn't your brightest move, so what are you going to try next?" Blake taunts as he stops his chakrams from spinning.

The Tyke Devils are unnerved by the champions display of power but one of leaders quickly gets them moving again, "What are you morons waiting for! Keep attacking!" The enemy Gundams jump at the command, a large herd of them charges forward with large beam and steel axes, spears, and sledge hammers at the ready.

Blake prepares to charge forward to meet them but this time Sesen acts first. Artemis activates its burst thrusters and rockets forward like a race car going from 0mph to 100mph in three seconds flat. Without slowing down Artemis pulls out its two steel poles and slams them together to form its metal Bo Staff. Holding its Bo Staff horizontally Artemis literary runs over the herd of enemy Gundams, knocking them all down and setting off quite a few safety pods. The burst engine finally times out, slowing Artemis down as it recharges but by then the damage is already done as Sesen stands tall and begins to look for her next target.

Blake whistles at the attack, slightly impressed by her performance; the Valkyries were from out of town and because they had been defeat so early in the tournament he hadn't paid much attention to the intel he had gather on them. Several beam shots, cannonballs, and positron blasts wake Blake up from his distraction; Blake wanted to say that these guys had Stormtrooper aiming skills but several of those came extremely close to hitting him. "Whoa!" Blake cries startled as Laconia ducks down dodging a positron blast, and side steps several cannonballs that cause the very ground Laconia is standing to explode. Laconia barrel rolls to the left and quickly spots the people shooting at him, no wonder their first shots had missed, they were a good distance away on top of the roofs of buildings, Blake supposed he should be lucky that they were too scared to get any closer to him. _Too bad, that kind of luck only happens once in a battle_. Blake thinks to himself as he refocuses his entire attention on the battle before him and Laconia whips out its spinning wheels of death and lets them fly.

Meanwhile several enemy Gundams notice a Gundamless Shadow an advance upon him, "Hey that guy doesn't have a Gundam!"

"Quickly kill him before his Gundam gets here!" The gangsters shout out as they open fire with beam rifles.

"What! Wait a minutes, come on this is so cheap!" Shadow complains as he backs up slowly, Shadow wasn't a coward but god help him if he was a little nervous facing off against multiple Gundams without his own Gundam, he was only human after all. The criminals ignore Shadow's comments and raise their beam rifles and open fire on him. Shadow without thinking turns around and starts to run away, luckily for him the enemy Gundams weren't the best shots in the world and despite what some people might think hitting a moving target that was basically the size of an ant was hard for anyone that wasn't a trained marksman.

The beam and steel bullets hit all around Shadow, exploding the ground, showering him in dirt and cement as the intense hot air blasts into him. The hot air begins to give Shadow sunburn and threatens to knock him down but despite everything Shadow manages to keep his balance as he continues his desperate retreat. _Hurry the hell up Nightwing! Any freaking day now!_

"Hahahah why can't they all be this weak!"

"Come here little rabbit!"

"And this weakling managed to get to the semi-finals!" The gangsters, finally in a position of power, are having fun playing with their pray and are voicing their insults to Shadow by their speakers.

Upon hearing them call him weak Shadow stops dead in his tracks, which turns out to be a good thing since one of the steel bullets smashes into the ground directly in front of him. "Who are you calling a weakling! Screw it, I'll take you losers on without my buddy Nightwing!" Shadow shouts as he draws his sword and points it at the enemy Gundams and prepares to charge them.

The pilots facing off against Shadow struggle not to laugh at this display, they're supremely confident that Shadow poses no risk to them and have dropped their guard completely which is why when Artemis shows up behind them they don't notice her until she's already grabbed the head of one of them and smashes it into the side of one of the buildings, crushing it with her bare hand. "Tis just what I would expect from you fifthly males, attacking a person who has no means to defend themselves with," Sesen spits out with venom.

The gangsters freeze for a moment as they try to process this new information and that moment is all Sesen needs to take them all out. Faster than the normal eye can follow Artemis whips out its metal Bo Staff and destroys the enemy Gundams in an instant, her staff smashes some of their heads cleans off and bends the bodies on the rest to an outrageous angle. Regardless of how she took them out what's left of the Gundam's body is sent flying and crashing into the surrounding buildings, creating a large boom sound and dust cloud.

Shadow raises his arms so that he can cover his face from the dust, glass and other debris that shoots out; once all of that dies down he looks up towards Artemis who in turn looks down at him. "I'm pretty sure one of those gangsters you just destroyed now was a girl and have your attacks gotten stronger? I don't remember you being able to behead a person with just a single swipe of your metal Bo Staff?" Shadow shouts up excitedly to his ally completely oblivious to the situation at the moment, he was a Gundam fighter junkie after all.

Sesen beams with pride as she ignores Shadow's first comment and answers his question. "So you noticed, as expected when it comes to fighting and Gundams you're not as dense as the rest of your gender. After my match with Cagalli I added a gravity generator to my metal Bo Staff, significantly increasing its damage capabilities…..however even before the gravity generator my attacks were able to at least snap a Gundam's neck if I struck its head but your Gundams were unique. Your Gundams' internal skeleton structures are much stronger than the average E and even D rank Gundam."

Shadow rubs the back of his head when he hears Sesen's comment and smiles, "Well what can I say, I have the greatest mechanic ever."

Before Sesen can comment on this another enemy Gundam burst on the scene thinking he's caught Sesen off guard. "Got you now bitch!" The gangster shouts as he readies to swing his beam ax, he was never going to hit Artemis to begin with, Sesen had heard him coming for a while now and was more than prepared to take him out with a single strike but she never gets the chance. Out of nowhere Nightwing descends from the sky and lands directly on the charging enemy Gundam, smashing and crushing its head into the pavement with its bare feet. Amazingly the pure midnight black Gundam manages to stay on its feet despite the unusual landing. After a minute Nightwing calmly and robotically walks over to Shadow while Sesen blinks in shock at this unexpected situation.

"FINALLY you got here! Geez Nightwing you were making me look bad at there." Shadow scolds his Gundam. Nightwing of course doesn't reply and simply stares blankly at its odd pilot, waiting for a command. "Ok, ok, I know you were far away but that's still no excuse, you just got to work on getting faster is all buddy, we can't let Blake and Sesen have all the fun and hey at least you made a nice entrance. Anyway let's crash this party bud!" Shadow continues to talk to Nightwing as if it was an intelligent being capable of understanding him; while Shadow is talking he hits a few buttons on his Neon Gauntlet activating boarding protocols. Nightwing responds by taking a knee and lowering its left hand and opening its cockpit door.

Shadow hops up Nightwing's knee, jumps onto its left hand and then jumps into Nightwing's cockpit. Like comic book heroes Shadow changes into his pilot suit with great speed and activates the NS system. "You do realize that Nightwing is a machine right?" Sesen's question comes in on Shadow's helmet screen as he finishes setting up.

The question actually seems to make Shadow angry, "Nightwing is not just a machine! Nightwing is my very soul forged into a weapon I wield to achieve my dreams!"

Sesen blinks as she processes this new information, she could hear the sounds of battle in the background, buildings collapsing, guns firing; Blake was probably covering for them right now which is why so few enemy Gundams had confronted them so far. "Heh, typical male getting hot blooded over nothing." Sesen says in a slight condescending fashion.

"Are you saying that you feel nothing for Artemis, that you would happily trade her away for a superior model?" Shadow counters quickly.

Sesen is about to say yes but pauses, an instinct in her told her no. It was true that she thought of her Gundam as more of a weapon like her steel Bo Staff rather than another human being…but that didn't mean Artemis was replaceable. During a mission once she had to pilot another Gundam for a short time due to certain circumstances, and even though her mechanic assured her that the Gundam she was piloting had stats that were on par with Artemis it still hadn't felt right. It wasn't even the major things either that bothered her, like the speed of the Gundam or its physical strength, it was the little things that really bother her, like the way the shoulders rotated, or the way the main cameras were angled just a centimeter differently from Artemis's cameras.

"You have a point however I'm not willing to accept yet that Artemis is the physical manifestation of my soul." Sesen responses back.

Before Shadow can make another comment a large group of enemy Gundams turns the corner and begins to open fire on them. "There they are! Get them!" The leader commands as several units begin to fire positron cannons at them. Nightwing and Artemis quickly dive behind the nearest building for cover dodging the attacks while preparing for their own counter attack.

"Heh, it looks like are adoring fans couldn't wait any longer for us to kick their asses!" Shadow shouts over to Sesen over the roar of the positron blasts, not even bothering to hide his excited smile.

"So it would appear." Sesen replies evenly.

"Well let's not disappointed them!" Shadow shouts as he jumps out of cover charging forward.

####

_Location: Arianna's underground training city, section D-12_

"You know Janardan and Darrius, when you guys asked me if I could do a favor for you I didn't think it would involve fighting a shit ton of Gundams with military grade equipment!" Yapany shouts annoyed as her slim dark and light blue Gundam zips in-between buildings avoiding steel bullets, missiles, beam bullets, and positron blasts. She was the fifth Gundam Fighter for Arianna's Public Servants and the only one besides Darrius who's Gundam wasn't wrecked.

"Come on, when was the last time you took Cecil out for a spin when it didn't involve an official match?" Janardan asks trying to make a joke to dispense the tension of the situation. Yapany was a woman of Asian descent with long black hair with blue highlights that was normally braided into a long ponytail.

Yapany's Gundam, Cecil, somersaults over a larger ax wielding Gundam, drops flat on the ground to avoid a missile, and then rolls left as a war hammer smashes the ground where its face was seconds ago. "Yesterday! Unlike you people I actually use my Gundam for work!" Yapany was a postal worker; her Gundam, Cecil, was a noncombat type delivery class Gundam. Delivery class Gundams, as the name would suggest are design to deliver large scale items, such as warship parts, however Cecil like all of the Public Servant's Gundams, was modified for battle.

Cecil makes a one hundred and eighty degree turn, facing its purses. The dark and light blue Gundam had been running so fast that it begins to slide backwards thanks to its momentum. Cecil draws several enveloped shaped items, holding them between its fingers with each hand, and throws them at the enemy Gundams as Yapany shouts out "You've GOT MAIL!" The envelopes fly through the air like knives and each one hits their target, either in the face, chest, or limbs. Once they hit their targets the envelopes begin to glow bright yellow before they explode, blasting the Tyke Devils into little bits.

"You only need to hold on until the Arianna police department can organize a squadron of Gundams to come down here and get this situation under control." Darrius informs Yapany as his own Gundam; Eliot blocks a steel sword with its right hand's electric stun baton. The steel makes a nice conductor for the electricity which travels upwards and shocks the enemy pilot, causing her to yelp in pain before dropping her sword. Without missing a beat Eliot squats down, takes its left hand stun baton and sweeps out the enemy Gundams legs. The enemy Gundam begins to fall backwards towards the ground and Eliot finishes it off by delivering a powerful strike directly to its chest, slamming it to the ground while delivering a powerful electric shock to the pilot knocking her clean out.

Eliot doesn't get time to celebrate its victory though as three more enemy Gundams move in to try and take it out while it's on its knees. One enemy Gundam lifts up its spiked mace but before it can bring it down Eliot smashes its electric stun baton right into the enemy Gundam's knee, the pilot screams in pain as he loses his balance and falls to the ground. Without wasting a second Eliot whips its legs out and sweeps the legs out of the two remaining enemy Gundams causing them to fall to the ground. Eliot then jumps straight up to its legs, at the same time one of the Gundams Eliot knocked down draws out a beam pistol while still lying on the ground and aims it at Eliot.

Darrius sees the attack and moves to cut it off, it's too close to call who would win in this quick draw but luckily Darrius doesn't have to find out as the enemy Gundam's head gets blown off. "That's something I've actually been meaning to ask you. How come the military isn't coming down here to settle things? Forgive me for my ignorance, I'm not from Myrtus but to me isn't this many rogue Gundams a military problem?" The person who spoke was the same man who had just shot the enemy Gundam's head off. His name was Luke McDermont and he was a member of the Sharpshooters.

"The mayor is an asshole and doesn't want the federal government to get involved, and technically they only have jurisdiction if the Gundams are in the actual city." Darrius explains as he quickly moves to confront more enemy units, they were all on an open channel to help coordinate their attacks.

"Typical politics." Luke replies as his Gundam, Horizon, continues to cover not only Eliot but the rest of its allies as well. Horizon was a marksman type long range class Gundam equipped with a Pencil, or a P-3HJ7 if you wanted the official name for the positron sniper rifle he used. Its nickname, Pencil, came from the shape of the positron bullet, a tight solid dark red beam which could travel twenty thousand meters without dissipating. Horizon was currently lying flat on its chest on top of one of the tallest skyscrapers ten thousand meters away. With deep and steady breathes Luke easily snipes the heads off several enemy Gundams that were pointlessly trying to get even remotely close to him.

"Hey if it wasn't for those politicians we wouldn't be getting paid to take out this trash." Tarrius Yang replies to his friend Luke. Tarrius was also a member of the Sharpshooters and he was piloting a marksman type missile class Gundam named Missile Mike, which he thought was a clever name. "Hee-HA, come on you thugs, give me a challenge!" Tarrius taunts as Missile Mike, a wirily looking Gundam with boxes sticking out all over its body, backflips in the air from one building to another, dodging steel, beam and positron bullets. While in midair Missile Mike fires several missiles from the boxes on its hand, these missiles soar through the sky and then shatter into dozens of sharp metal spikes which rains down on the enemy Gundams. Going straight through chests, heads, arms, and legs and simulating a hellish experience for the Tyke Devils.

"Don't get too cocky Tarrius and the same to you Luke." Max commands his squad as he and his brother Nick try to force their way through the enemy's formation. Cowboy and Pistol Pete are racing along the streets with their weapons drawn, turning any poor Gundam in their path to Swiss cheese. Red hot pieces of sharpen steel zip past Cowboy and Pistol Pete's head, coming within inches of hitting them. "Bottom" Max calls out to his brother, they didn't need to talk much, they were bothers who had lived together under the same roof for years, one word was all they needed to communicate what they intended to do. Pistol Pete spins around; opening fire with its Decker 400 beam pistol and within seconds takes out the pursuing Gundams, all with instant kill shots. Four Tyke Devils pop up on the roof tops and prepare to open fire on the brothers with their anti-matter rifles.

"Top," Nick calls as Cowboy raises its twin beam pistols and opens fire on enemy units, but its shots are interrupted when someone throws a flash bang grenade at him from the opposite direction. An overwhelming white light completely covers Nick's vision, blinding the Shadow Knight. Nick cries out in pain but he doesn't lower his weapon or stop shooting, he could still roughly remember the position of the enemy Gundams on the roof and uses that as his references on where to aim his beam pistols. Nick hears four thumps hit the ground, informing him that his shots hit their targets.

"Nick!" Max calls concern, luckily his own Falcon's eye system was programmed to automatically block against Flash bang grenades so his vision was just fine.

"I've got this bro!" Nick calls out as he aims his beam pistols, he knew where the flash originated from, he eliminated the area he knew no one had been, using those two facts he quickly estimated where the attacker was and open fired while still blinded. Nick systematically spreads out his shots, remember to also account for a person ducking for cover and running away, on the tenth shot he hears an explosion as his bullet pierces the enemy Gundam.

"Damn, nice shot bro." Max whistles as he watches his little brother hit a target without using his eyes; not that Max couldn't do that himself of course.

"Thanks mate, now let's go. I can still make it to match before it ends." Nick says as he continues to blink his eyes, helping his vision to recover faster, the distraction caused Nick to accidently speak through his Gundam's speaker rather than on the private channel he and his brother were using. Suddenly one of the Gundams Cowboy had shot down from the roof grabs its leg.

"We're not going to let you!" The pilot replies.

Startled Nick looks down and quickly aims his beam pistol, his vision finally returns to normal and that's when he notices what this fellow looks like. The enemy Gundam had a hole through the upper portion of its chest, something which should have activated the safety system but it was clear that the pilot had turned that off. The pilot's voice sounded raspy, he was clearly in a lot of pain, Nick's first shot had done damage to the cockpit itself which meant the pilot had probably been hurt directly, and the NS system wasn't helping at this point. A lot could be said about these Tyke Devils, they were criminals, bullies, and horrible to women…but Nick had to at least respect their determination to achieve their mission, even if he couldn't begin to understand it the Tyke Devils definitely had a code of honor…..but Nick had his own as well.

"Sorry mate, you can try to stop me if you want but I'm not backing down either!" Nick shouts back with burning passion as his Neon gauntlet begins to glow brighter. Cowboy opens fire and shoots the enemy Gundam's head off, sparing the pilot's life. The main processing computer was located within a Gundam's head which was why Gundam's stopped operating when their heads had been heavily damaged or destroyed. Cowboy pulls its leg free but the brothers don't get much time to reflect as a large herd of enemy Gundams moves directly into their path, once more blocking them from moving forward.

Max sighs as he readies his weapon, "And here I was hoping they would just run away once they saw what we could do."

"Nope, it's going to be one of those battles mate." Nick replies grimly before he and Max charge forward to meet the tidal wave of enemy Gundams.

####

_Location: Arianna's official GFC arena_

"What do you mean are forces are getting pushed backed!" Merick screams at the unlucky messenger, he was already in a fouled mood from the humiliation he had suffered at the hands of that blond woman and this news only added more fuel to his rage.

"Heheh, I know those guys are weakass bitches but to get pushed back by two people, despite the weapons we gave them. Talk about moronic levels of incompetence!" Lucas replies as he puts on his pilot suit and gets ready for his match. He was going to enjoy publically beating that arrogant little kitty into a bloody pulp, and afterwards he would visit her for some private time, to put her in her place not that that animal didn't already do that herself.

"That's the thing though, there's not just two of them," the messenger explains, "we're getting reports that Arianna's Public Servants, the Sharpshooters, the Valkyries and the Raptures are all aiding the Shadow Knights against our people."

"You call that an excuse, I think the guys have been eating and drinking too much which is the real reason they're getting their asses kicked!" Lucas replies harshly but Merick remains silent as he thinks.

Unlike his less refine comrade Merick was fully aware of the skill level of the tropes the bosses had given him. He held no illusions that these people were great pilots; they were shitty Gundam pilots, which is why he relied on equipping them with idiot proof weapons and using overwhelming tactics. The teams they faced though were all high level pilots, and combine they would more than likely defeat the gangs he had sent to deal with the Shadow Knights. This left Merick with two options. Option A was to order his tropes to retreat and simply let the Shadow Knights pass, after all it wouldn't really make a difference at this point in the match….but to simply surrender, to let them pass would be too admit that those shitty Gundam sports punks were better than a Tyke Devil army and that was unbearable and he wanted to get even with that little bond girl as well. This left only option B.

"Tell the beasts to get ready to launch and send them to kill ALL of those stupid enough to challenge the Tyke Devils." Merick orders. A cold chill seems to enter the room as all the gang members nearby turn to look at him in a mixture of surprise and terror.

"Hey Merick are you sure about this?" Lucas asks with real concern, the beasts….were a secret weapon the boss had given them to use as a last resort but even Lucas was put off by them, and he was a murderer, torturer and rapists so that was saying something.

"We can't allow ourselves to suffer a defeat! It would give courage to those we've stepped on to stand back up and fight us again! We have to make it clear that anyone who challenges us will suffer a fate worse than death! So send the beasts," Merick roars. "Except for Joffrey." Merick quickly adds, even he wasn't crazy enough to unleash that monster. No despite being a pawn he could use Merick would rather see the Tyke Devils destroyed before willingly using Joffrey.

This helps to relieve some tension but not that much, still Merick was in a position of command and the only one who could challenge his authority was Lucas and it was clear Lucas wasn't going to do that so all the messenger could do was bow his head and follower orders. "Yes Sir."

As the messenger hurries away the rest of the minions get back to work Lucas quietly whispers to Merick, "I hope you know what you're doing," before putting on his helmet and moving to board his Gundam.

The episode ends with Merick quietly whispering to himself, "I hope so too."

_Word from the Author: I like to state for the record that I am sorry to all of you, to all of my readers. This chapter has taken me almost two months to finish and post and while some writers on fanfic might be ok with that I AM NOT! I find this completely unacceptable, you my readers deserve better than that, you deserve to get a new chapter within a reasonable and consistent amount of time and I haven't been doing that for you for a while and for that I apologize. I've had a very rough couple months but that's no excuse…I want this story to be something that people can rely on when they need something to make them laugh. When you guys have had a bad day I want you to be able to read GSS and get that much needed laugh when Shadow does something stupid and Cagalli yells at him for it._

_I want my story to be able to inspire you guys when you feel unable to do something, I want you to be able read about how the Shadow Knights overcome impossible odds through hardwork, determination, teamwork and gain the confidence to get back up and try again!_

_I want my story to give you hope where some of you might not have any, that despite how hopeless our governments might be, that despite how much pain you might be in now, that despite how horrible whatever your situation might be there's hope for a better tomorrow! You're tragedies will define you but YOU can DECIDE HOW they define you, and you can choose to take light away from the darkness. Jack lost her entire family unfairly to life, and that's something that will forever define her but that doesn't mean she will let it define her negatively. Jack took light away from that darkness, her brothers dream became her own and the skills he taught her became the framework for her greatness as a mechanic, and her parents taught her how to love others and in turn be love by others. And look at Jack now, it may have taken a while but Jack has finally found a new family, that she cares about and who care about her as much as any family with blood ties._

_I know it might not seem like it at times, but good people are all around us every day and know that if you still feel alone or need someone to talk to, I'm only a PM away._


End file.
